Pentecostals are evangelical Christians who follow the religion of Pentecost, one of the many movements of Protestantism. In Russia, to distinguish themselves from evangelical Christians (prokhanovtsy), who are more close to Baptism, Pentecostals prefer to be called Christians of the gospel faith (HEV).
History of occurrence
Pentecostals appeared in the USA at the end of the 19th century. Their main ideas were laid in the religious and philosophical current of rivevelism, which arose in the 18th century in many Protestant shrines in the USA and England. In Russia, the Pentecostal movement began to develop actively since 1910. Then this current entered the USSR through the Baltic states and Finland. The sermons of one of the leaders of the movement, Thomas Barrey, began in 1911 in St. Petersburg. Most of the people who were associated with this movement were forced to accept the Unitarian concept because they did not believe in the Trinity.
The second wave of movement came from the west, through the Bible schools of Germany and Poland. The main leaders of the western current were Arthur Bergolz, Herberd Schmidt and Oscar Eske. They began to work in Western Ukraine, where churches still exist, founded under their supervision.
Pentecostalism in Russia was founded by Koltovich and Voronaev. But after persecution by the Orthodox Church, they had to flee to New York, where they founded the first Russian Pentecostal church. In 1924, Voronaev returned to the territory of the USSR. Here he founded many communities and churches of the spiritual movement. When a new law on religious associations was passed by the USSR government in 1929, many Pentecostals were arrested. In subsequent years, they had to gather in secret.
