This country’s early Latter-day Saints have found joy in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
During the 1988 commemoration of 1000 years of Christianity in Russia, it became apparent large numbers of Russians had preserved a heritage of faith despite more than seven decades of official Soviet atheism. Many of these Russians turned for spiritual nourishment to the centuries-old Russian Orthodox Church. Others sought renewal from Christian faiths brought to Russia in the 19th century.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some Russians began to direct their spiritual quests toward a study of religious faiths just entering the country, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In October 1989 Dennis B. Neuenschwander (now of the Seventy), president of the Austria Vienna East Mission; and Steven R. Mecham, president of the Finland Helsinki Mission, were authorized to take the gospel into the Soviet Union. Within months, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles formally dedicated Estonia for the preaching of the restored gospel and offered a prayer of gratitude in a spirit of rededication in Leningrad, invoking the blessings of heaven upon the Estonian and Russian peoples. (Elder Francis M. Lyman of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had dedicated Russia in July 1903.1) In 1990 the Church was officially recognized in Estonia and Russia.
In December 1989 President Mecham and the first full-time missionaries visited Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to support members and teach investigators. By July 1990 the Church numbered 156 Soviet members: 80 in Leningrad, 43 in Tallinn, 26 in Vyborg, and 7 in Moscow.
Early Russian investigators and new members encountered daunting obstacles to embracing the restored gospel. Paramount was the common perception that joining another church implied a betrayal of Russian Christianity, which was embodied in distinctive images of the Russian Orthodox Church: cathedrals with gilded cupolas and icons, beautiful liturgical music and priestly vestments, and elaborate worship services.
By contrast, Latter-day Saints and investigators met in modest “houses of culture” (recreation centers), schools, libraries, and other facilities rented for three hours on Sundays. The Church had few materials in Russian, and lay leaders and teachers were inexperienced. Often the laws of tithing and chastity represented new truths, as did the Word of Wisdom, especially for seasoned partakers of tobacco, tea, or vodka.
How could Russians surmount these barriers and embrace the restored gospel? As examples of Russian pioneers illustrate, acceptance of the gospel required faith and courage.
Many Russian investigators, used to aesthetically resplendent yet impersonal religious services, responded to the Church’s simpler service in which polished ceremony is less important than individual contribution and growth. Investigators were especially drawn by the friendliness of meetings and the concern members demonstrated for one another. In a caring branch, they felt accepted and needed.
“I had never supposed that there would be no icons in a church, or that there would be a kitchen, showers, a gymnasium, a huge room with an organ, and many classrooms,” recalls Andrei Semionov of his first Church meeting in Finland.
Andrei had met Latter-day Saints shortly after completing medical studies and beginning work as a doctor in Vyborg, a Russian city situated east of Helsinki on the Gulf of Finland. As he practiced medicine he was troubled by questions of life’s purpose, the possibility of an afterlife, and the meaning of evil.
In the summer of 1989 Andrei took a canoe trip with friends and a Latter-day Saint couple﻿—Aimo and Nellie Jäkkö from Finland. Campfire discussions about God and faith touched Andrei. The Jäkkös invited Andrei to Lappeenranta, Finland, to attend Church services. There he met full-time missionaries.
Changes in the couple’s life brought many blessings and opportunities.
President Semionov served with distinction as a branch president; today he serves as the first district president in Vyborg. On 4 May 1996, under the direction of Elder Neuenschwander, then president of the Europe East Area, President Andrei Semionov dedicated the first Latter-day Saint chapel in Russia.
After Viacheslav Efimov’s father died from injuries suffered near the end of World War II, his mother worked hard to provide for her son’s physical and spiritual needs, instilling in him a love of God. To lessen his mother’s burdens, Viacheslav began working full time in a Leningrad factory when he was 15. To further his education, he attended evening school. Though busy, Viacheslav made time to reflect on his spiritual yearnings.
Life soon changed for the Efimovs: they became a family.
After serving faithfully in many callings, the Efimovs began sharing their gospel joy on a full-time basis in July 1995, when Brother Efimov was called as president of the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission.
“The year 1985 brought great changes into my spiritual life. I was able to go to church openly, fearing neither the KGB nor any unpleasantness at work. … Then came September 1991 and my first-ever international linguistics conference in Zvenigorod, near Moscow. At that time occurred what was for me a momentous meeting with professors from Utah.
“In our lives are many coincidences. And so it seemed that by sheer coincidence I was drawn into a discussion about contemporary Russia. … Suddenly I heard a question: ‘And how has the status of the Orthodox Church changed?’ I felt that the question was addressed to me personally.
“In four or five phrases I tried to explain how much the church meant to me and my family, and how happy I was that now I could speak of my faith openly. I didn’t have to fear being a believer. This sincere but awkward answer, as it turned out, touched many people in the room, especially the gray-haired professor who had asked the question. It was Dr. Robert W. Blair from Brigham Young University. We became acquainted, and I invited him to Voronezh.
“In the spring of 1992 Dr. Blair came … with his family to see us for the celebration of the Orthodox Easter. I invited them to a church Easter service. I had been eagerly awaiting this event. That spring … I was fasting and for the first time in my life attended confession, and I thought I was beginning a new life without any transgression or deceit.
“While on my way to church that day, I hoped to experience there the feelings of Tolstoy’s heroes, so well described by him in Resurrection. But it turned out otherwise. The Holy Ghost did not descend upon me. Though the ceremony and the brilliance of the golden vestments were dazzling, the service itself did not move me at all. … I returned home discouraged, convinced that my personal sins had not allowed me to experience any feelings of redemption at the service.
“During the summer of 1992, however, students from Brigham Young University arrived in Voronezh to teach English in nursery schools. I came to their Sunday meeting and was struck by the atmosphere of love and warmth that prevailed there. I wanted to become like them, and I wanted my son [Aleksandr] to be with them. These were unusual Americans, people unlike any others I knew.
“At first I wasn’t going to change anything in my life. Would it really be impossible to be a member of the Orthodox Church and at the same time follow the principles of the Mormons? … Sooner or later I would have to decide for myself which side I would be on: with the Orthodox Church or with these new, unfamiliar people, whom I wanted to become more like.
“This choice tortured me and would not allow me a moment’s peace. All the while it seemed to me that by choosing the Mormons I would betray the faith of my fathers, and that God would not forgive me for this apostasy. I prayed and asked God for an answer, and it came.
“One day during the summer while I was sitting on the bank of a river gazing into the water and persistently thinking about the choice I had to make, I perceived a distinct voice that said I would not betray anyone, that I would simply progress farther and believe more deeply.
“It’s difficult to describe the feelings that I experienced upon hearing this voice: surprise, relief, happiness. I continued to attend the students’ meetings, and then I took the discussions from the missionaries in Moscow. It was there I was baptized on December 15, 1992, on the eve of the students’ flight back to America.
“My life changed. I became more tranquil, tolerant, and patient. Problems in our family life gradually diminished. For the first time in my life I understood the meaning of the words ‘quiet happiness,’ that is to say, harmony with oneself and peace of mind. During that year I became convinced that faith is capable of growing, and much that I had doubted a year ago now seemed true and right.
“I don’t know what exactly it was that first influenced my husband, whether it was the example of my son and me or his interaction with the students, the mission president, or the missionaries, but in September 1993 he began to regularly attend church. … On January 15, 1994, he was baptized. … Now we are all together.
Sister Bazarskaia has served in many callings since her baptism, including Relief Society president. Her husband became president of the Voronezh Branch. Their son, Aleksandr, served in the Latvia Riga Mission.
Many who joined the Church soon after its introduction were well-educated urban Russians. Although they considered Marxist scientific materialism inadequate for happiness, they were reluctant to abandon intellectual pursuits to explore religious truths. They responded well to the Church’s emphasis on eternal progression, which includes the ongoing development of the spirit and mind.
Sergei’s wife, Irina, had been baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church while living briefly with her grandmother, who had taught her about the Savior. When the couple’s daughter, Marina, asked to be baptized in 1990, Sergei began to reflect on his atheism and on the importance of religion.
Sergei and Marina were baptized in November 1990. But they continued to feel a spiritual hunger. While on a business trip in June 1992 to Donetsk, Ukraine, Sergei met the full-time missionaries. He was curious about their beliefs but unable to accept an invitation to join them at a Sunday meeting. Four months later he received another chance.
“I was walking home from work along the main street of the city,” Sergei recalls. “Ahead of me I saw two young men wearing backpacks. Walking quickly, I passed them and approached a green traffic light. I could have quietly crossed the street, but an unfamiliar power prevented me from continuing on my way. I still remember that feeling well.
Following more discussions, the family members were baptized in November 1992. They learned the gospel quickly, served cheerfully, and fellowshipped others joyfully as they worked hard to establish the Church along the lower Volga River.
The Leliukins were sealed in the Stockholm temple in March 1995. Today President Leliukin serves as a district president in Saratov.
As the growth of the Church attests, the gospel and the joy it brings is taking root. By 1996 nine LDS missions, with a combined membership of 9,000 members, had been created in the former Soviet Union: six in Russia, two in Ukraine, and one in Lithuania.
While their mission was not accomplished at that time, Russian Latter-day Saint pioneers today are laying a foundation for the fulfillment of that prophecy.
“President Lyman’s Travels and Ministry,” Millennial Star, Aug. 1903, 531.
From a letter by Andrei Semionov to the author.
From a letter by Viacheslav Efimov to the author.
From a letter by Nina Bazarskaia to the author.
From a letter by Sergei Leliukin to the author.
The Brothers Karamazov , 47.
History of the Church, 6:41.
Gary Browning, professor of Russian language and literature at Brigham Young University, served as president of the Finland Helsinki East Mission from July 1990 to January 1992 and as president of the Russia Moscow Mission from February 1992 to June 1993.