Evangelical Baptist Christians in the Ukrainian SSR (mid-1940s – mid-1980s): relations with the authorities, features and transformations of religious life
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2018.06.145Keywords:
Evangelical Baptist Christians, believers, Baptists-Initiators, religious communities, Union of EBCh, Council of Churches of EBCh, worship.Abstract
The article examines the religious life of Evangelical Baptist Christians during the period from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s. The author analyzes the religious policy of the Soviet power concerning Evangelical Baptist Christians and its changes during the postwar time, in the years of N.Khrushchev’s assault on religion, throughout the era of stagnation; shows the relationship between the Soviet state and Evangelical Baptist Christians. The article considers the association of the Baptists with the Evangelists, the Pentecostals, the Mennonites and other Protestant currents; the main aspects of the intra-confessional religious life of this religious current, the underground forms of the existence of the Evangelical Baptist Christians communities that were beyond the control of the Soviet power. The antireligious actions of the Soviet regime, various forms of oppression of religious communities and believers, in particular illegal closures of prayer houses, violation of the believers’ rights, the formation of negative public opinion regarding this religious current, administrative proceedings against the believers and their criminal prosecution are elucidated. The article touches the issue of the split in the Union of the EBCh, which was caused by the opposition of the believers to the anti-religious policy of the state, it traces how part of the believers stood in the opposition to the leadership of the All-Union Council of the EBCh, and later formed an illegal church authority – the Council of Churches of EBCh. The network of religious organizations in the Ukrainian SSR, the quantitative composition of the believers, and their socio-demographic characteristics are described. Special attention is given to the religious behaviour of the believers. Believers’ attendance of prayer houses and illegal prayer meetings, their participation in worship on big holidays and in religious demonstrations, etc are elucidated.
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