Seventh-day Adventist community photograph Ukraine
Item
Title
Seventh-day Adventist community photograph Ukraine
Фотографія релігійної громади Адвентистів Сьомого Дня, Україна
Фотография общины Адвентистов Седьмого Дня, Украина
Description
This photograph was confiscated in 1948 by the Soviet secret police from a Romanian peasant repressed as a follower of the Reformed Adventist Church in Chernivtsi oblast (former Northern Bukovina), Ukraine. The photograph was included in his criminal file. It pictures a community of Romanian Adventists who are festively dressed with most of them holding Bibles as a symbol of their faith. Apart from this photograph the police also confiscated a notebook with religious songs handwritten in Romanian language.
According to the file, Vasilii Litvan was a poor, illiterate Romanian peasant who lived in the small village of Pripruttia all his life. He was born at the time when Northern Bukovina was part of Romania and he was baptised by a Romanian Adventist missionary in 1924. In 1931, following the teachings of missionaries from Transylvania, he joined the Reformed Adventist movement. Before the annexation of Northern Bukovina by the Soviet Union and during WWII, when Romania temporarily regained Northern Bukovina, Litvan was twice sentenced for his beliefs by the Romanian courts. His third sentence in 1948, was received from a Soviet court. This time he was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp. As evidenced from the file, the secret police also created a separate criminal case against 17 other of Litvan’s fellow-believers from his village, including his wife.
The Reformed Adventist movement, which had split from the Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists, was banned in the Soviet Union. Its followers rigorously followed the sixth commandment “Thou shalt not kill” and therefore refused military service, obligatory in the Soviet Union. They also had specific dietary restrictions and were vegetarians. Most of the repressed Reformed Adventists in the Soviet period were charged for their refusal to serve in the Red Army and for so-called anti-Soviet activity and propaganda.
This photograph comes from the Archive of the Security Services of Ukraine in Chernivtsi oblast, spr. 5821-П. Apart from this image, the file contains Vasilii Litvan's arrest form with his mugshot arrest photograph, interrogation reports, the indictment, a confiscated notebook and a document relating to his rehabilitation issued in 1992.
For further readings see:
Kuromiya, Hiroaki. Conscience on Trial. The Fate of Fourteen Pacifists in Stalin’s Ukraine, 1952-1953. University of Toronto Press, 2012.
Lohne, Alf. Adventists in Russia. Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Association, 1987.
Parasei A.F. and N.A. Zhukaliuk. Bednaya, brosaemaia bureiu… Istoricheskie ocherki k 110-letnemu iubileiu Tserkvi adventistov sed’mogo dnia v Ukraine. Kiev: “Dzherelo zhittia”, 1997.
Sapiets Marite. True Witness: The Story of Seventh-day Adventists in the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Keston Institute, 1990.
For related entries see:
According to the file, Vasilii Litvan was a poor, illiterate Romanian peasant who lived in the small village of Pripruttia all his life. He was born at the time when Northern Bukovina was part of Romania and he was baptised by a Romanian Adventist missionary in 1924. In 1931, following the teachings of missionaries from Transylvania, he joined the Reformed Adventist movement. Before the annexation of Northern Bukovina by the Soviet Union and during WWII, when Romania temporarily regained Northern Bukovina, Litvan was twice sentenced for his beliefs by the Romanian courts. His third sentence in 1948, was received from a Soviet court. This time he was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp. As evidenced from the file, the secret police also created a separate criminal case against 17 other of Litvan’s fellow-believers from his village, including his wife.
The Reformed Adventist movement, which had split from the Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists, was banned in the Soviet Union. Its followers rigorously followed the sixth commandment “Thou shalt not kill” and therefore refused military service, obligatory in the Soviet Union. They also had specific dietary restrictions and were vegetarians. Most of the repressed Reformed Adventists in the Soviet period were charged for their refusal to serve in the Red Army and for so-called anti-Soviet activity and propaganda.
This photograph comes from the Archive of the Security Services of Ukraine in Chernivtsi oblast, spr. 5821-П. Apart from this image, the file contains Vasilii Litvan's arrest form with his mugshot arrest photograph, interrogation reports, the indictment, a confiscated notebook and a document relating to his rehabilitation issued in 1992.
For further readings see:
Kuromiya, Hiroaki. Conscience on Trial. The Fate of Fourteen Pacifists in Stalin’s Ukraine, 1952-1953. University of Toronto Press, 2012.
Lohne, Alf. Adventists in Russia. Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Association, 1987.
Parasei A.F. and N.A. Zhukaliuk. Bednaya, brosaemaia bureiu… Istoricheskie ocherki k 110-letnemu iubileiu Tserkvi adventistov sed’mogo dnia v Ukraine. Kiev: “Dzherelo zhittia”, 1997.
Sapiets Marite. True Witness: The Story of Seventh-day Adventists in the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Keston Institute, 1990.
For related entries see:
Ця фотографія була конфіскована у 1948 р. радянською таємною поліцією у румунського селянина Василя Літвана, репресованого за послідовництво Реформованої адвентистської церкви у Чернівецькій області (колишня північна Буковина), в Україні. Фотографія стала частиною кримінальної справи проти нього. На фотографії – громада румунських адвентистів у святковому одязі, більшість з них тримають Біблію як символ своєї віри. Окрім цієї фотографії органі конфіскували записну книжку з релігійними піснями румунською мовою, записаними від руки.
Згідно зі справою, Василь Літван був бідним неписемним румунським селянином який все своє життя прожив у селищі Припруття. Він народився у часи, коли північна Буковина була частиною Румунії, і був хрещений румунським адвентистським місіонером у 1924 р. У 1931 р., слідуючи повчанням місіонерів із Трансильванії, він приєднався до реформованого адвентистського руху. Перед анексуванням північної Буковини Радянським Союзом і під час Другої Світової Війни, коли Румунія тимчасово відновила владу над північною Буковиною, Літван двічі був засуджений румунськими судами за свої вірування. Свій третій вирок у 1948 р., він отримав від радянського суду. Цього разу він був відправлений у трудові табори на 10 років. Як вказано у справі НКДБ, в той же час була відкрита інша кримінальна справа проти 17 віруючих з селища Літвана, включаючи його дружину.
Реформований адвентистський рух, який виник на базі церкви адвентистів сьомого дня, був заборонений у Радянському Союзі. Його послідовники притримувалися шостої заповіді, “Не вбивай”, і ухилялися від воєнної служби, обов’язкової в Радянському Союзі. Вони також притримувались обмежень у дієті, і були вегетаріанцями. Більшість репресованих адвентистів у Радянському Союзі були звинувачені у ухилянні від служби в армії і так званій антирадянській діяльності і пропаганді.
Ця фотографія знаходиться у архіві Служби безпеки України у Чернівецькій області, спр. 5821-П. Окрім цієї фотографії, справа містить бланк арешту Василя Літвана, фотографію арешту, протоколи допитів, вирок, конфісковану записну книжку і документ щодо реабілітації від 1992р.
Subject
Communism and Christianity--Europe, Eastern
Communism and religion
Communism--Europe--History--20th century
Communism--Europe, Eastern--History--20th century
Secret police (secret service)
Surveillance
Totalitarianism
Material culture--Religious aspects
Religion and politics--Europe
Religious sects
Christian sects--Soviet Union
Communism and culture--Soviet Union
Communism--Soviet Union--History--Sources
Confiscations
Evidence photographs
Free churches
Identification photographs
Millenialism
Soviet Union. Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti
Trials (Political crimes and offenses)--Soviet Union
Creator
Tatiana Vagramenko
Source
Державний архів Служби безпеки України в Чернівецькій області
SBU Archive in Chernivtsi Oblast, f. П, spr. 5821
SBU Archive in Chernivtsi Oblast, f. П, spr. 5821
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
1948-1949
Rights
Copyright for these images belongs to the State Archive Branch of the Security Services of Ukraine
Format
Image/ jpg
Image
Image
Language
RU
UKR
Type
Image
Identifier
SBU Archive in Chernivtsi, f. П, spr. 5821
Coverage
Ukraine
Soviet Union
20th Century
Soviet Union
20th Century
Bibliographic Citation
Tatiana Vagramenko "Seventh Day Adventists community photograph Ukraine" http://hiddengalleries.eu/digitalarchive/s/en/item/199
Date Created
2019
