Christianity and nationality in Soviet and post‐Soviet Central Asia: mutual intrusions and instrumentalizations

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Notes

Considering the absence of serious religious sociological studies in Central Asia, we will not give figures for believers nor their national distribution. We prefer to give the figures for nationalities, which constitute the majority of Christian believers, even though these figures should be considered cautiously. Sources: Kratkie itogi perepisi naseleniâ; 1999 goda v respublike Kazahstan, Almaty, Agentstvo respubliki Kazahstan po statistike, 1999; Masanov N.E., Abylhožin Z.B., Erofeeva I. V., Alekseenko A. N., Baratova G. S. Istoriâ; Kazahstana, narody i kul'tury (Almaty: Dajk‐press, 2001); Etničeskij atlas Uzbekistana, Fond Sodejstviâ;, Uzbekistan, 2002; C. Poujol, Dictionnaire de l'Asie Centrale, (Paris: Ellipses, 2001); P. Kolstoe, Russians in the Former Soviet Republics (London: Hurst & Company, 1995).

For history of Mennonites in the Russian Empire and in the Soviet Union, see, among others: C. H. Smith, The Story of the Mennonites (Newton: Cornelius Krahn, 1981); J. B. Toews, Czars, Soviets and Mennonites (Newton, 1982); P. M. Friesen, Die Altevangelische Mennonistische Brüderschaft in Russland, 1789–1910 (Halbstadt, 1911); R. Belk, The Great Trek of Russian Mennonites to Central Asia (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1976).

D. Hervieu‐Léger, La religion pour mémoire (Paris: Cerf, 1993), p. 228.

M. S. Fazylov, Religiâ; i nacional'nye otnošeniâ; (Alma‐Ata: Kazahstan, 1969) p. 27.

H. Woelk and G. Woelk, A Wilderness Journey. Glimpses of the Mennonite Bethren Church in Russia, 1925–1980 (Heinrich: Center for Mennonite Bethren Studies, Mennonite Bethren Biblical Seminary, 1982), p. 99.

E. Huršudâ;n and D. Mukanova, Iz istorii armâ;no‐kazakhstanskih otnošenij. Ocerki istorii i kul'tury Armenii i Kazahstana s drevnejših vremen do stanovleniâ; nezavisimyh gosudarstv (Erevan, 1999).

Interview with Uniat believers in Karaganda, March 2000.

For Orthodoxy during the Soviet regime, see, among others: D. V. Pospielovski, Pravoslavnaâ; cerkov'v istorii Rusi, Rossii i SSSR: učebnoe posobie (Moscou: Biblejsko‐bogoslovskij institut sv. Apostola Andreâ;, 1996); D. V. Pospielovski, The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime, 1917–1982, 2 Vols (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984).

The connection between religion and language is confirmed by foreign observers and Soviet sociologists who have studied the situation of Christianity in the area; see for example A. Rozanov, “Na rodnoj zemle,” Nauka i religiâ;, No. 8, 1986, pp. 21–23.

Christ und Welt, 21 juin 1956, No. 25.

Eugen Bachman's interview in West Germany on the 11 May 1973 by E. Haynes and K. Matchett: A non‐published Keston College document.

G. Stricker, “A Visit to German Congregations in Central Asia,” Religion in Communist Lands, No. 1, 1989, p. 25.

For Islam in Central Asia, see, among others: S. A. Dudoignon, “Islam d'Europe? Islam d'Asie? En Eurasie centrale (Russie, Caucase, Asie centrale) in L'islam en Asie du Caucase à la Chine (Paris : Les Etudes de la Documentation Française, 2001), pp. 21–80; M. Haghayeghi, Islam & Politics in Central Asia (New York : St. Martin's Press, 1996); A. Khalid, “A secular Islam: Nation, State and religion in Uzbekistan,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2003, pp. 573–598; C. Poujol, L'islam en Asie centrale: vers la nouvelle donne? (Paris : Ellipses, 2001).

As is the case in some Slavic and Caucasian republics.

The Catholic Church in Achkhabad is actually a Vatican diplomatic representation and is more specifically for expatriates than for the local population.

The construction of the Orthodox cathedral in Tashkent and the rebuilding of the cathedral in Bishkek were partially financed by the State. See, for example: Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 12 January 1993.

For the conflicts between the natives and minority nationalities, see for instance: “Nationhood and the National Question in Post‐soviet Eurasia: an Institutionalist Account,” Theory and Society, Vol. 23, No. 1, 1994, pp. 47–78; C. D. Harris, “The New Russian Minorities: A Statistical Overview,” Post Soviet Geography, Vol. 34, No. 1, 1993, pp. 1–27; R. Kaiser and J. Chinn, “Russian–Kazakh Relations in Kazakhstan,” Post Soviet Geography, Vol. 36, No. 5, May 1995, pp. 257–273; P. Kolstoe, Russians in the Former Soviet Republics (London: Hurst & Company, 1995); M. Laruelle and S. Peyrouse, Les Russes du Kazakhstan. Identités nationals et nouveaux Etats dans l'espace post‐soviétique, Préface de Catherine Poujol (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 2004); R. Szporluk, ed, National Identity and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994).

D. Schnapper, “Le sens de l'ethnico‐religieux,” Archives de sciences sociales des religions, No. 81, January–March 1993, pp. 149–163.

D. Hervieu‐Léger, La religion pour mémoire, op.cit., p. 230.

D. Schnapper, “Le sens de l'ethnico‐religieux,” Archives en Sciences Sociales des Religions, No. 81, 1993, pp. 149–163.

In 1994, more than 350 missionaries from South Korea were sent to the former USSR; See: International Review of Mission, Vol. LXXXVI, No. 32, pp. 329–333.

That is the official discourse of the priests who are serving in local churches.

In 1999, the Baptist Church was aiming to distribute Bibles in Russian and in Kazakh in Kazakhstan and to acquire about 100 prayer houses to welcome the new followers and communities; see “Missionerskoe služenie,” Žizn' very, January 1999, p. 5.

Informacionnyj bû;lleten' missii miloserdiâ; “nadežda,” No. 1, 1995, p. 14; Bratskij vestnik, No. 3, 1992, p. 71.

That is, with a very few exceptions, the opinion of the Orthodox priests we met in the five Central Asian republics between 1998 and 2001.

Assertion of the Council for Religious Affairs, President Š. Mirmahmudov, at the beginning of a conference in Tashkent in 1995 “Living together under the same sky” “Obraŝ;enie k musul'manam i pravoslavnym hristianam central'noj Azii učastnikov Taškentskoj meždunarodnoj hristiansko‐musul'manskoj konferencii “Sovmestno žit' pod odnim nebom,” Slovo žizni, No. 8 (120), 19 December 1995, p. 2.

He nevertheless specifies that he agrees to greet Christians who would like to convert to Islam; see: Interview with the mufti of Tajikistan, F. Šarifzad in “Islam – ne politiki,” Nauka i religiâ;, No. 11, 1994, p. 32.

E. Luzanova, “Religious Renaissance or Political Game?,” Central Asian Post, 23 March 1998, p. 4.

For an example from the Perestroika of a family hostile reaction to the conversion of a Muslim to Christianity, see: Evangelicals Now, March 1988, p. 1.

Luč nadeždy, 14(4/99), p. 3.

Ibid., 15 (7/99), p. 2; Bratskij vestnik, No. 2, 1994, p. 56.

Ališeva, “Multiconfessional Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asian Post, 3 July 1997, p. 5.

These petitions were not only aiming at the new movements like Moon, but all the Protestant denominations (Baptists, Adventists, etc.); Glaube in der Zweiten Welt, No. 7/8, 1992, pp. 5–6.

News Network International, News Service, 14 June 1994.

Ibid.

Slovo Kyrgyzstana , 4–5 June 1996, p. 5.

Son‐Min is a sub‐branch of the American mission Grace. It was founded in 1991 by a Korean Pastor from Los Angeles and gathered about 1500 followers. This mission was especially successful due to its free English, computer and taekwon‐do lessons which have attracted more than 700 persons, among them many Tajiks. It has opened several sub‐branches in other areas in Tajikistan.

“Sprengstoffanschläge auf Kirchen,” Glaube in der Zweiten Welt, March 2001, p. 9.

Nevertheless, there were a few incidents as some local mullahs attempted to prevent the Protestant denominations from teaching religion; Â;. F. Trofimov, Gosudarstvenno‐cerkovnye otnošeniâ; v sovremennom Kazahstane (Almaty: Edilet), p. 93.

Botaševa and V. Lebedev, “Krestonoscy konca XX veka,” Kazakhstanskaâ pravda, 2 April 1996.

“Obraŝenie k musul'manam i pravoslavnym hristianam…”, op. cit.

Svet pravoslaviâ v Kazahstane, No. 1, 1993, p. 8.

Slovo žizni, No. 10(68), 16 March 1993, p. 4.

Personal observations, June 2000.

Interview with the bishop of Ural'sk and Gureev, Antonij. “Cerkov' že našu â vižu cvetuŝej,” Vedi, No. 3 (17), 1998, pp. 2–8.

E. Luzanova, “Religious Renaissance or Political Game?,” op. cit., p. 4.

Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 October 1994; A. Ališeva, “Multiconfessional Kyrgyzstan,” op.cit.

Religious Liberty in the OSCE, Vol. 20, No. 9, September 1997, p. 94.

F. Kolesnikov, A. I. Artem'ev, “Sovremennaâ religioznaâ situaciâ v respublike Kazahstan,” in Kazahstan: realii i perspektivy nezavisimogo razvitiâ (Moscou: Rossijskij Institut strategičeskih issledovanij, 1995), p. 312.

On the Orthodox Church in the Kazakh steppes in the 19th century, see: S. Peyrouse, “Les missions orthodoxes entre pouvoir tsariste et allogènes. Un exemple des ambiguïtés de la politique coloniale russe dans les steppes kazakhes,” Cahiers du Monde Russe (Paris: Ehess, Vol. 45, Nos 1–2, January–June 2004.

Vedi, no date, no issue number, p. 4.

G. Stricker, “Die Missveständnisse häufen sich…,” Glaube in der Zweiten Welt, July/August 1995, p. 21; G. Stricker, “Fear of Proselytism: The Russian Orthodox Church sets itself against Catholicism,” Religion State and Society, No. 2, 1998, pp. 155–165.

A few priests, however, accept the competition with other denominations as long as they are not judged too opposed to the Christian perceptions, like for instance the Jehovah witnesses. Interview with the Orthodox priest in Semipalatinsk, February 2000.

G. Stricker, “Die Missveständnisse häufen sich…,” op. cit., p. 21.

For history of the Catholic Church in Central Asia, see: J. Richard, La papauté et les missions d'Orient au Moyen‐Age (XIII^e – XV^e siècles), Ecole française de Rome, 1977; W stepie dalekim: Polacy w Kazachstanie; V stepi dalekoj: Polâki v Kazahstane, Poznań – Almaty, Wystawa, 1997.

During the Christian jubilee in Karaganda in 2000, the Catholic believers could get indulgences by going to the deportation places which were considered by the Catholic hierarchy as places of pilgrimage.

Références. See for example: Arhiepiskop Taškentskij i sredneaziatskij Vladimir. “Duhovnyj smysl istorii,' Vostok svyše, No. 3, 2002, p. 41.

M. Laruelle and S. Peyrouse, Les Russes du Kazakhstan. Identités nationales et nouveaux Etats dans l'espace post‐soviétique, op. cit., pp. 224–229.

“Interv' û na razvalinah Stroitel' Stahan Belgožaev nameren vosstanovit' dom gubernatora goroda Vernogo,” Vedi, Nos 1–2(26), 2000, p. 32.

“O religioznom značenii carskoj vlasti, proizneseno 21‐go fevralâ 1913 goda episkopom Semirečenskim i Vernenskim Pimenom,” Vedi, 7–8(25), 1999, p. 5.

“You must understand that it is high time to stop the Russian emigration from Kazakhstan. It is your duty (…) not to abandon your fatherland,” Svet pravoslaviâ v Kazahstane, No. 7, 1995, p. 25. Soljenytsyn extolled the uniting of Northern Kazakhstan to Russia a few years ago.

In an interview published in Svet pravoslaviâ v Kazahstane (Nos 9–10(66–67), 1999, pp. 10–11), the archbishop of Almaty defines the Russian patriotism not as a political but as a moral notion.

“Svet pravoslaviâ v Kazahstane, No. 8(65), 1999, p. 10–11. See also “Religiâ i nacional'nost',” Svet pravoslaviâ v Kazahstane, No. 5, 1993, p. 22, where the connection between the “spirit” (duh) and nationality is rejected.