T.V. Hrushova: The Ukrainian Pentecostal Movement during World War II

July 21, 2013 · Dnepropetrovsk, History, Kryvyi Rih, Unregistered Pentecostals, Vestibule, Pentecostals, Pyatikhatki, Ukraine

Pentecostalism emerged in Ukraine in the 1920s. From its inception, this religious movement was not a single stream but consisted of several branches. The preaching of the new doctrine found fertile ground in the Ukrainian religious milieu, which was conditioned by the existence of a Protestant tradition in Ukraine. Beginning in the 1930s, Pentecostal communities almost ceased to exist legally in the USSR. Leading figures were arrested, while the majority of ordinary believers, refusing to participate in the Soviet atheist experiment, continued their existence by holding prayer meetings without official permission.
During the Second World War, the situation in the religious environment changed. In the occupied territory, the German authorities did not hinder the religious needs of sectarians, who at that time emerged from the underground and resumed preaching the Gospel. Permission for active work was obtained from the occupation authorities, who had their own plans for sectarians and the Orthodox, and used the church question to strengthen ideological influence over believers in the USSR [1.-C.13]. Indicative in this regard is the activity of the Pentecostals of the Voronaev persuasion (Christians of Evangelical Faith (CEF)), who intensified their activities and increased the number of adherents during the war years.
The German occupation authorities granted Pentecostals permission to create their own episcopate. This step was regarded by the Voronaevites as an opportunity to emerge from the underground and resume their activities. In 1942, the All-Ukrainian Centre of the Voronaevite Pentecostals was moved from Odesa to Dnipropetrovsk. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was divided into four bishoprics, with bishops located in the main industrial centres: Dnipropetrovsk, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Kryvyi Rih, and Pyatykhatky [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.24.-Спр.4494.-Арк.262]. That same year, the All-Ukrainian Council of the CEF was renamed the Episcopal Church of the CEF, and a governing body was created — the “Episcopal College of the CEF Church” headed by Ponurko, located in Pyatykhatky [3.-С.24]. In total, during the German occupation, 37 Pentecostal communities operated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, with a total number of believers up to 2,000. According to incomplete data, by 1945, 17 active communities remained in the region, 14 of which had been functioning since 1941–1942 [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.1.-Спр.18.-Арк.6-8].
To reinvigorate activity and develop a programme for further actions, the Voronaevite episcopate organised meetings in the autumn of 1942 in Oleksandriia, Kirovohrad Oblast, and in Pyatykhatky and Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Decisions were adopted “on the organisation of spiritually edifying and educational conversations,” “on children’s Sunday schools,” “on Christian youth circles,” and “on the organisation of sisters’ circles” [5.-С.10-13].
At this time, CEF communities revived their activities in other oblasts as well. Activity revived in the former centre of the Voronaevites, Odesa [6.-Ф.Р-4648.-Оп.2.-Спр.1.-Арк.7]. The Voronaevites also intensified their work in the Donbas, namely in Stalino, Zhdanov, Krasnodon, Volnovakha, Horlivka, and other towns. CEF communities in Western Ukraine resumed missionary activity [7.-С.13]. Overall, during the years of German occupation, the Voronaevites spread their influence over almost the entire territory of Ukraine. If in 1942 there were around 200 communities of this persuasion in the Ukrainian SSR (about 5,000 believers), then during 1943 a further 152 communities were established, uniting 6,600 believers [3.-С.25].
Protestant leaders used the occupiers’ permission for legal existence in Ukraine. In their circles, thoughts even circulated about the German occupation authorities’ attempt to unite Baptist, Evangelical, and Adventist believers into a single Church of Christ [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.23.-Спр.90.-Арк.4]. However, regarding believers, the German authorities had their own plans. A significant place in these plans was assigned to Western Ukraine, where a course was set to support the Uniate Church, while at the same time the growth of its power was artificially restrained through numerous sects [8.-С.42]. Under the Protestant association “Light in the East”, which operated officially within the “Reich,” a Bible school was established (where Baptists, Pentecostals, and Evangelical Christians studied) [9.-С.43-44]. A Pentecostal missionary centre was established in Rivne Oblast (headed by V. Husaruk). Subsequently, this centre was accused by Soviet investigative bodies of having links with “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists” [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.24.-Спр.4927.-Арк.195].
On the whole, during the war years, almost all Pentecostal groupings intensified their activities in Ukraine, including: Murashkivites, Sabbath-observing Pentecostals, Zionists, Evangelical Christians in the Apostolic Spirit, communities of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and Christians of Evangelical Faith. For example, thanks to the missionary work of the leaders of the Evangelical Christians Pentecostals-Zionists (ECPZ) movement, which also resumed its activities during the Second World War and in the early post-war years, their doctrine spread to other territories of the USSR. ECPZ groups appeared in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and other oblasts of Ukraine, as well as in Stavropol and Krasnodar krais, Smolensk, Tula, Moscow oblasts, and also in Siberia and Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Belarus [9.-С.51; 10.-С.11; 11.-С.10].
Statistical data collected by L. Zhabko-Potapovych from German military sources also confirm that Bolshevik terror did not destroy the evangelical movement in Ukraine. In 1942, the number of evangelical believers in the parts of the USSR occupied by the Germans was as follows: Ukraine — 60,000, Belarus — 1,500, Don, Kuban, North Caucasus — 20,000 [12.-С.142].
As for the part of Russia that was under German occupation, in L. Zhabko-Potapovych’s view, “the evangelical movement there had completely died out; only in a few localities did our and German Baptists track down literally isolated believers… Only in Moscow itself did the Bolsheviks leave a church unrazed, so as to show it to foreigners as proof of ‘freedom’ in Russia” [12.-С.142].
After the end of hostilities, many Pentecostal leaders were accused of collaboration with the German authorities. But cases where Pentecostals actually went over to the side of the occupation regime were the exception. The intensification of activity did not signify support for fascist slogans. Protestant believers, for whom preaching the Gospel remained the main thing under any conditions, were essentially apolitical.
After the liberation of Ukraine’s territory from the German occupiers, Pentecostals confirmed their loyal attitude toward the Soviet authorities and their readiness to help on the home front, despite harsh persecution in the pre-war years. On 22 November 1943, a general meeting of members of the Dnipropetrovsk Central Church was held with the participation of the leadership of the All-Ukrainian Union of CEF Churches in Dnipropetrovsk. This meeting reaffirmed the decision of the 1926 All-Ukrainian Congress regarding the necessity to “bear state duties, both civil and military service.” In addition, a resolution was adopted “On holding a day of aid for the suffering and wounded fighters of the Red Army.” This aid was to include a collection of voluntary donations of money and foodstuffs in all churches [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.2.-Спр.1.-Арк.4].
The readiness to work for victory over the occupying forces was also expressed by representatives of other church unions. Appeals to the believers of the Ukrainian SSR were made by the leaders of the unions of Evangelical Christians and Baptists, Old Believer leaders, representatives of the Orthodox Churches [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.23.-Спр.369.-Арк.2-6], and others. The leadership of the Soviet state used this situation to raise the patriotic spirit of the population, and the government’s attitude toward religion temporarily became more loyal. First of all, these changes concerned relations between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church, which was powerful and still influential, as before. But at the same time, the changes also affected other cults, which likewise improved their situation (the ban on conducting services was partially lifted, the publication of religious literature was permitted, the League of Militant Atheists was disbanded).
Thus, for Protestant sectarianism, the war years were a time of reviving activities and legal existence: in the occupied territory this took place with the permission of the German authorities, in the liberated territory it was sanctioned by the Soviet government. After the territory of Ukraine was liberated from the occupiers, official Soviet bodies established that the religious communities of Pentecostals numbered up to 20,000 people [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.24.-Спр.4494.-Арк.262]. Some of those loyal to the authorities submitted petitions to register their religious associations. But their registration was refused [2.-Ф.Р-1.-Оп.24.-Спр.4494.-Арк.262; 6.-Ф.Р-4648.-Оп.2.-Спр.1.-Арк.7].
The problems of the intensification of sectarian activity during the war years and the rise in the level of religiosity constantly appeared on the pages of scholarly literature. Thus, in the opinion of the Soviet researcher of sectarianism E. Filimonov, the reasons for the increase in sectarian religiosity during the war years were rooted in human psychology: “in sectarian communities, those who were broken by the trials of war, who were knocked out of their usual life path, sought relief and consolation.” Soviet scholars held that the numerical growth of sectarian communities occurred thanks to believers who had left Orthodoxy, the majority of whom were elderly women, housewives, widows, pensioners, and lonely people [13.-С.44].
However, as the analysis of documentary sources shows, the active functioning of religious cults during the war demonstrated that Soviet policy aimed at destroying the religious feelings of the population was unsuccessful. The increase in the number of sectarians during the war can be explained by several reasons. First, during the war, sectarian communities that had been considered dissolved in the reports of Soviet leadership bodies emerged from the underground. Second, the difficult situation in the country during the war and in the post-war period indeed caused a growth in religiosity, but this process affected not only elderly women but also other population strata. The activity of Protestant missionaries was on a wide scale, one that cannot be limited solely to Orthodox parishes; moreover, between the latter and sectarians, relations of “military neutrality” had traditionally developed. Therefore, the Protestant camp was joined, first and foremost, by former non-believers and the wavering (representatives of other Protestant confessions, a small portion of the Orthodox).
The tolerant attitude of the state toward sectarians persisted until the end of the war. Religious communities that, during the German occupation, had occupied premises not belonging to them were given a period to find other premises on a lease basis (Resolution No. 1643-486/с of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, 1 December 1944) [6.-Ф.Р-4648.-Оп.1.-Спр.11.-Арк.1]. Even ministers of legalised cults (reserve military personnel, regardless of age and category), who administered the needs of the cult in functioning prayer houses, were exempt from mobilisation call-up by Resolution No. 43/с of the Commission of the CPC of the USSR for Exemption and Deferment from Mobilisation Call-Up, dated 26 February 1945. Such permission was granted to presbyters of functioning communities of Evangelical Christians and Baptists [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.1.-Спр.1.-Арк.5].
At the same time, the complicated situation on the “religious front” aroused concern in the higher echelons of power. Control over the religious sphere of life and the regulation of affairs between the state and believers were entrusted to specific institutions. In 1943, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was created under the CPC of the USSR. Following this model, on 19 May 1944, the Council of People’s Commissars adopted a resolution on the organisation of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults under the CPC of the USSR, with a staff of commissioners in the republics and locally. The Council was tasked with:

Preliminary review of issues raised by spiritual administrations or leaders of religious associations: Armenian-Gregorian, Old Believer, Catholic, Greek Catholic, Lutheran churches and Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and sectarian faiths, which required resolution by the USSR government.
Development of drafts of legislative acts and resolutions concerning these religious cults, as well as instructions and other directives on their implementation, and submitting them for consideration to the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.
Monitoring the correct and timely implementation throughout the territory of the USSR of the country’s laws and government resolutions relating to religious cults.
Submission of conclusions on issues concerning these religious cults to the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR.
Timely informing the USSR government about the state of religious cults in the country, their situation and local activities.
General accounting of churches, prayer buildings, compilation of statistical summaries based on data submitted to the Council by local Soviet bodies [6.-Ф.Р-4648.-Оп.2.- Спр.1.-Арк.3].

From the time the Council was established, K.A. Zaitsev was appointed its chairman; later (by Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR No. 673) he was replaced by I.V. Polyansky [6.-Ф.Р-4648.-Оп.2.-Спр.1.- Арк.5] (who served as chairman of the Council in 1944–1956). During the war, the Council supported the general government policy and granted many requests from believers related to “religious revival.” The general line of the Council’s leaders aimed at centralizing cults, so that in the future they planned to establish contact with religious administrative centers [14.-С.44].
Based on this situation, a top-down decision was planned to unite related Protestant cults into a single church organization, bringing a significant portion of illegally operating cults out of the underground through registration. Particular attention was paid to the Pentecostals, who at that time constituted an influential and numerous movement within the sectarian religious milieu. However, the Pentecostal believers themselves, sensing the artificiality of this union, from the very beginning set a course of refusing to unite.
In 1944, the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR clarified the procedure for opening prayer houses: state authorities accepted petitions from believers of religious associations, signed by twenty representatives of the cult. Considering the fact that the Pentecostals were denied autonomous registration, their communities were again forced to go underground. On May 10, 1944, the All-Ukrainian Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (ХЄВ) ceased to exist [4.-Ф.Р- 6463.-Оп.2.-Спр.1.-Арк.3].
At the same time, that portion of believers who were part of the “displaced persons” camp and were located in Germany, Italy, and Austria, according to the Truman Directive, had the preferential right to emigration visas for entry into the United States [8.-С.47]. Some Pentecostals took advantage of this right. In Europe, several organizations were established that carried out emigration functions and maintained contacts between Protestants. First of all, the Slavic Evangelical Union (Germany), the “Light in the East” Society (Stuttgart), and the Slavic Mission (Sweden). In addition, the “repatriation mission” was carried out by the Assemblies of God and the Union of God’s Assemblies [8.-С.49-50].
A harsh fate awaited those Pentecostals who returned to their homeland from places of imprisonment, and those who openly spread the Word of God during the occupation. The state did not take account of the believers’ loyalty, and the latter again experienced the brutality of the regime. Some of them were accused of refusing labor mobilization [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.1.-Спр.2.-Арк.39], collaborating with the occupation authorities [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.1.- Спр.1.-Арк.10]; many leaders were convicted (for refusing to take up weapons during hostilities, Pentecostals A. A. Melnyk was sentenced to 7 years in corrective labor camps, F. A. Yakymchuk to 10 years, A. S. Kravchenko to 10 years, and others). According to the Soviet authorities’ calculations, Pentecostals “gave the highest percentage of those who refused to serve in the Red Army” [4.-Ф.Р-6463.-Оп.1.-Спр.1.-Арк.10]. The high-profile trials of “traitors to the Motherland” did their work: for a long time in the press and atheist literature, when mentioning Pentecostals as a fanatical and anti-Soviet sect, authors pointed to the “pro-fascist sentiments” of sectarians [15.-С.19- 26; 16.-С.70; 17.-С.24-27; 18.-С.58].
Thus, as the analysis shows, during the war the Soviet leadership attempted to raise the patriotic spirit of the population with the help of religious institutions. Therefore, at that time, a certain number of religious communities received government permission for legal existence. The activity of the occupation authorities, who used the anti-religious policy of the Soviet government for their own purposes, also contributed to the spread of religious sentiment in Ukraine. At the final stage of the war, the situation in the religious sphere changed again: the church, as a support of state bodies, became unnecessary, and therefore the authorities sought new methods of combating “religious intoxication.” Already by the end of the 1940s, repressive measures gained momentum in the country according to the proven scenario of the 1930s. Work began with Pentecostal groups to bring them out of the underground, to try to bring them under control, and to minimize their influence on the believing part of the population.

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