A Return Visit to Russia

ONE OF THE GREATEST CHANGES IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION HAS BEEN THE FREEDOM TO DISCUSS RELIGION. MANY RUSSIANS HAVE USED THAT FREEDOM TO EXAMINE BIBLE TEACHINGS. THE RESULT HAS BEEN, IN EFFECT, A MODERN-​DAY MIRACLE.

WHAT a surprise I had on July 28, 1993, when I picked up the morning’s New York Times and saw on the front page a large baptism picture taken in Moscow! It had the caption: “The unleashing of religion in Russia brought converts into Moscow’s Locomotive Stadium for a mass baptism as Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

My wife and I had returned from Russia only the day before. We attended that baptism of 1,489 persons. The Christian love shown by the Russians and their interest in spiritual things had truly impressed us. One experience we had following the convention’s concluding session Sunday evening illustrates this.

When returning by Metro to our hotel, I sat next to a young man of perhaps 18 or 19 years of age. I handed him the Bible tract, in Russian, What Hope for Dead Loved Ones?a After looking at it briefly, he passed it to his mother. So I gave the youth another one. At that he pointed to the opening question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” and, in a tone registering skepticism, asked in English, “Do you believe this?”​—Job 14:14, King James Version.

Turning to look him straight in the eye, and with firm conviction, I replied: “I really do believe it!” I quickly added: “Think about this. Our life as intelligent, thinking people is a miracle. Some Higher Being must be responsible for the laws that governed our development into living people. So I believe that this Superior One can also recreate a dead person to live again.”

Immediately the youth began reading the tract. When he finished, I handed him the brochure, in Russian, Does God Really Care About Us?* He wanted to learn more, but ours was the next subway stop. Even though the youth and his mother had a train to catch that night, they got off the subway with us to talk a few minutes longer. After making brief comments about our Bible study program, I showed him an address on the back of the brochure where he could write for more information.

We left Russia the next day, but encounters such as this made an indelible impression.

Russia on Our Minds

I kept thinking about the incredible numbers of new ones who were baptized after the ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in the former Soviet Union was finally lifted in March 1991. Seven conventions were quickly organized for the summer of 1991, and 7,820 were immersed in water. Then, at the 1993 summer conventions​—including the one we attended in Moscow—​11,238 were immersed.

The evangelizing zeal of the Witnesses in Russia has not gone unnoticed by many of the Russian people. When you think about the response of Russians to Bible teachings, it seems miraculous.

‘How is such rapid growth possible?’ we wondered. ‘How grounded really are these Russians in Christian teachings?’

When a couple living in Moscow said that they would arrange accommodations for us if we visited Russia again, we began making travel plans. Our anticipation for the trip grew when we received additional reports about the unusual interest of Russians in Bible truths.

A Warm Russian Family

We arrived July 24 with suitcases in hand at the place we would be staying in Moscow​—a second-​floor apartment that was about a ten-​minute walk from the apartment building of our friends. Of the family we would be staying with, only 15-​year-​old Katia was home to greet us. It was Sunday evening, and the rest of the family were still out in the Christian ministry.

Shortly, the other members of the family began returning home​—Galina, the mother; 13-​year-​old Zhenia, the younger daughter; and, finally, Viktor, the father. None of them knew much English, and we knew even less Russian. Communication was relatively easy when our English-​speaking friends were present as interpreters but was difficult when they left. We would use a Russian-​English dictionary and descriptive gestures. Katia and Zhenia were good at communicating, having learned the language of the deaf.

All the family had been baptized at the same time, only two years before. Viktor was a ministerial servant in the congregation, and the girls used their school vacations to spend more time in the ministry. While attending school, they were not hesitant to talk about their faith. In fact, their preaching even drew the attention of authorities outside their school district. It impressed us to learn that the family was conducting 28 weekly home Bible studies with interested ones!

Clearly, the focus of each family member was on Bible study and the Christian ministry, and we could see that their lives had thereby been enriched. They radiated happiness.​—Acts 20:35.

Well-​Grounded in the Bible

Before retiring in the evenings, I quizzed the family on Bible texts. First I asked what Revelation 21:3, 4 says. Right away, almost in unison, the girls could quote it. Next I asked for Isaiah 2:4. They knew that one also, even using signs to indicate the beating of swords into plowshares.

I continued with scriptures in Isaiah that tell of Kingdom rule and new world blessings, namely, Isaiah 9:6, 7; 11:6-9; 25:8; 33:24; 35:5, 6; and Isa 65:21, 22. Without looking in their Bibles, the family were able to identify the content of each text. The girls would on occasion show that they knew the scripture by descriptive gestures, such as for a child leading a lion.

On another evening we considered scriptures on the identity of God, focusing on ones that show Jesus is inferior to God and that God and Jesus are not one in person but one in unity. The family could identify the content of such scriptures as John 10:30, John 17:20, 21, and 1 Corinthians 11:3. My wife and I were amazed by how well they knew their Bibles.

On Tuesday morning about a dozen of us met and traveled together by Metro to a beautiful park where we spent two and a half hours speaking to people about the Bible. We split up and worked in twos. One of my partners was Nadia, a Russian girl who showed fine poise in approaching people and engaging them in discussions. She was adept at directing attention to God’s thoughts in the Bible. I said to myself, ‘This is an experienced publisher.’ Afterward I was astounded to learn that she was just 17 years old and had been baptized only two months!

We had many such experiences, which impressed upon us that the situation in Russia is unique. Since the fall of Communism, Russians have shown themselves eager to examine Bible teachings. Most all of them are well educated, and they love to read. Even young ones read and comprehend well, as was evidenced when we visited a Russian family that had learned Bible truths when the Witnesses were still under ban.

The couple’s little son said that he wanted to ask a question. Through an interpreter, he made a request. I was so moved by it that I said if he would put his request in writing, I would pass it along to the publishers of Awake! He immediately sat down and wrote a letter. The following is a translation of what he wrote. The letter is reproduced on page 25.

“Serosha is writing from Russia to the Watchtower Society. I am seven years old, and I already go preaching with Father and Mother. I love to talk to people about God’s Kingdom. I also love to read the Awake! magazine. It comes to Russia in Russian only one time a month but in the English language twice a month. I would very much like to have this magazine twice a month, because I love it very, very, and very much. Please do this.”

Leaving the friends we had made in Moscow was not easy. In such a short time, we had come to love them dearly.

Compared With Early Christianity

We left for Tallinn, Estonia, by overnight train. There we saw the beautiful new facilities from which the preaching work is now being directed in that former republic of the Soviet Union. Three days later we took a train to St. Petersburg. In both places fellow Christians asked about the preaching work in Moscow. “Being there and seeing the growth,” I replied, “helped me to understand better what is written in the early part of Acts 17 and in the letters to the Thessalonians.”

I had always been amazed that a congregation was established in Thessalonica apparently within a few weeks of the apostle Paul’s ministry there. Amazing to me too was that within a year or so, Paul wrote these new Christians two letters regarding such deep spiritual matters as the resurrection and being “caught away in clouds,” “Jehovah’s day,” the cry of “peace and security!,” and “the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 5:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2) The zealous activity of those early Christians, in effect, produced a first-​century miracle​—a mature, spiritually strong international organization of preachers in a very brief time. About ten years later, Paul wrote that the “good news” had been “preached in all creation that is under heaven”!​—Colossians 1:23.

What was occurring in Russia seemed to me to be comparable to what had happened in the first century.

The Struggle to Keep Up With Growth

Russia is the largest country on earth, so providing direction to the thousands there who are preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom is obviously a big job.​—Matthew 24:14.

The Bible says regarding those who heard about Christianity in the first century: “The hand of Jehovah was with them, and a great number that became believers turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:21) How well we found those words to apply to our Christian brothers in Russia! May the Russian field remain ripe for spiritual harvesting, and may thousands more there join in the precious privilege of helping yet others on the road to life.​—Contributed.

[Footnotes]

[Pictures on page 24, 25]

Top: The family we stayed with. Above and right: Witnessing in the park. Bottom right: Serosha and his letter

[Picture on page 26]

New Watch Tower facilities, in Tallinn, Estonia