Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

In 1977, at another expanded plenum with more than seventy persons in attendance, President Andrei Klimenko and General Secretary Alexei Bychkov both dealt with the problem at length, noting that it was compli- cated and hinting at a new solution. Klimenko reported that the number of Pentecostals joining the union had declined and also complained that the major problem was the partisan attitude toward the August Agreement, where he. faulted both sides for partisanship. Both he and Bychkov spoke positively about Pentecostal congregations registering autonomously, Klimenko in fact saying: “We approve such a step also.’”9 Klimenko also noted that leading Pentecostal brethren had submitted a declaration to the presidium. proposing. structural changes in the AUCECB in order to improve the work for union. He reported. that the presidium planned to study the proposals further but that they were of the opinion that, rather The Movement Toward Autonomy 289 than structural changes, improved work for unity should be achieved through greater efforts from all church members, senior presbyters, and presbyter council. The council did approve a suggestion made by Klimenko and Bychkov to introduce local evangelists or assistant senior presbyters whose special task would be to deal with the unity issue. In short, they would work harder at unity locally but Pentecostals who wanted to main- tain their distinctives were welcome to leave. Generally speaking, it was the more moderate Pentecostals who were humble enough to accept second-class treatment within AUCECB ranks, Official estimates still tried to minimize the number that remained outside the union. Soviet scholars have also tried to ascribe minority status to the unregistered Pentecostals.8° Supporters of the unregistered Pentecostals have claimed that they number between 200,000 and 500,000.. Precise statistics are impossible, but the best-informed authority in the West feels there must be at least 100,000.*! Unregistered Pentecostals Try to Emigrate These unregistered Pentecostals are located in the Ukraine and Be- lorussia with Melitopol in Dnepropetrovsk Oblast as unofficial center. Many Pentecostals are scattered throughout the Russian Federation, espe- cially in Siberia and the Far East. One of their representatives has claimed that there are sixty congregations totaling 3,000 persons in Moscow alone. These are loosely divided into two groupings, a larger one led by A. N. Bi- dash and a. smaller grouping led by Grigorii Vashchenko, which practices greater ethical strictness. 8 In January 1963 North Americans first learned of the plight of these Pentecostals when thirty-nine persons managed to force their way into the American embassy in Moscow to ask help for emigrating from the USSR. The Americans were embarrassed, and these believers were sent back to their home in Chernogorsk in Eastern Siberia. They had come to Moscow after despairing of ev