Baptistic Theologies, 2009

works translated from the West, written by Western authors, accusing Pashkovites of ‘a lack of taste’ and alienation from a Russian context: What a funny and alien understanding, how artificial all those careless translations, how full of misprints, and tales imbued with affectations, using English names and forms artificially taken from the English way of life! Pity that such affairs are obviously handled by people who are in no way Russian, estranged from Russian life, and unfamiliar with the treasure of our native spiritual literature which people understand. 61 With the spread of the Pashkovite movement in St. Petersburg and its provinces, Pobedonostsev saw a danger for the Russian Empire. He used the 57 V. Fedorov, ‘Pobedonoscev Konstantin Petrovich’, n.p. 58 Coleman, Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, p. 21. 59 K. Pobedonostsev, ‘Bolesni Nashego Vremeni’ [Diseases of Our Time], Moskovskii Sbornik [Moscow Album] (Moscow: Synodal Typography, 1901), at http://www.patriotica.ru/, accessed 21 s ' March 2008. 60 Ibid. 61 S. Corrado, ‘The Gospel in Society: Pashkovite Social Outreach in Late Imperial Russia’, in S. Corrado and T. Pilli (eds.). Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives (Prague: IBTS, 2007), p. 68. 84 Baptistic Theologies Orthodox Church and the government to fight against Pashkov. He worked in cooperation with local government officials who complained to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that Evangelical Christians challenged the spiritual and social orders of Russia and were a danger to its territorial integrity. Having direct access to the Tsar, Alexander III (on whom Pashkov had no influence!), Pobedonostsev wrote his ‘reports’ directly to him. In 1880 he wrote a special report to Alexander III where he described the danger of Pashkovism. He also organised special conferences training priests on how to fight against Pashkovites and other Evangelicals and Old Believers. After the death of Alexander III, Pobedonostsev lost most of his influence. He resigned from his position in 1905 when the new law allowing more freedom (including religious freedom) was introduced. I have described some of the views of K. Pobedonostsev on state and religion, which does explain some of his actions towards evangelicals. Yet, despite his purely negative role in the history of the evangelical movement, it is clear that Pobedonostsev was a true Orthodox believer and a Russian patriot. Pobedonostsev wanted to improve Russia by means which he considered to be right, particularly, by strengthening the Orthodox Church and Monarchy. Certain positive features of Pashkovism were not positive from his perspective, as in this growing movement he saw a real threat to Orthodoxy and therefore to Russia. His social status, authority, and, most importantly his friendship with the Tsar, gave him multiple opportunities to exercise what he considered to be right. He succeeded in some areas: fo