Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 7, No. 3, 2007

movement arrived at a propitious time. Significant changes were beginning to occur in Russia with the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and their increased mobility. Other Great Reforms followed which brought political, judicial and military change. In addition, railroads were built, and literacy, although still limited and far below standards in the West, was rising. Some stirring was also occurring on the religious front. The British and Foreign Bible Society, through its translation work and distribution of scripture, and the Religious Tract Society provided scripture and tracts. Johannes Bonekemper (1795-1857) and his son Karl (1817-1893) made their Reformed parish near Odessa a centre of revivalism, and Eduard Wiist (1818-1859), a separatist Lutheran in South Russia who preached with revival fervour, made an impact on both Lutherans and Mennonites. On the Border The Baptist Church in Memel in East Prussia (today Klaipeda in Lithuania), established in 1841 as the tenth German Baptist Church and the first in East Prussia, became the Baptist ‘Antioch’ for much of the Baltic 2 Baptist Missionary Magazine, November 1850, p. 311. 36 Journal of European Baptist Studies region. 3 In 1853 the Baptist Missionary Magazine reported that the church had ten mission stations, one of which was at Tilsit on the Russian border which was extending its influence into Russia itself. A woman of the Tilsit station wrote a letter which resulted in the conversion of a young Russian. Two brothers in Russia also became believers, one of whom was converted from a tract. A further report in 1859 told of a woman who came many miles from behind the Russian border to hear preaching at one of the stations near Tilsit. 4 Another border territory was the Aland Islands, situated in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, which were populated by Swedes but belonged to Russia. During the Crimean War when the islands were under British occupation, Carl M. Mollersvard (1832-1901) - who had been baptized in 1853 in the Baptist Mariner’s Church in New York City - after returning to Sweden went to the islands in 1854. A member of the Evangelical Union provided him assistance for trade with the British navy. Although only twenty-one years old, he began to preach, starting a revival movement. After two and a half months of ministry, he was forced to depart due to the Russian reoccupation, but seeds had been planted for Baptist work. 5 Because of Mollersvard’s influence and Swedish Baptist publications o on believer’s baptism, three men from the Aland Islands went in 1856 to Stockholm for baptism. On their return to the islands, one of the four baptized four more converts. In the same year at Fbglb, believers formed o the first Baptist Church in the Russian Empire. The work in the Alands led to the first baptism in 1869 in Finland, then also part of Russia. 6 Poland and Volhynia The year 1853 was not only noteworthy