Confiscated manuscript of Pentecostal prophecy Ukraine
Item
Title
Confiscated manuscript of Pentecostal prophecy Ukraine
Конфіскований рукопис із п'ятидесятницьким пророцтвом, Україна
Конфискованная рукопись с пятидесятническим пророчеством, Украина
Description
This is a manuscript with a Pentecostal prophesy confiscated in 1953 from an arrested Ukrainian woman, who was known as a Pentecostal prophetess. The prophecy is handwritten in a notebook and is 15-page long. It narrates the coming death of Ashur, who will be overthrown from his throne by God and will be shot dead. After his death, all the prisoners will be released and people will live in freedom. The prophecy also stresses a special religious role of Ukraine and Kiev, its capital, that will become a place of great spiritual awakening.
The item comes from the 1953 MGB penal case against four Pentecostal believers, all Ukrainian women. The manuscript with the prophecy was used by the MGB as incriminating physical evidence of their “anti-Soviet propaganda”, including “dissemination of libels against Soviet leaders”. The “Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda”, the infamous article 58 of the Penal Code, was a common criminal offence used to incriminate to religious believers in the Soviet Union. Officially believers could not be persecuted for their religious beliefs, as the Soviet Constitution granted religious freedom on paper. Penal cases against religious believers were fabricated in terms of extreme politicisation of religious practices. A KGB report from 1963 states, “We do not fight against believers or religion, but we do fight against the use of religion by anti-Soviet elements… in hostile to the Soviet state purposes”.
The image of Ashur resembles Stalin, however, in one place of the prophecy Ashur is called Vyshinsky – the minister of foreign affairs in 1949-1953 and one of the main organizers of Stalin’s great terror, who signed thousands of death penalties in the 1930s. On the second image, the following sentences were underlined by an MGB officer, as supposedly having a distinct anti-Soviet meaning: “And liberty [volia] and freedom will follow soon; the days of freedom are approaching. For Ashur will be overthrown. And people will be called. I will call up people from many countries, and they will arrive and will [condemn] Ashur. The end has come, they call Ashur to death, for Ashur will be shot dead. Oh, oh, oh the storm will arrive for there will come the great bloodshed..." The prophecy goes on to recount how all prisoners will be released and how Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, will become the new Jerusalem.
The "wandering prophetess", as she was described by the MGB, led a Pentecostal community in Kiev and travelled throughout Ukraine and as far as Siberia, preaching among religious communities. She was arrested in 1953 along with three other women pentecostal believers and sentenced to 25 years in labour camps.
At this time there were a number of “illegal” religious groups in Soviet Ukraine referred to as the “religious underground”. They were regarded “harmful for the state by the very fact of their existence and the character of their activity”. In 1944, the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists was formed as the only recognised umbrella church body of all branches of Evangelical Christians. The communities that refused to enter the Council, including many Pentecostal groups, were considered criminal. Ukraine was the hotspot of Soviet-era religious persecutions as it was the place of the largest Christian Evangelical communities in the entire Soviet Union. Ukrainian Pentecostalism developed a particular culture of prophets, who were wondering across the wider region, preaching and gathering new communities. By the time of this penal case in 1953, according to the Soviet authorities, there were approximately 200 unregistered Pentecostal communities in Ukraine with over 200 prophets and prophetess.
This manuscript comes from the State Archive Branch of the Security Services of Ukraine, fond 6, spr. 60259. The file contains records of arrest and transcripts of interrogations of four Pentecostal women on trial, transcripts of interrogations of witnesses, as well as a closing indictment, court records and a final court sentence. Two women (including the author of the manuscript) were sentenced to 25 years and two others to 10 years in labour camps. Alongside the manuscript reproduced here, the file contains one more notebook with handwritten religious writings and a press-cutting with an image of the American President Harry S. Truman. These confiscated items were also used as incriminating physical evidence against the arrested women. Twenty confiscated photographs and twenty one personal letters of believers were later destroyed as having no relevance to the case.
For related entries see:
The item comes from the 1953 MGB penal case against four Pentecostal believers, all Ukrainian women. The manuscript with the prophecy was used by the MGB as incriminating physical evidence of their “anti-Soviet propaganda”, including “dissemination of libels against Soviet leaders”. The “Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda”, the infamous article 58 of the Penal Code, was a common criminal offence used to incriminate to religious believers in the Soviet Union. Officially believers could not be persecuted for their religious beliefs, as the Soviet Constitution granted religious freedom on paper. Penal cases against religious believers were fabricated in terms of extreme politicisation of religious practices. A KGB report from 1963 states, “We do not fight against believers or religion, but we do fight against the use of religion by anti-Soviet elements… in hostile to the Soviet state purposes”.
The image of Ashur resembles Stalin, however, in one place of the prophecy Ashur is called Vyshinsky – the minister of foreign affairs in 1949-1953 and one of the main organizers of Stalin’s great terror, who signed thousands of death penalties in the 1930s. On the second image, the following sentences were underlined by an MGB officer, as supposedly having a distinct anti-Soviet meaning: “And liberty [volia] and freedom will follow soon; the days of freedom are approaching. For Ashur will be overthrown. And people will be called. I will call up people from many countries, and they will arrive and will [condemn] Ashur. The end has come, they call Ashur to death, for Ashur will be shot dead. Oh, oh, oh the storm will arrive for there will come the great bloodshed..." The prophecy goes on to recount how all prisoners will be released and how Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, will become the new Jerusalem.
The "wandering prophetess", as she was described by the MGB, led a Pentecostal community in Kiev and travelled throughout Ukraine and as far as Siberia, preaching among religious communities. She was arrested in 1953 along with three other women pentecostal believers and sentenced to 25 years in labour camps.
At this time there were a number of “illegal” religious groups in Soviet Ukraine referred to as the “religious underground”. They were regarded “harmful for the state by the very fact of their existence and the character of their activity”. In 1944, the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists was formed as the only recognised umbrella church body of all branches of Evangelical Christians. The communities that refused to enter the Council, including many Pentecostal groups, were considered criminal. Ukraine was the hotspot of Soviet-era religious persecutions as it was the place of the largest Christian Evangelical communities in the entire Soviet Union. Ukrainian Pentecostalism developed a particular culture of prophets, who were wondering across the wider region, preaching and gathering new communities. By the time of this penal case in 1953, according to the Soviet authorities, there were approximately 200 unregistered Pentecostal communities in Ukraine with over 200 prophets and prophetess.
This manuscript comes from the State Archive Branch of the Security Services of Ukraine, fond 6, spr. 60259. The file contains records of arrest and transcripts of interrogations of four Pentecostal women on trial, transcripts of interrogations of witnesses, as well as a closing indictment, court records and a final court sentence. Two women (including the author of the manuscript) were sentenced to 25 years and two others to 10 years in labour camps. Alongside the manuscript reproduced here, the file contains one more notebook with handwritten religious writings and a press-cutting with an image of the American President Harry S. Truman. These confiscated items were also used as incriminating physical evidence against the arrested women. Twenty confiscated photographs and twenty one personal letters of believers were later destroyed as having no relevance to the case.
For related entries see:
Цей рукопис з п’ятидесятницьким пророцтвом був конфіскований у 1953 р. у заарештованої української жінки, відомої як пророчиця п’ятидесятників. Пророцтво записано від руки у записній книжці на 15 сторінках. Воно розповідає про смерть Ашура, скинутого з трону Богом, і застреленого. Після його смерті усі в’язні будуть визволені і люди будуть жити на свободі. Пророцтво також відкреслює особливу роль України, і її столиці, Києва, що стане місцем великого духовного пробудження.
Цей документ був частиною кримінальної справи МДБ від 1953 року проти чотирьох п’ятидесятниць, усіх українок. Рукопис з пророцтвом був використаний МДБ як речовий доказ вини заарештованих у “антирадянській пропаганді”, включаючи “розповсюдження наклепів на радянських лідерів”. “Антирадянська агітація і пропаганда”, сумновідома стаття 58 Кримінального Кодексу, часто використовувалася у Радянському Союзі з метою звинувачення віруючих.
Образ Ашура нагадує Сталіна, тим не менш, у одній частині пророцтва Ашуром називають Вишинського, міністра іноземних справ у 1949-1953рр. і одного з основних організаторів сталінського терору, котрий підписав тисячі смертних вироків у 1930х. На другій сторінці, наступні фрази були підкреслені офіцером МДБ як маючі антирадянське значення: “І воля, і свобода скоро прийдуть; дні свободи наближаються. Ашур буде скинутий з престолу. І покличуть людей. Я буду кликати людей з багатьох країн, і вони приїдуть, і винесуть вирок Ашуру. Прийшов кінець, вони викликають Ашура на смерть, Ашур буде застрелений. Ой, ой, ой, буря налетить, бо проллється багато крові...” Пророцтво продовжується описом визволення в’язнів і перетворення Києва, столиці України, на новий Єрусалим.
“Бродяча пророчиця”, як її описували у МДБ, очолювала громаду п’ятидесятників у Києві, вона також подорожувала Україною, і навіть у Сибір. Її заарештували у 1953р., разом з трьома іншими п’ятидесятницями, і засудили до 25 років трудових таборів.
В ті часи в Радянському Союзі було декілька “нелегальних” релігійних груп, які називали “релігійним підпіллям”. Їх вважали “шкідливими для держави через сам факт їх існування ”. У 1944р. була сформована Всесоюзна рада євангельських християн-баптистiв, що визнавалася єдиним загальним церковним органом усіх гілок євангельських церков. Громади, що відмовились приєднатися до Ради, в тому числі п’ятидесятницькі групи, визнавались кримінальними. Україна була гарячою точкою релігійних переслідувань радянської ери, оскільки тут знаходилися найбільші у Радянському союзі громади євангельських християн. В української традиції п’ятидесятництва існувала специфічна культура пророків, що подорожували по всій території країни, молилися і збирали нові громади. На час відкриття цієї справи у 1953 р., згідно з даними радянської влади, існувало близько 200 незареєстрованих п’ятидесятницьких громад в Україні, з понад 200 пророками і пророчицями.
Оригінал рукопису зберігається у Галузевому державному архівi Служби безпеки України, фонд 6, спр. 60259. Справа також містить анкети заарештованих і протоколи допитів чотирьох п’ятидесятниць на суді, протоколи допитів свідків, а також, обвинувальний висновок, протокол судового засідання і остаточний вирок суду. Дві жінки (включаючи автора рукопису) були засуджені до 25 років, а дві інші до 10 років трудових таборів. Окрім представленого рукопису, справа містить ще одну записну книжку з записами від руки і вирізку з журналу, що були використані як речові докази вини.
Subject
Communism and Christianity--Europe, Eastern
Communism--Europe, Eastern--History--20th century
Secret police (secret service)
Religion and politics--Europe
Christian sects--Soviet Union
Communism--Soviet Union--History--Sources
Confiscations
Diaries in criminal evidence
Evidence, criminal
Monastic and religious life of women
Pentacostalism
Soviet Union. Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti
Trials (Political crimes and offenses)--Soviet Union
Underground literature--Soviet Union
Creator
Tatiana Vagramenko
Source
Галузевий державний архів Служби безпеки України
ГДА СБУ ф. 6, спр. 60259
https://ssu.gov.ua/
ГДА СБУ ф. 6, спр. 60259
https://ssu.gov.ua/
Publisher
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme No . 677355
The research for this entry was funded by Irish Research Council, GOIPD/2017/764
The research for this entry was funded by Irish Research Council, GOIPD/2017/764
Date
1953
Rights
Copyright for these images belongs to the State Archive Branch of the Security Services of Ukraine
https://ssu.gov.ua/
https://ssu.gov.ua/
Format
Image/jpg
Photo
Language
RU
Type
Image
Identifier
SBU Archive, f. 6, spr. 60259
https://ssu.gov.ua/
https://ssu.gov.ua/
Coverage
Ukraine
Soviet Union
20th Century
Soviet Union
20th Century
Bibliographic Citation
Tatiana Vagramenko, "Confiscated manuscript of Pentecostal prophecy Ukraine"
Date Created
2018
Item sets
Pentecostal Prophecy Image 1 
Pentecostal Prophecy Image 2 
Pentecostal Prophecy Image 3 
Pentecostal Prophecy Image 4