Ivan Efimovich Voronayev

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Ivan Voronaev

Ivan Yefimowitsch Voronajew ( Russian Иван Ефимович Воронаев , English Ivan Voronaev transcribed; born April 16, 1885 in Orenburg Governorate , Russian Empire ; † November 5, 1937 in the Soviet Union ) was an important key figure in the spread of the Pentecostal movement in the Soviet Union. The foundation of the German Brotherhood of Free Evangelical Christian Communities (BFECG) goes back to his initiative, among other things.

Life

Ivan Voronayev, who was born in Russia, was actually called Nikita Petrovich Cherkassov. He got the new name when he had to flee with a foreign passport. Voronaev had nine siblings. His five brothers died while doing military service for the tsar. He was also called up. In the barracks he attended a service in a Baptist church.

Religious oppression caused Voronaev to leave Russia with his wife and two children in 1911. In order not to be recognized during his escape, a friend gave him a new passport with his now familiar name. After a few changes of residence from Eastern Siberia to the Far East, via China and Japan, they came to the USA.

In San Francisco he was pastor of a Russian Baptist church. From 1912 to 1915 he studied at the Theological Seminary in Berkeley.

At the same time he worked as a Baptist missionary in Los Angeles from 1913 to 1916 and later in Seattle from 1916 to 1917. Here he shared the church building with the American preacher Ernest Williams, a prominent leader of the Assemblies of God. Williams introduced Voronaev to Pentecostal doctrine.

In 1917 Voronajew moved with the family to New York and served as pastor of the Russian Baptist Church there until 1919.

Together with twenty Russian Baptists, he founded the first Russian Pentecostal Church in New York on July 1, 1919. Services began in the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, where growing numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and Poles were converted and baptized in the months that followed.

He decided to return to his homeland. The family first went to Greece by ship. From there they traveled to Turkey.

Voronayev got to know the biblical practice of washing feet from the Turkish siblings of the Adventist congregation and he included the washing of feet in the church order.

In Bulgaria, Voronaev founded another 18 churches during a nine-month stay. From there he took a ship to Odessa with his family. A city of today's Ukraine and what was then the USSR. A Pentecostal church developed there in 1921 under Voronayev's leadership.

Alleged miracles that accompanied Voronajew's work aroused the interest of many listeners. In 1924 there were 60 parishes in Ukraine and in 1925 there were 150 parishes. By 1929 the number rose to 400 parishes with 25,000 members.

There is increasing political persecution. Voronaev was arrested with other leaders and taken to a labor camp. Fearing persecution, three of his children fled to the United States because they were US citizens.

His wife, Katerina, and their eldest son were next arrested. In 1937, Voronayev was executed in captivity. His wife was able to travel to the USA 20 years later.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Wiens: Church history under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the BFECG - a Russian-German Pentecostal movement . Binefeld-Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-047140-7 , p. 48 .