| A Hero Of The Persecuted Church In The Former Soviet Union Loses His Battle With Cancer
By Dan Wooding
Georgi Vins, 69, the former General Secretary of the Council of Evangelical Baptist Churches, the leadership body of 2,000 persecuted congregations in the then Soviet Union, was a great warrior for the Gospel. Vins, who spent many years in the Soviet Gulag for his Christian activities, had been diagnosed with a malignant inoperable brain tumor. He finally passed away peacefully in his adopted home town of Elkhart, Indiana, on Sunday morning, January 11, 1998, with his elder son, Peter, at his side.
I first met this formidable man after he hit the world's headlines when he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and exiled to the United States on April 27, 1979, along with four Soviet political dissidents, in exchange for two Soviet spies caught in the U.S. The swap was arranged by then President Jimmy Carter.
I was in Seattle, Washington, at the time doing a writing project with Ray Barnett, founder and president of Friends in the West, a Christian human rights group that had long campaigned for Georgi Vins. At the time of Vins' release, thousands of American and Canadian Christians were wearing a Friends in the West "prayer bracelet" that carried his name.
Ray Barnett, an Irish-Canadian who had been deeply involved in the "spy swap" negotiations, asked me if I would accompany one of his board members, Pastor Gary Short of Seattle, to New York to see Vins. We immediately caught the "red eye" flight to JFK and then headed for the hotel where he was being "protected" by American secret service agents. We immediately went up to the 47th floor of his hotel, that overlooked the United Nations building, and met briefly with this extraordinary man and also the Rev. Michael Bourdeaux of England's Keston College (now called Keston Institute,) who was acting as his interpreter.
Wearing a dark suit and with his famous white beard, Vins looked totally bemused at his new surroundings. This was hardly surprising as, just a short time before, he had been whisked from a labor camp in the Soviet Gulag, where he was halfway through a second 10-year prison term, taken to Moscow and put on a flight to New York.
Fortunately, his family - wife Nadezhda ("Hope" in Russian,) and their five children, Peter, Natasha, Lisa, Jane and Alex - were allowed to join him in exile in America six weeks later and Georgi Vins was able to begin to rebuild his life. But even that was not without difficulties for him. Not long after this, I met him again in Washington, DC, at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. I could see he felt completely out of place amongst the flamboyant broadcasters; this came to a head as I watched him take a seat in the front row of a live broadcast of the "Jim and Tammy Show." I stood at the side to watch his reaction and, as I expected, he was horrified with what he saw. The circus-like atmosphere, a long way from the underground services he was used to in Russia, appalled him so much that after about ten minutes, he stood up and stormed out.
I followed him and asked him what he made of what he had just seen. In broken English, he spluttered, "This is terrible. It is nothing but a show." I got the feeling that Georgi Vins was going to have a struggle with some of the excesses of American televangelism. In some ways, it must have been more difficult for him to cope with than the years of persecution he endured in the Soviet Union.
Hard Labor
Back in the Soviet Union, Georgi Vins' problems with the law had been numerous. In November 1966, he was charged with publishing religious literature, setting up Sunday schools for children, and organizing a May 1966 demonstration at Communist Party headquarters. Sentenced to three years hard labor, he served one year (1966-1967) in Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, then 2 years (1967-1969) in Camp Chepichanka in the Ural Mountains. This experience is detailed in Vins' book entitled "Konshaubi," available from Russian Gospel Ministries, PO Box 1188, Elkhart, IN 46515 (suggested donation of $4.00).
He was arrested again in January 1970, this time for "parasitism," or not being gainfully employed. He was sentenced to a year's labor in a Kiev, Ukraine, factory. In September 1970 he left Kiev to become a traveling minister, going into hiding from the government.
Vins was arrested again in 1974 for his work as General Secretary of the Evangelical Baptist Churches, and was sentenced to 5 years in a Siberian labor camp, followed by 5 years' exile in Siberia, as well as confiscation of his property. Charged with "causing harm to citizens' health" by "preaching religious beliefs and performing religious ceremonies," he served from 1974-1979 at a camp in Tabaga, Yakutia, in Siberia.
Charged With Writing Psalm 23
"During Georgi Vins' second trial in Kiev, the court brought a long list of accusations against him," Rick Barry, Administrative Vice President of Russian Gospel Ministries stated in a previous interview. "However, one of the accusations was very original. When the police arrested Georgi Vins, he had a hand-written copy of Psalm 23 in his possession. The presiding judge asked if he was the one who had written that document. Georgi Vins replied that he had copied it from the Bible, but that 'King David had written it 3,000 years ago.' The judge's response was, 'I don't know any King David. You're the one who wrote this. You're the author.' And so part of Georgi Vins' second prison sentence was for being the author of Psalm 23."
Vins' problems stemmed mainly from his unwillingness to compromise his stand against the 1929 Legislation Regarding Religious Cults, which required all religious groups to be registered with the government. "Registration," explained Barry, "meant restrictions - restrictions aimed at destroying the Church. No charitable work was allowed. It was forbidden to have meetings for children, for women, or for young people. Group Bible studies were prohibited, as well as Christian literature discussion groups and Christian excursions.
"Christian children could not gather, even for recreation. It was forbidden to form a Christian library, provide medical care among Christians, or to help old or needy people in the church. His godly example was a point around which other Christians could rally and gather strength for their opposition to this legislative attempt to control the churches."
The Start Of A New Ministry
Once in the United States, Georgi Vins organized a new ministry, originally named International Representation for the Council of Evangelical Baptist Churches in the Soviet Union, which explains its broad purposes. It was established in 1980 to represent, defend, and aid Evangelical Baptists in the Soviet Union and to further the cause of the Gospel there.
"We sought to echo the voice of the persecuted church in the former Soviet Union, informing on current oppression and urging Christians in the West to share in the sufferings of God's children."
The new name of the organization, Russian Gospel Ministries, International, Inc., was adopted to reflect the group's broadened ministry that came with the advent of perestroika.
"Currently, RGM translates and publishes solidly Biblical Christian literature, supports about 50 national pastors financially, helps provide funds to purchase land or building supplies in order to construct new prayer houses (church buildings) or remodel existing structures, ships humanitarian aid, including food, clothing and medical supplies, and has recently opened a medical clinic in Kiev."
Before the death of Georgi Vins, Barry said, "Brother Vins has adjusted well to life in the West. Just before his exile to the United States, a Soviet official told him he would never set foot on Soviet soil again. That prediction came true, as when he returned to his homeland in 1990, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist."
He concluded by saying that Vins had once told him, "It has always been my goal to imitate Jesus. I'm not sure to what degree I've succeeded, but that has always been my goal!"
In a separate interview, Rick Barry added, "Many people knew him for his serious side, but he had a sense of humor as well. When he was standing in the pulpit he had a serious message to convey. But he had another side to him. He was also a husband, a father and a good friend."
Barry revealed that Georgi Vins' father, Peter Vins, had gone to the Soviet Union as a missionary from the United States. He was arrested and had been subsequently executed in his prison camp. "Brother Vins was ready to join his father," said Barry. "He had run the race."
In a moving message to his supporters before his death, Georgi Vins wrote, "Of course, the Lord is powerful and could shrink my tumor. But if not and God calls me to Heaven, I won't be sorry to go! However, my greatest desire is that the work of Russian Gospel Ministries continues - whether I am personally on earth or with the Lord. Russian Gospel Ministries does not belong to me or any man. It is God's. The Lord's work must go on."
The "great warrior" has now gone - but his legacy will be with us for many years to come. |