Colonel V. A. Pashkov and the Late Nineteenth-Century Protestant Movement in Russia, Jan M. Surer, 1999

oly Synod after Pashkov's banishment in 1884. In a letter to Pobedonostsev in 1885 reguesting the return of the confiscated books and brochures, Pashkov described the book as "recognized throughout the entire Christian world as one of the best expressions of practical Christian piety." 64 The Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Ethical Reading also published the periodical entitled The Russian Worker [ Russkii Rabochii ]. Its editor and founder. 63 Kuolen . Pashkov Papers 1/2. €4 PP II/l/b/62. 42 Maria Peuker, had been converted during a visit to England by a sermon of the American evangelist D,.L. Moody-. 65 • Its woodcut illustrations and many of its articles were taken from the Religious Tract Society in London. A government newspaper praised it for its "profitable and intelligible reading for the common people" in 1884, and the journal eventually reached a circulation of three thousand. 66 In 1886, however, as the alarm of Pobedonostsev and others at the spread of this new form of sectarianism increased, the government decided to close down the journal. One article from the journal, entitled "The Lion", drew a comparison between God's Word as a weapon against the devil and fire, which can keep lions at bay. Another story contrasted the smooth day of one farmer, who "oils" everything with kindness and care, to the frustrations of a harsh and thoughtless neighbor. Another tells the tale of a man and his family ruined by vodka-drinking. Highlighted Scripture quotations appear throughout. News from the Turkish War and a portrait of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, a commander-in- 65 Stead, pp. 339-342. See Heier, pp. 71-74, for a discussion of Leskov's friendship with M. G. Peuker and his views towards the journal, to which he sometimes contributed and even edited for one year. Peuker also had consulted Tolstoy before beginning her project. Her journal and Pashkov's printing society may have helped to inspire Tolstoy's own publishing efforts for the peasants. See Heier, p. 72, n. 41. 66 That this was a respectable circulation figure can be seen from the following comparisons. M. Katkov's nationalistic Moskovskie Vedomosti ( Moscow News ’) in the 1860's reached the exceptional circulation of 12,000. N. K. Mikhailovsky's Otechestvennye Zapiski ( Fatherland Annals ^ went from a circulation of 2,000 to 8,000 per month between 1867 and 1870. See Billington, p. 43, n. 2; p. 61. 43 chief, also appeared. 67 Instead of the gospel of socialism, then,, the Pashkovites preached the practice of such virtues as kindness and temperance. The believer was to devote his life to the service of God. In their work among the lower classes they showed that wealth was to be a means of this service to God and others. Less wealthy brothers in the faith were expected to use their means in the same way. 68 The aristocratic Pashkovites thus did not explicitly turn against their class in t