Pashkov, Vasili Alexandrovich, 1813-1902.
Biographical Statement
In 1874 an evangelical revival began in Russia, when Granville A. W. Waldegrave, Lord Radstock was invited to hold evangelistic meetings in various homes of St. Petersburg by Elizaveta I. Chertkova. Radstock, a Plymouth Brethren, was instrumental in the conversion of Chertkova through his preaching and was invited to return in 1875 and 1878. Through these visits and his preaching several leading members of St. Petersburg’s higher society were converted, one such convert was Colonel Vasilii A. Pashkov (born, 1813).
Pashkov took on a leadership role in this revival and guided its future when Radstock was forced from Russia in 1878. His followers, known as Pashkovites, took the evangelical message that he received to others calling for personal religious conversion and the development of the inner spiritual life through prayer and Bible-reading seeking a renewal of Orthodoxy. This message was taking to the well-to-do and the poor throughout northern and central Russia. In St. Petersburg social services, like homeless shelters and schools were begun.
By 1884, other Protestant evangelical efforts were underway and informal connections between various groups emerged. Pashkov invited delegates from groups of Baptists, Mennonites, and shtundists (Orthodox Christians influenced by German revivalists) to a meeting their situation and Russian law that forbade conversions from Orthodoxy. During the meeting police arrested all Russian delegates, imprisoned them shortly and sent them to their homes. Afterwards Pashkovite meetings were forbidden. When Pashkov refused formally to agree not to preach, hold meetings, or meet with other evangelicals he was exiled from Russia.
Pashkov died in Paris in 1902.