Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

genii Evgen’evich Stumpf was elected senior presbyter, Petr Semenovich was the assistant senior presbyter with responsibilities for the Free Christians, and Dondor, the assistant senior presbyter for the Ruthenian Baptist‘con- gregations. Stumpf, age 43, was a Magyar. His father had started the Baptist move- ment in Hungarian-speaking Transcarpathia in 1900. Stumpf began his ministry in 1923; 1924-26 he studied at the Baptist seminary in Budapest and in 1928 com- pleted the course at the Baptist seminary in Prague. Stumpf's wife was an American > gui 104 Soviet Evangelicals Since World War Il missionary, a Moody Bible Institute graduate (ibid., p. 82). . BV, 3/48, pp. 49-56. ; ls eee May 4, 1977 with aed oe (Warsaw), one of three f Tserkvyi Khristov (Church of Christ). ; ary Kahle, a 69, ce that German Baptists separated from Russian and Ukrainian Baptists in 1890 cites a Russian named Stefanovich that “The German is a man of, strict order, the Russian tends toward disorderliness. Misunderstandings grew out of national character differences.” Cf. pp. 114-115. 81. BV, 2/46, p. 12. 82. ne p. 22. . Ibid. a BV, 5/48, p. 37. The following issue (p. 67) merely stated that the con- gregatioris would be receiving a copy of the organizational structure and also certain Alive forconducting the work of the Lord. . BY, 1/49, p. 21. . a BV, ae . 6. Later in the year he stated: “Better a small group, but true followers of Christ, than a large congregation, but such on whom we cannot depend” (5/48, p. 4). You can pray freely but just so God alone can hear. —Tanya Khodkevich (She received a 10-year sentence for these verses.) Gulag |, p. 37 God not only established but also strengthened the Soviet state. As a result the Soviet land became the chief of all freedom-loving peoples in its unceasing struggle for peace, for social and political justice. —Jacob Zhidkovin BV, 6/47. p. 6 4 Preaching and Peace: The Christian ina Communist Country “The Soviet Union is a country that has systematically denied all liberties to its citizens. How can a Christian wish to live there?” Is this not the unspoken assumption of the average Westerner who has heard about Stalin’s purges, the persecution of Christians, and the tough treatment of Soviet dissenters today? The average Westerner may not remember the details, but the idea that Soviet citizens are not free seems to have taken root. Well aware of this attitude, Soviet authorities regularly proclaim that the Soviet Union is a land of freedom. They even insist that it is the freest country in the world. Repeatedly they claim that “our legislation on re- ligious cults is the most humane and democratic in the world.”! Official Soviet claims can readily be dismissed as propaganda, but similar assertions by Soviet churchmen are more disconcerting. Jacob Zhidkov, like his Orthodox colleagues, sought