Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

t to conduct the arduous jour- neys to the different oblasts, especially to those where there were conflicts When Mitskevich moved to Moscow, he was replaced by N.N Mer nikov, whose leadership style was similar to Andreev's.37 Andreev was alieady seventy-cight years of age in 1960 but still very much in charge in Kiev. Senior presbyters were brought to Kiev for consultations or his deputies were sent to carry out his instructions. Had it not been for his authoritarian style, Georgi Vins and his associates in Kiev might not have become so an- tagonized.** On the other hand, were it not for his strictly enforced dis- cipline, the evangelical movement in the Ukraine mi ; e might have suff from state harassment. oe ered more The Trouble Spots AUCECB spokesmen have consistently understated the strength of the Initsiationiki movement, whereas spokesmen for the latter went so far as to claim the support of most of the unregistered congregations which represented two thirds of all congregations.* Official Soviet statistical esti- mates gradually increased, and the most recent assessment, which is ob- viously based on statistical data unavailable to Western scholar indicates that at its height the Initsiatiuniki movement probably represented about a 184 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II 155,000 members.*° At their congress in Tula in 1969, the Reform Baptists announced participation from forty-five oblasts. Although elie throughout the Soviet Union, the Initsiationiki movement was particular’ Y strong in a handful of regions.4! Seventy-two percent of those who joine the Initsiativniki did so between 1961 and 1963. Perhaps they joined be- cause they lived in areas where state persecution was most intense. But an examination of the prisoners’ list for the period 1961 to 1966 suggests a dou- ble explanation for the geographic groupings.” Arrests took as 7 precisely those oblasts where the senior presbyter was included on the es persons to be excommunicated for cooperating with the government. In several oblasts, persons were arrested, yet the senior presbyter for the region was not included on the excommunication list.44 Conversely, large numbers of arrests took place in areas where the senior presbyter had traditionally wielded little influence, where there were mainly unregistered congrega- ions 45 eae of the first 197 prisoners, ninety-six came from the Russian Federation, fifty from the Ukraine, forty-two from Central Asia, eight from Belorussia and one from Moldavia. One might have expected more than 50 percent. to come from the Ukraine. As it was, eleven were arrested in the _Kharkov region, where Senior Presbyter Parchevski was finally replaced in 1963.. Five other arrests in Cherkassy Oblast and three in Kirovograd Oblast belonged to I. Ia. Kaliuzhnyi’s supervision.** Five more came from Sumi Oblast, where the senior presby