60. Современное русское сектантство

Modern Russian sectarianism is found mainly in Stundism and Pashkovism. The name Stundism comes from the German word “Stunde” - hour. Under the name stunda, conversations are known for which Germans gather at a certain hour in private homes, sometimes in churches, to read the word of God and sing religious hymns. These meetings take place under the supervision of the pastor. Jacob Spener, who died in 1705, is revered as the founder of these hour-long conversations in Germany. One of the German pastors in the Kharkov province of Bonnekaempfer was allegedly filled with regret that in the Orthodox Church, despite the beautiful appearance of the church in the construction of churches and the performance of rituals, there is no live sermon, and began to invite Russian villagers to his hour-long meetings. Some of them began to attend these hour-long conversations, first out of curiosity, and then became interested in them and began to invite their friends to them. The pastor's conversations were conducted in Russian and at first were limited to the interpretation of the Bible, and then moved on to condemnation of the very rituals of the Orthodox Church that the pastor-preacher had previously so praised. Bonnekaempfer's example was followed by other German pastors, using the same cunning technique to seduce the Orthodox and, under some favorable external circumstances, in the 70s of the last century the Stunda movement began in several southern Russian provinces at once. Stundists deny the holidays and fasts established by the Orthodox Church, the veneration of holy icons and relics, the invocation of saints, prayer for the dead, they reject sacred tradition; The Holy Scriptures are interpreted arbitrarily, mostly allegorically and for the purpose of polemics with the Orthodox, they honor inner illumination directly from God above the written word of God, they deny the sacraments, the priesthood, the Church as a divine institution, they do not recognize civil authorities and even royal power, and they go to the extremes of socialism and communism. The Pashkov sect appeared in St. Petersburg. In the early 70s of the last century, the English Lord Radstock came to St. Petersburg, imbued with a passion for missionary work, and began to preach that nothing is needed in religion except faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins. “Believe, and you are saved,” taught Radstock. Good deeds, according to Radstock's false teaching, serve only as a brake that delays salvation; The institutions of the Church, the priesthood, the sacraments are not needed at all. The peculiar way of preaching, consisting of an unartificial explanation of the Scriptures, as if by inspiration, accompanied by kneeling prayers, as if pouring straight from the heart, and the singing of special verses on the main topic of the sermon, attracted many listeners from high society to the self-proclaimed apostle, and the teaching demanding only faith in the merits of Christ, which favored ease of morals, met with sympathy. One of the most zealous visitors and listeners of Radstock's sermons was Colonel Vasily Aleksandrovich Pashkov. A wealthy landowner who spent his time among various secular pleasures, he became so carried away by the teachings of Radstock that he himself became a preacher of this teaching and tried to convert not only rich and noble people to him, but also ordinary people, providing assistance to the most needy listeners of his sermons, either in money or in clothing. Wanting to further expand the work of preaching, Pashkov formed in St. Petersburg in 1876 the “Society for the Encouragement of Spiritual and Moral Reading,” which, in the form of propaganda of Pashkov’s teachings, distributed in abundance at the cheapest price brochures and books in which sectarian thoughts were very skillfully carried out; The illustrated magazine “Russian Worker” served the same purpose. Pashkov’s accomplices also used the following method: they emphasized in the books of Holy Scripture those passages that, without connection with others, could be interpreted in favor of Pashkov’s false teaching, and in this form they disseminated them among the people. Possessing enormous fortunes, Pashkov and his closest accomplices from St. Petersburg high society did not spare material resources to spread their false teachings. So, by the way, Pashkov set up a cheap canteen for the poor in St. Petersburg, through which propaganda was widely carried out. While Pashkov’s teaching was the property of persons from the St. Petersburg nobility, it was limited to the tempting position: no matter how you sin, just believe and you will be saved. As it spread, it began to merge with the false teaching of the Stundists, whom the Pashkovites apparently patronized. If representatives of the highest sectarian circle could keep themselves within the limits of a cold and disdainful attitude towards the Church - its beliefs, institutions and ministers, then the people, carried away by false teaching, immediately began to reveal those destructive movements that distinguish the South Russian shtunda: mocking fasts, holidays, icons, relics, saints, etc.; He also began to show resistance to the authorities and superiors. The difference between Stundism and Pashkovism is still believed to be that the first of these sects is characterized to some extent by mysticism (the doctrine of spiritual insight), while Pashkovism is distinguished by a sharper denial of everything that relates to religion. One confidence is enough for a person: “I am saved,” and nothing more is needed. Recently, among the Russian population, especially in the southern provinces, a sect known as Baptistism has become widespread. This sect is of foreign origin and represents one of the branches of Anabaptism (see above), which arose in Germany in the age of the Reformation. At the beginning of the 17th century, Anabaptism, under the name of Baptistism, was revived in England, where its first preacher was John Smith. The main position of the Baptists is that only as an adult can a person finally decide on his entry into one or another community, as a result of which the baptism of children was decisively rejected. In this case, obviously, they were influenced by the harmful delusion of the reformers, due to which they ceased to consider holy baptism a saving sacrament that revives human nature, and look at it only as a visible sign (symbol) of entry into the Christian Church. Hence their demand that persons converting to their community from other Christian denominations be baptized again. At the same time, in contrast to other Western Christians, they consider only baptism valid that is performed through complete immersion, which is where their very name comes from. By the end of the 17th century, Baptists were divided into two main parties: general, or general, and private, or particular. The difference between them lies in the doctrine of predestination. The first teach that God calls all people to salvation, and it depends on a person’s free will whether to accept or reject the calls of divine grace; the second are inclined to the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional predestination - some to salvation, others to destruction. In addition to these main ones, Baptists are divided into several smaller sects. Baptistism moved from England to America. In Western Europe, Baptistism owes its spread to Oncken, who died in 1884, who founded a missionary seminary in Hamburg to train Baptist preachers. From Germany in the late 50s of the last century, Baptistism penetrated into Russia and appeared initially in the Baltic region and in the provinces of the Kingdom of Poland. Its first distributor in the Baltic provinces was a Baltic preacher from Memel - a German. Another Baptist preacher, Alf, planted Baptistism among German settlers in the Polotsk province. In the early 60s, Baptistism appeared among the Molokans of the Transcaucasian region. By the end of the 60s, Baptistism spread in the Kherson, Ekaterinoslav and Kiev provinces. Russian Baptists are members of the Baptist World Union, which was founded in 1905 at the Baptist Congress in London. The objectives of this union are: maintaining and strengthening unity between Baptists around the world; spreading "gospel truths" i.e. Baptists throughout the world and maintaining weaker local unions. The doctrine of Baptists is characterized by a rationalistic character. Baptists reject the Holy Tradition, the sacraments and hierarchy, fasting, monasticism and the entire church ritual system in general, the veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos, the invocation of saints, the veneration of the cross, icons and relics, prayers for the dead and the baptism of infants. They recognize the written word of God as the only source of doctrine and like to call themselves evangelical Christians, or evangelicals. While denying the church hierarchy, Baptists, however, have it within themselves; their hierarchy originates from Onken. Onken ordained Abraham Unger and Pavlov (now presbyter of the Odessa community) for Russia. All the current elders of Russian Baptists received their initiation from them. In addition to elders, Baptists have teachers, or preachers, and deacons. Since 1881, all communities of Russian Baptists have united into the “Union of Russian Evangelical Christian Baptists.” Thanks to their well-organized organization and the considerable funds they receive from their fellow believers abroad, Russian Baptists were able to widely propagate their teachings. The Baptist movement captured almost all the provinces of European and Asian Russia. It spreads not only among the Russian Orthodox population, but also among followers of various sects: Molokanism and, in particular, Stundism, which in large part is now absorbed into Baptistism. A sect akin to Baptism is Adventism, which has become widespread in some southern provinces of Russia and the Caucasus. The sect got its start in the first half of the 19th century in North America, where its founder was the Baptist preacher William Miller. He taught that all the prophecies relating to the second coming of Christ had already been fulfilled, and therefore it would soon follow. Miller definitely indicated the time of the coming of Christ - October 22, 1844. From this belief in the nearness of the coming of Christ, the sect received its name (adventus - coming). From America, Adventism moved to Europe, where the city of Hamburg became its center. From here, at the end of the 19th century, Adventism came to us. Adventism is split into several separate, mutually hostile sects. Seventh-day Adventists are distinguished by the greatest fanaticism and desire for propaganda, so called because, rejecting the celebration of Sunday, they teach that it is necessary to celebrate the seventh day - Saturday. Although Miller's prophecy about the day of the second coming did not come true, Adventists are not embarrassed by this and claim that Christ will soon come to earth, although the day of His coming is determined differently: some in 1913, others in 1924, others in 1995. Then all the righteous will come to life and reign with Christ for 1000 years. This is the first resurrection. After 1000 years, Christ will come to earth for the third time. Then sinners will also be resurrected, whom the Lord will judge and destroy with fire, so that they will not be tormented by the torments of hell. The righteous will see the Glory of the Son of Man and will reign with Him forever. In February 1901, the Holy Synod issued a message in which it indicated the false teaching of the famous writer Tolstoy, who “not secretly, but openly before everyone, consciously and intentionally rejected himself from all communication with the Orthodox Church, and since attempts to admonish him were not crowned with success, the Church does not consider him its member until he repents and restores his communication with her.” Tolstoy's teaching does not represent any religious system and, in essence, is complete religious nihilism, or atheism. Tolstoy not only denies the authority of the Orthodox Church, the sacraments, the veneration of holy icons and relics, but goes so far as to reject the trinity of Persons in God and even to deny the existence of a personal God. Using Christian terms: “God the Father, Son of God, Son of Man,” Tolstoy connects with them a pantheistic meaning: God is understood by him not as a single personal Creator and Provider of the world, but as the vital force diffused in nature, as the essence of life. Having distorted the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church, Tolstoy tries to subvert its moral teaching: he teaches about non-resistance to evil, rejects family life, denies oath and oath, legal courts, a sense of patriotism, and defense of the homeland from enemies. Despite the widespread dissemination of Tolstoy's views in society, for a long time there was no sect that would assimilate these views and implement them in their lives. In just the last decade of the last 19th century, communities began to appear in some places that set themselves the goal of implementing Tolstoy’s views. This teaching spread most successfully in the Kharkov province with the active participation of Prince Khilkov, through whose efforts a Tolstoyan community was founded on his mother’s estate - the village of Pavlovskoye. Another zealous propagandist of Tolstoy’s teachings was the wealthy landowner Vl. Chertkov. With his assistance, Tolstoy communities appeared in the provinces adjacent to Kharkov - Kursk, Kyiv, Ekaterinoslav, Poltava and Tver, which was quite distant from them. In essence, Tolstoy's communities do not represent religious institutions: in these communities there are no religious meetings, no chants, or any liturgical activities; rather, they represent an attempt to establish an anarchic-socialist society in Russia, destructive for both the Church and the state. You might be interested in: