Beliefs > Denominations > Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists
Many of the earliest Volga German settlers who settled in Portland and the surrounding area were adherents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As early as 1887, Friedrich Jörg had begun to organize Adventist churches in West Union and Albina. Jörg was one of the first Volga Germans to immigrate to the United States in 1875. He became an Adventist after initially settling in Nebraska. Other early Volga German immigrants such as Heinrich and Elizabeth Schreiber were also Adventists.
Seventh-day Adventist ideas reached the Russian Empire in the 1880's, about 20 years after the evangelical churches, such as the Baptists, made their first converts in Russia. The first Adventist converts were German settlers living in the Volga River basin and Ukraine. These people were non-Orthodox in their religions, but were tolerated by the Russian government as long as they kept their beliefs within the German community. Adventists were deemed to be a "German sect" which also included groups such as the Mennonites.
In the early period of Adventists in Russia, literature was imported from the United States or Germany. The first publications were sent to Russia by relatives and friends of German-Russian immigrants to the USA who had become Adventists there. Former emigrants also returned to their homes in Russia and brought the Adventist message with them.
Seventh-day Adventist ideas reached the Russian Empire in the 1880's, about 20 years after the evangelical churches, such as the Baptists, made their first converts in Russia. The first Adventist converts were German settlers living in the Volga River basin and Ukraine. These people were non-Orthodox in their religions, but were tolerated by the Russian government as long as they kept their beliefs within the German community. Adventists were deemed to be a "German sect" which also included groups such as the Mennonites.
In the early period of Adventists in Russia, literature was imported from the United States or Germany. The first publications were sent to Russia by relatives and friends of German-Russian immigrants to the USA who had become Adventists there. Former emigrants also returned to their homes in Russia and brought the Adventist message with them.
Sources
Sapiets, Marite. "One Hundred Years of Adventism in Russian and the Soviet Union." Religion in Communist Lands, Vol. 12., Winter 1984. pp. 256-73.
Last updated March 18, 2019.