V. Franchuk. The authorities and Judases are driving Pentecostals into the AUCECB

August 22, 2011 · Adam Bondaruk, Baptists, Victor Belykh, AUCECB, Persecution, Interview, KGB, Books, Unregistered Pentecostals, Nikolay Kotyakov, On Emigration, United Church of Evangelical Christians, Vestibule, Petr Saenko, Pentecostals, Religious Mafia, Slavik Radchuk, Contemporary Persecution, Security Services

AN ADDRESS TO FORMER CHRISTIANS OF THE EVANGELICAL FAITH

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! God’s peace be with you!

On August 24 and 25, 1945, a decision was reached in Moscow to unite Christians of the Evangelical Faith with Evangelical Christians-Baptists. This was a momentous event, necessary for the good of all of us and for the entire work of the Lord in our country. Christians of the Evangelical Faith joined the great and united family of God’s children in the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. This merger was met with jubilation, joy, and thanksgiving to the Lord among the overwhelming majority of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and Evangelical Christians-Baptists. Our Lord’s desire for the unity of His children on earth has come to pass.

Ten months have already passed since that joyful event — the merger of Christians of the Evangelical Faith with Evangelical Christians-Baptists — and during this time our church has been strengthened, striving together in one accord with all those redeemed for the evangelical faith.

Ten months of work since the merger have demonstrated the vital necessity of this greatest event in the history of evangelical churches in our country and the enormous results in the work of our united brotherhood.

We, the former leaders of the Christians of the Evangelical Faith in Ukraine and Byelorussia, address you, dear brothers and sisters, with this letter in order to more quickly complete the merger of Christians of the Evangelical Faith with Evangelical Christians-Baptists where it has, for one reason or another, been delayed, and in order that the merger may be truly sincere, as is fitting for us who preach Christ crucified.

We cannot overlook certain deplorable phenomena which, unfortunately, are observed in some congregations on the part of individual former Christians of the Evangelical Faith, either those who have not understood the Agreement or who persist in things that are completely unacceptable in our united brotherhood.

First: speaking in other tongues and foot-washing in prayer meetings.

In some congregations the Agreement is being violated with regard to speaking in tongues and foot-washing. Therefore, we appeal to former Christians of the Evangelical Faith with the request that they strictly observe the Agreement and not violate it by speaking in other tongues and practicing foot-washing in prayer meetings.

Second: attempts are observed on the part of some former Christians of the Evangelical Faith to persuade Evangelical Christians-Baptists to adopt the use of other tongues and foot-washing, thereby introducing dissension and division among God’s children. We therefore ask that such “missionary” work in our united brotherhood be halted and that questions about other tongues and foot-washing not be raised, preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Third: cases are observed of loud “choral prayers” in prayer meetings with strong shouting, which disrupts public order. Such prayers must cease, and one should pray with a quiet prayer so as not to disturb the brother or sister standing next to you. In this way the words of the Apostle Paul will be fulfilled (1 Cor. 14:40): “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

Fourth: we have received information about some utterly disgraceful phenomena in various places, attributed to the Holy Spirit but having nothing in common with Him. For example: clutching at one’s hair, distorting one’s face, waving one’s arms, screaming in a squeal to the entire assembly: “Baptize, baptize, baptize” and the like. Such phenomena are completely impermissible in our congregations, and those who permit them must be admonished and, if they do not correct themselves, excluded from our congregations.

Fifth: in some congregations, individual former Christians of the Evangelical Faith utter “prophecies” in the form of predictions of the future. Such “prophecies” are impermissible, as they bring dishonor to the name of our Lord. Those uttering such “prophecies” must be excluded from the ranks of our brotherhood.

Sixth: among former Christians of the Evangelical Faith there are individual persons who do not recognize military service, as called for by the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, and who also do not recognize passports, voting in elections, etc. We cannot have such brothers and sisters in our congregations.

We call upon our brothers and sisters, former Christians of the Evangelical Faith, to take this our address into consideration and to strive in every way to consistently implement it in life, as the Word of God and our joint August Agreement call us to do.

Invoking the Lord’s blessing upon all of you and wishing you success in your life and service to our dear Redeemer.

With brotherly greetings to all of you, we remain your brothers in Christ.171

This address reached not only Christian congregations — it was also sent out to all commissioners, accompanied by a highly significant and eloquent memorandum with the following content.

June 19, 1946

Secret For your information and guidance, a copy of the “Address to Former Christians of the Evangelical Faith” (Pentecostals), signed by former leaders of the CEF in Ukraine and Byelorussia, Ponomarchuk and Panko, is being forwarded to you.

Chairman of the Council for Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR Polyansky172

The petitions of the Board of the Odessa Congregation of Christians of the Evangelical Faith to the Soviet government, requesting freedom for Pentecostal Christians and the right to legal existence, like many other similar petitions by believers, remained a voice crying in the wilderness.

The Onslaught Against the Church Meanwhile, the furious onslaught of the atheistic state even against registered local churches continued unabated. In a curious document entitled “Memorandum on the Dislocation of the Sect of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the City of Kiev,” Vilkhovoy reported that in February 1945, on the day the apparatus of the commissioner of the Council for Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Ukrainian SSR was organized, 10 actually functioning evangelical congregations in Kiev were registered.

He further writes literally as follows:

In the course of the daily study of the internal life of the aforementioned congregations and the regulation of their activities with a view to possible compression, we first of all liquidated those congregations in whose activities reactionary-mystical and fanatical tendencies and manifestations were most vividly expressed.

Among the latter, it is necessary first of all to note the two most characteristic communities, located (before their closure) on Krasnoarmeyskaya and Zhilyanskaya streets.

The community on Krasnoarmeyskaya Street, which formed during the German occupation, was a gathering of the most active elements of the fanatical sect of “shakers,” headed by a spiritual leadership drawn from bourgeois-nationalist elements.

In connection with this, we raised the question of closing the said community, whose activists were subsequently repressed.

The second community (at 104 Zhilyanskaya Street) was among the oldest (since 1904) and most “orthodox” Baptist communities in Ukraine, headed by an “influential” group that had established itself through collaboration with the German occupiers. Among them, the most “colorful” figure was presbyter Metelitsa, whom we had removed from the clergy register even before the question of dissolving the community was raised.

In addition to these two ECB religious communities, communities similar in their activities were closed at 4 Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street and in the hamlet of Kotsyubinskogo, Kiev-Svyatoshinsky district.

The most numerous ECB religious community is currently located in the city center (at 53-a Lenin Street) in a building allegedly restored with believers’ funds in 1928, which was later placed at the disposal of the Aviation Institute and remained in its use until 1941. The religious community, taking advantage of the German occupation, arbitrarily occupied this building, which before the war belonged to the Aviation Institute, and resumed its prayer meetings there. Adjacent to the prayer house premises are currently the Ministry of Agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR and a vocational school. The presence of a prayer house next to a ministry and an educational institution is undoubtedly an undesirable phenomenon and requires appropriate measures to close the prayer house.

By eliminating this community in the center of Kiev, we free the central part of the city from the undesirable influence of sectarianism and reduce its overall weight of influence.173

At the time of the closure of the Pentecostal prayer house at the rented premises at 89 Krasnoarmeyskaya Street (center of Kiev), it officially had 213 members.174 In reality, there were many more.

As for the Lvov region, before the reunification of the KhVE with the ECB, there were 26 registered ECB communities (with a total of 1,085 believers), and 25 KhVE communities were on the books, along with 11 KhVE groups numbering fewer than twenty persons (with a total of up to 3,000 believers).

As a result of the August decision on merger, as of September 25, 1947, a total of 58 communities were registered in the region, of which 26 were ECB and 32 KhVE; according to the commissioner Kucheryavy, 3 communities and 7 KhVE groups refused to unite.175

Speaking of what had been done to bring about such a union, Kucheryavy writes about a large amount of work. In particular:

Senior presbyter of the AUCECB Brichuk conducted interviews with groups of presbyters and leading Pentecostals to explain the August decision of the AUCECB. In all, there were nine talks in Lvov, Brody, Zolochev, Krasne, and Rava-Russkaya.
Brichuk and his assistants from the ECB went out to KhVE communities, where they held prayer meetings and sermons among KhVE church members. Those who went: Brichuk, Korsun, Sembay, Pritula, Rishak, Kit, Taras, Lozovy, and others.
Senior presbyter Brichuk gave written explanations and instructions to KhVE presbyters and communities, arising from the AUCECB decisions on merger and unity.
A festival of unity was held in Lvov, to which mainly the Pentecostal leaders were invited, where 12 people spoke with greetings; Brichuk, Adamek, Shchiry, Voytovich, Sembay, Kit, Lezhnev, Pritula, Rishchak, and others spoke with joy about the reunion and unity of believers.176

However, Kucheryavy self-critically considered all this insufficient and reported the following about his immediate plans:

I consider it necessary, through senior presbyter Brichuk, to remove from work the presbyters and leaders of KhVE communities and groups who stubbornly resist reunification with the ECB. It is necessary to elect more loyal members from the community to their place or send them from other communities.
I consider it expedient for senior presbyter Brichuk to go to the communities that have not reunited in order to conduct appropriate talks with the ordinary members of the community and groups.
For presbyters, leaders, and ordinary community members who provide their homes for prayer meetings of unregistered communities or groups, an income tax is to be imposed through the district financial departments.177

“Thus, in the Lvov region we will be able to completely finish with the reunification of the KhVE with the ECB,” Kucheryavy joyously reported in conclusion.178

A very valuable “cadre” for the commissioner was the AUCECB senior presbyter Brichuk, who had been “hooked” by state agencies for certain sinful facts in his biography. In the folder with secret reports, there is a “characterization” of his activities, conscientiously written by Kucheryavy. In particular, it is reported with satisfaction:

Brichuk recently took up the work of healing and merging communities: a) The exposure of his intimate relations with women believers had a moral effect on him; b) He dissolved the church choir, which consisted of young people, including students; c) He forbade presbyters from accepting young students as community members; d) He improved working contact with the Council’s commissioner.119

However, very soon the believers learned about such a sinful lifestyle of “Brother” Brichuk, so that even the fervent intercession of the authorities did not help—he was excommunicated by the believers themselves.

The position of senior presbyter became vacant, and an attempt was made in the churches to have Maksim Nagorny, a well-known Pentecostal minister who had already established his authority in ministry before the war—having, in his time, graduated from the Bible Institute in Danzig—assigned to this post. Reluctantly, the VSEKhB gave its consent for Nagorny to temporarily fill the duties of senior presbyter.

Nagorny was greatly disliked by the authorities. In January 1948, Kucheryavy wrote to Vilkhovoy in Kiev that, “observing and controlling the work and actions of Nagorny,” he had discovered that from the very first days the latter had shown “spinelessness toward believers, who, having learned that he was a Pentecostal, began gathering not only at home but already in groups in apartments and even shouting in tongues at prayer meetings. Nagorny explains this phenomenon as almost normal, stating that ‘one cannot stop and interrupt a believer when he is praying.’”180 The commissioner was deeply angered by the fact that several “Pentecostal” groups existed on the territory of the region that “stubbornly resist reunification,” while Nagorny “deliberately avoids this question of liquidating them or merging them with registered congregations and has so far done nothing and remains stubbornly silent.”181

Kucheryavy’s conclusion was categorical. He wrote to Vilkhovoy:

Taking into account your information and Nagorny’s desire to take the Pentecostals under his protection, who are already gathering illegally in apartments to pray in incomprehensible tongues, and having also spoken with the “neighbors,” I believe that Nagorny is indeed a random person in this work and will never justify your trust in the post of senior presbyter.182

Less than a month had passed before Nagorny’s fate was sealed. In February, Kucheryavy again sent a report to Kiev, writing of Nagorny that he “is a random and even harmful person in the post of senior presbyter and cannot be left in it any longer,” because Nagorny “has indeed surrounded himself with fanatical preachers of the KhVE and former Pentecostals, who formally joined the EKhB in order to be in a legal position. Nagorny gave them not only spiritual nourishment but also became the organizer of illegal gatherings of Pentecostals, which he himself even attends, and undoubtedly is preparing KhVE missionaries from among them.”183

“My attempts and those of others to establish the addresses of their illegal assemblies in Lvov,” the commissioner continued, “have so far remained futile, so thoroughly conspiratorial is his missionary work. During Nagorny’s time in Lvov, the former Pentecostals have grown spiritually and become full of life.” Kucheryavy was indignant that, when he asked whether the religious communities were satisfied with Senior Presbyter Nagorny, believers replied that “only Nagorny is a righteous spiritual leader,” and he declared that such “deliberate and direct connivance by Nagorny toward the Pentecostals fundamentally contradicts the August Agreement of the VSEKhB.”184

Kucheryavy was also outraged that in his sermons to the congregations Nagorny told his listeners that “the Bible is the book of foundations, that writers come and go and represent no value for people, but the Bible has never gone away and will never go away, it has always been and will be the handbook and preacher for Christians,” and that “the task of preachers and all Christians is to serve God the Father and His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, and to eternally glorify His name among the people, and to bring the lost back to the temple of the Saviour.”185

The operative part read as follows:

“On the basis of your letter concerning the release of Nagorny from the duties of senior presbyter of the EKhB, I coordinated this question with the ‘neighbors’ and made a decision: I proposed to Nagorny, in connection with the fact that he is being sent to the disposal of Andreyev L. A., that he hand over all the community’s affairs to the temporarily acting senior presbyter Shchiry A. A. Considering that during Nagorny’s stay here and with his assistance the Pentecostals, especially the presbyterial and diaconal personnel, have not only let themselves go but have grown insolent in ‘God’s vineyard,’ I believe that in order to liquidate the consequences of Nagorny, it is necessary for you to send a strong EKhB presbyter from the eastern regions who is proficient in the Ukrainian language. On 18 February, I am dispatching Nagorny to Andreyev’s disposal without any certificates or documents.”186

A man like Nagorny did not fit into this system.

In place of Nagorny, the VSEKhB sent Andryushchenko to Lvov. He was “their” man, but so much so that Kucheryavy did not like him either. Therefore Kucheryavy writes to M. V. Sazonov, deputy commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Ukrainian SSR, that “the senior presbyter for the Lvov region P. F. Andryushchenko, during the period of his activity in the region, has shown himself to be inexperienced in this work.”187 The evidence of his inexperience was the following.

Upon arriving in Lvov, Andryushchenko’s first question to me was: Where is Major Bozhko (an MGB officer), how can he be seen, as I have business with him, etc.

Andryushchenko, in coordination with me, on 9 May 1948 set out for the village of Sulimoye, where he was supposed to remove from office the presbyter Farina, who had been conducting propaganda against the Moscow Agreement, calling the Baptists “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” saying that for a Pentecostal it is a sin to serve in the ranks of the Red Army and to take up arms, etc.

On 9 May, on the way to Sulimoye, Andryushchenko stopped in the village of Pidliski and there found Farina at a prayer meeting, at which he announced the removal of Farina from the presbytery — and individual believers protested loudly in defense of Farina against Andryushchenko.

I consider that he did not cope with this task, making the mistake of dismissing Farina in someone else’s community, clumsily raising the question of Farina’s removal, and sharpening some believers against himself.188

From this flowed the conclusion that “Andryushchenko will not manage as senior presbyter for the Lvov region; it is necessary to replace him with a person who knows the conditions of the western population as well.”189

Personnel matters were resolved similarly everywhere. For example, Burkin, the Council’s commissioner for the Chernivtsi region, informed Kyiv about transfers in the Seventh-day Adventist church. He reported that the well‑known “neighbors” objected and “consider it inexpedient to transfer Mariuk from the Chernivtsi region, which I also support. According to available information, a transfer of Mariuk to the Lviv region was planned, replacing preacher Vovk, who was to come to Chernivtsi instead of Mariuk. This measure is also inexpedient; the ‘neighbors’ categorically object, since Vovk is a politically unreliable person. The question concerning Kostomsky has been agreed upon with the ‘neighbors.’”190

On May 16 1949, Astrov, the Council’s commissioner for the Odesa region, reported to Kyiv that I. I. Luchinets, presbyter of the ECB religious community in Odesa (from the CEF – Pentecostals), had been removed from registration by him.191 Further, this order continues:

Senior presbyter Krapivnitsky was instructed to remove Presbyter Luchinets from his position. The “neighbors’” opinion on promoting I. I. Vysotsky to the post of senior presbyter is not unanimous: the old “neighbors” worker, a captain, has a positive opinion of Vysotsky’s appointment as senior presbyter. The newly arrived worker, a major, is against Vysotsky’s appointment as senior presbyter and recommends for this post a certain Rusanov, who currently works as senior presbyter in Stalin [Donetsk].192

In response, an authoritative directive came from Kyiv, signed by Vilkhovoy:

The desirable candidate for senior presbyter of the ECB in the Odesa region is Vysotsky, with whom the question has been coordinated with the central apparatus of the MGB of the Ukrainian SSR. Rusanov was not long ago appointed senior presbyter for the Stalin region and it is completely inexpedient to transfer him to the Odesa region, therefore we will not raise the question of his transfer.193

But the commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers for the Ternopil region, Chirva, it seems, risked venturing an “experiment” – to try the Pentecostal Grigory Goroshko as senior presbyter.

On January 3 1948, he sent a secret letter to Vilkhovoy in Kyiv with the following content:

In response to your No. 165 of December 31 1947, I report.

Presbyter of the village of Peredmirka, Lanovetsky district, Ternopil region, Goroshko Grigory Artemovich, born 1901, native of the village of Peredmirka, Lanovetsky district, Ternopil region, comes from a middle‑peasant family. During the German occupation he was a member of the Spiritual Council of the CEF – Pentecostals, and was an assistant to Bishop Yatsyuk.

After the signing of the Moscow Agreement by the leaders of spiritual centers on the unification of the CEF with the ECB, Goroshko approved of the agreement and was the first to submit an application signed by all members of his community to join the agreement. Goroshko also helped senior presbyter Teslyuk carry out work among CEF believers on the unification issue. Goroshko is loyal to the measures of Soviet authority. Goroshko is acquainted and corresponds in writing with Panko.

I believe that Goroshko can be used as a senior presbyter.194

The opinion of Commissioner Chirva was agreed to “at the top.” However, an interesting fact is that Goroshko lasted as senior presbyter for a very short time, which probably testifies to his Christian integrity and the failure of the “experiment.”

(Many years ago, while studying biographical details of the life and ministry of Grigory Artemovich, I came to Lviv to meet with his son Anton. Even then I asked Anton Grigorievich why, in his opinion, his father’s ministry was so difficult, why there were so many obstacles in his path. Anton Grigorievich then sadly answered me that the VSEKhB leaders “would not let him move forward.” Today we know the other part of the truth: the Soviet authorities, using the hands of the VSEKhB leaders, would not let him “move forward.”)

It is interesting how analysts from the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults evaluated the institution of senior presbyters of the VSEKhB. Here is that assessment.

The organizational structure of the church before 1944 was more “democratic.” In contrast to the former, the current structure of the sect brings to the forefront the presbyterial cadre as the main leaders not only of the spiritual but of all other aspects of community life, thereby approaching the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. The current structure completely eliminates the vague “democratism” in the sect in matters of leadership, transferring into the hands of the senior presbyter of the VSEKhB for the Ukrainian SSR, regional presbyters, and community presbyters the fullness of power in all questions of community life and activity, facilitating the selection of suitable presbyterial personnel and the regulation of their activities by the commissioners of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults.195

It was probably also necessary for the senior presbyters of the VSEKhB to constantly express their loyalty to the communist regime in terms of “political consciousness” in the Soviet meaning of the word. An example of such “servility” is this quote from the “Brotherly Herald” about the behavior of VSEKhB leaders.

After descending from the mountain, the guests visited the pantheon where the mother of the great leader of the peoples of our country, I. V. Stalin, is buried, and the brothers expressed a desire to lay a wreath at her grave… After that, everyone returned to Brother Dushenko’s apartment and, having dined, proceeded to the prayer house for a supper of Christian love organized by the Georgian and Armenian communities. On the tables rose mountains of various fruits with which sunny Georgia is so rich… The next day, taking advantage of their stay in Georgia, the Moscow brothers expressed a desire to visit the homeland of the great leader of the peoples of the USSR, I. V. Stalin… Early in the morning, brothers Zhidkov and Golyayev, Ter‑Avanesov, and Dushenko drove into the mountains, visited the little house where I. V. Stalin was born, and returned by evening.196

Such were the times.

Also, on April 24 1947, from Moscow, under No. 314‑с, the following analytical material was sent to Vilkhovoy, the commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Ukrainian SSR, and to Ulasevich, the commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Byelorussian SSR.

In August 1945, the Moscow Conference of the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christian Baptists (VSEKhB) with representatives of Christians of Evangelical Faith adopted a decision on the merger of the latter with the ECB. The conditions for this merger were: the Pentecostals’ abandonment of “unknown tongues” (“glossolalia”) and the foot-washing ritual. The most prominent Pentecostal representatives attending the conference were Ponomarchuk, Bidash (Ukrainian SSR), Panko, and Vashkevich (Byelorussian SSR). The significance of the conference lay in the fact that the two previously merged evangelical sects (Evangelical Christians and Baptists) were now joined by the quite numerous sect of Christians of Evangelical Faith.

The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the USSR Council of Ministers viewed positively this further leveling of the evangelical churches, since the aforementioned merger made it possible, through Evangelical Christians and Baptists, to eliminate the Pentecostals—a mystical sect with doctrinal elements that negatively affect a person’s mental state and foster various anti-state tendencies (“prophecies,” etc.). This sect, numbering tens of thousands of followers, could not be ignored. Registering Pentecostal communities on the same basis as ECB communities was also clearly inexpedient. Therefore, the merger of the Pentecostals into the ECB proved to be a very successful way of resolving the issue.

From the very beginning, the Council maintained the line that the merger of the two sects was their internal affair, but at the same time fully deserved our feasible assistance. Over the past one and a half years, instructions have been issued to the Council’s commissioners along these lines.

However, the merger of the Pentecostals with the ECB proceeded extremely slowly, sometimes with acute conflicts within communities. The immediate reasons for the slow pace were: 1) insufficiently active, organizing and explanatory-educational work on the part of the ECB presbyters; 2) stubborn resistance to the merger by a fairly significant number of Pentecostal community presbyters, fueled moreover by the double-dealing of almost all the “representatives” of the Pentecostals (Panko, Vashkevich, Bidash) who took part in the Moscow Conference of the VSEKhB in August 1945. The principal reason for such a prolonged delay in the merger of the Pentecostals with the ECB, however, was undoubtedly the fanatical devotion to their creed by a fairly large mass of ordinary Pentecostals. It must be borne in mind that the Pentecostals are a mystical sect consisting of a large number of people predisposed to hysteria, religious ecstasy, and, to some extent, Khlystism. The merger of Evangelical Christians and Baptists took place almost painlessly, and local ECB leaders therefore assumed that the Pentecostals would enter the ECB in the same manner. Consequently, the activity of ECB senior presbyters in carrying out the merger was primarily formal in nature and was not accompanied by intensive work to re-educate the Pentecostals in the ECB spirit.

This is precisely why even those Pentecostals who have merged into the ECB very often remain the same Pentecostals, if not in open prayer meetings, then at home.

And yet, during the one and a half years that have elapsed since the Moscow Conference of the VSEKhB with Pentecostal representatives, even the formal merger of Pentecostal communities with the ECB is far from complete.

According to VSEKhB data, as of January 1, out of 520 Pentecostal communities, 400 had merged into the ECB (300 in the Ukrainian SSR and 100 in the Byelorussian SSR).

According to data from the commissioners of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the USSR Council of Ministers, the picture is somewhat different: in the Ukrainian SSR, only 191 communities merged into the ECB, and in the Byelorussian SSR—93; instances of Pentecostals’ refusal to merge with the ECB also occurred in the Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs, the Kabardinian ASSR, and the republics of Central Asia. It can be asserted, almost without error, that in one and a half years no more than 50% of all Pentecostal communities have merged into the ECB. The remaining 50% persist and, guided by certain individuals, count on an independent legal existence with separate registration.

It should also be noted that recently some stubborn Pentecostal communities have generally begun to turn into nests of various kinds of rogues, “prophets,” anti-Soviet and anti-state elements, who skillfully exploit the semi-conspiratorial nature of Pentecostal communities for their anti-Soviet aims.

By whipping up the fanaticism of believers and hostility toward the ECB, some Pentecostal leaders present themselves as people “persecuted for Christ” and continue to spread rumors about the possible creation of an All-Union Center of the Christians of Evangelical Faith (CEF). The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults once again confirms that there can be no talk whatsoever of an All-Union CEF center or of recognizing the Pentecostals as an independent cult subject to separate registration.

One of the reasons for the protracted merger of the Pentecostals with the ECB is the passivity on this issue on the part of a number of our commissioners. While correctly considering the merger to be an internal affair of religious organizations, these commissioners did not take into account the positive, from the state’s point of view, aspects of this merger and completely refrained from rendering any assistance to the ECB in this matter. Other commissioners, on the contrary, resorted to administrative methods without taking into account the full complexity of a sectarian’s renunciation of his creed and acceptance of a new one.

The Pentecostal communities that persist in not merging are also emboldened by the fact that no more or less real measures of influence are applied to them. In a number of places, they gather completely freely for their worship; their “prophets” and “prophetesses,” with their “interpretations,” travel around villages, agitating against the merger with the ECB, which has “grown together” with the state; they portray Panko, Vashkevich, and Bidash as “martyrs who were forcibly made to sign the agreement in Moscow,” and so on. As a result, many Pentecostal communities have lost any taste for the necessity of registration, believing that they will manage without it just as well as without merging with the ECB.197

The Council for Religious Cults unequivocally considered that the merger of the Pentecostals with the ECB had dragged on too long, that “the continued legal and semi-legal existence of ‘CEF’ communities is harmful,” and insisted that Vilkhov and Ulasevich carry out the following measures:

1 . Recommend that the senior presbyters of the ECB, upon completion of the merger, shift the center of gravity of their work primarily and mainly onto the rank-and-file mass of Pentecostals by organizing spiritual discussions with them through the efforts of the presbytery and the active members of the communities. Allow regional presbyters to send groups (2–3 people) of specially spiritually prepared Evangelical Christians-Baptists, including former Pentecostals, to areas especially affected by Pentecostalism.

2 . The Council’s commissioners, in turn, should introduce the practice of summoning small groups (2–3 people) of ordinary “CEF members” from Pentecostal communities that persist in refusing the merger with the ECB in order to explain to them Soviet legislation on cults and the consequences arising from the Moscow decision of representatives of the ECB and the CEF on the merger of the two churches. Without delving into the substance of the differences between the CEF and the ECB, but rather emphasizing his own objectivity, the Council’s commissioner was to inform the believers’ representatives about the Moscow decision and warn them that holding prayer meetings of unregistered Pentecostal communities was impermissible.

3 . The Council’s commissioner is also obliged to register all leaders of Pentecostal groups that have not merged with the ECB and, aiming to eliminate their unchecked influence on ordinary believers, summon them and warn them of their personal responsibility for violating Soviet legislation on cults. Should their illegal activity continue, the Council’s commissioner shall inform the appropriate regional finance department of the need to impose the corresponding taxation on that Pentecostal leader as a minister of cult. The same measure shall be taken with regard to “prophets,” “prophetesses,” “interpreters,” and those owners of premises who permit meetings of unregistered Pentecostal groups to be held on their property.

4 . All of the listed measures of the Council’s commissioner must be combined with the measures of the senior presbyter of the ECB, since “the main thing in this matter is the method of explanation and persuasion on the part of the ECB representatives, who are the initiators and implementers of the merger of the two churches.”198

The Council for Religious Cults under the Council of Ministers of the USSR prescribed, in accordance with this letter, that instructions be given to the commissioners, first of all, of those regions of Ukraine and Belarus where the greatest activity of Pentecostals who had not merged with the ECB was observed.199

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