Sectarian Traitors? Factors that Supported and Thwarted Conversion among Baptist Communities under Two Regimes in the Early Twentieth Century

In the late Russian Empire, and later Soviet Ukraine, aspects of Baptist doctrine and communal life earned Baptists the suspicion of their Orthodox neighbors and of state and ecclesiastical authorities. Depending on the dynamics of change, the perceived foreign origins of Baptism, their advocacy of pacificism, and their understandings of morality and transformation were either viewed favorably and allowed these communities to grow through conversion. Or, the same attributes earned Baptists the wrath of state and Church authorities and led to repression. This article analyzes how and why the threat posed by a minority faith group changed over time and how these communities adapted.