Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

autionary advice about caring for the spiritual needs of existing believers and avoiding aggressive evangelism had appeared nu- merous times earlier in Bratskii Vestnik.% This time, a significant part of the membership refused to submit. In the village of Uzlovaia (Tula Oblast) a 140 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II members’ meeting was held and an initiative group was formed to protest the anti-evangelical character of the new statutes. The movement quickly spread, and on August 13, 1961, a delegation delivered to the Moscow headquarters a letter which condemned the two documents. This Initiative Group urged the Baptist leadership to repent, and to call a congress at which new statutes and new leadership could be elected. Baptist leaders re- plied that it was unthinkable that the authorities would permit a congress; they had difficulty enough getting permission to hold council meetings. Karev, the general secretary, emphasized then and subsequently, that the statutes were based on Soviet legislation which therefore made the statute legally binding.* Ten days later the Initiative Group, or Initsiativniki as they soon came to be known, addressed a letter to all ECB congregations in the Soviet Union. With primitive hectograph material, they duplicated the letter and succeeded in distributing it broadly. This letter summarized the events and made a major appeal to congregations to examine themselves and, if necessary, to purge and rededicate themselves to a life of holiness. The sanctification theme awakened responsive chords and participants have subsequently estimated that approximately half the AUCECB membership initially supported the reformers. The action group continued to issue statements to the congregations, to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, and to the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults. At the end of November, the AUCECB was able to hold a conference with 19 senior presbyters in attendance in which the actions of the Initsiationiki were the main agenda item. Regrettably, details of this meeting have never been made available but the apparent decision was to reject the Initsiationiki challenge. But by the end of 1961, it was apparent that the sharply restrictive change in the church’s constitution would not be accepted by the general membership. In comparison, new Orthodox statutes in 1961 were approved with relative ease.*° Phase II: Resistance and Toughened Legislation, 1961-62 Although beginning the campaign by emphasizing literal adherence to the law, subsequent research has shown that the function of new legislation appeared to be to sanction new policies already in force. Thus, for example, in April 1961, the two councils for religious affairs issued an official but secret instruction on applying the 1929 legislation on religion. A year and a half later, in December 1962, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR approved revisions in the 1929 legislat