Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

ions to retire. That meant a new president. There was a e criticism in conservative ranks of Bychkov—would a “dump Bychkov uceeed? De een ie Congress started, individuals, apparently from ie Moscow congregation, attempted to circulate a letter to all Congress ent : order to influence the elections.2° The letter included a list of “t : mos faithful and committed brethren,” whom they proposed in place o i un- worthy ministers.” The letter proceeded to make highly personal attacks ie leading persons in the AUCECB, and although the bene ao anonymous, they revealed some knowledge of the interna politics in : Moscow office. Not only were members of the international pais as sharply criticized, local staff were accused of personal aera in : . position. From the writers’ point of view, in God s house, even the cl . room attendant should be an exceptional person. ‘The delegates pai = direct attention to this letter, but the resultant elections did reveal a furt ne step toward electing a leadership that the membership ee anes n anonymous list of the new council which circulated subsequent y | mt checked with a plus or minus sign in front of each name to indicate how this critical group evaluated the results. Only six of the twenty-four inte elected received a minus sign,?! These included the two saa a representatives, so there may well have been denominational prejudice helping to determine the ratings. New Frontiers After 1974 423 Most informed observers considered the election results a fortunate compromise. Whereas many foreign observers had expected to see Michael Zhidkov become president, the more conservative Andrei Klirnenko was elected, while Bychkov, who shared Zhidkov’s orientation very: closely, gained affirmation as general secretary. The new presidium did include four new persons who had all been members of the All-Union Council, 22 Therefore the new presidium was not that different from the old one, but from a longer perspective it was new. Only Arthur Mitskevich from the Old Guard remained. Over a space of two congresses and the emergency elec- tions of 1971, a new leadership of younger men had emerged. In com- parison to their fathers, who had been in prison and who remembered the pre-revolutionary days, the new leadership was accustomed to Soviet ways and likely to know how to proceed with considerable boldness. Growing Pains as Decade Closes At the end of the decade, 525 delegates gathered in Moscow (December 18-20, 1979) for their latest regular congress. The past five years had been years of growth, said Nikolai Kolesnikov, senior presbyter for Kazakhstan. Statistically speaking, there had been a net gain of only 10,968 since 1974, but 45,734 new members had joined. Of these, 34,154 had joined through baptism but unreported baptisms were higher. There had also been a significant increase in church registrations, 253 having been registered in the past decade. Most of these new