Shipkov, Georgy Ivanovich

Georgy Shipkov was born in the village of Tyaglyoe Lake in the Samara province in a peasant family. Parents by faith were “water Molokans, ” that is, Molokans who were baptized close to traditional Protestantism ^[5] . George was brought up in a strict religious spirit. In the 1870s, his parents moved to the Amur Region ( Amur Region ), since 1878 they lived in Blagoveshchensk-on-Amur , where in those years the Molokans migrated en masse ^{[3] [1]} . In his youth, George showed a penchant for reading, as well as for learning languages ^[1] . Having received primary education in the Samara province, after moving to the Far East, he was engaged in self-education ^[3] . His father Ivan Andreevich had a shop in which his son often remained for the seller ^[5] .

Later, George served in the American trading company Inoko Emery, where he was in charge of business correspondence ^[5] . In 1890, thanks to his knowledge of foreign languages, he entered the postal and telegraph office as a telegraph translator and received the rank of provincial secretary ^{[4] [6]} . In parallel with the service, he continued his self-education ^[1] . In 1891, George passed exams externally at the Annunciation male gymnasium and received a certificate of complete secondary education ^[3] .

In 1886 he married Sophia Koropkova ^{[3] [c]} , who, like him, came from Samara peasants. Sofia was Orthodox, but subsequently accepted her husband’s faith ^[6] .

In 1889, George Shipkov accepted the Baptist Confession ^[1] . He was interested in theology, re-read all theological literature in English, French, German, which he could find in Blagoveshchensk ^[1] . From about the age of twenty, Shipkov began to collect his personal library, including Russian classics, works on history, philosophy, astronomy, and textbooks of foreign languages. A special place in his collection of literature was occupied by books on theology and philology of biblical languages ^[3] . By the mid-1930s, his personal library totaled about six thousand volumes in different languages ^{[4] [d]}

To receive a systematic theological education, George in 1894 entered the theological faculty of the American University in Beijing ^[1] . During his studies, he worked as an employee of the tea packing factory of the Tokmakov-Molotkov & Co. firm in Tianjin ^[4] . After graduating from the theological faculty in 1898 he returned to Blagoveshchensk and again got a job by telegraph, having served there until 1921 ^[1] . Combined this service with teaching English in various educational institutions of Blagoveshchensk ^[4] (an American university diploma not only confirmed his theological education, but also gave the right to teach six languages: German, English, French, Latin, Greek and Ancient Greek) ^[8] . While living in China, he also learned to communicate in Chinese. Over time, teaching became his main work ^[5] .

He was repressed in 1935, died in a prison hospital in 1938.

In 1913, at the initiative of Shipkov, a congress was held in Blagoveshchensk (chaired by Vasily Pavlov ), which decided to create the Far Eastern Department of the All-Russian Union of Baptists ^[9] . Shipkov became its first chairman. At the end of 1919, he was replaced by Jacob Vins as chairman, Shipkov became his deputy. Together with Vince Shipkov, he taught at the short courses of preachers created at the Department ^[10] , which were very popular ^[11] .

In 1925, after the reform of the Far Eastern Division of the All-Russian Union of Baptists into the Far Eastern Union of Baptists (DVSB), he became his secretary, and in 1926 he became the spiritual teacher and instructor of the DVSB ^[3] . In this capacity, in 1926 he took part in the 26th All-Union Congress of Baptists of the USSR in Moscow, making a report there on the work of the ICE ^[12] . In 1928, he participated in the Fourth World Baptist Congress in Toronto ^[13] as a delegate from the Far Eastern Federal Security Council, after reading a report in English ^[4] . After the congress, he was offered to stay in America, but he refused ^[5] .

In addition, Shipkov was a presbyter of the Annunciation Baptist community in 1898-1913 and in 1930-1935 (after the arrest of Presbyter Peter Vince and before his own arrest) ^{[1] [3] [14]} . The son of Peter Vince, born in 1928, was named George in honor of Shipkov ^[15] . In 1930, the house of worship, built by believers in 1910, was confiscated, many ministers were subjected to exile or imprisonment ^[5] .

Harassment

Georgy Shipkov was arrested on April 27, 1935 and November 19 of the same year. A special meeting at the NKVD of the USSR sentenced him to three years of exile in a settlement in the Omsk Region without the right of correspondence under Article 58-10 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ^[2] . In Omsk, in connection with the persecution at that time, there was a large group of Baptist ministers from Blagoveshchensk and Khabarovsk. Those who were not directly detained gathered in small groups for prayer together. Georgy Shipkov participated in such meetings ^[16] . Shipkova was sheltered by the family of a Far Eastern minister, Vasily Pertsev, giving him a small room ^[17] . The authorities did not leave him alone, often interrogated and threatened to exile even further to the North ^[17] .

In 1937 he was transported back to Blagoveshchensk ^[4] . He was accused of spying for Japan (before the congress in Toronto in 1928 he visited Japan, which served as the motive for the prosecution) ^[5] and was sentenced to death on March 31, 1938 ^[18] . However, George Shipkov died in a prison hospital on March 21, 1938, that is, 10 days before the execution of the death sentence ^[3] . The death certificate states that he died as a result of a long illness ^[5] .

Georgy Ivanovich Shipkov was posthumously rehabilitated on November 25, 1991 by the conclusion of the prosecutor of the Amur Region ^[2] .

Shipkov’s theological articles and sermons were published at various times, including after his death, in the magazines Bratskiy Vestnik , Baptist , Slovo Truth , Baptist Ukrainy, Fraternal Leaf ^[19] . They are distinguished by a rich and colorful language ^[7] , in addition, the author demonstrates a good knowledge of the history of religions - mainly Greek, Egyptian and Jewish, as well as the culture and history of these peoples ^[19] .

The article “Founding and Building the Church” was prepared as an abstract and read in 1921 at the Annunciation Baptist Church. This work touches on one of the fundamental issues of Baptist dogma - the structure of the Church ^[20] . This article traces the history of the foundation and creation of the Church, from the First Apostolic to the present ^[19] . The reason for writing it was the thesis about the apostolic succession of the priesthood as a “chain of ordination” put forward by Orthodox missionaries in discussions with the Baptists ^[19] . Shipkov claims the existence of such a chain among Baptist ministers (through Mennonite ministers), but does not betray her importance. According to Shipkov, the continuity of the spirit, teaching and life of the apostles is of importance, and the most reliable sign of continuity is the living Church, in which people are born again for a new life ^[21] .

In other works, Shipkov opposed Adventism and Subbotnikism , the practice of Pentecostalism and the theory of “double predestination” of Calvinism ^[22] .

Shipkov spoke of the ensuing persecution of believers: “The atoning suffering of Him (Christ) for believers (former sinners) must be compensated for by their thankful sufferings for Him” ^[23] . In 1934, Shipkov wrote in one of the letters: “If we had sacrificed in meetings, our community would have lost its face, would have broken up, but ... He (the Lord) inspired us with a threat of danger - to scatter around the houses and desire for whatever began to support His work. Subsequently, we had to make extraordinary efforts to collect material resources, and ... we got out of a difficult situation ” ^[24] . According to Shipkov, if God allows suffering, then believers should not be disappointed and complain, but suffering should be endured with faith, trust in God and gratitude for salvation ^[22] .

It has been suggested that the results of Shipkov’s work on the interpretation of the New Testament were set forth in a large manuscript book, but the fate of this book is unknown ^{[19] [17]} .

Bibliography