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SIX The Routinization of Soviet Pentecostalism and the Liberation of Charisma in Russia and Ukraine CHRISTOPHER MARSH AND ARTYOM TONOYAN The year 1989 was the first in which the promises of Gorbachev’s perestroika were fulfilled.A mere year after the millennial celebration of the“Baptism of Rus',” as the conversion to Christianity by Kiev’s Prince Vladimir is known, religious life in the Soviet Union had opened up in a way unseen since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, if even then. It was in this exhilarating environment that a young Pentecostal named Alexander gathered a few of his friends to go and sing hymns at a local cancer hospital in Zhitomir, Ukraine. Alexander’s aunt was dying of cancer, and her condition made church attendance impossible. Why not bring the love of Christ to her and the other patients,Alexander thought.Their singing was most welcome by the patients, believers and nonbelievers alike, for obvious reasons. Similarly, Alexander and his friends also began singing around town and sharing the Gospel with passers-by, taking advantage of the new freedoms that perestroika had brought them. Before long, however, Alexander was instructed to cease such acts of Christian compassion and evangelism. Neither was he an ordained minister in the Pentecostal church,he was told,nor was it appropriate to conduct such activities beyond the walls of the physical church to which they belonged. These instructions came not from Soviet authorities slow to respond to the liberalization of Soviet religion policy, but rather from Alexander’s own Pentecostal church. He and his friends considered unsatisfactory the explanations he was given for this determination, and he discussed the issue with his older brother who had just finished his studies at the Pentecostal seminary in the neighboring province. Neither of the young men could see any theological reason to justify the church’s decision. Rather, they felt that the church was stifled by traditions established during the Soviet era, when the survival strategy of the Pentecostals dictated that they lie low and refrain Routinization of Soviet Pentecostalism and Liberation of Charisma 177 from public activities. Indeed, a reading of scripture led them to conclude that the church should not be limited in its evangelistic activities as they were being told. Feeling led by the Holy Spirit, the pair broke away from the church into which they had been baptized years before and started their own church,one that would not be constrained by any physical walls or Soviet-era traditions that were now outdated in the new sociopolitical environment. That was nearly twenty-five years ago. Today, Pastor Alexander is the head of a large group of Pentecostal churches throughout Ukraine.His home church in Zhitomir,about an hour north of Kiev,is an active civic organization and enjoys warm relations with other churches of various denominations and runs numerous social activities, from summer camps to a basketball league. Pastor Alexander also enjoys excellent relations with the local mayor (who favors no single church, but rather meets regularly with leaders of all traditions ). Beyond his hometown, Pastor Alexander serves informally as something of a“bishop” to other Pentecostal communities throughout Ukraine. The story of Pastor Alexander and his vibrant charismatic church poignantly illustrates many of the characteristics of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine. In particular, it exemplifies the routinization of charisma by Soviet Pentecostals, and the inability of most such churches to adapt to the freer environment ushered in by Gorbachev’s reforms and indeed the collapse of Communist Party rule. On the other hand, the rapid spread of less routinized forms of Pentecostalism and more ambiguous forms of charismatic Christianity illustrated by the growth of his and other churches illustrates how,when given the opportunity,some groups were able to mobilize rapidly and respond to changed sociopolitical conditions .Finally,the evangelistic activities,mission work,and social programs of these churches testify to their commitment to the social and political progress of the nation and the prosperity of its citizens. In the pages that follow,we offer a brief historical overview of the roots of PentecostalismintheSovietUnionandthesurvivalstrategiesemployedduring the period of persecution. Continuing, we discuss briefly the ways in which perestroika opened up the religious marketplace and how Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity adapted to the drastically changed socio­ political circumstances. We then discuss the variants of Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity in Russia and Ukraine today, particularly the “old” and “new” variants and their sociopolitical implications. Finally, we consider how these post...

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