David Bundy
The Songulashvili volume is filled with discussions of freedom, freedom that is a matter of conscience and conviction. Notably it is not posed as freedom from, but freedom to, in this case, freedom to be more fully and overtly Christian and Georgian. This short essay argues that the positive, conscience-driven ethic of the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church, as represented in the work and life of Malkhaz Songulashvili and the Peace Cathedral of Tbilisi, is consistent with the history of Georgian Baptists.
The Historical Roots of the Georgian Baptist Conscience
The history of the Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptists makes clear that its conscience, as lived out by Songulashvili and his fellow believers, was formed in the crucible of more than a century-long experience involving isolation from the rest of the Baptist world and resistance to Soviet-imposed domination of church structures and policies. The antecedents of current social stances of Georgian Baptists stretch back to the late 19th century compassionate ministries of Lord Radstock, F. W. Baedeker, and Colonel Vasili Pashkov spawned in St. Petersburg drawing rooms. The resulting Pashkovite Movement, a product in part of European continental pietism, insisted upon the sharing of wealth through ministry to the poor, the marginalized, and the imprisoned. In 1944 the Soviet government engineered the merger of surviving Pashkovites and their successor denomination of Evangelical Christians with Baptists. It is possible that Songulashvili has underestimated the importance of the social conscience of his denomination’s Pashkovite and Evangelical Christian roots. Like Radstock and the Pashkovites, Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptists have made social ministry central to their understanding of Christian faith.
A Striving for Independence
Until the dismemberment of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, Georgian Baptists had to contend not only with Soviet restrictions, but with the tight reins of the Russian-dominated leadership of the AllUnion Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCECB). Thus, the small Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptist Church was under the authority of, in conflict with, and under surveillance of AUCECB leaders, as well as state authorities (172-75). Often it was a “struggle for survival” (173).
Three generations of Baptist leaders appear to have been extremely important in the formation of the Georgian Baptist conscience: Ilia Kandelaki (1891-1927), Theodore Kochoradze (b. 1892; bishop, 1945-1967), Ekaterine Kutateladze (1894- 1967), and Giorgi Bolgashvili (bishop, 1967-1984). Kandelaki, proud of his Georgian ethnic and cultural heritage, sought a place in Georgian society for Baptists, urged the renewal of the Orthodox Church, sought a Bible translation in modern Georgian, and died a martyr, assassinated by Soviet authorities. His successor, Kochoradze, established a Georgian (not Russian or German) Baptist congregation, led evangelism throughout Georgia, fraternized with the Orthodox, and sought to renew the Baptist liturgy, adopting and adapting traditional Georgian Orthodox Christian patterns. Kutateladze, a crucial lay leader in the Tbilisi congregation, translated the Gospels and Psalms into modern Georgian, although these translations could not be published. Both Kochoradze and Kutateladze lost their families during the hard years and nevertheless became effective counselors (85-224).They also both involved the entire congregation in ministry and evangelism.
Giorgi Bolgashvili upset his AUCECB superiors by struggling for freedom to worship as Georgian Baptists saw fit, his preference for ministry among the Georgian population, his championing of Georgian culture, and his development of a distinctively Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptist spirituality. Along with other Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptist leaders, he engaged the Orthodox Church in theological dialogue, and he preached regularly in the Georgian Patriarchal Cathedral of Sioni in Tbilisi (203, 212, and 228).
The demise of Soviet-era structures brought Georgian Baptists new challenges of faith, conscience, and Christian practice. In particular, Georgian Baptists accepted a new responsibility in the process of rebuilding their nation, and they came to a full realization of what Christ had in mind in reference to his followers’ obligations toward “the least of these.”
Matters of Conscience for Evangelical Christian Baptists
During the struggle to end Communist Party rule and to establish a truly democratic government, Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptists publicly supported the demand for free elections and an end of dictatorship, and often provided hospitality and refuge for those in the opposition (227). At the same time, some Georgian Orthodox, in their attempts to establish a religious monopoly, began persecuting the nation’s Muslim minorities. People were beaten, prayer rooms were destroyed, and assemblies for Muslim prayers were forbidden. Georgian Baptists led by Songulashvili went to Muslim villages to pray with Muslims and placed themselves in harm’s way to protect them. Songulashvili also began work, not only in Georgia but internationally, for reconciliation between Muslims and Christians. Georgian Baptists also ministered to the physical needs of Muslim refugees from the war in Chechnya (xxvii-; 292-94).
Likewise, when conservative elements of the Orthodox Church attacked homosexual persons and their sympathizers in public, Georgian Baptists from Tbilisi’s Peace Cathedral again gave hospitality and refuge and conducted welcoming services for “marginalized persons.” These were contentious issues, even in Georgia, but Malkhaz commanded sufficient support to stay the Georgian Baptist course in defense of persecuted minorities. Still, differences of opinion among Baptists did lead to Songulashvili’s resignation as Archbishop for Georgia. He does, however, retain his position as Metropolitan Bishop of Tbilisi and has been appointed professor of comparative religions at the prestigious Ilia State University in Tbilisi (Songulashvili, xxvi-xxvii). Despite opposition, Songulashvili holds fast to his formulation of the meaning of Christian conscience:
We need to speak up about the injustice and unfairness in this world not because we have the power to do it, but because we do not have the power to remain silent, because we do not have the power to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the world around us, we do not have power to live in the world deprived of compassion, solidarity and freedom, we do not have the power to look quietly at how the weak are being persecuted, how imperial forces are unleashed against human dignity (xxviii).
This is the Evangelical Christian Baptist conscience as found in the narrative of Malkhaz Songulashvili’s Evangelical Christian Baptists of Georgia. It is a conscience forged through turbulent trials over 150 years of struggle and is consistent with that history. Songulashvili and his co-believers are working to make conscience an integral part of Georgia’s future, this despite the fact that “it is not safe to critique the authorities…for their injustice… [or] to preach a Gospel that condemns nationalism, separatism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, and ethnocentrism” (335).
David Bundy is professor of world Christian studies at New York Theological Seminary, New York, New York.