Evangelical baptism, Vjalikaje Maljeshava 2012. Эвангеліцкае хрышчэньне, Вялікае Малешава 2012 год. Гл. таксама фотаздымкі 21-22 і 24-25 ліпеня 2010 года.
Polesian immigrants to the United States took evangelical Christianity back with them when they returned to central Polesia in the first decade and a half of the 20th century. Repressed along with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches by the Soviet regime, evangelical congregations re-established themselves openly and vigorously with the fall of the Soviet empire.
Eastern Europe suffers from stagnant or negative demographic trends and widespread alcoholism. In contrast the evangelical congregations in central Polesia are made up of large families (typically five-ten children); congregants’ abstinence from alcohol and leadership in the cultivation of produce for Russian markets has made them prosperous.
Practicing full-immersion adult baptism, congregations hold baptism ceremonies at the beginning of the summer. Having photographed the early-July ceremony two years ago in the booming town of Al’shany (see photos for July 21-22 and 24-25, 2010), I was chagrined to miss this year’s baptism. However, while photographing in the village of Tsjerablichy on July 1, I received word through a chain of phone calls that the congregation in Vjalikaje Maljeshava was holding its ceremony. Several friends joined me in the dash to the baptism site on the bank of a side channel of the Prypjats’ River.
Vjalikaje Maljeshava 2012. Вялікае Малешава 2012 год.
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