THE MALAKANI OF RUSSIA by John Nevins Andrews

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 1, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 1

THE MALAKANI OF RUSSIA.

By John Nevins Andrews

BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.

At different times during several years past we have received information that there are many Christians in Russia who observe the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord. So many persons who have traveled in Russia have testified to this fact, that we cannot doubt respecting it; but it has not been possible, hitherto, to open any communication with this people, and our information concerning them is very limited. Enough, however, is known to make it certain that there are many thousands of these Christians; and it also appears that their history may be traced back more than four hundred years.

Eld. Jones, minister of the Sabbath-keeping church at Mill Yard, London, in a recent number of the Sabbath Memorial, speaks of this people, and gives many sources of information concerning them. The rabbi of the Karaite Jews in Jerusalem informed Eld. Jones, several years ago, that there are many Christian Sabbath-keepers in the Crimea and in the country adjacent, and he spoke of them as an honest people. The brother of this rabbi, visiting London at a later date, confirmed this report, saying that there are great numbers of this sect in Eastern Russia, and that they are a people in comfortable circumstances, and much respected for their uprightness of conduct. The late Dr. A. Benisch, of London, informed Eld. Jones that one of these Christians some time since visited London, and from him he learned that there are several hundred thousand Christian Sabbath-keepers in Russia.

But it is not of this great number of commandment-keeping Christians that we wish to speak in this article. Our information relates to a denomination of comparatively recent origin, called Malakani, numbering about 70,000 members, a large portion of whom observe the seventh day as the Sabbath. Eld. Jones has given a very full account of these Christians in the Sabbath Memorial of November, 1879, and he has also kindly sent us MacMillan's Magazine of October, 1879, which contains an article by Prof. G. M. Asher, of the University of Heidelberg, relating to this denomination. From this article we give the following facts:—

The Malakani live in the eastern part of Russia, near the borders of Asia. They are surrounded by a population very degraded, ignorant, and immoral. The religion of the country, though called Christian, is far more heathenish in its practices and superstitions than is that of the Mohammedans. Every man is a thief, and no one will tell the truth where a lie seems more profitable. Their huts are scantily furnished, and everything in their dwellings is in disgusting disorder; for these peasants practice neither economy nor neatness.

Such is the civilization in the midst of which the Malakani live. They have built up out of the same materials which the surrounding barbarism employs, a civilized life well adapted to the opportunities and requirements of their situation on the border of Asia. The streets in the Malakani quarter of the city of Alexandroff Gai are straight, and of great breadth. The buildings are regular, and in good repair, and the whole homestead presents a marked contrast to the dilapidation and wild disorder customary in Russian farm-yards. The second-rate houses are one-storied and of weather-stained wood, and the still poorer huts of mud-brick are remarkable only for their neatness.

In the center of the upper story, in the best houses, is a large hall-like room with broad benches along the walls, and one or two tables. Here prayer-meetings are held, and guests received. The whole house is neat and orderly, and the poorer houses, though less attractive, are also pleasant and homelike. The dress of the Malakani differs from that of the other peasants only in neatness and substantiality.

The prosperity of the Malakani is owing to their intelligence, their frugality, and to their mutual assistance. In Alexandroff Gai, where there is much poverty among the other peasants, every Malakani household is at least above need, and some of them are even wealthy. The delight of the other peasants is the tumultuous dram-shop. In their homes bestiality, noise, and filth prevail; but the flow of the Malakani's life, on the contrary, is so still and even that Europeans, accustomed to hurry and turmoil, cannot imagine it. Work performed without haste and yet steadily, and in willing co-operation with all the members of the family, instruction of the children by the parents, prayers, psalm-singing, colloquies on religious subjects, reading of the Bible, and congregational assemblies, constitute the Malakani's whole existence.

The writer of this article, Dr. Asher, says of a part of this people: “The Saturday Sabbath is kept exactly as in Jewish houses.” He says that they observe fasts like the ancient Hebrews, and that the only other remnant of Judaism is a peremptory objection to pork. He does not definitely say that there are any of these people who do not keep the Sabbath, but his language is definite that at least a part of them observe the seventh day. It does not appear that any of them observe the first day as the Sabbath; for he says that, though they hold meetings on Sunday and other great church holidays, they do not scruple to transact business on those days. All legal disputes are brought before the congregation, and the elders are in their jurisdiction guided by their notions of Bible law; for the Bible is their only law-book, and when they sit in judgment it is constantly in their hands.

It will interest our readers to learn that this people are believers in the doctrine of the near advent of Christ. The Christian News, published in Glasgow, Scotland, June 5, 1848, thirty-one years since, contains a statement from Mr. Roth, German missionary at Helenendorf, Russia, which is very worthy of our attention. He says:—

“The Malakani separated themselves from the national church avowedly on account of the invocation of saints, the various masses, the worship of pictures and relics, the prescribed use of the sign of the cross, and similar superstitious observances insisted on by the Greek church.

In short, they took conscientious exception against every part of the public worship of that church, excepting the sermon, which, however, is almost always omitted as superfluous. After enduring, in their birthplace, which was situated in the interior of Russia, unspeakable hardships and oppressions, and seeing, year after year, many of their leaders exiled to Siberia as obstinate heretics, it was a matter of thankfulness to them when the Russian government came to the determination, about eight or nine years ago [that is, in 1840], to banish the whole of this pestilent sect to the Schamachian district, in the province of Grusia. This punitive measure was no doubt meant for their hurt, but God turned it to good, as, like Israel of old, the more they were oppressed the more they multiplied and grew. The Russian government may well have felt surprised at the amount of immigration to which this sentence of banishment gave rise; for there now exist, in that wild region, from sixty to eighty villages, containing many thousand families. The standard of their faith is simply the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; their hymns are the Psalms of David; and the Bible knowledge possessed both by men and women among them may justly be termed extraordinary. Their public worship commences with the singing of a psalm; then follows an extempore prayer by one of the elders, who afterward reads and expounds a chapter of the Bible.

“The children, of both sexes, are, generally speaking, instructed by their own parents, although where a person fitted for the task can be found in a village, a regular school is maintained. But, however accomplished, the result is a most happy one, since not one child above twelve years of age can be found among this people who does not possess a competent knowledge of reading and writing, as well as a rich store of Scripture passages committed to memory. In respect of morals, they are so exemplary that few denominations of German Christians can bear comparison with them. When, for example, a dispute arises between two Malakani, which is said to be a very rare occurrence, they feel bound in conscience to so literal a fulfillment of the apostolic admonition, ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,’ that they make a rule of seeking out each other, and shaking hands before sunset. A liar or a drunkard is unknown among them. On one occasion I held a long conversation with an aged member of this society. You may imagine my surprise when, after some general remarks on religious topics, he addressed me as follows: ‘I should feel greatly obliged if you will give me your opinion, whether we Malakani are right in thinking that the coming of the Lord Jesus cannot be now far distant.’

“After stating to him my conviction, that, according to the Scriptures, we are bound to mark the movements of the nations, and especially the progress of the gospel proclamation, as the finger-posts which should guide our judgment as to ‘times and seasons,’ I proceeded to impress upon him, to the best of my ability, the present duty to which we were all called, that of watchfulness and prayer, since our Lord himself compared his coming to that of a thief in the night, or a flash of lightning which may at any moment dazzle our astonished vision from the most unexpected quarter.

“The old man seemed satisfied with my answer, saying that this was his opinion too, and that it afforded him great pleasure to find their views on this question were shared by other Christians. I then observed that in Germany several very pious men had given much diligence to the examination of all that could throw light on the interesting question connected with the 1260 years, and yet had never been able to satisfy even their minds so fully upon it as to fix the time of our Lord’s second coming. ‘Among others,’ continued I, ‘a very thorough search was made into this matter many years ago, by a distinguished man named Bengel.’ On the mention of Bengel’s name, the old man’s countenance lighted up, and he exclaimed with animation, ‘Oh! I know him—I know him well;’ and further converse proved him indeed no stranger to Bengel’s sentiments. You may imagine my astonishment. Can it indeed be possible that Bengel’s Apocalypse, or his Sixty Discourses, has been translated into Russ? And yet how else could this Russian become acquainted with his name and his writings?”

M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia says that the Malakani were first brought into notice by the zeal of a Prussian prisoner of war, about the middle of the last century. He settled in a village of Southern Russia, and spent his life in explaining the Scriptures to the villagers, and in visiting from house to house. After his death, they acknowledged him as the founder of their new religious belief. They are firm believers in the millennium. Many of the Malakani expected the coming of Christ in 1836, an idea which they undoubtedly took from the writings of Bengel, this being the time at which he expected the second advent of our Saviour.

Bale, Nov. 28, 1879.