Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

elicals’ perspective, however, a decline in membership would represent a serious threat to their continued existence. In fact, even maintaining the status quo would result in a loss of mo- mentum. Perhaps the greatest danger of the present normalization is the New Frontiers After 1974 443 absence of a leadership type that played a vital role throughout the Old and New Testaments. The AUCECB is singularly lacking in prophets— prophets who can enunciate the necessary criticism to prevent them from unthinking accommodation to the state. Will the younger generation in- clude prophetic types and will the AUCECB find a place for them or will they be shunted into dissidence as happened earlier? The CCECB has also lost much of its prophetic influence on the larger union. With Georgi Vins and other leaders permanently eliminated from the Soviet scene, they too are in search of new leadership and vision. Perhaps a prophet with an ap- propriately moderate style will come forward. Notes to Chapter 15 1. BV, 4/78, p. 46. Using 250,000 as the 1963 base. 2. If each delegate at the 1979 congress represented 500 members, 532 dele- gates would represent only 266,000 members. Distribution of the 25,000 Bibles sug- gests 375,000 (1 per 15 members). Many sources speak of 200,000 in the Ukraine. 8. Lialina, pp. 168-70. 4. Payne, Out of Great Tribulation, p. 55. 5. BV, 1/75, passim. 6. They were: Robert Denny (Gen. Sec.), Ronald Goulding (Eur. Sec.), Gerhard Claas (Germany), David Russell (Britain), Knut Wumpelman (Denmark), — David Lagergren (Sweden), Josef Gonzalves EBF Pres., (Spain), Andrew McRae (Scotland), and Adolphs Klaupiks (USA) of the Baptist World Alliance; Peter J. Dyck and Walter Sawatsky of Mennonite Central Committee; John Huk (Toronto) of the Evangelical Christians; and Raymond Oppenheim (American chaplain in Moscow). 7: iin Arndt, one of the CCECB delegation seeking entry to the congress, insisted there had been no demonstration; Fadiukhin had been misinformed. (Umsiedler Interview data.) My discussion of the congress, unless otherwise indi- cated, is based on the official report published in BV, 1/75 (also printed in English translation as a brochure) and on my own notes as observer. 8. BV, 1/75, p. 80. 9. See above, chapter 10, pp. 280-289. 10. V. M. Kovel’kov (1899- ) was a longtime Moscow resident and unity com- mission chairman 1966-69; Iu. S. Grachev (1911-1973), longtime preacher in Kuibyshev died before completing his major history of the union; S, P. Fadiukhin (1905- ) was Leningrad pastor and presidium member, 1966-1979. 11. BV, 1/75, p. 38. 12, Konstantin Logachev, “Fundamental Problems of Greek and Slavonic Biblical Textology,” Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate 2/74, pp. 76-80, See also Logachev’s articles in Technical Papers for the Bible Translator, 3/74, pp. 318-18, and 3/78, pp. 312-16. 13. BV, 1/75, p. 41. 14. Ibid,, p. 42. 15. Ibid, It should be noted that CCECB