Baptistic Theologies, 2009

d by many who attended the prayer meetings. Moreover the generosity and honest desire to help those in need was appreciated. However, Pashkov’s status and wealth also resulted in problems. He and his followers were familiar with the Western way of life, but they did not take into account others in the Orthodox Church for whom many things they said and did seemed to be strange. Some Orthodox believers were confused by literal translations of German and English evangelical books. Pashkovites did not think about the results of their actions. For example, they were giving money to workers and peasants who came to their meetings instead of going to their workplaces. This caused resentment in the Orthodox Church and there was gossip about Pashkovites buying people 42 41 In my account of Pashkov and his movement I limit myself to enumerating some of their ministries and the ways they were doing things. I do not pay much attention to the results of their work and to how, in my view, the Holy Spirit used those people for the work of the Kingdom. This theme is worth research on its own. Here it will suffice to say that Pashkovites were sincere Christians, who were ready to sacrifice their comfort for the sake of the Church of Christ. 4 “ Corrado, The Philosophy of Ministry of Colonel Vasiliy Pashkov, pp. 179-185. 80 Baptistic Theologies Similarly, Pashkov did not pay serious attention to the growing opposition from the Orthodox Church. Reading and studying Scripture in a different (from Orthodox) way, Pashkov discovered that for salvation it was not necessary to celebrate the rites of the Orthodox Church. So they stopped attending Orthodox services and rejected icons. This caused misunderstanding amongst workers and servants, some of whom went to such extremes as burning Orthodox icons. A very important element of the success and freedom that Pashkovites enjoyed depended on one thing. This was neither status nor wealth (although those counted) but was actually Pashkov’s good relationships with Tsar Alexander II. 43 Gradually, as the Pashkovites began to drift away from the Orthodox Church, this was considered as unfaithfulness and even a threat to the State. As mentioned, the State was supported by the Church through the Church’s teaching of patriotism. The result of the growing suspicions about whether the Pashkovites were loyal to the State was that in 1878 Pashkov’s meetings were prohibited by the police and ‘the church authorities ordered Pashkov and his followers to abandon their erroneous ways and to return to the Orthodox Church’. 44 In 1884 opposition reached its peak and Pashkov and some of his followers were sent into exile; although through his friends in Russia, Pashkov continued supporting and encouraging them. Later his ministry in St. Petersburg continued under the leadership of Ivan Kargel and then Ivan Prohanov. 45 The date when Pashkov was exiled was 1884, and this date is crucial to