Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

ar II Who made any trips and to where? Who preached a call to repentance? . Who prayed for the imprisoned brethren ?8! Such questions they regarded as unwarranted interference in internal church affairs. They found particularly offensive the fact that Karev, for example, had advised the Barnaul believers against praying for imprisoned believers. As the split widened, the support for the reformers continued to grow, reaching its high point in 1966. Local discussions such as those in Barnaul had been undertaken from the start but it was only in 1965 that the first reconciliation talks between leaders from both sides took place. A constant problem in:these reconcilia- tion attempts was the uncanny coincidences where the words: that a reformer had spoken to a registered believer. were repeated to him the next day by a secret police official who came to interrogate him. Some of the registered believers and leaders were aiding the authorities’ in sending dissenters to prison, in other cases, believers finally broke: down under intense pressure and told the authorities what they wished to hear.®2 In either case the result was the same, Harassments continued, and, worst of all, the number of persons in prison éontinued to rise. At best, the AUCECB leaders were powerless. Most responded with cowardice and servility but some also with vindictiveness, “ “ge kya What finally guaranteed failure of state policy against the Baptists was the courage of:the women. Six weeks after Nikolai Khmara’s death, the’ first secret meeting of a council of prisoners’ relatives was held and the first detailed lists of prisoners were collected for circulation, :The history: of this remarkable organization has been intimately connected with the careers of Lidia Vins and Galina Rytikova, but the first three founders were: Lidia K. Govorun: of Smolensk, Nina P. Iastrebova from Kharkov, and Rudneva from faraway Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. Rudneva’s husband, Victor, was serving a five-year sentence and she was left with eight children.. N; P. lastrebova’s husband also received a five-year sentence plus five years’ internal exile. They: had four children, ‘Lidia K. Govorin was herself sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 1966. All were in their thirties.*3 Impact of Dissent After 1965 when the CCECB had been organized, the attention of the reformers no longer focused on the AUCECEB, but rather on the state. In its proselytizing activities it now turned much more to the unregistered con- i, Dissent Begins, 1960-1965 193 gregations, both unions competing during the next decade for the support of these congregations which had been untouched by the split.* In theory, the state’ campaign of closing churches affected the AUCECB more because they had the monopoly of registered churches, but in practice there was less discrimination. Where in one place the prayer house was padlocked or bulldozed to the ground, in another loc