Protestantism in St. Petersburg

The oldest Lutheran church in St. Petersburg is a little younger than the city itself. The wooden building was built in 1704 (according to other sources in 1705 ) in the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress by the first chief commandant of St. Petersburg, Roman Bruce . Later (according to some sources ^[1] - in 1710, according to others ^[2] - after Bruce’s death, that is, after 1720) she was transferred to the Mytniy Dvor on Gorodovy ostrov. In the 1720s, the church was once again relocated, this time to the Fifth Line of the Foundry (modern Kirochnaya Street ), where at that time many Lutherans lived, mostly serving the Foundry.

The first Protestants from 1704 gathered in the house of Cornelius Kruys . In 1724, the Dutch Reformed raised their own church on the banks of the Moika. Since 1728, there was a German Lutheran community on Vasilyevsky Island and on Nevsky. In 1734, a Swedish Lutheran church also had its own temple, and in 1740 they found their church St. Anne and Lutheran Germans on Kirochnaya Street . A feature of the first stage of Protestantism in St. Petersburg was its “foreign” character.

During the XVIII century. 12 self-sufficient Protestant communities took shape in St. Petersburg: three German Lutheran , Swedish Lutheran , Finnish Lutheran , two multinational in the cadet corps, Dutch Reformed , combined German Reformed and French Reformed , Anglican (Promenade des Anglais 56) ^[3] and the German “evangelical brothers” . The total number of adult community members at the end of the century exceeded 6,000 ^[4]

By the 19th century, a whole Lutheran quarter was formed in the center of St. Petersburg, bounded by Bolshaya Konyushennaya , Malaya Konyushennaya , Nevsky Prospect and Swedish Lane . Inside it, there are still three Lutheran temples: Mary (Finnish), Catherine (Swedish) and Peter and Paul (German).

The emergence of evangelical Christianity among the Russian aristocracy is associated with a visit to St. Petersburg by Grenville Redstock in 1874 ^[5] . This event gained fame in Protestant literature as St. Petersburg Awakening . At the head of the Russian followers of Redstock was Vasily Pashkov . Already in 1884, the first congress of Christian Baptists, Stundists , Mennonites and Pashkovites was held in St. Petersburg, followed by a tough reaction from the authorities (all delegates were arrested ^[6] ). In 1909, evangelical Christians held their congress in St. Petersburg, which was prepared by Ivan Prokhanov , who arrived in St. Petersburg in 1901.

To date, there are about 10 Lutheran churches in St. Petersburg: Petrikirche ( ELKRAS Cathedral), the community of St. Mary ( Yeltsi Cathedral), Mikhail (on V.O.), St. Anne (on Kirochnaya street), two churches of St. Catherine ( on V.O. and at the Swedish embassy ), Zelenogorsk , Lomonosov and Pushkin churches , Estonian parish of St. John . In 2003-2010 there was a Lutheran community of Pastor Vladimir Kartunen "Transfiguration" ^[7] .

Baptists (House of Prayer on Poklonnaya Hill ^[8] ), Pentecostals , Adventists ^[9] , Presbyterians (“Korean Christians”) ^[10] , Methodists ^[11] , as well as Reformists ^[12] and Anglicans ^[13] also hold their meetings. - The last two communities conduct their services in the Swedish Church of St. Catherine . In 2012, Protestants began missionary work among labor migrants from Central Asia ^[14]

• List of Lutheran churches in St. Petersburg
• Non-Orthodox churches of St. Petersburg
• Religious buildings of St. Petersburg
• List of Russian Cathedrals

• Religions of St. Petersburg. Lutheranism
• Calvinism in St. Petersburg: history and modernity (historical and legal analysis)