The word Shtundist is derived from the German wordStunde ("hour"), in reference to the practice of setting aside an hour for dailyBible study.[3] The term was originally used in a derogatory sense, but has also been adopted by many adherents to this tradition.
They are noted for their cleanliness, honesty andtemperance, having banished intoxicating liquors.
The Shtundists have no common confession of faith. They acknowledgeonly the Bible, on the interpretation of which they do not entirely agree.
They have [volunteer lay]presbyters andelders at the head of their congregations, who are older and experienced men.
They have no typical church buildings, but worship in some hall or generally in the largest room of someone's private house. At one end there is a table and a chair for the elder.
When the members enter they salute each other with the[holy] kiss of fraternal love.
Women and men sit apart.
Their hymnal singing is especially good. Some of the hymns have been translated into English.
After the hymn the elder reads a chapter out of the Bible and explains it, and each one present is privileged to make remarks.
The women, in compliance with St. Paul's injunction, are required to be silent auditors.
Their prayers are always done in a kneeling posture.
Regarding marriage. The parents of the bride and bridegroom present the couple to the elder. The bride is first asked if she wishes to enter the state of holy matrimony with this young man, if she loves him, and if she is taking this step of her own free will and under no compulsion, not even that of her parents. When the bridegroom has answered similar questions a hymn is sung and a prayer is spoken. Then the elder tells the couple to embrace each other and to grasp the right hands. This ends the ceremony. … This ceremony is not recognized by the law of Russia, as only theRussian Church can legally perform this ceremony.[4]
The Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and writerSergey Stepniak described his impressions of their "religious doctrine" that he witnessed while growing up in Ukraine:
Much like the Baptists or theAnabaptists ofReformation times, they baptizeonly adults, re-baptizing those to whom this sacrament was administered in babyhood.
Instead of the sacrament ofcommunion they have what is called simply "the breaking of bread," accompanied with singing of hymns.
Both communion and baptism are viewed by the Shtundists, not as sacraments, but as "rites performed in commemoration of Christ, and for a closer union with Him."
They considericons as no better than pictures and do not keep them in their houses.
They formally recognize only the Lord's Prayer. Prayers [in general] are left to the personal inspiration of the believers.
At their meetings they sing hymns of their own composition, as well asPsalms.
It is prohibited among them to mistreat even dumb creatures.
There is no conscious leaning towards collective ownership of land. All earthly goods arelent by God to men, who will be held responsible before Him for the use they have made of their worldly possessions.
To prove faithful these men are bound to come to the assistance of their neighbours when they are in need, sickness, or affliction. [They also exhibit a] perfect absence of national and religious intolerance.
The Stundist catechism is simply a translation of the catechism of theTiflis Baptists.[2]
In the 1890s,Pobedonostzev, supervisor of the Russian Orthodox Church, ordered all heretics and sectarians, non-Orthodox faiths of ethnic Russians (raskolniki andsectarians), to be reformed or punished. During this time many were persecuted, arrested, beaten[5] and thousands were exiled toSiberia and theCaucasus.[2]
A revival led to the formation of a denomination known as the Evangelical Christians (Евангельские христианеYevangel'skiye khristane) which first appeared in 1909 when a British missionary,Granville Radstock, started preaching among the imperial Russian aristocracy. Led by the engineerIvan Prokhanov and mostly rooted in thePietist tradition, they formed a nationwide association inSt Petersburg, theAll-Russian Evangelical Christian Union. Prokhanov's parents had left theSpiritual ChristianMolokan faith, and manyMolokane switched to his similar but more organized group. These evangelical groups came under pressure in Soviet times, with many adherents being incarcerated or deported.
Conditions changed somewhat during the late 1940s, when mostevangelical,Baptist andPentecostal groups were led, with some pressure from theSoviet state, to form the All-Soviet Association of Evangelical Baptist Christians (Всесоюзный совет евангельских христиан-баптистовVsesoyuznyy sovet yevangel'skikh khristan-baptistov, abbreviated ВСЕХБ,VSYeKhB), which was later also joined byMennonites.
Prior to its independence in 1991,Ukraine was home to the second-largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States, and was called the “Bible Belt” of theSoviet Union.[6] Despite mass emigration of formerly persecuted Ukrainian Protestants to the West, Ukraine's Baptists continue to be the largest Protestant denomination in the country, which has the second-highest number of Baptist churches in the world.
In Russia, the Evangelical Christian Baptists (Евангельские христиане-баптистыYevangel'skiye khristane-baptisty) still form the largestProtestant denomination with about 80,000 adherents.
During the late 20th century, Shtundism also extended its influence toGermany when many formerSoviet citizens of German origin emigrated there and set upparishes andgospel halls, mostly referring to themselves asEvangeliumschristen ("Gospel Christians").
