Untitled article | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · February 25, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 8

The Stundists of Russia.

For two hundred years and more Russia has been the breeding-place of a host of sects, large and small. Notwithstanding the policy of uniformity which, according to the ideal of Czar Nicholas, aims to establish “one Czar, one tongue, and one church for all the Russians,” the “Rascol,” or religious schism has prospered and grown. The history of this dissent can be understood only as the outcome of a number of peculiar social and religious factors and forces. It is the peasantry who in nearly each and every case constitute these schismatic congregations. In reality there is no middle class in Russia. Society is divided between the nobility and the peasants. The trades and businesses are recruited from the ranks of the peasants. In harmony with this state of affairs is the further fact that the organization of religious dissent has never been on the basis of doctrinal difference. The present growth of religious schisms, especially the development of the Stundist movement, can be rationally explained only when the social effect of the emancipation of the serfs is take into consideration. By this act several million servants, practically slaves, became freedmen, who, when delivered from the oppression of superiors, were also at the same time compelled to do their own thinking, provide for their own support, and manage their own affairs. Of the movements, more or less directly resulting from this social revolution, that of the Stundists is the most important. Their name points to a German origin, and the outward impetus to the organization of the communion came from the German colonists of Southern Russia, although the Stundists, to a man, are Russians. These colonists of the Southern Steppes were accustomed to hold meetings called “Stunden” or “hours” for Bible study, devotion, and prayer. To them first the name Stundists was given as a term of reproach. But these Germans were industrious and sober, and it was this material prosperity, and not their piety, that was the first and leading impulse given for the Stundist agitation among the Russian farmers. The more sober-minded recognized the necessity of a reformation in principles and morals as an absolute perquisite to success and prosperity. And in this historic origin of the movement lies the explanation of its character. The Stundists’ agitation is, to all intents and purposes, a movement aiming at a betterment of the morals and life of the Russian peasant.

It has assumed a religious phase in so far as this reformation of life must proceed from the regeneration of the heart. As a result the Stundists are a sober, industrious, honest people, and are thus distinguished from the common mass of Russian peasants. The object was originally anything rather than a rupture with the State church. It was to be a moral reformation within the Orthodox Church; but in recent years the Stundists have been compelled, chiefly by the persecution of the Czar and the Holy Synod, to break with the State church.

Testimony as to the high moral character of the Stundists can be secured from unprejudiced sources. A representative witness recently wrote: “All who know the Stundists regard them as sober, respectable, honest, industrious people, the very pick among the peasantry. They are work-loving people, do not steal, do not become intoxicated, do not lie, do not slander, and in general conduct themselves as true Christians. Their family life is unblamable. They use intoxicants only for medical purposes.” The bearing of this last sentence can be seen when it is remembered that the intemperance of the Russian peasants is beyond description. The late Archbishop of Odessa, Nicanor, a few months ago, was compelled to issue a public manifesto against the drink-devil of the Russian peasants, and, in it, called attention to the sober lives of the hated Stundists. A prominent medical journal published in St. Petersburg, lately stated that it was the habit of many Russian peasants to get drunk on Vodka, and remain so for weeks without sobering up even for an hour. “The curse of this intoxicant,” it states in conclusion, “is more terrible than the dire results of syphilis.” Against this general intemperance of the Russian peasantry the Stundist movement is a popular protest. Even the public press, notwithstanding the strict censorship, can not but praise these simple-hearted but noble people. After reporting a Stundist trial, a prominent Russian journal added: “These people who read the Scriptures and endeavor to conform to their precepts; these people who seek for the truth and are not satisfied with the formalism of religious ceremonies; these honest, sober, diligent folks who perform all their duties to the State and to society—these are held charged with being culprits! Indeed, hearing the testimony from the lips of those accused is like leaving a foul atmosphere and entering the air of the sweet-scented and aroma filled Southern Steppe.”

The Stundist movement originated in the village of Osnowa, near Kief. The exact date is not settled, but the first Stundist trial took place in 1867, and Stundist meetings were reported in 1865. The two leading men were Onistshenks and Michail Ratushiuj, both common day laborers.

The movement has spread with wonderful rapidity. The Russian papers of 1877 reported then a membership of 300,000, and in 1881 a membership of 400,000. A careful estimate can claim fully one million adherents at present. Pastor Dalton, who has been a Protestant preacher in St. Petersburg for many years, in a work on the “Church of Russia,” just published, claims two millions for the Stundists. The Established Church has regularly appointed missionaries to work among the Stundists and bring back the “heretics” to the Mother Church. The result has been a dismal failure, and that for no other reason than that the Stundists are morally, intellectually, and religiously by far the superiors of their oppressors. These methods having failed, blind brute force is being applied at the demand of the ecclesiastical authorities. One of the clearest lessons of history is that the blood of the martyr has been the seed of the Church. The same is proving to be true in the case of the Stundists also. Reliable reports state that the movement is spreading as never before.—Christliche Welt, Leipzig, December.