Lutheran Reaction to Orthodox Conversions on Ruhnu (1866-1867)

Although the English- and Russian-language literature has often elaborated on the attitudes of the Orthodox and Russian authorities to conversions, less energy has been devoted to the Lutheran reaction. The following sources, letters written by Lutheran priests following an attempted conversion to Orthodoxy on the island of Ruhnu, shed some light on this issue.

Ruhnu (today in Estonia, then part of Livland province) is a small but rather beautiful island located in the centre of the Bay of Riga. From the thirteenth century until the 1940s, it was inhabited by a Swedish-speaking people, occupied with small-scale farming, fishing, and seal hunting: their dialect was so distinct that even other Swedes had difficulty understanding them (see note 19 below). Another unusual feature of the island was the lack of an aristocratic German landlord. The only representatives of authority on the island were the Lutheran pastor and the lighthouse keeper, both employees of the tsarist government. This laid the background for a struggle between the community and the pastor, one which led to an attempted conversion to Orthodoxy.

In the spring of 1866, a group of Ruhnu islanders appeared in Kuressaare with an appeal to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church and Russian state proved receptive, making several visits to the island: they were prepared to complete the conversion and dispatch a priest. However, by the summer of 1867, it became clear that the islanders had changed their minds and the effort was abandoned. As emerges from the letters below, once the peasants had obtained what they wanted from their pastor and the Lutheran consistory, they no longer threatened conversion.

No. 1. Letter to the Ösel [1] Lutheran consistory, 28 July 1866 [2]

Since the majority of the residents of Ruhnu have suggested conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church and that they agreed to take this step because of pastor Ylander [3], he has resolved, on the advice of his colleagues and in order to answer the actions of the inhabitants, to resettle in Finland next autumn, where he has already sent his things (as he communicated to me in the last post). Of course, he is fully in the right to confirm that he is not the reason for the conversion, as was assured by the Russophile inhabitants of the island. The real reason for their conversion is: 1) the obligation to build the parochial house, carrying out various services and giving money for a building that is not their own; 2) the local buoy keeper, who made the residents doubtful with his fantastical pretences that they would have to send the money they received to build the parochial house back, even though they had been guaranteed the opposite. But the chief reason is their greed: they succumbed to this and became converts in the hope of being freed from paying the tithe and all other dues in favour of the Lutheran pastor.

Above all, three residents acted as proselytisers: the former sexton Ulrik Willis, who from the time he was removed by pastor Talenius began to think about conversion to the Russian faith, the peasant Hendrik Anders, and the current groundsman Isaac Pass, all of whom together actively socialised with the buoy keeper.

Pastor Ylander has already managed to convince many parishioners to remain in the Church of Christ during exhortations and sermons over the last three Sundays. He has great hope that few of those who declared their agreement will be prepared to convert. For further success, it is urgently necessary and very desirable to remove the buoy keeper. In view of his [Ylander’s] sad fate, leaving for Finland without any secured place of service and in debt, he asks the consistory to allow him to receive income until April 1868. If not, it will be difficult for him to roam around Finland as an adjunct. He cannot remain on Ruhnu due to the incredible need he experienced last winter with his wife, which is the reason for his current illness: he cannot demand living quarters, which he no longer has the right to claim [4].

No. 2. Report from Pastor Axel Gabriel Ylander to the Lutheran consistory in Arensburg [5], August 1866

I have the honour to report that on 2 July, approximately two thirds of the residents of Ruhnu [6] declared their preparedness to convert to the Russian Church. I cannot communicate the precise number of converts, since they do not allow me to be present at their meetings, and the residents of Ruhnu also do not want to say who has given their agreement [to this]. The majority already regret that they allowed themselves to be tempted and want to return. The basis and reason for this current conversion is the fear that they will be compelled to pay for the construction of a new church, and this fear grows ever stronger.

The local buoy keeper has long acted as a proselytiser, giving the peasants of Ruhnu promises that they will pay less, that they will receive more money and become rich, and that the emperor will love them more if they accept the same faith as him. In Kurland, Livland, and on the island of Ösel, they have all already become russified [7]: therefore, the residents of Ruhnu should do the same as many others. In the autumn, the same buoy keeper brought books of the Greco-Russian faith in Estonian and gave them to the elder Isaac Pass, who then handed them out among the peasants. When the judge summoned them to Arensburg, the peasants and the buoy keeper returned and spread the rumour that the church doors would be sealed, that the Lutheran church service would no longer continue, and that all those who did not convert to the Greek Church [8] would be driven from the island. Who spread these rumours, I cannot say with certainty. The buoy keeper managed to find loyal friends and followers on the island in the persons of Ulrik Willis, Hendrik Anders, and Isaac Pass, who were concerned to attract many people to their side.

It is undoubted that Ulrik Willis came up with the idea about converting to the Russian faith in order to become the sexton again, since pastor Talenius removed him for his drunkenness (almost every Sunday he came to church drunk). I still hope that few will convert (perhaps only Willis, Anders, and Pass), since many of those who agreed to convert went to sea to hunt seals in order to avoid anointment [9]. I did not communicate this to the consistory earlier due to my assumption that the judge would do so. I turn to the consistory with the hope that this [delay] will not be considered a dereliction of duty.  

Pastor Ylander

No. 3. Letter of Pastor Eduard Petersen [10], 22 August 1866

To Superintendent Schmidt [11]

I have the honour to report to Your Reverence in the name of my brother in service, pastor Mozelli in Reval [12], about our stay on the island of Ruhnu. On arrival, we first went to the local pastor Ylander. He welcomed us most heartily, since he was glad to have the opportunity to talk about his unhappy position and the disorders in the community. We told him about the reason for our trip and fully agreed with him that we wanted the trip to appear accidental, with no official character.

We visited the population in their homes and yards: we promised some of them a more detailed conversation, but without the presence of pastor Ylander. Everywhere we were met in the friendliest fashion. During conversation, we expressed our sorrow that we had heard the community wanted to abandon its church for another. Many recognised this intention, while others, in contrast, assured us that they and their families had never thought of this. Many declared that they had taken this step out of need and they had been prepared to do it. Now that they had been promised the free construction of the pastoral house, they are prepared to remain in the Lutheran Church.

After clarifying questions about the [aforementioned] need, all answered that the order to build the parochial house had come unexpectedly, at a time when the youngest men had gone to sea to hunt seals: the oldest had taken this news with fear, and this fear grew ever stronger when it was said that they would be compelled to fulfil this duty by soldiers and corporal punishment. They could not think of any way better to avoid this misfortune, [and so] decided to throw themselves into the arms of the Greek Church, knowing that it would build a temple itself, without forcing the community to do so. At the same time, the Swedish church accuses the pastor. One old peasant went so far as to affirm that their pastor, dissatisfied with the tithe, stole grain from their sacks, having the habit of tapping the measure with a match after the peasants had filled the sack: they then had to fill the sack to the brim. How the matter stands in reality with this and similar accusations is clear from the fact that when the pastor invited this peasant to him, he [the peasant] repented and confessed that he was lying!

Pastor Ylander said to us that during the first two years of his stay, the community had accepted him with great kindness and gratitude for his services in spiritual work. Relations changed when, in the autumn of 1864, the remains of a shipwrecked boat came on shore and it was his duty to distribute [the detritus] among the residents of the islands. Upon gathering the flax with which one of the ships had been loaded, the peasants brought a considerable amount of it to their homes and left it there: afterwards, they gave a small part of this to the pastor. Convinced that the peasants were stealing some of the flax, the pastor each time wrote down that they had brought more than they had done. Later, the peasants allegedly severely reproached the pastor that he had noted down far too little, thanks to which their payments (amounting to a total of about 2,000 silver roubles, of which each breadwinner was paid 19 roubles) were considerably reduced [13].

When, after some time had passed, a great amount of flax was found in their houses, they started to confirm that the pastor had given it to them while promising to give five bales to all those who dried a certain amount of raw flax. From this time, hatred and bitterness, curses and open lies, grew with each day: this still more increased when the pastor demanded in the name of the consistory the sawing and laying of beams for the construction of the parochial house.

We arrived with the desire to reconcile the preacher with the community. But we had to recognise that mutual reconciliation is not possible. We add that the health of pastor Ylander and his wife has suffered no small amount after the fire: all that was saved was sent to Finland. In a word, the question of leaving has not just a physical, but also moral significance. Moreover, we had the opportunity to be convinced that pastor Ylander correctly fulfilled his duties in both the church and the school (at least before the latter was turned into a refuge for shipwreck survivors and before the fire); in a moral sense, his behaviour can be called exemplary. It is possible that his behaviour during his first time of service was lacking in calm tact when addressing members of the community and bore a familiar character. He recognises this himself, and the behaviour of the peasants in relation to him serves as indirect confirmation.

The local lighthouse keeper intended to convert to the Greek Church and substantially helps in the explanation of peasants’ motives. He told them that upon conversion, they would be liberated from the obligation to build the church and the parochial house, from paying the tithe, and so on. This man is given to drunkenness, and his wife even more so. He even held a gathering of the islanders, whence they drunkenly departed to Arensburg to make a declaration about their conversion. Besides this, he handed out Russian books translated into Estonian. This the peasants told us themselves. It is necessary to quickly remove this man, who can freely do such things, and replace him if possible with an educated person, or at least a sober one. Besides this, we consider it necessary to divide spiritual services from the work of managing the estate and the police. The expediency of combining these duties in the person of the preacher alone is in doubt. The severe clashes between the pastor and the community are only worsened. Perhaps one educated person could be instructed with both supervision of the lighthouse and administrative and police duties on the island? His income will be substantially increased, as this person, according to Ylander, will receive part of the property from shipwrecks, amounting to 1,200 roubles.

We used our seven-day stay in the community to exhort its members and to convince them of the great sin and blame they had brought upon themselves for wanting to abandon their church and reject their faith because of material gains or losses. Nothing was better for this than the liturgy held on the twelfth Sunday after Trinity in a full church: pastor Mozelli sang the liturgy and I preached. How successful our visit was, we cannot judge for certain: we hope, however, that we are in a position to assure you that it is impossible to talk about the conversion of the majority of the population.

No. 4. Report of Pastor Masing [14], 20 September 1866

Fulfilling the order of the consistory from 5 September relating to vicar services on Ruhnu, I immediately hired a covered cart in Sõrve [peninsula on Saaremaa] and departed on 7 September for Ruhnu. The tailwind changed after a few hours of calm into a head wind, so my trip took 30 hours [15]. Due to the shallow waters and rocky shores (there is no harbour on the island), our ship was compelled to put down anchor one versta [16] from the shore and wait while the islanders sent a small boat to take us to shore – a peasant cart then took us one versta to the village. Every visit to the island, especially from an unknown pastor, is a special event for the curious islanders. From one of the groups meeting us in front of the village came a tall man, respectful and slightly drunk: he asked who I was, greeted me, and invited me to stay in his home. This was Peter Birks, who I learnt later was a householder who had agreed to convert. As I had no other choice, I accepted the invitation and settled myself as best I could in a little closet, as the guest room was full of people and beds. Soon we began a walk around the picturesquely positioned village with my host, the sexton, and a few other men, coming at its end to the parochial house, which I attentively inspected. On the way back, I also inspected the small wooden (but romantically located) Ruhnu Lutheran church [17].

[…]

About the content and results of different conversations and meetings, I dare to report to the consistory the following. During discussions of the burning question of the proposed conversion, they seemed reserved, even untalkative, some were ashamed of their intentions. But I avoided immersing myself in their feelings for psychological reasons. Only after some time did I manage to make their hearts more open. It was revealed to me that those loyal to our church want to remain in their faith with good intentions. In terms of the rest, one group repents, another is uncertain, and a small group is prepared to [return] only if their requirements relating to the tithes are met.

As the majority of the islanders are neither false nor cunning, they did not attempt to hide their open hatred for pastor Ylander, which their hearts and tongues are full of. I will not take on myself the effort of repeating all the heavy accusations against pastor Ylander when he himself was absent: as such, the rule “audiatur et altera pars” could not be observed.

To understand the anti-church trouble on Ruhnu, it is necessary to bring up pastor Ylander’s constant threats when addressing the residents, expressing to them in anger “that he will summon soldiers from the judicial authority and force them by means of corporal punishment to build the pastorate and bear the costs themselves.” This is why the population resolved to seek salvation in the bosom of the Orthodox Church and convert to its faith.

When I explained to them that the parochial house will be built with church capital upon the permission of the General Consistory and that they would not pay a kopeck, they objected that this could not be so, since pastor Ylander had told them that the church treasury would only issue a loan, which would have to be paid back gradually, and if not voluntarily then through corporal punishment. These threats had made such a deep impression that I had a great labour convincing them otherwise and calming them.

To my question, “Have you anything against our Lutheran Church, its teaching or culture?”, those who had signed up to conversion replied: “No, nothing of course.” To my question, “Do you like the Greek Church, its teachings or culture, do you understand anything in it?”, they replied: “No, in general nothing.” Only one voice answered: “Perhaps it would be better: they would leave us in peace and will not force us to pay the tithe, or build and repair the parochial house. The Russian pastor receives his wage from the crown, as well as a house and the church, and we should not pay him anything.”

Another came forward and said: “We are a poor and unfortunate people with our Christian church, in a brief time we have had 8 pastors and not one of them was good for anything: only Mr Talenius, he was brave and good, but he left. All the others loved vodka and Mammon, like we do. Pastor N. N. fell from the altar and was taken away. The Finns drink everything they don’t need, and those who are without their daily bread, they send here to Ruhnu. We have already more than once humbly asked the consistory to send us a pastor not from Finland, but from Dorpat or Stockholm [18], but it did not help, it was all in vain! Also, our tithe is very great and difficult to pay. We are a small parish, little more than 300 souls and we must all maintain the pastor with the tithe. We are compelled to pay 10 times more than other Christian communities with their tithe. We also must pay the treasury the soul tax, rent for the land, and the recruitment tax. Our income has fallen year by year: there are bad harvests in the fields, and ever fewer seals and fish in the sea. But it is still more unjust that we have to pay the tithe, even though we have no pastor. What are we paying for if there is no pastor?” [19]

His speech brought forth a choir of voices: “That’s so, this is true!” One of the voices said, “We do not want a pastor from Finland, it would be better to be without a pastor for a few years while they send us a devout one, best of all from Dorpat. If you, good pastor, agree to come to us twice a year (or, if not, [someone] from Vormsi or Nukke) [20], then we are prepared to pay a tithe which would cover the travel costs and the work.” On these points, the inhabitants of Ruhnu are unanimous.

It goes without saying that I had to give a response to many of the points of their complaint, that they received from me sermons on much, and that I calmed them. They were very much calmed by my promise that the superintendent had authorised me to make before my trip, that the consistory had taken the decision that they would not send anyone from Finland to Ruhnu, but someone from Dorpat or Stockholm. However, they did not want to travel to Sweden to choose a pastor (as I suggested) but asked the consistory to respect their request. I said, to their great joy, that according to the new laws and order applied across all the country, the pastor would no longer combine in one person the function of supporting the administrative order (parish police), but the local court elder would do so. In terms of the tithe, I promised to report their complaints to the consistory and I declared that I would make a report soon.

The tithe they are obliged to pay the pastor is not only fully sufficient in and of itself, but is unspeakably high compared with other Baltic provinces. So, as soon as their complaint is given officially, the tithe will immediately be considerably lessened or replaced with a lighter due. While other parishes with a population of 2,000 to 4,000 souls pay the pastor only 40 to 80 lots of grain, the inhabitants of Ruhnu, about 330 in number, pay the pastor 121.5 lots of rye and a tenth of all their catch of fish and seals and from their pigs, sheep, geese, ducks, butter, chickens, eggs, and so on. Additionally, they put at the disposal of the pastor a male servant and a female servant and do a lot of work. Here, it is necessary to considerably reduce their dues, the faster the better. For the sake of justice, I support the vicar being paid only half of the previous award [and] only for the time he spends on the island. In place of the previous tithe, they should pay 24 roubles from the entire community or one rouble per household to maintain the sexton, who teaches 27 children of school age during the winter semester. This is unconditionally necessary, as the youth could be left without studies if the sexton does not engage in such work.

If the church treasury bears inconsiderable losses due to the absence of income from the parish of Ruhnu while the pastoral vacancy is open, this is a lesser evil compared to the conversion of even a small part of the Ruhnu community. Even if the danger of conversion has – as I hope – passed for this year, it is nonetheless necessary to look to the future: it is necessary to fear [conversion] while the complaints of the inhabitants are not swiftly satisfied. Between two inevitable evils, it is necessary to choose the lesser.   

The lighthouse keeper on Ruhnu openly confessed to me in one conversation that he had handed out among the inhabitants tracts of Greek theology in Estonian and had impressed on the hearts of the islanders the pre-eminence of its teachings. He hopes to receive a reward from the emperor, but I, on the contrary, promised him something else. This man, perhaps a weapon in the hands of the Greek Church, uses the obviously hostile mood of the island’s residents towards their pastor (but not towards the Lutheran Church): he found an awful doctor and wants to turn his poverty into grace! The parish on the island of Ruhnu is a missionary outpost. The location of the island (even during the five months [when navigation is possible] and especially during the seven months of full isolation) facilitates a most sensitive perception among the islanders of everything spiritual, and also of their spiritual death and depravity. [This] requires a missionary who is spiritually detached from this world, who has a great deal of experience, missionary talent, and an intimate love of the Saviour and his neighbours. While such a person has not been found, it would be better for there to be no vicar than an unsatisfactory one. It is probable that the consistory considers it possible to find a better vicar from Vormsi or Nukke and has entered into communication with the Estland Provincial Consistory [on this subject].

[…]

Notes

[1] Saaremaa today.

[2] We are unable to discern the signature on this letter.

[3] Axel Gabriel Ylander (1829-1882), a Swedish-speaking Finn from Turku. He had been pastor on Ruhnu since 1862.

[4] As will be noted below, the parochial house burnt down in 1864. There are suggestions in the literature that Ylander himself set fire to the house: see J. Hedman and L. Ålande, Runö – historien om svenskön i Rigabukten (Stockholm: Dialogos, 2005), p. 172.

[5] Kuressaare, the capital of the island of Saaremaa.

[6] Russian officials reported that 145 people wanted to convert (of roughly 330 residents).

[7] A reference to the conversion wave that had swept through the Baltic provinces in the 1840s, leading to more than 100,000 Estonian and Latvian peasants becoming Orthodox.

[8] The Russian Orthodox Church.

[9] The rite of anointment was performed to complete a person’s conversion.

[10] Eduard Petersen (1814-1882), pastor of the Swedish parish on the island of Vormsi.

[11] Gottlieb Alexander von Schmidt (1794-1891), superintendent of the Saaremaa consistory.

[12] Lars Erik Mozelli (1828-1886), pastor of the Swedish church in Tallinn.

[13] Shipwrecks were a common occurrence on Ruhnu, and indeed formed an intrinsic part of the coastal economy in western Estonia. See K. Lust, ‘Wrecking Peasants and Salvaging Landlords – or Vice Versa? Wrecking in the Russian Baltic Provinces of Estland and Livland, 1780-1870’, IRSH, vol. 62 (2017), pp. 67-93.

[14] Most likely Carl Johannes Masing (1811-1878), pastor of the Lutheran church of St Michael in St Petersburg.

[15] Making the same trip two months earlier, an Orthodox psalmist reported that the journey took a week due to bad weather.  

[16] One versta – 1.1 kilometres.

[17] Built in 1644.

[18] Tartu.

[19] When reporting the comments of the islanders, Masing uses an odd form of German. He may be doing so to imitate the highly distinctive Swedish dialect used on Ruhnu. For instance, the last quote is rendered: “Wir seind een elend und ohnglücklik Volk mit unser Christlik Kerk, in kurzer Zeit 8 Pastor gehabt, haben elle nix getoogt; nur he Telenius, he war  brav und got, awer he ging weg. Die andern hoben he Brandwein und Mammon geliebt, wie wir ook. He Pastor N.N. fiel vor Altar herunter und musst weggeführt werden. He Finnlander supen all’ und wat doort nix doogt und keen brod nit hat, he werd se uns nach Runo geschickt. Wir haben gnädig Consistorio oft gebeten, vor uns Pastor zu geben ja nit oos Finnland, sondern aus Dorpat oder Stockholm, aber alles nix, alles umsonst! – Ooch is unser Zehnte viel zu hart und gross. Wir seind een kleen Kerchspiel etwas mehr als 300 Seelen und müssen alleen de Pastor underhalden mit unser Zehnte. Wir haben 10 mal mehr zu zahlen als alle ander Krestlik  Gemeinde. An de Kroon müssen wer zahlen Kopfsteuer, Landpacht und Rekrutensteuer. Unser eennahme wird von Jahr zu Jahr schlechter: Missernte of Felder, Seehund und Fisch em Meer immer weniger. Nook ungerechter is aber, dass wer Zehnte zahlen, wo keen Pastor be uns is. Wovor sollen wer zahlen, wenn keen Pastor is?”

[20] Vormsi – a larger Swedish-speaking island to the north, then part of Estland province. Nukke – a peninsular on the western Estonian coast, then with a large Swedish-speaking population.

Source

All letters taken from EAA.1192.2.772. Many thanks to Andrei V. Keller for his assistance with the German sources.

Translation

James M. White