Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Euro-Asia recently honored Pastor Nikolai Zhukaluk and his wife, Yevgenia, for five decades of church service that spanned the height of Stalin's power and the fall of the Soviet Union, and included more than two years imp
Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Euro-Asia recently honored Pastor Nikolai Zhukaluk and his wife, Yevgenia, for five decades of church service that spanned the height of Stalin’s power and the fall of the Soviet Union, and included more than two years imprisonment for distributing Christian material.
Artur Stele, president of the Adventist Church in Euro-Asia, presented the couple with an award during mid-year administrative meetings held in St. Petersburg, Russia. “We want you to know that the church has not forgotten your long ministry,” he said. “We love you and remember you.”
Zhukaluk, a native of western Ukraine, trained as a journalist and served in the Soviet army before becoming an Adventist pastor in the 1950s. In 1973 he was arrested on charges of distributing illegal Christian literature. Like hundreds of other Christians living under the atheistic regime, he had been involved in the underground “samizdat” press, in which Bibles and other books were secretly typed and passed among Christian believers. After six months of interrogation, he and another church member were sentenced to two years in prison. During the imprisonment, his wife waited at home with their four children.
After his release from prison, Zhukaluk continued to serve the Ukrainian church as an administrator, editor, and book author. Colleagues say he was instrumental in reviving the Adventist Church during the declining years of Communist power. He was sent as a delegate to four of the denomination’s quinquennial world sessions.
Although Adventists have existed in Ukraine and Russia for 116 years, most current members joined the church during the past decade of improved religious freedom. “The Zhukaluk family represents a former time in our nation and our church,” said one observer at the award ceremony in St. Petersburg. “The new generation needs to hear their story.”