V. Franchuk. The Church in Western Ukraine and Belarus in 1944 and Until August 1945 after the Return of Soviet Power
In 1944, the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus was liberated from Nazi German forces.
The Spiritual Consistory of the Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith continued to function, with its center still in Baranovichi; the office was located at 23 Ozernaya Street, where Sergei Vashkevich also lived. The Spiritual Consistory was recognized by Soviet authorities, received new stamps and seals, and began the work of registering Pentecostal communities locally through Soviet regional and city executive committees. To this end, necessary documents were drawn up; in early 1945, certificates were issued to ministers and special letters of authorization were given to senior district presbyters for church registration, and contacts with leaders of the Evangelical Faith Christians in Ukraine were initiated.
Archival materials reveal that from the spring of 1945, Panko and Vashkevich began traveling to Ukraine, where initially in the Rovno region they met with their old acquaintances from their pre-war work together in the Union of Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith – Porfiriy Avtonomovich Ilchuk and Anton Vasilievich Nikitchuk. Later, they convened a congress of Cholnitse ministers in Volhynia, where the restoration of the Pentecostal Union was discussed. Then Nikitchuk organized a similar meeting in Lvov at Voitovich’s home, attended by Iosafat Makar, Daniil Adamek, and other ministers. Having carefully listened to Panko and Vashkevich, they firmly spoke in favor of joining together and working jointly. They were actively supported by the Lvov churches.
However, the creation of the Union of Evangelical Faith Christians did not come to pass — by that time, Soviet authorities in Moscow had already decided that Pentecostals were not to have their own union and could only join the recently formed AUCECB (All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists). Responsible workers from the AUCECB — A.V. Karev, I.G. Ivanov, M.A. Orlov — traveled several times to Belarus and Ukraine.
Gradually, the question of entry and unification of the communities of Christians of Evangelical Faith into the AUCECB came to a head. General Secretary Sergei Vashkevich traveled to Moscow to study the issue. In the summer of 1945, a conference of ministers of Evangelical Faith Christian communities was held in Baranovichi, at which I.K. Panko brought up for discussion the matter of unity with the AUCECB.
It should be noted that the question of spiritual unity with Christians of other confessions had never been foreign to Christians of Evangelical Faith — as early as 1937, Arthur Bergholz and Gustav Schmidt held a meeting in Warsaw with leaders of unions of Evangelical Christians and Baptists (there were five such unions in Poland) and spoke about good relations, brotherly love, and mutual cooperation.
Such thoughts about the “unity of all God’s children” were expressed in the pages of the magazines Budivnychyi Tserkvy Bozhoyi and Evangel’skiy Golos in publications by Demyan Gerasevich and Grigoriy Fedishin; a significant letter from Gustav Schmidt had been received relatively recently. But never before had the question of organizational unification loomed so sharply and so plainly. The leading ministers were hesitant. Daniil Komsa clearly and definitely spoke out against such organizational unity with Evangelical Christians-Baptists. A similar opinion was held by Pavel Tur and Pavel Volodko. But the majority of ministers approved the idea of Pentecostal communities joining the AUCECB.
This consent was to be sealed with a signature in Moscow. Panko and Vashkevich were entrusted with this task. In granting them such authority, the conference of ministers in Baranovichi placed the fate of the brotherhood of Christians of Evangelical Faith into the hands of Ivan Panko and Sergei Vashkevich.
August 1945 was approaching…
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