The problem of religious freedom in late imperial Russia: The case of Russian Baptists

Abstract

The paper deals with the development of the Baptist movements (Stundism and Pashkovism) in late Imperial Russia, their perception by the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, the measures undertaken by the Church and government in order to combat the Protestant sectarianism. Different approaches of the contemporaries to the religious dissent are being investigated. While the members of educated society, liberals and moderate conservatives viewed evangelical movements as a reflection of social changes in postreform Russia and a reaction to the shortcomings of the official Church, the ecclesiastical authorities treated the rise of evangelicalism as a result of the sectarians' “ignorance” and as a threat to the political and social order of Russia. When conservative tsar Alexander III ascended in 1881 to the throne, his former tutor and the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod Constantine Pobedonostsev launched an energetic campaign against the heterodoxy based on a combination of repressive and educational measures. This campaign turned out to be a failure mostly due to passiveness of the official Church which was paralyzed by the strict control of the state. The position of the secular administration which was not eager to be drawn into religious struggle also hampered the attempts to combat the heterodoxy. Finally, the effective repressions against the sectarianism were paralyzed by the protests of the Senate, supreme juridical body of the Empire which had to overview the compliance with the law. Though the repressions against the Baptists were stopped in 1905, they made a negative impact on the Russia's development contributing to the sharpening of the social and political contradictions on the eve of revolution.

Keywords

• Orthodox Church
• Autocracy
• Baptist movement
• Religious legislation
• Administrative repressions
• Freedom of conscience