Missionary Russia

Missionary Russia
The nineteenth century in Russia, as in the West, was a missionary century. The priest Makary Glukharev (1792–1847) dedicated his life to the evangelization of the Siberian tribes. The lay professor, Nikolai Ilminsky (1822–1892), translated the Scriptures and Church books of the Orthodox Faith into some of the languages of these peoples. The theological academy founded in 1842 in Kazan, at the ‘Gateway to Siberia,’ became the center of the missionary activity of the Russian Church to the animistic Siberian tribes (some of whom were being converted to Buddhism by monks from Tibet), and to the Muslims living in the south-central parts of the Russian Empire. In the Kazan area alone, in 1903, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in 22 different languages or dialects.
The first Russian missionary to Japan, Saint Nikolai Kasatkin of Japan (1836–1912), spent six years mastering the Japanese language, and proceeded to convert thousands of Japanese to the Orthodox Faith—despite several periods of persecution by the Japanese government. At his death, as Japan’s first Orthodox bishop, he left a self-governing local church of about 33,000 members, with the Scriptures and liturgical books in the native language, and a number of native pastors. The impressive stone cathedral he had built in Tokyo, affectionately called Nikolai-Do (Nikolai’s house), still is a prominent architectural presence in the city.
In 1970, the Orthodox Church in America glorified its first saint: Saint Herman of Alaska (c. 1758–1837), who was one of the first ten monastic missionaries who arrived on Kodiak Island in 1794. The memory of his extraordinary holiness, expressed by his self-emptying love and care for the Alaskan people—especially in the face of exploitation and abuse of the natives by the Russian-American (fur-trading) Company—and by various miracles accomplished through his prayers, had been kept strongly alive by the descendants of the Aleuts with whom he lived and labored in Kodiak and on nearby Spruce Island.
From Saint Herman’s conversation with 25 Russian naval officers
“And do you love God?” the Elder then asked.
All replied: “Of course, we love God. How can one not love God?”
“And I, a sinful one, for more than forty years have been striving to love God, and I cannot say that I perfectly love Him,” answered Father Herman; and he began to show how one should love God, “If we love someone,” he said, “we always think of him, strive to please him, and day and night our heart is occupied with this. Is this the way you, gentlemen, love God? Do you often turn to Him, do you always think of Him, do you always pray to Him and fulfill His holy commandments?” It had to be acknowledged that they did not!
“For our good, for our happiness,” concluded the Elder, “at least let us make a promise to ourselves, that from this day, from this hour, from this minute we shall strive to love God above all, and fulfill His holy will!”
Behold what an intelligent, superb conversation Father Herman conducted in society. Without doubt this conversation must have imprinted itself on the hearts of his listeners for their whole life!
Saint Peter the Aleut was a young Aleut Orthodox Christian working for the Russian-American Company. He was one of a party of fourteen fur-hunters sailing near San Francisco whose boat was commandeered in 1815 by the Spanish authorities in the area. Imprisoned by the governor, and threatened with death by the Roman Catholic priest at the mission there if they did not accept Catholicism, all the Aleuts remained true to their Orthodox Faith. According to the eyewitness account of one of these Aleuts, Peter was then cruelly tortured until he died from loss of blood. (The others then were released.) Canonized in 1980 by the Orthodox Church in America, Saint Peter is the first Orthodox martyr of the lower 48 states.
In 1977, Father John Veniaminov (1797–1879) was glorified as a saint by the Church of Russia as “Saint Innocent of Moscow, Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to America.” As a young priest, he traveled from Irkutsk in central Siberia with his pregnant wife, his son, his mother-in-law, and his brother to begin mission work on the island of Unalaska in the Aleutian chain in 1824. During his pastoral ministry there, after first creating an alphabet for the Aleut language out of Slavonic characters, he translated a number of Scriptural and liturgical texts into the Aleut language. He also wrote a lengthy catechetical book in the Aleut language and in Russian, called The Indication of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven .
Saint Innocent was a very fine administrator, carpenter, clock and organ maker, and naturalist, besides being a superb teacher, linguist, and pastor. In 1840, one year after his wife Catherine died, he became the first Bishop of Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands, with his headquarters in Sitka, Alaska, where he built Saint Michael’s Cathedral and a seminary. As bishop he made pastoral journeys of many months and thousands of miles by kayak and dogsled to visit the widely scattered communities of his far-flung diocese. In 1867 he was elected Metropolitan of Moscow. As metropolitan, he continued his interest in mission work by establishing the Russian Missionary Society to raise funds for the support of missions.
At the time of the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, Saint Innocent recommended that all the clergy who did not know the English language be sent home and replaced by those knowing English, and he urged that English be the standard language of the Orthodox Church in America. He urged that seminaries be established for training American-born men to become priests, and he recommended that the headquarters of the Church in America be moved from Sitka to San Francisco. All of this reveals his vision for the growth of Orthodoxy in North America as an indigenous, English-speaking Church.
Saint Jacob Netsvetov (1802–1864) was another outstanding missionary-priest in Russian America. Born to a Russian father and an Aleut mother, he became the first native American to be ordained as an Orthodox priest, upon his completion of seminary training in Irkutsk. Sent back to the island of Atka, his birthplace, in the western Aleutian Archipelago, for 17 years he faithfully ministered there and all across his far-flung “parish” stretching for 2000 miles all the way to the Kurile Islands of northern Japan.
In 1844/1845, when Bishop Innocent opened the Mission to the lower Yukon Delta and Kuskokwim River Basin of the Alaskan mainland, he entrusted it to Saint Jacob, who labored for 18 years among the Eskimo and Athabascan peoples. Like his mentor Saint Innocent, Saint Jacob was an excellent linguist, translator, and naturalist. A major highlight of his ministry, as recorded in his fascinating journal, was his success in 1852 among the Athabascan Indians along the Innoko River, when he baptized hundreds and narrowly averted a tribal war. In “retirement” he ministered to the Tlingit Indians in the area around Sitka, where he died.
Saint John of Kronstadt (1829–1908) was an outstanding example of what can be called a “home missionary.” Originally he wanted to be a missionary to eastern Siberia, but he came to realize that there were many in his own region around Saint Petersburg who were very poor and very much in need of the Church’s ministry to soul and body. As a parish priest in the naval city of Kronstadt across the bay from Saint Petersburg, he became famous throughout Russia as a brilliant preacher, healer of the sick, protector of orphans and the poor, teacher of children, ardently loving pastor of his flock, faithful servant at the altar (serving Liturgy every day, at which up to 5000 would attend, necessitating the practice of group confession), and prophet to the nation. His insistence on regular participation in the holy sacraments by those who came to pray with him in his parish helped lead to the Eucharistic revival among Russian Orthodox Christians in the 20th century.
The famous “House of Industry” which Saint John founded in Kronstadt included a free elementary school, a carpentry teaching-workshop, a drawing class, a women’s workshop for sewing, a workshop for shoemaking, a library for children, a zoological collection, a military gymnasium, and a bookshop for children and adults. His powerful and insightful spiritual counsels, as given in his diary, have been published with the title My Life in Christ .

Volume III - Church History:
Nineteenth Century

Volume III - Church History: Nineteenth Century

The Mission of The Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church, is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”
Founded in 1794 — Granted Autocephaly in 1970
Copyright © 1996–2022. All rights reserved.

Twitter |
Facebook |
Instagram |
YouTube |
Telegram |
Contact |
Site Map |
Search

Bandaging and building the persecuted Church since 1995

ICC is on a mission to help persecuted Christians. Will you join us?

18 Killed in Bloody Al-Shabaab Attack 09/05/2022 Somalia (Internatio... more
Burmese Military Launches Bloody New Offensive 09/05/2022 Myanmar (Internatio... more
Brutally Beaten by Her Family Because She Turned to Christ Sophia grew up in a Muslim hou... more
Persecuted Vietnamese Family Gets a New Home more
Another Fearless Church Planter in India more
Pakistani Woman Threads New Life from Pain more
Or send donations to:
PO Box 8056
Silver Spring, MD 20907
International Christian Concern is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit charity.
2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #941 | Washington, DC 20006-1846 | Phone: 800-422-5441
©2022 International Christian Concern - All Rights Reserved.
Join with us this Christmas Season in remembering our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world! Through our online Christmas catalog, you can find practical gifts to restore life and give a helping hand today!

DOWNLOAD ICC’S
NIGERIA CRISIS REPORT

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Year after year countless Christians around the world suffer persecution, even martyrdom, for Jesus. These martyrs whisper a hidden but life-changing message—a call to the deep for Western Christians with “ears to hear.”
06/01/2021 Russia (International Christian Concern) – On April 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an amendment to the country’s Religion Law, initiating significant changes for ministries across Russia, according to Forum 18. The amendment, which comes into force in October 2021, covers a wide range of religious issues under the guise of “protecting the spiritual sovereignty of Russia.”
Perhaps the most significant change is a new requirement that all missionaries, clergy, and religious teachers educated abroad must receive “additional professional education in the field of the basics of state-confessional relations in the Russian Federation.” In effect, if a missionary or pastor received their religious training outside Russia, they will be required to receive additional State-authored education. While the new law does not apply to those already in engaged in ministry, it will apply to every new pastor or missionary going forward regardless of whether they are foreign or Russian citizens. There is currently no information about what the content or requirements of the courses will be, but those details will likely be disclosed by the time the law comes into effect this October.
Other changes including forbidding groups or NGOs from using any religious identifiers in their name unless permitted by the local, government-approved Centralized Religious Organization. The list of people now banned from leading or even participating in religious groups has also been significantly expanded
Unsurprisingly, the law was negatively received by most religious organizations in the country, with a notable exception to the Russian Orthodox Church, who supported it, according to Olga Sibireva, head of the Moscow-based Religion in Secular Society Project.
“ Representatives of other religious organizations ,” she observed, “ consider the draft law a threat to freedom of religion and its norms as an attempt of the state to strengthen its ability to interfere with the internal activities of religious organizations .”
But perhaps the biggest problem with the law is not what is says, but what it does not say.
Olga told Forum 18 that, “The main problem is that the wording of the amendments is very imprecise and leaves room for interpretation. Therefore, much will depend on how the new rules will be interpreted in the course of law enforcement practice.”
In the days the Soviet Union, Russia was known for having some of the most restrictive limitations on religious freedom in the world. But after the collapse of the USSR, churches and ministries in Russia experienced significantly greater freedom and could openly practice their faith.
However, under the guise of fighting the war on terror, President Putin’s administration has overseen significant changes to the rights of religious minorities, whether by increasing the bureaucratic hurdles placed on ministries or outright banning certain groups. In their 2021 report, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom renewed its recommendation for Russia to be listed as a Country of Particular Concern for its significant religious freedom violations.
For interviews, please contact Addison Parker: press@persecution.org .
09/05/2022 Somalia (International Christian Concern) - In an overnight attack that began Friday, September 2, Al-Shabaab militants killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed trucks filled with relief food in Somalia.

The Al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic extremist group launched the attack in Hishabelle state, which is located in central Somalia. The food trucks that were targeted ... More
09/05/2022 Myanmar (International Christian Concern) - Since launching a new offensive in Myanmar’s Sagaing region two weeks ago, the Burmese military has reportedly been wreaking havoc. According to media outlet Radio Free Asia, the Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, burned down more than 500 houses in 11 days in the northern townships of Kawlin, Kanbalu ... More
Sophia grew up in a Muslim household until last year when she trusted in Christ. More
09/03/2022 Eritrea (International Christian Concern) – The government of Eritrea has taken over a Catholic-run technical college, according to the BBC. To support this encroachment, Eritrea is citing a 1995 regulation giving it authority over religious institutions in the country.

Known as a or the worst governmental violator of religious freedom in Africa, Eritrea has seized ... More
09/04/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) recently published an explainer on the issue of religious-based violence in Nigeria. Analyzing data gathered by its researchers from 2020 to 2022, ACLED found that violence against Christians overtly on the basis of their religious identity rose 21% from 2020 ... More

Explore 8 testimonies of salvation, redemption, persecution, and faith! Get your free copy today: www.persecution.org/journeys-book/ . #religiousfreedom
… See More See Less

International Christian Concern (ICC) is a Persecuted Christians Ministry that Prays for Christion Persecution and History.

Please pray for imprisoned church elder, Zhang Chunlei. #prayer
… See More See Less

08/19/2022 China (International Christian Concern) – On March 16, 2021, several members of Guiyang Renai Reformed Church were gathered for …
No weapon formed against our brother will succeed in the Name of Jesus Christ Amen!!! Strengthen our brother Lord Jesus, may the Shalom of Christ, reign in His heart!!!!

If you’re experiencing grief right now, know that our Savior is well acquainted with grief, and he weeps alongside you. But know that there is also a hope that we are all headed for a life more beautiful than we could ever imagine. May you find comfort in the Lord today. #religiousfreedom #griefjourney
… See More See Less

Please pray for Hassan, a Christian refugee living in Germany, who faces deportation to Iran. #prayer
… See More See Less

08/19/2022 Iran (International Christian Concern) – A 44-year-old Iranian Christian man applied for asylum in Germany in 2018 and, after being …
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
May the Lord take control in Jesus name amen
A Christian has been deported but Germany with open arms Welcome a Muslim in their country…you will pay the price for it..
This November, millions of Christians worldwide will unite for one cause: to join the global Body of Christ for the 2019 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP). The number one thing persecuted Christians ask for is prayer , and we want to equip you to be able to meet their request.
Each year, in preparation for the first Sunday of November, ICC assembles a unique resource kit for both churches and individuals , and sends out our expert staff to speak at churches and organizations on the plight of the persecuted.
On January 5 , an Egyptian Muslim cleric named Sheikh Sayed Askar witnessed a terrorist planting bombs on the roof of the Virgin Mary and Father Seifin Church in Nasr City, near Cairo, Egypt.
After Askar alerted the police, the government responded to the Imam’s observation and immediately dispatched a specialized bomb squad to defuse the bombs. The squad located three bombs on the roof of the church.
Tragically, while the officers were attempting to defuse the bombs, one detonated. Please join us in thanking these brave men with your signature to honor their sacrifice.
Little Omayo (center) was burned over 90% of her body in a 2017 attack. Godfrey (right) was badly wounded and lost his father, two brothers, and a sister.

Возможно, сайт временно недоступен или перегружен запросами. Подождите некоторое время и попробуйте снова.
Если вы не можете загрузить ни одну страницу – проверьте настройки соединения с Интернетом.
Если ваш компьютер или сеть защищены межсетевым экраном или прокси-сервером – убедитесь, что Firefox разрешён выход в Интернет.

Firefox не может установить соединение с сервером www.frontlinemissionsa.org.

Отправка сообщений о подобных ошибках поможет Mozilla обнаружить и заблокировать вредоносные сайты

Сообщить
Попробовать снова
Отправка сообщения
Сообщение отправлено

использует защитную технологию, которая является устаревшей и уязвимой для атаки. Злоумышленник может легко выявить информацию, которая, как вы думали, находится в безопасности.

Russian Missions
171 Second Street Pike
Churchville, PA 18966
mail@russianmissions.org
(215) 354-0929 - phone
(215) 354-0930 - fax
• The former Soviet Union is one of the most fertile fields for evangelism today!
• After 70 years of Communism, people are searching for truth. Truth that can only be found through Jesus.
• Russian moral standards are wanting. Alcohol is destroying many families and the most vulnerable are the children.
• Each day is a struggle for survival for many people, especially the elderly and the single parent family.
Your
purchase of these dolls supports Russia
Gallery Lingeries
Kat Wonders Valentines Lingerie
Nasty Mature

Missionary Russia

Report Page