A two-day scholarly conference on the history and future of Protestant Christianity in Russia met with great interest by scholars and participants.
A two-day scholarly conference on the history and future of Protestant Christianity in Russia met with great interest by scholars and participants. Sponsored by the Zaokski Theological Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist institution, participants included representatives of the Russian Orthodox church, several Protestant groups, scholars and writers on religious topics.
Under the theme “Protestantism in Russia—Past, Present, And Future,” the program featured academic papers devoted to the Russian predecessors of Protestantism, the medieval heretics of Pskov and Novgorod called Strigolniks, who were chronicled by historian Igor Ragozny of the University of St. Petersburg, and the so-called “Judaizers” of the 14th and 15th centuries, the subject of a talk by Oleg Zhigankovy, who teaches at Zaokski.
Also presenting were Mikhail Odintsov, president of the Russian Society for the Study of Religion, on the history of The Salvation Army in Russia, and University of St. Petersburg professor Mikhail Krapivin on relations between the Soviet authorities and non-Orthodox Christian associations, or “sectarians,” in the first decade of the USSR’s existence. According to Krapivin, the early communist leaders courted the Protestants in a play against the Orthodox Church, but this later died out.
Elena Speranskaia, an Orthodox Church functionary at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations is responsible for relations with Protestants and “new” religions, attended the conference and, according to a report by Valery Emelianov from the Portal-Credo.ru news service, offered encouragement that Protestants and Orthodox might cooperate.
“I do not understand why anyone wants to represent the patriarchate as some kind of monster or boogeyman,” she said, according to the report. “Much has been said about politics, but for some reason there is little about God and Christ. Let’s talk more about what unites us and let’s work together in the solution of social problems.”
Numerically, Protestants make up a small percentage of the Russian population, perhaps as little as 1.5 percent, but the 4,300 registered Protestant groups comprise 21 percent of religious organizations in Russia, said Remir Lopatkin, professor at the Russian Academy of State Service. It is the second figure after the Orthodox Church, which claims 58 percent of such registered groups.
Participating in the conference was the mayor of Zaokski who said the presence of the Adventist Church was important to the region.
“It was the will of God that Adventists picked out this place for the seminary. We are satisfied and happy because they made better atmosphere in our region, they teach people to live happier [lives],” he said.
In his article, Portal-Credo.ru reporter Emelianov lamented the lack of promised participation in the program by Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist and Reformed Churches, although he said organizers claimed attendance by members of several of these communities.
[Editor’s Note: This report includes material provided by the Portal-Credo.ru service, via translation at the Russia Religion News page of Stetson University,
]http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.]
