Has the Russian Far East become Protestant?
The number of Protestant communities in the Far East has surpassed the number of Russian Orthodox Church parishes. In terms of officially registered religious organizations by the Ministry of Justice, the Protestant direction also outnumbers other religious confessions.
The most “Protestant” regions of the Far East are Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais. In Primorye there are 178 registered communities of various orientations—Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, Adventists, and a dozen others. The Russian Orthodox Church in this region has 89, with three more Old Believer parishes and six Catholic ones. Other “traditional” religions—Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism—are also represented very modestly: six mosques, seven synagogues, and four Buddhist pagodas.
In Khabarovsk Krai the situation looks very similar: out of 163 religious organizations, 96 are Protestant. The number of non-Orthodox parishes is only increasing. Meanwhile, the ROC is losing ground—from time to time news appears about the closure of certain parishes. In 2005 the Khabarovsk diocese liquidated two parishes—in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and in the settlement of Berezovka in the Khabarovsk district.
“At the moment the church does not have the funds to maintain a parish with a small number of parishioners,” the diocese reported. Currently in this region the Russian Orthodox Church has 48 branches left.
Moreover, as Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports, Protestant activity is also spreading to regions of Siberia. The largest number of organizations of this persuasion are in Krasnoyarsk Krai—111, Irkutsk Oblast—97, and Sverdlovsk Oblast—94. Pentecostalism is gaining the most ground, especially charismatic churches within this religious stream.
“This phenomenon has a long history. Orthodoxy reached these territories quite late. Representatives of confessions that were not tolerated in the Russian Empire were exiled to Siberia and the Far East. Many fled persecution—Molokans, Doukhobors, Mennonites, Stundists, and so on. In Soviet times, clergy who escaped execution were exiled to the Far East. Thus, an elite of Russian Protestants concentrated there,” pastor Konstantin Bendas, executive director of the chairman of the Russian United Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, told SP.
The ROC officially found it difficult to comment on this situation. The head of the press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, Vladimir Vigilianskii, explained to SP that he does not comment on relations with “sectarians and Protestants.” His view on the problem was shared by the rector of the Russian Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian, Hegumen Pyotr Yeremeyev. Earlier Father Pyotr headed the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary—it is precisely in Khabarovsk Krai that Protestants have launched the most vigorous activity.
Father Pyotr calls Protestants “sectarian organizations” and gives a number of reasons why the ROC has ceded part of its territory in the Russian Federation: “The still weak position of traditional religious organizations. In the first place, this concerns the Russian Orthodox Church: a small number of parishes, few clergy, only one theological seminary, which was opened literally a few years ago. This problem is caused by the complete destruction of any trace of the Orthodox Church in the region during the Soviet period. Despite the general interest of the population in Orthodoxy, the organization of communities is hindered by the lack of clergy adequate to the situation. Sectarians take advantage of the spiritual vacuum. Often missionary preachers speculatively use traditional symbols of Orthodoxy.
“The proximity of Japan, Korea, China. From these countries many sects (including those banned in their own countries) migrate to Russian territory, using the Far East as a bridgehead for further recruitment work throughout Russia. In the absence of any measures to counter this sectarian expansion locally, the situation is becoming unmanageable. American sects also consider the Far East a more effective and safer channel for penetrating Russia.
“The lack of religious-studies centers and developed educational institutions that prepare specialists in sectology and religious studies. In the entire Far Eastern Federal District, only at the Far Eastern State University’s department of theology and religious studies are such specialists trained. The academic discipline ‘religious studies’ is taught in only a few Far Eastern higher-education institutions, and the majority of the instructors in this discipline do not have specialized religious-studies education. Because of this, university graduates (future lawyers, economists, technicians, builders, etc.) lack religious literacy and the skills to distinguish safe religious teaching from destructive sectarian teaching.
“The absence of specialized rehabilitation and anti-sect centers to counter destructive and totalitarian cults. While in the European part of Russia there are several dozen, in the Far East there are none. Support for sects from recruited officials and law-enforcement personnel. Recent exposing scandals in the Far Eastern Federal District, connected with the recruitment of high-ranking officials by sectarians, testify to the success of sectarians’ work in this direction.
“The lack of critical information about the activities of sects in the FEFD. Exposing materials are practically not allowed into the local media. In the absence of truthful critical information, citizens rely only on the information that the sect itself provides about itself.”
SubscribeViaEmail: “Subscribe via Email”, BookmarkInYourBrowser: “Add to Bookmarks”, BookmarkInstructions: “Press Ctrl+В or ⌘+D to bookmark this page”, AddToYourFavorites: “Add to Favorites”, SendFromWebOrProgram: “Send via Email Service”, EmailProgram: “Email Services” }; a2a_config.linkname=“Has the Russian Far East Become Protestant?”; a2a_config.linkurl=“https://perchatkin.org/perchatkin/?p=1565”; //–>
No related posts.