THE STUNDISTS OF RUSSIA.
By George H. Schodde
BY PROF. GEORGE H. SCHODDE,
Of Capital University, Columbus, O.
Of all the Dissenters in the vast army of Russian sects and sectlets the Stundists are the most evangelical, most aggressive, and, in consequence, the most hated by the authorities of the established orthodox church. The Stundist agitation is decidedly a peasant movement, practically a protest against the low status of morals prevailing in the State church, and aims chiefly at a reformation of principles, life, and conduct. It is, however, not a movement that has arisen spontaneously within the fold of the orthodox church itself. The name already shows this. The term is the German "Stunde," and the agitation was aroused by the observation of the better class of Russian peasants of the fact that the pietistic German colonists in Southern Russia, by virtue of their superior morals and industry, prospered much more abundantly than did the ordinary Russian peasant. These colonies, consisting mostly of pious Württembergers, and founded more than a century ago, enjoyed full liberty of conscience, and, to a certain extent, also some political rights. Their meetings, held for prayers, study of the Scriptures, and religious edification, were called "Stunden," just as prayer meeting in German is yet called "Gebets Stunde;" and "Stundists" was thus originally a term of reproach, used a good deal as was the word "Methodist" in the days of Wesley. Contact with these pietistic and generally enthusiastic German Christians first aroused a similar movement among the better class of Russian peasants. The agitation was favored by the fact that the status of morality, or rather immorality, among the Russian peasants is exceedingly low. It is only a twelvemonth ago since the late archbishop of Odessa, Nicanor, in a public document was compelled severely to criticise the drinking propensities of the orthodox Christians, and to draw attention to the superior quality of the morals of the hated Stundists. The Stundist movement is thus not doctrinal in origin or character. It was not originally intended to be an agitation outside of, or against, the Russian State church. The Stundists did not feel that they were going counter to their church when they began to study their Bibles, for the czar's government had even officially sanctioned and encouraged the spread of the Scriptures, nor when they adopted the principles and practice of temperance and industry. The Stundist movement was primarily to be a reformation within the orthodox church in favor of a more evangelical and moral Christianity. It was chiefly the opposition of the church authorities, but to some extent the consistent application of the new principles adopted by the Stundists, and at times also some hasty enthusiasm and unwise zeal on their part that caused the break which now actually exists and becomes greater day by day. Another noteworthy feature of the rapid spread of Stundism is the fact that it has had no great single leader. It had no great mind at its head, as the evangelical church in Germany had in Luther, or the Methodist Church in Wesley. It, indeed, had, and has, leading men, but these rather directed a movement sufficiently vital to require no new energy. This is all the more to be noted because even men so much at home in Russian affairs as Pastor Hermann Dalton, who for a generation, almost, was pastor of the Reformed Church in St. Petersburg, with not a few other writers, make Pastor Bonekemper, of Rohrbach, in the Chersson Government, the real father of the movement. Bonekemper, however, did not arrive in Russia from America until 1867 and returned in 1877; and the official reports of the Consistory of Chersson show that Stundist prayer meetings were held there as early as 1861. The documents in this matter are published in a Russian work entitled "The Stundists of Southern Russia," issued in 1880 by a St. Petersburg priest, Arsenij Roshdestwensky. It is a significant fact that in the official report of the legal trials of Stundists, names of leaders seldom are mentioned. The first beginning of the Stundist movement can be traced to the little village of Osnowa, near Odessa, with only 220 male inhabitants. Two names are generally mentioned in this connection, those of Quintchenko and Michael Ratushnij. In their youth they were poor day laborers and were employed by a German colonist in the neighboring Rohrbach, on the farm and as shoemakers. Both are living yet and have farms of their own. The former was not so conspicuous in the movement as the latter. "God gave me the light," he said; "but to Michael he gave a bright mind." After their own conversion they gathered a small band of adherents and held devotional meetings in the evening or at night, given chiefly to the study of the Scriptures and to prayer. Soon the singing of hymns was added; and now there are quite a number of valuable collections of evangelical hymns published by the Stundists, such as "The Beloved Songs," "Joyful Songs of Zion," "The Voice of Faith." As early as 1875 and 1876 the movement had spread over the entire eastern portion of the Chersson district, and about the same time new centers of agitation were formed in the northern parts of the Kief Government. To these places Ratushnij had sent a number of agitators equally determined with himself. The majority of these men were poor renters, sons of soldiers. Yet it was the cause itself, and not the agitators, that spread the new gospel flame. In the Stundist system the fact of experiencing conversion is the fundamental condition of entering the communion, and each applicant is required to renounce all corrupt morals and practices, such as drinking, stealing, gambling, idleness, etc., etc. With this admission a new life begins.747The movement is of a healthy, evangelical character. A vast array of unprejudiced witnesses testify to the fact that both the social and religious tendencies of the Stundists are excellent. Especially are their temperance and industry praised. One writer says:— All who know the Stundists consider them honest, sober, respectable, and industrious people, and, indeed, the very best among the Russian peasants. They are a diligent people, do not steal, do not become drunk, do not lie, do not slander, and in general live as genuine Christians should. Their family life is blameless, and their relations to each other Christian. The consciousness of being regenerated children of God is very pronounced among the Stundists, as, also, the conviction that they are moved by the Holy Spirit. When the venerable Quintchenko was asked how he could in his old age still perform so much labor, he answered, "It is not I who works; it is God through me." This practical feature of the Stundist movement is so characteristic that they cannot be said to have a clear conception of a doctrinal system. The work of Christ as a Redeemer and Saviour is somewhat crowded into the background by his importance as a model of Christian life and conduct. This is in perfect consistency with the historical surroundings of the origin and growth of the movement. Christ born again in the soul of the Christian, the love of Christ and of mankind, is the baptism of fire which is the Stundist ideal. So much is the practical side of Christ's personal work emphasized that in some Stundist circles the divine nature of Christ is almost ignored. Naturally, a conflict with the State church authorities was inevitable. In the hearts of these pious peasants the controlling thoughts are sin, conversion, sanctification. The Russian Church demands blind assent to its doctrines, manners, and methods. This the Stundists could not with a good conscience yield. Not a few threw their icons, or holy images, out of their houses. On one occasion the crowd of Stundists took their icons and threw them into the church tower of the village. The priest and the orthodox peasants were busy all next day with processions and holy water to reconsecrate these defiled images. In this way the standpoints and attitude of both sides are daily bringing the opposing principles and parties to clash. The growth of the movement has in recent years been exceedingly rapid, and this has made the czar and his servile officials all the more ready to persecute. In this case, as in that of the Baltic province Protestants, the Russians seem to be struck with blindness. They are destroying the powers that are best adapted to effect a moral or spiritual regeneration of the stagnate and petrified formalism of the orthodox church and its type of culture and civilization. These persecutions began with the year 1867. It was then that Ratushnij was first arrested and imprisoned in the Chersson Government, and Rjaeboshapka in the Kief Government. The charges were nonconformity, although formally the Russian laws allow religious liberty. The cases were first argued in the lower courts, and one fine followed upon another and one term of imprisonment upon another. The higher courts of Odessa and Kief were soon compelled to take up the cases; but the trials and punishments only caused the movement to spread all the more. At that time the public press was forced in many instances to applaud the Stundists. An element of importance both in the inner development of Stundism and also in its relation to the State and the State church, was the introduction of baptism from Germany, especially from Hamburg. The first rebaptism took place June 11, 1869. In 1871 the leader, Michael Ratushnij, was again baptized. This led to troubles within the fold of the Stundists. The Baptist, however, is not, as is generally supposed, a movement outside or independent of Stundism. On the contrary, there are Baptist Stundists and non-Baptist Stundists. For the Stundists the second baptism is not a means of grace, but the confirmation merely of the certainty of the conversion of the heart. Those of the Stundists who submit to a second baptism thereby indicate only the comparative completeness of their spiritual regeneration. It is a seal of the regeneration. Outwardly the introduction of this element led to the first formal separation from the State church, the reasons for which are plain. In November, 1871, Ratushnij applied in behalf of himself and his friends for a dismissal from the State church; for which step he had a formal and legal right. Then a beginning was made with the organization of separate congregations, in which both sections of the Stundists were and are equally zealous. The movement has spread wonderfully. The Stundists themselves do not furnish any statistics, but the press reports of 1877 estimate the total at 300,000, and in 1881 at 400,000. At present a very conservative estimate gives at least 1,000,000. Dalton, in his new work "Die Russische Kirche," 1892, claims 2,000,000. Westward they extend to Podolien, and southward to the Caucasus, and in the interior as far as Moscow. The anti-Stundist propaganda of Church and State is now very determined. No attempts are any longer made at formal trials. Bitter and conscienceless persecutions are the order of the day. Mission work on a grand scale is being carried on by the orthodox church among these "heretics," but absolutely without success. The orthodox popes and missionaries cannot understand the causes that have led to the wonderful development of this evangelical dissent, and despair of curing the evil save by brute force, as their leaders have repeatedly been compelled to confess. Wide-awake Russians see the futility of these methods. Prince Mests herskij, the author of the well-known diary, in the official journal Grashdanin, only a few months ago, spoke very plainly on the subject. In the meanwhile the persecutions go on. The present czar of Russia is manifestly guided by the ideal of his tyrannical grandfather, Nicholas I.: "One language, one government, one church for all the Russians."
—Independent.