Baptist matriarch embodies
Tuva’s Christian history

n “Today is the best time for Christians,” says 91-year-old Pelageya Kazanteseva, holding a history book about Kyzyl’s Baptists. Her late husband’s picture is visible on the page

KYZYL, Tuva Republic — Pelageya Kazanteseva, 91, cannot remember the first time she read the Bible, only that it was in about 1922 when a man brought a printing press to town to print Bibles. As a 12-year-old girl, she received one of the first copies. But after Stalin came to power two years later, the man was later shot for his efforts to print God’s Word.

A Christian since childhood, Mrs Kazanteseva kept that first Bible for many years, and was to read it often during the ‘Great Patriotic War’, as Russians describe World War II.

Czar

Born in the town of Abakan in the time of the last Czar, Mrs Kazanteseva’s memories trace the history not only of her life and family but also of Tuva’s Baptist Christians. In the latest chapter of that history one of her daughters, Zinaida, is a leader in a vibrant Baptist church in Kyzyl. Her family moved to Kyzyl in 1918, when it was still a tiny settlement.

“It was just a group of houses but enough Christians moved here so we could have meetings,” she says.

In fact, she adds, her grandfather encouraged the family to move to Kyzyl because not only did life seem better there, but there were a good number of Christians moving into the traditionally Buddhist area. There were tensions, however, and Mrs Kazanteseva’s father was killed in 1919 in fighting between the native Tuvins and the Russians who were moving in. Three years later, her mother died and she and her brothers and sisters were alone.

“During the Communist times things were...difficult. There was persecution and the church stopped growing. Some church leaders were sent into exile.”

“Because we were from a Christian family other Christians took us in but we did not all end up in the same family,” she explains.

Her new family was active in a growing church and things were looking better until the Communists took over in their region.

“During the communist times things were more difficult,” she recalls. “There was persecution, and the church stopped growing. Some church leaders were sent into exile.

“When the war [World War II] started, the persecution really got bad. Although we were not allowed to have Christian meetings we continued to hold them secretly in homes. If the authorities found us they would come and take our Bibles. It was really hard. My daughter was fired from her job because she was a Christian.”

Factories

Kyzyl grew during the war as the Soviet government moved many factories to Siberia and other locations east of the Urals.

“After the war we Christians were still treated very badly,” she continues. “We were considered [by the communists] to be stupid and uneducated. Things got better though – there were people bringing song books as well as Bibles to our church. Things today are so much better – these are the best times for Christians.