Ivan Nikitovich Shilov (1887-1942) - presbyter, co - chairman of the All - Russian Baptist Union , chairman of the Northern Baptist Union . In connection with his religious beliefs, he was repeatedly subjected to reprisals both by the tsarist government and by the Soviet government [1] .
| Ivan Nikitovich Shilov | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | April 18, 1887 |
| Place of Birth | Vyshnevolotsky District , Tver Province , Russian Empire |
| Date of death | 1942 |
| Place of death | |
| A country | |
| Occupation | presbyter |
| Children | five |
Content
Biography
Born in the village of Tubasskaya Gorka, Vyshnevolotsky District, Tver Province . At the age of 25, while serving in the Navy, he experienced an appeal to God . Upon returning to St. Petersburg, he began to attend the services of the Baptist community in the Gospel House. The presbyter of this community was Wilhelm Andreyevich Fetler , who became the spiritual mentor of Ivan Shilov.
In 1914, at the end of the service, Ivan married his faith sister Olga Mikhailovna.
In 1917, Shilov was mobilized and reassigned to serve in the fleet, but refused to serve due to pacifist convictions. Shilov was sentenced to death, but the sentence was never carried out. As a result of the revolution, Ivan Shilov was released [2] .
Presbyter of the House of the Gospel
By this time, Wilhelm Fetler was expelled from the country, succeeding him as presbyter S. Khokhlov was also soon forced to leave St. Petersburg. The community of the "House of the Gospel" chose two presbyters - Ivan Nikitovich Shilov and Alexei Petrovich Petrov . They served together.
When the military authorities of Petrograd attempted to prohibit military servicemen from attending Baptist services, Shilov sent a letter to V. I. Lenin , who canceled this order and informed Shilov about it (Lenin’s letter was published in the Baptist magazine).
In 1919, Ivan Nikitovich was involved in the work of the Baptist Union, and in 1920 he chaired the Baptist Congress in Moscow. .
Chairman of the Northern Union
In March 1922, in Petrograd, by the decision of the congress of churches in the northwestern regions of Russia, the Northern Baptist Union was established, headed by I.N. Shilov.
In 1923, as part of the Russian delegation, he participated in the World Baptist Congress in Stockholm. Here he met with Wilhelm Fetler and handed him the funds raised by believers for the construction of a house of worship in Riga.
Soon after returning to Petrograd, Shilov was arrested - right during the 25th All-Union Baptist Congress. The reason was Shilov’s pacifist convictions and his opposition to the upcoming “militaristic” resolution of the congress, which the Anti-Religious Commission tried to “push through”. Shilov was sent for 4 years to Turukhansk Territory (now the northern part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory ). Soon, his wife came to exile with four children.
I.N. Shilov returned to Leningrad in January 1926. He again began work in the Gospel House community.
Since in 1923 the 25th All-Union Congress of Baptists did not adopt the unambiguously negative resolution necessary for the Anti-Religious Commission regarding pacifism, this issue was again put on the agenda of the next 26th All-Union Congress, which took place in December 1926. Shilov, Petrov and a number of other pacifist ministers were arrested at the time of the congress, and released at the end of the congress. This time, the authorities managed to “push through” the necessary resolution on the pacifist issue.
However, in June 1927, a congress of the Northern Baptist Union was held, which also discussed the pacifist issue. Contrary to the will of the authorities, the congress adopted a resolution “to grant the right to each member of our communities to decide the question of military service on their own, according to personal convictions” . As a result, on July 7, 1927, Shilov, Petrov, and three other members of the board of the Northern Union were arrested. Each was sentenced to three years in concentration camps [3] .
Recent years
In April 1930, having served time in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp , Ivan Nikitovich returned home, but was soon again arrested and sent to Syktyvkar for three years. From here he returned in 1934. He sent his family to Vyshny Volochek , and he remained in Leningrad, although he no longer had the opportunity to carry out the presbytery. In Vyshny Volochyok, the wife of Ivan Nikitovich, Olga Mikhailovna, was arrested and sentenced to five years. Their eldest daughter Vera was arrested in 1936 and sentenced to three years in prison camps.
In 1935, Ivan Nikitovich was again taken away. He was sent to the Karaganda camps . Here Ivan Nikitovich managed to create a group of believers and in the summer of 1936 even made baptisms . However, he was no longer able to go free. In 1942, while serving his sentence in a camp in Eastern Siberia at a logging, I. N. Shilov fell ill and died [4] .
Notes
- ↑ IAO SC ECB, 2008 , p. 105-106.
- ↑ IAO SC ECB, 2008 , p. 106.
- ↑ IAO SC ECB, 2008 , p. 45, 104.
- ↑ IAO SC ECB, 2008 , p. 45, 106.
Literature
- Savinsky S. N. The History of Evangelical Christians of the Baptists of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus. II (1917 - 1967). - SPb. : The Bible for All, 2001 .-- 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7454-0594-5 .
- Schneider I.V. The Wanderer of Christ. Alexey Petrovich Petrov (1885-1961). - Steinhagen: Samenkorn, 2014 .-- ISBN 978-3-86203-119-1 .
- Historical and analytical department of the MSC ECB . The church must remain a church . - 2008 .-- S. 105-109. (inaccessible link)