INTERRELATION OF THE ARISING RUSSIAN PROTESTANTISM AND THE MOLOKAN MOVEMENT IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article discusses religious discourses that influenced the formation of South Russian Baptism in the 19th century. It is shown that in addition to the well-known components of Baptism (Stunda) - Lutheranism, Reformed and Mennonism, Molokanism played a significant role. The influence of two branches of Russian Molokanism is revealed. The participation in the formation of Baptism of the Transcaucasian Molokans (“water molokans”) of Tiflis and the Baku province, a native of which N.G. Pavlov was a translator of the Hamburg Confession, which formed the basis of the theology of Baptists of a Calvinistic orientation, is considered. The influence of the Molokans of the Don persuasion, whose communities completely merged into Baptism at the end of the 19th century, is analyzed more deeply. Soteriology and the approach to the sacraments of the Molokans of the Don persuasion (“Zakharovites”), the specifics of which consisted in the fact that they, even when they were Molokans, learned a number of representations of Orthodox discourse, are examined in detail. In particular, they recognized all seven sacraments and shared a semi-Pelagian view of salvation, denying predestination. Having become an integral part of the Baptist movement, they influenced the soteriology of Russian Baptism and evangelical Christianity by setting the Arminian vector, as well as a special approach to the Eucharist and water baptism, which, up to the present, can be performed only by the ordained presbyter (which is an echo of the approach to Eucharist as a sacrament). The influence of Molokanism also explains the pacifism of Russian Protestants. The conclusion is drawn about the prospects for further research on the influence of Molokan discourse on the theology and practice of Russian Baptism.