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(Volume 3: Number 3) -- July 29, 1999

Update: Cults and New Religious Movements
in the Former Soviet Union

With the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a flood of foreign religious groups -- both large and small, benign and suspect -- sent missionaries, literature, and tons of humanitarian aid in hopes of making converts and establishing a long-term presence in one of the world's largest mission fields. Glasnost also enabled new indigenous movements to display their wares in the chaotic spiritual marketplace. As a July 28, 1993 New York Times headline put it, "Religion Returns to Russia, with a Vengeance." Writing in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (May 1997), noted sociologists Rodney Stark and Laurence Iannaccone explain that, "Other things being equal, new and unconventional religious organisations will prosper to the extent that they compete against weak, local conventional religious organisations within a relatively unregulated religious economy" -- in this case, the Russian Orthodox Church in the former Soviet republics. "Put another way, new religious organisations will do best where conventional religious mobilisation is low -- at least to the degree that the state gives such groups a chance to exist. Thus, we ought to find that where conventional church membership and church attendance rates are low, the incidence of unconventional religious movements will be high."

Evangelistic media blitzes, stadium crusades, mass leafleting, and unprecedented Bible distribution exposed millions of curious citizens to the evangelical Christian message, but many would agree that few of those reached had corresponding opportunities for follow-up, discipleship, or integration into a Christian church. Some observers feel that this negligence is being exploited by a variety of pseudo-Christian and theologically aberrant movements, some of them quite aggressive and well-organized. Among these would be Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Apostolic Church, the Local Church/Living Stream movement of Witness Lee, the International Churches of Christ (Boston Movement), and Word of Life (Livets Ord) movement of Ulf Ekman -- all of which give evidence of significant growth.

No one could predict in 1991 which of the new and alternative religions would thrive in the former Soviet Union and which would struggle or dwindle away, but as the end of the decade approaches it becomes easier to assess their long-term prospects.

Few cults and new religious movements (NRMs) regularly make membership statistics available to outsiders, and the notion of what constitutes a "member" varies considerably from one group to the next, so the amount and type of information available vary considerably from group to group, and objective data can be difficult to obtain. The following summarizes some of the most recent information available on the strength of several of the more noteworthy heterodox and controversial religions operating in the former Soviet republics.

Jehovah's Witnesses: By far the most successful foreign cult in the former Soviet Union is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which first shipped its publications to Russia in 1887. The movement was actively persecuted by authorities throughout the Soviet era but obtained legal status in Russia in March 1991. Thanks to its comparatively deep roots in Eurasian soil and enthusiastic lay proselytizing force, the Watchtower Society has achieved impressive growth, as seen in the detailed "Annual Service Year Reports" published each January in its flagship periodical, The Watchtower.

In the 1997 reporting year the "peak" number of Jehovah's Witnesses in seven former Soviet states reached nearly 200,000 "publishers" (active, baptized members), who logged nearly 40 million hours going door to door and standing on street corners with the Watchtower message. A better indication of the actual number of people participating in the life of the cult (preparing for baptism, engaging in home studies) is the figure of those attending its annual "Memorial" observance -- over half a million in the countries listed. But the Watchtower Society has stated that the total of its active members in all 15 former Soviet states -- including Central Asian republics where its operations are suppressed or banned -- is over 225,000, and that last year's combined Memorial attendance surpassed 600,000 (Awake!, February 22, 1998). If the cult somehow sustains its current rate of expansion over the next decade there will be 1-2 million Witnesses actively competing with Christians in the former Soviet Union.

Rapid growth has caused an acute shortage of worship facilities. In 1990 there was only one Witness congregation in St. Petersburg, and by the beginning of 1997 there were 43; in August 1997 roughly 85 percent of the congregations under the Russian administrative branch were without permanent meeting places. To oversee this expanding flock the Watchtower built a lavish branch office complex in Solnechnoe (some 40 km northwest of St. Petersburg) which was dedicated in June 1997 with extensive press coverage. At the time of its dedication the center served 800 congregations in Russia and nine other former Soviet republics. The Solnechnoe complex disseminates 90 tons of Witness literature per week in Russian and 20 additional languages, much of which is printed in Germany and Italy. The Society now publishes The Watchtower regularly in Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian and East Armenian, Estonian, Georgian, Kirghiz, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Ossetian. Russian-language articles are available on the cult's official web site. Though no plans to produce a Russian version of its New World Translation have been disclosed, in January 1997 the Watchtower Society announced a program to distribute more than 300,000 copies of its new Russian-language Bible, Holy Scriptures, to universities, prisons, and other public institutions throughout the Russian Federation. The Bible combines a little-known translation of the Old Testament by 19th-century Russian Orthodox Archimandrite Makarios with the Synodal version of the New Testament. More seriously, these Bibles feature over 30 pages of deceptive "Bible Topics for Discussion" which deny such essential Christian doctrines as the Trinity and the true deity and resurrection of Jesus Christ -- along with reasons for refusing blood transfusions (even in medical emergencies).

Mormonism: Compared with the Watchtower Society, the wealthy and powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has seen only meager results from its proselytizing efforts since the first Mormon missionaries arrived in Leningrad in January 1990. According to its official web site, the LDS church obtained official recognition from the Russian government in May 1991, and hopes ran high. One month later, "the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir received publicity 'beyond its wildest expectations' as it performed in the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The choir recorded songs later broadcast to a potential audience of 339 million." But in early 1998 the LDS church had only some 6,000 members in all of Russia (Salt Lake Tribune, March 23, 1998) and even fewer in neighboring countries, with the largest concentration (over 2,000) in the Kiev region (Gary Browning, Russia and the Restored Gospel, p. 341). There are currently seven Mormon missions in Russia (two in Moscow, and one each in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov na Donu, Samara, and Ekaterinburg), two in Ukraine (in Kiev and Donetsk), one for the Baltic nations (in Vilnius), and modest proselytizing efforts in Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, and several other republics. (As Mormon missions typically have 160 or so missionaries each, we would expect upwards of 1,500 full-time missionaries in the FSU; however, recent press reports indicate that the Russian Federation has an average of 71 missionaries per Mormon mission.) Translation work is progressing in Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, and Georgian, among other languages.

Scientology: Unlike Mormonism, L. Ron Hubbard's "applied religious technology" of Dianetics and Scientology has spread quickly across the former Soviet Union. In St. Petersburg, Scientology workers distribute Dianetics leaflets and hawk copies of Dianetics at subway entrances, and on busy Nevsky Prospekt passersby are offered bus rides to the Dianetics Center for free personality testing. In March 1997 the German news weekly Stern reported that the movement's offices were spread "from Minsk to the Kamchatka Peninsula," and International Scientology News, Issue 4 (1997) boasted that "the two fastest-growing areas in all of Scientology [are] Russia and Hungary. Russia currently has 54 missions, with staff in training to open another 50 missions." With 170 paid employees, the Moscow Dianetics Center was the largest such branch office in the world. In February 1998 the web site for Scientology Missions International offered contact addresses for 38 centers in the Russian Federation, 3 in Kazakhstan, 2 in Ukraine, and 1 each in Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, and Lithuania. Such Scientology-based organizations as Criminon, Narconon, the Way to Happiness Foundation, and Hubbard College of Administration also operate with varying degrees of success -- and controversy.

Unification Church: Papers authored in 1997 by Galina A. Krylova, a Moscow attorney sympathetic to the movement led by self-styled Korean messiah Sun Myung Moon, state that "The Unification Church was active unofficially in Russia" from the 1970s on and was registered as a religious organization in the Russian Federation in May 1992. "Presently it is active in 55 cities throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Vladivivostok [sic], Kiev, Minsk, Vilnius, Tallinn, Almaty, etc." An early strategy to gain influence was to conduct seminars for educators in resort areas. In his 1998 article "A Presentation on the Situation in Russia" (Spirituality in East and West, no. 11) Orthodox countercult activist Dr. Aleksandr Dvorkin estimates that over 60,000 attended these events, adding that the Unification textbook My World and I is being used in over 2,000 Russian schools. Moon's university front group, known as CARP, has been the target of legal actions in St. Petersburg and Oryol. Dvorkin also reports that the cult has developed a new textbook, The Inner World of the Soldier, "designed as a basic moral and religious education tool to be used throughout the army."

Hare Krishnas: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is one of the most active and visible of the imported NRMs and is known for its noisy street processions, extensive literature work, and distribution of free vegetarian meals to the poor. According to attorney Krylova, "The first Krishna religious organization to be registered in Russia, the Moscow Society of Krishna Consciousness, was only registered in 1988, even though the Krishnas began their activities in Russia much earlier, and were persecuted for their religious beliefs under the Soviet regime. Their All-Russian organization was registered in 1992." Though exact membership figures are not available, Russian ISKCON representative Vaidyanatha dasa claims in the September/October 1997 issue of the Hare Krishna World newspaper that "We are not less than 30,000 [in Russia]. In Moscow alone we have thousands of followers because of our active radio preaching." Elsewhere ISKCON claims to have grown "to include 120 temples, communities, centers, and schools in nearly every major city" in Russia. The January/February 1998 issue of its Back to Godhead magazine lists eight ISKCON centers in Russia, seven in Ukraine, two each in Georgia and Lithuania, and others in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Belarus, and Armenia.

Children of God/The Family: This pernicious pseudo-evangelical sect claims to have been active in Russia since the early 1980s and may be most easily recognized in the region by its brightly colored posters featuring apocalyptic messages and sexually suggestive imagery. While the number of internal members is probably small, in 1997 the cult boasted of its expansion into "Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Uzbekistan; and Kazan, Tatarstan, and remote areas of Siberian Russia." Of special concern to Christian nationals and missionaries are the cult's efforts to gain credibility by posing as evangelicals, working alongside them in humanitarian efforts and infiltrating their churches. A recent promotional magazine, The Family -- Making a Difference!, describes Project Aid Siberia, "a relief organization spearheaded by Faith Berg, the daughter of The Family's founder," which "secured and shipped 300 tons of humanitarian aid from the US to several struggling cities in Siberia." The same magazine describes donations of hospital equipment and supplies, as well as clothing and other items, to Latvia, Ukraine, and various Russian cities, adding that the cult has "projects" in "penal institutions and halfway houses" in Russia and Ukraine. The magazine indicates that "Family-produced children's videos" were "broadcast on television" in Russia and Ukraine. These videos are distributed under such titles as "Kiddie Viddie," "Treasure Attic," "New Worlds to Discover," and "Fantastic Friends." The group's music audio cassettes are distributed as "Songs of Life" and "Heaven's Magic." International Churches of Christ:

The "Boston Movement," widely considered cultic in the sociological sense because of its abusive authority practices, has grown steadily since the Moscow Church of Christ was planted in 1991. According to the January 1998 issue of its LA Story magazine, the sect has 22 churches in the FSU -- six in Russia, four in Ukraine, and one in the capital of every other nation but Tajikistan, with a combined Sunday attendance of 8,736. The Moscow church is the largest at 2,571, followed by the Kiev church with 2,245 and Novosibirsk with 949.

Local Church/Living Stream: According to a September 5, 1996 report in Nezavisimaia gazeta, the first representatives of this controversial sect -- founded by the late Witness Lee and registered in Russia as "Church of Home Meetings" -- "came to the USSR in 1984 as students in Russian-language courses in Leningrad. With the help of local evangelists, ...[they]... began to translate into Russian the tracts of Witness Lee, which then were printed in West Germany and distributed in the USSR." A February 1998 report on a Local Church-related web site (http://members.aol.com/trainee95/ftta-grad/index.htm) indicates that its efforts now extend to 169 cities in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Latvia, and Lithuania. "Rhema Inc." has distributed seven million pieces of Local Church literature, including the sect's free Stream magazine, while the "Biblical Book Depot" is translating its Recovery Version of the Bible into Russian. Translation work is also underway in Ukrainian and Armenian. As elsewhere, the sect is laboring to bring Christians from "denominations" into its fold, and the web site reports that its church in Dnepropetrovsk "had a pastor who brought the whole congregation into the way of the recovery."

Other movements: Various small cultic and fringe groups, though not sending significant numbers of missionaries, are extending their influence through translation efforts:

* Voice of God Recordings, one of several organizations promoting the teachings of false prophet William Branham, reports in its September 1997 Catch the Vision newsletter: "Hundreds of letters are coming into our distribution office in St. Petersburg with the same request: 'Please, send us the Spiritual Food!'...In January, over 145,000 copies of each book [were] required to supply the believers on the mailing list....77 different books and tracts have been printed in the Russian language, bringing the total amount of books and tracts printed in Russian to nearly 2.5 million individual pieces of literature." Voice of God also reports printing 400,000 Lithuanian-language items, with more in preparation. o The URANTIA Book, a massive volume of pseudo-Christian scripture produced via channeling, was published in Russian by the URANTIA Foundation in March 1997; a competing Urantia group is reportedly at work on its own edition. According to the Foundation's web site, Lithuanian and Estonian translations are underway. URANTIA adepts began proselytizing among Russian evangelicals as early as 1991.

* Dawn Bible Students, a Jehovah's Witness splinter group, publishes a variety of books and booklets in Russian and Ukrainian.

Indigenous NRMs: Eliot Borenstein, professor of Slavic and Russian Studies at New York University, writes in the September 1997 Religion Watch that "Despite the furor over the role of 'imported' religious groups, the 'problem' of NRMs in Russia would not be nearly so acute if it weren't for the tendency of people throughout Russia to create alternative belief systems of their own." Borenstein describes the esoteric Bazhov Academy of Secret Knowledge and two movements that compete consciously with the Russian Orthodox Church: the apocalyptic Great White Brotherhood of Maria Devi Khristos and Ioann Bereslavsky's Mother of God Center, which has attracted significant numbers of Protestants. A distinctively New Age group that has drawn harsh media attention is Vissarion, based in southern Siberia.

Organized Responses: Fears of mind control, family upheaval, cultural contamination, and other concerns have sparked grassroots efforts to resist the spread of controversial new religions. The first of several anti-cult groups organized by parents of NRM adherents was the Moscow-based Committee for the Defense of Youth from Pseudo-Religions, founded in 1992. Similar organizations have formed in St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kiev, and Minsk. The Russian Orthodox Church has organized anti-cult efforts of its own, beginning with the St. Irinaeus of Lyon Information and Consultation Center at the Dept. of Religious Education and Catechism of the Moscow Patriarchate, established in 1992 by Dr. Dvorkin. Other offices have since been founded by the dioceses of Novosibirsk, Tver, and Yaroslavl, with another in Minsk; the dioceses of Karelia, Krasnodar, and Ekaterinburg conduct active anti-cult efforts without formal centers. The only established evangelical countercult outreaches in the FSU are the Centers for Apologetics Research in Russia and Ukraine.