author: Nataliia Mariukhno
Urgency of the research. Ukrainian Protestantism is looking for ways to renew its identity, trying to find effective models of missionary activity in the worldview challenges of the postmodern era, to create a biblical worldview model of relations with the state and society. Under these conditions, Ukrainian Protestant theology draws attention to the experience of the founders of a tradition that has been common to Ukraine and Russia for about 150 years. Among these founders a special place belongs to Ivan Prokhanov. He not only offered a special identity that was the most successful in the history of Ukrainian and Russian Protestantism since the 1930s. During the decade of his activity, Ivan Prokhanov created models of socio-political activity of Protestants, models of criticism of Orthodoxy, models of missionary and social activity. A critical understanding of Ivan Prokhanov's socio-political theological ideas can be a source of renewal of theories and practices of Ukrainian Protestantism.
Target setting. Ivan Prokhanov came from the pre-modern Molokan culture, was one of the representatives of the movement for the modernization of national Protestantism in the spirit of the ideals of the English movement of holiness, had a worldview in most elements similar to the worldview of modern Ukrainian Protestants. At the same time, Ivan Prokhanov boldly created projects to expand the activities of Protestant communities to transform the whole society, from local communities to the whole of humanity. A number of his ideas preceded the social teachings of Pope John XXIII and other theorists of holistic humanism, the transformation of the development of all mankind, the construction of a society of love. Ivan Prokhanov's experience in building Protestant communities can also be used in the face of new artificial restrictions on religion. Theories of building alternative social ties and socio-economic communities in an aggressive religious context can be all the more useful.
Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. The evangelical movement has attracted the attention of many researchers – philosophers, theologians, theologians and historians. Among them, in particular, it is worth noting V. Bachinin, S. Savinskii, V. Popov. However, the question of the contribution to the development of the evangelical movement of one of its brightest leaders, who can rightly be considered Prokhanov, remains poorly studied and insufficiently analyzed.
The research objective. The aim of the study is to determine the place and role of the socio-political component of Prokhanov's theological heritage in his project of spiritual reform of the religious and ecclesiastical life of a modernizing society.
The statement of basic materials. The Reformation movement, led by Prokhanov, swept across Russia and even went beyond its borders. The wave of religious reformation rose most strongly against the background of great social upheavals. The main reasons for the emergence and origin of the evangelical movement described in the article testify to the inevitability of the changes that awaited society. It can be unequivocally stated that the evangelical movement influenced all spheres of life of the people of that period. Despite the fact that for obvious reasons Ivan Prokhanov failed to complete his grand reform project, the appeal to his theological heritage provides an opportunity not only to draw from it valuable information for building a modern Ukrainian state on Christian principles, but also gives us an instructive example of how in order to implement evangelical principles, he used all his natural gifts – theologian, preacher, poet, writer and translator, human rights activist, religious and public figure, evangelical reformer. His experience as a theologian-practitioner can be used to provide a clearly practical orientation to Ukrainian theology, which has confidently embarked on the path of reform and development.
Conclusions. For the first time, a theological and religious analysis of the creative heritage of Ivan Prokhanov was conducted to identify socio-political ideas, which testifies to the clearly practical orientation of his theology and proved the possibility of actualizing these ideas in the context of the XXI century..
Keywords: evangelical movement, spiritual Reformation, reformer, renewal of the Orthodox Church, Evangelical Church, spiritual revival, "proclamation of the Gospel".
References:
1. Bachinin, VA 2005. Hristianskaya mysl: sociologiya, politicheskaya teologiya, kulturologiya (Christian thought: sociology, political theology, cultural studies), Tom IV, SPb.: Novoe i staroe, 172 s.
2. Berdyaev, N 1907. Novoe religioznoe soznanie i obshestvennost (New religious consciousness and society), SPb. : Izdanie M.V. Pirozhkova, 228 s.
3. Ivanov, MV 2000. Istoriya hristiyanstva (History of Christianity), SPb. : Hristianskoe obshestvo “Bibliya dlya vseh”, 157 s.
4. Istoriya baptizma (History of Baptism) 1996. Sbornik Odesskoj Bogoslovskoj Seminarii, sost. i predisl. SV Sannikov, Odessa : OBS, “Bogomyslie”, Vyp.1, 496 s.
5. Kryzhanovskij, RA 2012. Kto takie baptisty? (Who are Baptists?) Irpen: Associaciya “Duhovnoe vozrozhdenie”, Odessa : HGEU, 181 s.
6. Lyubashenko, VI 1995. Istoriya protestantizmu v Ukrayini. Kurs lekcij (History of Protestantism in Ukraine. A course of lectures), Kiyiv : “Polis”, vidannya druge, dopovnene i vipravlene, 350 s.
7. Popov, VA 1996. I. S. Prohanov. Stranicy zhizni (I.S. Prokhanov. Pages of life), SPb.: Hristianskoe obshestvo “Bibliya dlya vseh”, 201 s.
8. Prohanov, IS 1993. V kotle Rossii. Avtobiografiya Ivana Stepanovicha Prohanova s izlozheniem glavnyh faktov dvizheniya Evangelskih hristian v Rossii (In the boiler of Russia. Autobiography Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov with the statement of the main facts of the movement of the Gospel Christians in Russia), Moskva : “Protestant”, 256 s.
9. Savinskij, SN 1999. Istoriya evangelskih hristian-baptistov Ukrainy, Rosii, Belorussii (History of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus), SPb.: “Bibliya dlya vseh”, 423 s.