Middle Russian Annual Meeting by W. J. Fitzgerald

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 5, 1910

Middle Russian Annual Meeting

By W. J. Fitzgerald

W. J. FITZGERALD

At noon, February 21, the writer had the interesting experience of entering Russia at Virballen. The railway station at that place is large and modern in appearance, and the Customs Inspection Hall is commodious and well arranged. The first act which occurred outside the station door impressed us with the austere character of the Russian passport system. The passengers were all required to surrender their passports to grim-looking police officers. The proper thing for all to do then was to pass into the Inspection Hall and await their respective turns. The inspection might be regarded as act number two. A fair degree of patience is required at that point in the proceedings, as the official actors move with remarkable deliberation. After considerable waiting, and more thinking in uncertain anticipation, it is exceedingly gratifying to see an inspector approaching with one's passport, and more than amusing to hear a Russian attempt to call out his name for the first time. Before five minutes had passed, in most cases, one's luggage was marked, and the way was clear for him freely to enter Russia. He then passed to a door opening into the booking-office and the main portion of the station, and there his passport was returned to him.

The writer, having about two hours to wait for the train to Vilna, leisurely enjoyed his first dinner in Russia. It seemed evident that German customs were somewhat commingled with the Russian at that gateway on the borderline between the two countries. Leaving Virballen, it was a real pleasure to be greeted at the station at Vilna by Brethren J. T. Boettcher, H. J. Loebsack, and P. Brandt. We at once drove in a characteristic Russian vehicle to our people's place of meeting, where, with Elder Boettcher as interpreter, I preached my first sermon in Russia, to a congregation composed of Seventh-day Adventists, Baptists, and Jews.

After hospitable entertainment at the home of Elder and Sister Loebsack, we proceeded by midnight train to Minsk, which is a large Jewish city, as is also Vilna. We spent about five hours in Minsk, being hospitably received into the home of the only Seventh-day Adventist family in that place of sixty thousand. Leaving Minsk just past noon, we continued our journey to Moscow, the former capital of the empire.

It was with keen interest that we passed through Smolensk, Borodino, and other places made familiar to readers of history because of Napoleon's disastrous march on Moscow. We remember that almost one hundred years ago, that great genius, impelled by a greater ambition, led one hundred thousand veteran soldiers into the heart of the great Russian nation. Then, by dint of arduous and painful toil, they marched toward Moscow. A great desire for shedding of blood, and conquest of territory and cities, burned terrible thoughts into their brains. Now, in a comfortable railway carriage, we moved rapidly along under the banner of the Prince of Peace. Then, Napoleon marched into the heart of Russia to find it frozen, and to meet with a humiliating disappointment. His tried and faithful legions marched into that frozen heart to be frozen, and starved themselves. Of the one hundred thousand men who entered Moscow, twenty-eight thousand perished before the retreat over the same road had begun.

As we approached the famous city, we inquired within ourselves what would be our reception in the city, and our experience there? Would we leave disappointed, or with our courage and hope increased? This report is being written while on the journey from Moscow to Kief, and we think of the meeting of the Middle Russian Mission which has just been held in Moscow with much pleasure and assurance.

Arriving in the city at 9:20 Wednesday morning, February 23, after thirty hours' travel in Russia by fast train, we drove at once to our meeting-hall. We rode in a sleigh, as there was abundance of snow and frost there. It was most interesting to see numerous sleighs in any direction one might look. Over twenty-five thousand licences are held by the owners of conveyances drawn by horses, and used in the public service. More than twenty thousand sleighs were in constant service during the time we were in Moscow.

We were somewhat surprised to find a special officer from the department of religion at St. Petersburg awaiting us at the hall. He had traveled from the capital (over four hundred miles) to observe our services from beginning to end. A few minutes after our arrival a head ward policeman entered the hall, and was quickly followed by a special police officer from the Moscow government. The trio questioned us very carefully as to our plans for the meetings, and assured us that two of them would be in regular attendance. The St. Petersburg officer and the special officer from the Moscow government attended every service from first to last. They were most alert, and observed everything with eagle eyes. One incident will serve to illustrate their vigilance: In the first business meeting the chairman outlined what items of business the session would take under consideration. As the meetings proceeded, just one item was omitted. At the close of the final business meeting, the St. Petersburg officer came forward, and inquired concerning that one item which had been mentioned in the first meeting, but had not been referred to subsequently.

The evening services for the public were well attended. On nearly every occasion it was necessary to close the doors, and hang out a sign, “No More Admitted,” about the time for the sermon to begin. This is as it generally is in Russia where public meetings can be held, and it seems remarkable when we consider that no printed announcements of services can be circulated.

Following the six o'clock Sunday evening service, at which the writer spoke, an ardent member of the established church shouted to the people in the hall that the church would conduct a service in the school building opposite (the Greek Catholics conduct opposition services there every Sunday night), and all of the true faith were invited to the opposition meeting, but it seemed that no one left our service, for notwithstanding this invitation, our hall was packed to its utmost to hear Elder Boettcher speak at eight o'clock.

There is a new law in Russia, which forbids the taking of collections in such meetings as the Socialists and other political societies hold. At the close of the first evening service, some persons placed coins in a plate on a table near the door. The police officer objected to this the second night, and absolutely forbade it on the third. We were forbidden to take an offering even in the Sabbath-school.

It is necessary to exercise the utmost care in all meetings lest anything should be said or done which could be construed as being opposed to the established religion or the government. One unfortunate or ill-advised statement might serve as ground, not only for stopping the one meeting, but also for involving our entire work in the empire in embarrassment. Many things which we esteem it important to say and do in meetings held in free countries, must be entirely omitted from our services in Russia. In general meetings in other countries, we consider it not only desirable, but also important, to tell of the progress of the work. This information is used as a means to encourage our people, but such references must not be made in our general meetings in Russia. They would be

interpreted as an evidence that we are carrying forward an active propaganda, and working in opposition to the established church.

The Middle Russian Mission has an enormous territory in that portion of European Russia which its name indicates. It has a population now of about sixty million. Not long ago the Little Russian Mission field was cut off from it, leaving only one church, with a present membership of less than forty for the sixty million inhabitants. It was reported at the meeting that over fifty are awaiting baptism. The membership, though small, is loyal, and supports the work liberally.

Moscow, with its one million two hundred thousand inhabitants, its famous Kremlin, its more than five hundred Greek Catholic churches, its many monasteries, and other things of striking interest to the traveler, is located near the center of the field. Among the many other cities of note may be mentioned Smolensk, Kursk, and Vishni Novgorod. The work has been recently opened in the last-named city, which is situated on the River Volga, and is famous for its great summer markets. It serves as the meeting-place of European (Western) and Asiatic (Eastern) Russian merchants and producers, with their enormous wealth of merchandise. Persian and Chinese merchants, as well as those of other nations, mingle with the thousands of Russians of all divisions of the vast empire in the midsummer markets in Vishni Novgorod. It is expected that before the present year ends, some companies will be organized near this very important center.

Elder O. Wildgrube, and the few workers associated with him in the great Middle Russian Mission, seemed encouraged by the general meeting in Moscow to press forward in the work in their vast territory, with an equally vast population. Will not all who read this report pray devoutly that many may be won to the truth, and that soon more workers may join the small force already in the Middle Russian Mission?