V. Franсhuk. The Consistory of the Church in Byelorussia under the Germans and the Diaspora
The recommendation of G. Schmidt was understandable, and, apparently, for the conditions in Germany this was the only way to preserve the Pentecostal churches while waiting for better times. But for the Belarusian ministers, such a solution did not seem the only possible one—they decided to appeal to the occupation authorities with a request to open Pentecostal congregations and to recognize a governing center.
At that time, the German army was already weakened by the defeat near Moscow and Stalingrad; the occupation authorities in Belarus were powerless to effectively counter the powerful partisan movement in the Belarusian forests, where entire districts were controlled by Soviet partisans, and the occupation authorities had no time for religious subtleties.
After familiarizing themselves with the Pentecostal doctrine, which had been translated into German with the close involvement of preacher Alexander Petrovich Motsevilo, permission for the legal activity of Pentecostal churches and their governing center was granted without much delay. Not without German terminology. The center was registered in 1943 as the Consistory of the Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and was located in Baranovichi. Ivan Panko came to be called bishop, and Sergei Vashkevich—general secretary.
On behalf of the ministers, Presbyter Nikolai Ivanovich Osilovsky (1914–1985) from the village of Klompik obtained from the Gebietskommissariat blank certificates for ministers, the necessary registration documents, and seals.
During that period, the following actively labored in the KhVE congregations on the territory of Belarus: Iosif Feofilovich Tsiunchik, Alexander Petrovich Motsevilo, Stepan Vasilievich Beinya, Konstantin Stepanovich Sidorenko, Nikolai Nikolayevich Germanovich, Ivan Andreyevich Pikta, Ilya Mikhailovich Kozak, Anton Matveyevich Klyuchnik, Ivan Zhurikho, Pavel Volodko, Iosif Matskevich, Semyon Novik, Pyotr Yaruk, the brothers Kasperovich, Gritskevich, and many other ministers.
By this time, Stanislav Nedvetsky was no longer alive. He openly stated in his sermons, having a revelation from the Lord, that the fascist regime would soon end, that the Soviet Army would return. Following a traitor’s denunciation, the Gestapo seized Nedvetsky, and in the spring of 1943 he was shot in Vileika prison, just as had been foretold to him in a prophetic word many years before, when he was still in America… Later, Iosif Kamilovich Kulbitsky was elected senior presbyter for the Molodechno-Vileika district (where 16 churches existed).
The Voice of the Pentecostal Diaspora
After the war ended, Zub-Zolotarev’s magazine “Christian Herald” became a kind of link between believers scattered all over the world, publishing letters from Christians of the Evangelical Faith—Slavs from Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, Canada, the United States, Uruguay, Paraguay, the Philippines, China, Australia, and other countries. Many Christians of the Evangelical Faith of Polish and Ukrainian nationality found themselves on the territory of Poland. This was an entirely different world from the one in which believers in the USSR found themselves, although also filled with memories of the horrors of war. Here are reports from Poland from Andrei Davidyuk, Iosif Chersky, Fyodor Maksimovich.
“Dear brother in Christ I. Zub-Zolotarev!
Having the opportunity to re-establish written contact, I want to write at least a couple of words, because I cannot possibly describe everything we had to endure throughout the entire war, this dreadful calamity.
First of all, I praise God that I am alive and well and with part of my family in Germany. I must say this is the second time I have been here. The first time I was taken to Germany for work from 1939 to 1942. Then I returned home to my old places, where I was able to labor in God’s field for two years together with our old friends. The Lord wonderfully blessed us—despite various difficulties and war fears, hundreds of souls turned to the Lord.
In 1943 I married; my wife is from Tuchin, Rovno county. I was again taken to Germany with my wife and my two sisters, where we remain to this day, no longer four but five, for we have a daughter Lida.
I must say it is a miracle that we are still alive here. Many times we were rescued from death. Personally, I was taken three times to be put to death, but the Lord saved me—of which I cannot write in detail; apparently the Lord has work for me.
In our homeland, in the old places of our labor with you, much has changed, especially during the war. Many brothers suffered, and some were killed. Brother Matsega is alive, has three children, lives in one of the German colonies and farms. Prokopchuk married a sister from Zelena and labors for the Lord. In general, everyone else, despite great difficulties, labored as they could.
Brother Verbitsky perished in the war. The Germans threw Petrov’s mother-in-law alive into the fire. Hundreds died such a death in our area, but through all this the children of God did not surrender their banner to the enemy but remained faithful to the Lord unto death. The Lord added thousands to the church during the war. Where there had not been a single believer before, large congregations were organized. The Lord performed miracles that cannot be described—to Him be the glory!
A. Davidyuk”
“Dear brother in Christ Ivan Zub-Zolotarev! Peace to you!
I received your letter, for which I sincerely thank you. Now I will describe in more detail our experience during these past years of great nightmare. You cannot imagine the horror and the fear! Only the Lord could keep us.
When we were under occupation, the Lord wonderfully blessed our work. Hundreds of souls were baptized. In Olshany the house could not accommodate the believers, and in 1944 we built a much larger house, seating about 500 souls.
That same year I left for Poland, where I lived near Warsaw for a year, suffering from cold and hunger. Then I went to East Prussia, where spiritual work began, and now there are about 50 members in our city.
We hold to the full Holy Gospel, though there are others among us. Among the old workers are brother Chersky, Myshak, and Selyuzhitsky.
About brother Nedvetsky we only heard that he apparently perished at the hands of the Germans, but about others I do not know.
We hold meetings in Polish, so if you have any literature in Polish, please send it, as well as in Russian for us preachers.”
Our freedom here is very great, as before 1939—one could say, boundless. We have the same rights before the government as the Catholics do. In June of this year we will have a conference of our Pentecostal brothers in the city of Lodz, about which I will inform you later.
Greetings to you, your wife, and all God’s children, together with my whole family.
Your brother F. Maximovich
Dear and beloved brother in Christ Z. Zolotarev! Peace be with you!
I received your letter, for which I am deeply moved and thank you. I also thank you for the songbooks and magazines that I received. We are now in great need of spiritual literature. You cannot imagine what we have lived through. Of the cities, only heaps of ruins remain. We ourselves were close to death several times, but the Lord wonderfully preserved my life and that of my family. Many brothers are no longer among the living. Brother Nedvetsky was killed by the Germans, and many other brothers as well. Brother Tikhon Yatsiuk and his son have already fallen asleep. Luka Goroshko and Mikhail Verbitsky—I do not know if they returned from the war. Grisha Goroshko is at home. Brother Teslyuk lives in his old place and serves as the leader of the congregations in Galicia. Brother Maxim Nagorny preaches in Kyiv.
Our work of the Christians of Evangelical Faith has already been in its second year of independent activity. We applied for registration with the ministry and have full rights, just like all others. We have already opened up to 40 congregations where meetings are held regularly and freely. This year about 250 souls were received through water baptism. The Lord saves, baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and also heals from illnesses.
People are currently in great material need. May the hands of those who give not grow weary; God will reward everything.
We were visited by Brother Fugovsky from the Union of the Assemblies of God of North America. He is a wonderful preacher and devoted to the Lord. He bears much fruit for the Lord.
For everything you sent, we thank the Lord and you, and we ask, do not forget us in your prayers. I send you, from myself and our entire union, warm greetings, and to all God’s children in South America. Especially to those brothers who know me. I wish you abundant blessings from the Lord.
I remain in fervent love in Christ.
Your brother I. Chersky
D. and A. Bolsunovsky (apparently, they previously lived together with Zub-Zolotarev in Cholnitsa) wrote to him from Germany, where by fate’s will they found themselves during the war years:
«Dear brother in the Lord I. Zub-Zolotarev! Peace be to you and your household, and may God’s love fill your heart!
Only by the Lord’s mercy did we remain alive. We experienced much that was terrible and dangerous; many, many times our lives hung by a thread, and if the Lord had not been our help and defender, we would no longer be alive. A great storm scattered us across various countries, and many could not bear that weight and passed into eternity, being killed. Many were driven into buildings, barns, or even churches and there burned alive. There was no pity there; children were thrown into the fire alive; this brutal extermination defies description.
Hundreds of thousands were taken to concentration camps in Germany, including my son-in-law V. Gusaruk, who after 11 months of imprisonment was liberated by the American army barely alive. We are all now in poor health because we were undernourished and endured much horror. Millions of people were forcibly deported to Germany for labor, and there they died like flies from hunger and harsh conditions. The deportees were not considered human, but worse than filthy livestock; the goal was to annihilate the Slavic people, but the Lord had mercy and did not allow it. Thus, I and my family, my son-in-law V. Gusaruk, my daughter, and grandchildren ended up in Germany. We have a small congregation of about 30 people and about 6 who are drawing near; Brother A. Davidyuk is here, and we work together. Our health is poor due to a lack of fats, and in Germany it is impossible to buy fats even with money.»
The editorial office of the “Christian Herald” also received information from G. Kinderman that Arthur Bergolts is alive and is near Bremen in Germany, while his wife and children are near Copenhagen in Denmark. Here is another letter from Andrei Efremovich Davidyuk, written in 1946.
«Dear brother in Christ I. Zub-Zolotarev!
I am letting you know that I received your letter, for which I sincerely thank you. At present I am in another place, 20 kilometers from the sea, in Papenburg.
I moved here specifically to work for the Lord. We have a congregation where there are 30 members baptized in the Holy Spirit. There are those who are drawing near, and many attend meetings and give themselves to the Lord.
The work is vast, but the workers are few. Brother Brui and I have about 20 locations in the British and American zones that we are serving. Although we have difficulties, the Lord gives us victory.
The German brothers are carrying on their work separately from us.
Brother Bergolts recently left the Baptists and began working with our brothers. One can say that they are having good success, especially a great awakening among the German refugees. Many have been baptized in the Holy Spirit; even many Lutheran pastors have come to the conclusion that power from on high is needed and are praying for baptism in the Holy Spirit. Brother Bergolts is 50 km away from me. You ask about many old workers; as far as I have learned, Brother Fedyshyn was tortured to death in 1940.
Brother Chepeliuk was with me most recently in Krakow and stayed there. Brother Alexander Davidyuk is in Lviv; he is the representative of all Pentecostal brothers in Galicia.
Brother Vereshchagin—remained a Soviet doctor and is a believer. Brother Ilchuk worked for the Lord all the time; several faithful witnesses brought this news.
In one village there was an incident: the Germans rounded up the whole village to shoot them, and the people stood over a pit, but there was a family of believers who asked permission to pray before death, and it was granted. When they prayed, and the Lord poured out His blessing, the Gestapo men became terrified and all the people were acquitted; after that, many came to faith.
The Lemeshchuk sisters stayed at home; they are alive and well, and for some time they taught children. Lyuba Kobyako was almost all the time in your house in Kivertsi.»
Despite all the hardships and privations of the first post-war months and years, while engaging in spiritual work among the Slavs driven to German territory by the wartime turmoil, Andrey Davidyuk and other ministers of the Full Gospel and Evangelical Church who also found themselves on that soil carried on their spiritual labor with great results. In 1947, it even became possible to hold a Slavic Pentecostal conference in Germany. Here is Andrey Davidyuk’s letter about this:
“Dear brother and sister I. and M. Zolotarev!
By this letter I inform you that your dear letter, and also the package of songbooks — I have received all of it, for which I thank you heartily. Your letters and care for us greatly strengthen us in our difficult circumstances.
We do not let our hands hang down, but we labor for God, and the Lord is adding those who are being saved, so that once again we have about 12 souls who have drawn near and are preparing to enter into covenant with the Lord.
We are preparing for the conference, which will take place March 1–3 of this year. Brother V. Bruj and I have already sent out invitations to this conference. We are praying that the Lord will help us, and we ask you — pray for us as well. After the conference I will write more.”
Rastembork, Poland.
10-1-1946
Dear and beloved in the Lord brother I. Z.-Zolotarev! Peace be with you!
After a long storm and turmoil I am trying to establish some connection with you and other brothers across the ocean.
By the mercy of the Most High, we are still alive. The Lord led us wonderfully through the stormy ocean, only to cast us on another shore, namely: East Prussia. We rejoice and thank the Lord for all we have experienced. The Selyuzhitsky brothers — both — are alive; Yakov is here with me, and Grigoriy is in Pinsk. Brother Pan’ko is working in Belorussia.
For now we have settled in as best we could. We live in town, we gather, and the Lord blesses and comforts us. We conduct services in Polish. I am, for the time being, the one in charge, registered before the authorities, but for now we are together with the Baptists.
Dear brother Zolotarev, I have a request for you: if it is no trouble, please let me have the addresses of the brothers: Schmidt, Kindermann, and Peysti. Maybe some literature and Holy Scripture in Polish and Russian can be sent — please help, we are hungry and poor in this now, there is only what dwells in the heart.
Your brother F. Maximovich
The life of the Slavic Pentecostal churches in the United States of America was, naturally, quite different. Here is Demyan Matysyuk’s report on an event that took place during the war.
“From the 15th to the 16th of December 1944, a conference of our Russian brothers residing in North America was held in Jersey City, at which it was decided to enter into closer cooperation with the American Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri, as the Russian Department of the Assemblies of God. The following brethren were elected to the council: D.A. Matysyuk — chairman of the department; I.I. Seregov — secretary and editor of the official organ, the magazine ‘Strannik’; F.P. Viktorchik — treasurer; P.I. Krnieta, S.I. Zhuk, M.V. Grigoriev, and S.M. Malaychuk — members of the board.
The first issue of the magazine ‘Strannik’ has already been published. The brotherly report reads: ‘After this conference and decision, the Lord’s work is getting into order, and better success is seen among our brotherhood in North America. Glory to the Lord!’”
At the same period, while working actively among the Slavic and German population, Gustav Kindermann, who by that time had become secretary of the European Advisory Committee of the Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri, also maintained close contact with the Slavic churches of North and South America. It is known that in March–May 1945 he visited Argentina and Paraguay and ministered God’s Word in Buenos Aires and Misiones, where large meetings were held with the Lord’s blessing. Together with I. Zub-Zolotarev, they also visited the congregations in Kuchizha and Baf Ondo in Chaco, where they had blessed meetings and joyful brotherly fellowship with the children of God, with the Slavs living in Chaco. Before his departure at the end of May, he took part in a Bible week in the Buenos Aires congregation, led by Zub-Zolotarev.
A year later, working to the point of exhaustion in Europe in order to offer some help to the needy, suffering people, Kindermann appealed to the Slavic Pentecostals of Argentina for assistance. In his appeal, titled “Help now, without delay,” he wrote the following:
“It is a pity that a day has only 24 hours, and a man only two hands, so that many, myself included, are unable to fulfill all their desires and promises.
Since I am preparing for the return journey to Europe on the 7th of March and do not know when I will find the opportunity to write you a few words, I consider it my duty to do so now. If possible, please pass on my message to the brethren in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, so that they may support me before the Lord’s throne with their prayers, for only the One God can help me and all who are in need of His holy strength.
The Lord helped me to spend seven and a half months in Europe in 1946. I returned to North America on the 14th of October. Although traveling by rail at present is better than on foot, one must still not forget that the railway carriages in nearly all European countries were partly smashed, and all that remains has great deficiencies, such as: no windows, no lights, no heating. Trains are already overcrowded an hour or an hour and a half before departure, so that there is even no passage in the corridor. Often I had to ask the question, where are they all going? This is where: for potatoes, for bread, just to survive.
During my stay in Europe I was given the opportunity to visit the following countries: France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, England, Germany, and Austria. I had the chance to meet with Pentecostal brothers, such as Chersky, Maximovich, Yavushevich, and Sister Jeske in Poland; then Zelenyak from Yugoslavia; I saw Bergholz, Hildebrand, and others from Poland, who are now in the British zone in Germany.”
To describe in detail the conditions our brothers and sisters are in, I can only say that it is difficult to express in words; people are suffering, lacking food, clothing, and heating. The housing problem is also unresolved, for many are forced to live in barracks, and in such conditions, it is primarily the children who suffer, as they do not attend school.
The need for daily sustenance makes many bow their knees and ask the Lord, and the result is that the Lord sends not only what is needed for the body, but He also gives spiritual revival among His people, so that many find salvation for their souls. Sinners turn to Him at almost every evangelistic meeting, as the brethren who minister God’s Word write.
There is also a great need for spiritual literature, Bibles, and New Testaments. As much as possible, we send from the Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, German, and Hungarian departments. Praise the Lord that in the Union of Assemblies of God in North America all the above-mentioned departments are active and help their brothers and sisters in Christ in Europe.
We give full guarantee that every sum will be sent in full without any delay or deduction for expenses.
While in Denmark, I found a large trading enterprise through which we purchase at the cheapest price: 2 lbs. of butter, lard or fat, 1 lb. of cheese, 1 lb. of marmalade, and 1 lb. of honey. Such packages cost $7 delivered to Poland. There are packages called KARE, which cost $10 with delivery. In any case, what help can be given must be given now, not tomorrow. People are dying of hunger and cold by the tens in every city, as the majority of people do not receive fats, and therefore have no energy or strength to survive this cold.
Many churches of various persuasions are beginning to take interest in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I believe there will be revival in all churches that thirst for the Holy Spirit.
Greet all who love the Lord, pray that the Lord gives strength and wisdom in His holy work.
Your brother in the Lord, G. Kinderman
This address was printed in the “Christian Herald” and
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