Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

nced within Baptist ranks. In the light of this, the AUCECB was seeking any help that might be available from the example of the Orthodox Church’s experience in healing the scars of schisms. In the issue of Bratsky Vestnik containing the report of the Local Council there was also the following significant statement: Our Holy Russian Orthodox Church, like other local Orthodox Churches, holds as her basis the creed of the One Church of the seven Ecumenical Councils and is not only the keeper but also the dispenser of great spiritual treasures. 52 Russian Baptist appreciation of Orthodox literature Another example of Russian Baptist recognition of the riches of the Orthodox tradition is the way, from the beginning of the 1980s, that Bratsky Vestnik published Russian ‘classical religious’ - that is Russian Orthodox - poetry. In the period leading up to the celebration of one thousand years of Christianity in Russia, it is apparent that fewer poems by Baptist authors were being published in Bratsky Vestnik, while the number of Russian Orthodox poets whose work was included was increasing considerably. It must not be forgotten that Bratsky Vestnik was designed to be a periodical for the members of the Russian Baptist community, not to be a literary 50 ‘Telegramma Predsedatelyu Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR’ [Telegram to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR], BV, nos. 1-2 (1980), pp. 52-3. Though the AUCECB probably did not know at that point about the active preparation for the military campaign, their telegram was published in Bratsky’ Vestnik in 1980 when everyone was talking about the war in Afghanistan. 51 See BV, no. 4 (1971), pp. 11-12. 52 BV, no. 4 (1971), p. 13. 36 Journal of European Baptist Studies 17:1 (2017) magazine. The number of literary pieces featured was, therefore, all the more remarkable. The following are examples of much-acclaimed pieces of classical Russian Orthodox poetry that were published by Bratsky Vestnik in the period from 1980 to 1988: G.R. Derzhavin’s Bog [God]; 53 I.S. Nikitin’s Molenie o Chashe [Praying for the Cup]; 54 K.M. Fofanov’s Otrechenie Petra [Peter’s Denial]; 55 A.M. Zhemchuzhnikov’s Pritcha o Seyatele i Semenakh [The Parable of the Sower and the Seed]; 56 D.S. Merezhkovsky’s O, Bozhe Moy [Oh, My God]; 57 V.S. Soloviev’s Emmanuil [Immanuel] 58 and Prizvanie Avraama v Zemlyu Obetovannuyu [The Call of Abraham to the Promised Land]; 59 I.I. Kozlov’s Moya Molitva [My Prayer]; 60 and S.Ya. Nadson’s Khristianka [A Christian Woman]. 61 In this period Bratsky Vestnik also published some printed music by famous Orthodox composers, for example: A.A. Kopylov, 62 A.A. Arkhangelsky, 63 and G.F. Lvovsky. 64 Russian Orthodox authors were also increasingly commended or featured in Bratsky Vestnik in the 1980s. Thus in 1988 (the year of the celebration of the 1000 th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia) the General Secretary of the