Thank you to Dr. James Stamoolis for bringing this fascinating item to our attention.
Exactly 50 years ago in September 1964 The Churchman (a journal of Anglican theology) published an article by John Pollock entitled simply “In Soviet Central Asia”. In the article John, an Evangelical Anglican, reports on a recent visit to Tashkent and his meeting there with Baptist and Orthodox church leaders. His comments are pertinent to our meeting in Albania this month.
Having seen the words “God is Love” displayed in colourful text in an Evangelical Church, John writes, “This love breeds unity, and it is a unity which at last is crossing denominational barriers. Evangelical Anglicans [John’s background] are naturally interested in the relationship between the Orthodox and the Baptists in the Soviet Union. There used to be a deep gulf; once again the causes lie in history. The early Baptist-Evangelicals suffered severely in Tsarist times from persecution by church and state, closely intertwined with the state dominating the church, which it regarded as an important bulwark of the autocracy and any religious nonconformity as almost tantamount to treason. Unfortunately the majority of Orthodox priests entered wholeheartedly into the policy of repression, and did their utmost to extinguish the Evangelicals. Nevertheless much that was best in Orthodoxy was carried, almost unconsciously and despite mutual antipathy into the Baptist stream. Baptist services are unliturgical yet have a sense of tradition and dignity that used to be lacking in much Western nonconformist worship. And now the suspicions between Orthodox and Baptists, already resolved at higher levels, are everywhere dying. I recall a jovial Orthodox Archbishop in one Central Asian city, as he sat in his little house plying us with food (and wines by the dozen, almost !) saying of the Baptists, between mouthfuls. “They can go where we with our robes and paraphernalia cannot. Our priests can’t go into factories. The Baptists can – they work there”. He took a sip of Georgian champagne, and added, with expressive gestures: “We used to chase them with pitchforks. Now we draw them to us with a kiss of peace!”
The Churchman : Vol: 78 No. 3 September 1964 Pgs. 213-4
Pitchforks, by the way are banned from our consultation in Albania!