Comunităţile religioase ale creştinilor evanghelişti-baptişti în RSSM (1944-1965) / Religious Communities of Evangelical Christian Baptists in the MSSR (1944-1965)

Abstract

The paper examines the position of Evangelical Christian Baptists in the Moldavian SSR in the first decade of the postwar period (1944-1965). As a result of the researches carried out in the archives of the Republic of Moldova, the author concludes that, compared with the interwar period, the situation of the Baptist communities has deteriorated worsened. The number of prayer houses declined from 200 in 1939 to 89 in 1965. The number of believers also decreased from 10,000 in 1939 to 6095 in 1965. By interfering in the internal affairs of cult, the Soviet state lost control of a large number of believers (the adoption of a new statute, the prohibition of baptism for persons under the age of 25, the prohibition of philanthropic activity, etc.), because they went underground. With all the actions taken by the Soviet authorities, they failed to destroy the cult, which continued to exist even in such adverse conditions.

Keywords

• religion
• evangelical christian baptists
• soviet state
• believers