Baptistic Theologies, 2009

r example, the Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Ethical Reading was closed down, and Pashkov was sent into exile. Yet this was Pobedonostsev’s failure as well as his success. By trying to strengthen the State and the Church, he weakened it. The State lost many honest, patriotic and passionate people. As for the Church, it experienced no serious reforms, continuing to rely on State protection and support, thus eventually losing more people, many of whom later supported atheism and communism. Conclusion Two people, Pashkov and Pobedonostsev, have been examined in this paper to show the impact of their beliefs, their personalities and their personal relationships on the relationships between Evangelical Christians and the Orthodox Church in Russia in the latter part of the nineteenth century. I have sought to show that the rise and fall of Pashkovism was linked to the power Colonel Pashkov possessed. The Pashkovite movement was able to spread within the Orthodox Church due to the status and wealth that Pashkov and his friends had, and most importantly through Pashkov’s close friendship with 6 “ Coleman, Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution , pp. 21-22. Relationships between Evangelicals and the Orthodox Church in Russia 85 Tsar Alexander II. This status and power were helpful in achieving the remarkable results that can be attributed to the Pashkovites. On the other hand, this same power meant that Pashkov and his associates were not always sensitive to those simple people to whom they tried to minister, thus having numerous accusations against him of introducing Western and anti-Orthodox ideas. Pobedonostsev used his power in a similar fashion. As soon as Russia had a new Tsar, Alexander III, who was influenced by Pobedonostsev, Pashkov was exiled. In both cases we have people with strong convictions, people who acted, as it is said in Russia, ‘without looking back’, which means doing what they thought was right, and not questioning their actions. In both cases fascination with power and its use worked against a positive outcome. Pashkov’s actions strengthened the already common perspective that Evangelicalism was something alien to Russia and Russians. Pobedonostsev, instead of strengthening the Orthodox Church through calling corrupt priests to be accountable for their actions, and through education and missionary work, weakened it by giving the state of affairs unconditional support and by driving out the Evangelicals. The effects of the divide between Evangelicals and the Orthodox Church are still being felt in Russia today. Anna Cheprasova, MTh Student, IBTS, Prague. 86 Baptistic Theologies 7 Between the Wars: Golden Years for Polish Baptists Zbigniew Wierzchowski The period between the First and the Second World Wars can be seen as a period of renewal and revival for Polish Baptists. Polish people as a whole found it hard to believe, after the First Wor