Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

rs conveyed good wishes, and finally greetings from Western Christians were included. At Easter in 1989, for example, Bratsky Vestnik carried extended compliments from Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia, and then briefer greetings from Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Belorussia, Metropolitan Alexey of Leningrad and Novgorod, and Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna. It was only at this point that Russian Baptist leaders featured: Ya.K. Dukhonchenko, G.I. Komendant, V.S. Glukhovsky and M.V. Melnik. Then, after brief words from the Orthodox Archbishop Makary, there was a final list: In addition, the [AUCECB] was sent holiday greetings from: the Baptist World Alliance, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Christian Peace Conference, the European Baptist Federation, Dr. J. Akers, the Billy Graham Association, Pastor S. Park, Presbyterian Church of South Korea, the Society of Friends (Quakers) in the United States of America, the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women, and others. 5 This example from 1989, by which time Bratsky Vestnik did not need to take into account what the Communists thought about the Baptist periodical including (or not including) greetings from the West, indicated something of the genuine priorities of AUCECB leaders. Despite the lack of Communist anti-Western pressure in this period, the letters and telegrams from outside 2 See, for instance, M. Shkarovsky, Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov ’ pri Staline i Khrushcheve [The Russian Orthodox Church under Stalin and Khrushchev] (M.: Krutitskoe Patriarshee Podvor’e, 1999), pp. 314-31; ‘Golos Khristian v Zashchitu Mira’ [Voice of Christians in Defence of Peace] (editorial article), Bratsky Vestnik [BV — below], no. 2 (1976), pp. 5-8. 3 See, for instance, BV. , no. 2 (1975), p. 13; no. 3 (1975), p. 11; no. 3 (1979), p. 40; no. 3 (1988), p. 24. 4 See, for instance, BV, no. 3 (1982), pp. 40-2; no. 3 (1976), pp. 9-10; no. 3 (1987), pp. 37-8; no. 3 (1988), pp. 24-5. 5 ‘Paskhal’nye Privetstviya i Pozdravleniya, Prislannye v Adres VSEHB’ [Easter Greetings and Compliments Sent to the AUCECB], BV, no. 3 (1989), pp. 36-8. Prokhorov, Eastern Christian Self-Identification 25 Russia, including greetings from the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation, were mentioned in Bratsky Vestnik but were not quoted. 6 By contrast, the words of the Russian Orthodox leaders were quoted in full. Moreover, in publishing Russian Orthodox messages, the editorial board of Bratsky Vestnik quite often closed their eyes in the 1970s and 1980s to some statements that, from the point of view of traditional Baptist beliefs, were highly controversial. In 1978, for example, this Christmas greeting was published: To the president of the AUCECB, A.E. Klimenko, ‘... May our great God, incarnate of the Holy Spirit and Mary Ever-Virgin, give you unbounded Christmas joy, abundant grace, bless you with a long life and gra