Thrilling Report From the Soviet Union
Joyful Climax to One Hundred Years of Witnessing
“TO REGISTER the Charter of the Administrative Center of the religious organizations of ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S.S.R.’”
This is the translation of the first words of the Russian-language document reproduced on this page. Truly, these words represent the answer to many prayers. The document was signed and sealed in Moscow by a ranking official of the Ministry of Justice of the R.S.F.S.R. (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic). It means that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a recognized religious organization in the U.S.S.R. Thus, a turning point has been reached in their one-hundred-year history in that vast land.
A Very Small Beginning
One hundred years of history? Yes. In modern times, the earliest known preacher of the good news in that land was Charles Taze Russell, who reported a visit there in 1891. In the September 1891 issue of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, he recounts that he traveled to Kishinev, Russia, during the course of a European trip. There he met up with a certain Joseph Rabinowitch, who believed in Christ and was trying to preach to Jewish families in the area. Russell reports at length on his visit with Rabinowitch and their deep, interesting conversations about the Kingdom.
The Good News Is Heard Again
After Russell’s visit, little is heard of witnessing in what is now the U.S.S.R., but that does not mean that nothing was accomplished. In 1927 three congregations in the Soviet Union sent reports of their Memorial meetings to the Society. But progress does not seem to have been rapid until the second world war. That war resulted in dramatic dislocations of many people in Europe. One unforeseen result of these movements was large infusions of Kingdom preachers into the Soviet Union.
For example, the February 1, 1946, issue of The Watchtower reports: “More than a thousand publishers who formerly preached in the Ukrainian language in the eastern part of Poland have now been transferred into the depths of Russia. . . . Then, too, hundreds of brethren who lived in Bessarabia, formerly a part of Rumania, are now inhabitants of Russia and continuing with their work of discipling all nations.”
Further, during the second world war, many Soviet citizens suffered in Nazi concentration camps. For some this hard experience led to unexpected blessings. One report tells of a number of young Russian women imprisoned in Ravensbrück. There they met Jehovah’s Witnesses, responded to the truth, and made progress to the point of baptism. Similar things happened in other camps. When these newly baptized Witnesses were released after the war, they carried the good news of the Kingdom back with them to the Soviet Union. In this way the second world war resulted in a rapid increase in the number of Kingdom preachers in Soviet territory. In 1946 it was estimated that 1,600 publishers were active there.
Preaching in Prison
Prisons continued to play a major part in the spreading of the good news in the Soviet Union. After the war, the authorities mistakenly viewed the Witnesses as a threat, and many were imprisoned. But this did not stop their preaching. How could it, when they truly believed that the message about God’s Kingdom is the best of news for mankind? So for many of them, prison became their territory, and numerous prisoners who heard them responded. A report from 1957 says: “Of all that are known to be in the truth today in Russia it is concluded that forty percent have received the truth in prison and in camps.”
Were the Witnesses discouraged by this constant threat of imprisonment? In no way! A report from 1964 says: “There are witnesses of Jehovah in those camps who are there for the second or third time, as they did not stop preaching the message after they were released.” Others, it goes on to say, were criminals who were committed to prison or camp and met the Witnesses while there. They accepted the truth and progressed to the point of baptism before their release.
A Lessening of Pressure
In the mid-1960’s, the authorities adopted a less stern attitude toward the Witnesses. Likely, they realized that Jehovah’s people were in no way a threat to public law and order. So while the activities of these humble Christians were still not legal, they were subjected to fewer arrests and searches of their homes, and they were grateful for this easing of pressure. Their main desire was to carry on their Christian lives and work in a quiet, mild, and peaceful manner, as far as it depended on them.—Romans 12:17-19; 1 Timothy 2:1, 2.
In 1966 all those who had been exiled in Siberia for a long time were freed and were allowed to go to any place they wished within the country. Many returned home after long years of absence, but some chose to remain in that fruitful field. And not all who came back chose to remain. One sister, deported to Siberia with her family as a young girl, had returned with her parents to western Russia. But she stayed only a short while. She loved the humble, hospitable folk of Siberia so much that she left her family and moved back east to continue preaching to those receptive people.
A typical experience during this time involved a brother who moved from one city to another. After a while he discovered two other Witnesses. The three of them prayed for help and soon contacted a young woman of Greek Orthodox background. She quickly accepted the truth and led the brothers to two other interested ones—her mother and her younger sister. The report concludes: “Today there are forty people associated with these brothers, thirty of whom learned the truth within the past six months.”
Nevertheless, Jehovah’s Witnesses were hampered in their activities by a lack of legal recognition. Meetings were held cautiously. Preaching was done with care. Imprisonment was still a possibility, and open house-to-house witnessing was impossible. In spite of this, however, these faithful Soviet Christians continued to serve their God faithfully and to be good citizens of their country. (Luke 20:25) Expressing their attitude, one of them wrote: “It is a grand privilege to endure all tests and remain faithful to Jehovah God, to praise God forever in one’s life in order to gain everlasting life from Jehovah through Jesus Christ.” What fine examples of endurance and faithfulness these Soviet Witnesses have been!
Legalization at Last!
In 1988 things began to change in lands associated with the Soviet Union. A climate of greater freedom began to prevail, and countries that had restricted the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses began to adopt new policies. Poland, Hungary, Romania, and other lands granted these sincere Christians legal recognition, allowing them to act openly without fear of reprisal. What happy years these last three have been in Eastern Europe! How the brothers there have taken advantage of their newfound freedom to spread the peaceful message of the Kingdom! And how Jehovah’s Witnesses in the rest of the world have rejoiced with them!
The Soviet Witnesses have already benefited from their expanding freedoms. Thousands—some from as far away as the Pacific coast of Asia—attended the epoch-making conventions in Poland in 1989 and again in 1990, when 17,454 Witnesses from the Soviet Union were present in Warsaw. What memories they took home with them! Most had never worshiped with more than a handful of fellow Christians. Now they had been in crowds of tens of thousands!
They went back to a Soviet Union that was becoming more and more tolerant. Witnesses around the world watched and wondered: When will Jehovah’s Witnesses be legalized in the Soviet Union? Well, it happened in 1991—exactly a hundred years after the visit there of Charles Taze Russell! On March 27, 1991, the “Administrative Center of the Religious Organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S.S.R.” was registered in a document signed in Moscow by the Minister of Justice of the R.S.F.S.R. What kind of freedom was granted to the Witnesses?
The legal charter of the newly registered body includes the following declaration: “The purpose of the Religious Organization is to carry on the religious work of making known the name of Jehovah God and his loving provisions for mankind through his heavenly Kingdom by Jesus Christ.”
How is this to be done? The ways listed include preaching publicly and visiting the homes of the people; teaching Bible truths to people who are willing to listen; conducting with them free Bible studies with the help of Bible study publications; and arranging for the translating, importing, publishing, printing, and distributing of Bibles.
The document also outlines the organization of the Witnesses under the Governing Body, including congregations with bodies of elders, a seven-member Presiding [Branch] Committee for the country, and circuit and district overseers.
Clearly, Jehovah’s Witnesses can now act as freely and openly in the Soviet Union as they do in many other lands. Imagine the joy of five of the seven members of the Presiding Committee and the five long-standing congregation elders who had the privilege of signing this historic document and seeing it sealed by the Head of the Department of the Registration of Public and Religious Associations! Appropriately, Milton Henschel and Theodore Jaracz of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses were also present to witness this momentous event. Of those groups approved by the R.S.F.S.R., Jehovah’s Witnesses were the first to receive their official document of registration. What a reward for those faithful Russian brothers after so many years of patient endurance!
Jehovah’s Witnesses everywhere are grateful to the Soviet authorities who granted this legalization. Especially do they thank Jehovah with all their heart for the new freedom of their Soviet brothers. They rejoice with fellow Witnesses in the U.S.S.R. and in the other Eastern European lands who can now serve Jehovah God so much more openly. May Jehovah bless them richly as they use this freedom to the full in praising his holy name.
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The Kremlin in Moscow
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Russian delegates at a 1990 convention outside the Soviet Union