\n<\/p>\n
Yuri Sipko is the first to fall.<\/p>\n
The 71-year-old former president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists has been one of the few Russian religious leaders to publicly denounce the war in Ukraine. Although secular activists and a few Orthodox priests have been imprisoned for similar opposition, until last month no evangelicals had been targeted.<\/p>\n
But on August 8, authorities filed charges<\/a> against Sipko for publicly disseminating \u201cknowingly false information\u201d against the Russian military. They raided his home and temporarily detained his son. One week later, he was placed on the wanted list.<\/p>\n Tipped off by independent legal monitors, he fled the country on August 5.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sun is shining, and I have been provided for,\u201d Sipko told CT in an interview from his refuge in Germany. \u201cPraise the Lord there have been no problems, and policemen are far away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n Waxing poetic, he hoped that the aspiration of Aleksandr Pushkin, the 19th-century Russian bard, might one day be fulfilled:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The heavy-hanging chains will fall,
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sipko attributes his courage to God. His anti-war activism is inspired by Matthew 10:28, which says to not fear those who can only kill the body. As both a minister of the Word and a citizen of Russia, he feels it was his duty to reveal criminality.<\/p>\n But having long anticipated his arrest, he insists he is not guilty.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a lawless law imposed by a lawless regime, against lawful people,\u201d said Sipko. \u201cThe crime is the destruction of Ukraine. Silence, also, is a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n With these words, he impugns nearly all of his evangelical colleagues. In Sipko\u2019s view, they have not only betrayed their Ukrainian brothers and sisters, but in submitting to the Russian authorities, they have betrayed the kingdom of God. Their silence, he said, is shameful.<\/p>\n Upon news of the charges against Sipko, Russian Baptist leadership<\/a> kept its distance.<\/p>\n Baptist Union president Peter Mitskevich stated that information was \u201cscant\u201d and urged prayer for Sipko. But in encouraging \u201cpeace among the nations\u201d and the continued proclamation of the gospel, he reminded that it was under Nero\u2019s persecution that the Apostle Peter wrote: Honor the king <\/em>(1 Peter 2:17).<\/p>\n Baptists in St. Petersburg were more direct. Addressing the fear that has pervaded the community since Sipko\u2019s arrest, their statement clarified that Sipko spoke only in his personal capacity, not representing their \u201cagreed position.\u201d They also asked for prayer, but emphasized that \u201cthe authorities do not hinder us in the main thing for which we are called by the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n But evangelical fear in Russia was legitimate. Accompanying the charges against Sipko was an official media campaign against the broader Protestant community, alleging their status as foreign agents. According to the SOVA Center, Sipko\u2019s sermons were called<\/a> \u201coutright enemy propaganda\u201d that was developed by \u201cAmerican curators.\u201d<\/p>\n CT spoke with six leaders inside Russia for their reactions. Two requested anonymity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made me think full-fledged persecution of Christians will now begin,\u201d said one ministry leader. \u201cThe government is trying to silence all the voices that do not sing along with it, so Yuri has shown tremendous courage.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Sipko is more \u201cradical\u201d than herself, she said that she generally agrees with what he says. Relieved he is safe, she was surprised it took so long for the authorities to press charges.<\/p>\n Russian sources confirmed to CT that the media campaign has since died down, with no wider repression. But one leader expressed his displeasure.<\/p>\n \u201cThese journalists should be held accountable for their reporting,\u201d said Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance. \u201cThose who don\u2019t know us will be astonished, and the law prohibits incitement against religions.\u201d<\/p>\n Vlasenko expressed his solidarity with Sipko as a Baptist coworker, and believed justice would uphold his cause. Freedom of speech is enshrined in Russian law, he said, and he hopes that evangelical lawyers will come to Sipko\u2019s defense. It is lamentable in times of war that a polarized society promotes an us-against-them mentality, he said, and asks who you are with.<\/p>\n In March 2022\u2014one month after the war began\u2014Vlasenko had issued<\/a> his own statement expressing \u201cbitterness and regret\u201d over the \u201cmilitary invasion\u201d and apologizing to Ukraine. Under the criminal code used to now charge his former leader, the word \u201cwar\u201d has been officially banned.<\/p>\n But he feels that Sipko possesses a similar fault to Russian society overall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call Yuri a Russian prophet,\u201d he said. \u201cBut prophets think in black-and-white and sometimes don\u2019t see other colors.\u201d<\/p>\n As Christian citizens, evangelicals need to express \u201ccritical solidarity\u201d with their nation, Vlasenko said. He subtly critiqued Sipko\u2019s departure, stating that it is better for church leaders to stay in their own country, working to unite brethren with different opinions. Yet he commended his former president as \u201calways straight\u201d and as someone even his enemies respected.<\/p>\n Not that this would save Sipko.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is very brave,\u201d Vlasenko said. \u201cBut like John the Baptist, he might lose his head.\u201d<\/p>\n One analyst differed in Sipko\u2019s positive assessment.<\/p>\n \u201cStated crudely, he has been a loose cannon,\u201d said Bill Yoder, a retired church journalist. \u201cI think he is better off in the West.\u201d<\/p>\n Though respected by many in the pews, Sipko has been controversial among Baptist leadership over the past decade, according to the American-born reporter. Having lived the last 21 years in Russia, Yoder became a citizen in 2021. He says Sipko is being honest and acting according to his convictions, but also said the charges are no surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not our task to wish victory for the other side, but Yuri went beyond this, pushing the Ukrainian cause,\u201d said Yoder. \u201cAnd theologically, he is dancing on the edge of being loyal to the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Every day, Yoder prays for peace and reconciliation with Ukrainian believers, conceding that the Russian-led war is \u201cagainst international law.\u201d But the United States is worse, he said, in his estimation pushing eastward through NATO and complicit in dozens of armed struggles around the world. The conflict is complicated, and Ukraine is far from guiltless, said Yoder. Both sides will have to forgive each other.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish Yuri and his family well,\u201d said Yoder. \u201cI don\u2019t see him as a non-brother, but he has forsaken his church.\u201d<\/p>\n Sipko is one of 12 children, and as a child, he witnessed the Soviet Union imprison his Baptist pastor father for five years. First elected as a deputy leader of the Russian Baptist Union in 1993, he served as its president from 2002 to 2010. He cited the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia as the beginning of Russia\u2019s suppression of dissent, but also said that a \u201cdoom mentality\u201d has characterized his people for generations.<\/p>\n Literary figures like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Pushkin were among the few to speak out. But despite a century of prayer for Russia, when freedom came in 1991 local believers turned out to be \u201chelpless,\u201d according to Sipko. Amid a propaganda push that portrayed the West as a land with empty churches and homosexual clergy, even the persecution of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses was accepted by many Russians as a defense of the true faith.<\/p>\n \u201cThis message found fertile ground with evangelicals,\u201d said Sipko. \u201cAnd then in humble obedience to the authorities, they turned against their brothers, and became villains.\u201d<\/p>\n Roman Lunkin, head of the Center for Religious Studies at the Russian Academy of Science\u2019s Institute of Europe, thinks Sipko has veered too far to the West. He contrasted the Baptist leader with Sergey Ryakhovsky, president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Pentecostals. Both pastors are democratic, Lunkin said, but the latter voiced patriotism and leaned consistently toward the state\u2014much like Republicans in America.<\/p>\n And he suspects there is a larger power play involved.<\/p>\n According to Lunkin, Sipko has aligned himself with Albert Ratkin, a former Pentecostal Union vice president who was expelled from the denomination for criticizing Ryakhovsky\u2019s support for the war. Ratkin was called in to testify against the Baptist minister, with Sipko\u2019s messages on his social media channels used as evidence. But Lunkin believes the larger target may well be Ratkin, whose foreign support is concerning to the Kremlin, he said, and fits in with its tarnishing of evangelicals in general.<\/p>\n For now, he said Ratkin has been told to stay silent.<\/p>\n \u201cRussian authorities don\u2019t care about Sipko,\u201d Lunkin said. \u201cThat\u2019s why he was allowed to go abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n But the charges against Sipko are serious. Andrey Shirin noted that, since the Baptist Union\u2019s inception in 1944, Sipko is the first head to be indicted. While Russia likely delayed charges so as not to provoke the wider ecumenical world, whatever popularity Sipko had in the pews remained at the level of admiration, according to Shirin.<\/p>\n \u201cBaptists tend to see their prophetic responsibility as limited to morality and the freedom to practice their faith,\u201d said the Russian associate professor of divinity at Leland Seminary, a Baptist institution in Virginia. \u201cBrother Sipko broadened this to include public policy, but few evangelical leaders are willing to follow him.\u201d<\/p>\n However democratic the Pentecostal Union\u2019s Ryakhovsky may have once been, Shirin said he now gives the impression of an opportunist looking to stay close to power. And while Sipko\u2019s Ukraine stance resonates with the West, in many ways his cultural views would be perceived as overly traditional.<\/p>\n But not to Vera Izotova, who served as head of women\u2019s ministry in the Baptist Union until 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cYuri welcomed the training and ministry of women,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a passionate, dedicated, and humble servant of God.\u201d<\/p>\n A graduate of the International Bible Institute for Extension Education when Sipko was Baptist Union president, Izotova fondly remembered an address he gave in which he celebrated women\u2019s escape from \u201cthe kitchen\u201d to ministry. He loved to pray with his \u201cRussian sisters,\u201d she added, and supported her in her current work as director of the Wheat Grain Fund, which assists disadvantaged people and special needs children. Sipko believed the church should influence society, and preached the gospel all over Russia.<\/p>\n But she declined to comment about the charges against him.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent years I have not communicated with him on this subject,\u201d Izotova said. \u201cBut before writing [this reply], I prayed and fasted for God to guide me.\u201d<\/p>\n Some leaders, Sipko said, have \u201cpragmatic calculations\u201d for not speaking out on his behalf. Others have sent him private encouragement. But in either case, he takes no offense.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have expectations that anyone would support me publicly,\u201d Sipko said. \u201cI take full responsibility for my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n But one evangelical leader did support him, though through an alias.<\/p>\n \u201cSipko provides an honest and straightforward evaluation of the situation in both Ukraine and Russia,\u201d said Ivan Pastukhov, who requested anonymity to protect his ongoing ministry. \u201cHis case serves as a stark warning of the steep price for not aligning with the government.\u201d<\/p>\n From his vantage point, an estimated 40 percent of Russian evangelicals oppose the war. Pastukhov notes that the timing of the charges falls not long after the June rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin\u2019s Wagner group and not long before the upcoming presidential vote in March 2024. The ground is being prepared for a seamless reelection of Vladimir Putin, while in Pastukhov\u2019s view Sipko and evangelicals in general are being prepared as scapegoats for any potential societal unrest.<\/p>\n In this context, he has a plea for Western Christians.<\/p>\n \u201cMove beyond prayers, and initiate a meaningful dialogue with Russian church leaders,\u201d said Pastukhov, noting their isolation. \u201cNumerous longstanding connections between the East and the West have worn out, requiring urgent restoration.\u201d<\/p>\n Sipko agreed wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n \u201cConflicting parties cannot restore relations without a mediator,\u201d he said in response. \u201cInter-church communication is vital, and patience is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n It will certainly be needed during Sipko\u2019s self-imposed sojourn in Germany. He is at peace, and his daughter, one of ten children, is near him. But from Pushkin he turned to the Desert Fathers, paraphrasing Abba Isaiah of Scetis: Work without prayer is servitude, and prayer without work is begging<\/em>. He remains active in advocacy, posting frequently on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n But will he ever return to Russia?<\/p>\n \u201cOur home is above the clouds, and we are strangers and exiles here,\u201d said Sipko, referencing 1 Peter 2:11. \u201cI am willing to die outside my homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe walls will crumble at a word;
\nAnd Freedom greet you in the light,
\nAnd brothers give you back the sword.<\/p>\n