Marite Sapiets's article on Vladimir Shelkov, leader of the True and Free Seventh-day Adventists, published in the academic journal Religion in Communist Lands (Keston College), Volume 8, Number 3, 1980, pages 201 to 217. Its main subject is the unregistered "True and Free" Adventist splinter and its 1979 trial, but it also documents the OFFICIAL Adventist church's own 1930s history in passing: journals closed and evangelization made illegal by the end of the 1920s, and in the 1930s the Leningrad congregation and almost all Adventist communities dissolved and most Adventist leaders arrested, while the central All-Union Council remained officially in existence. It gives no year more precise than "the 1930s" for that sentence and does not state a ministers-or-members casualty count for the official church.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Peer-adjacent academic journal article, tier 1, published by Keston College's specialist research center on religion under communism, drawing on samizdat documents, Soviet press and court records with footnoted citations throughout. Used only for the sentence it states plainly about the official Adventist church's own 1930s dissolutions and arrests; its main subject, the True and Free splinter, is not otherwise used by this atlas. NotesUsed for the 1930s dissolution of almost all official Adventist congregations and the arrest of most Adventist leaders in the USSR.
Citation
AuthorMarite Sapiets
PublisherReligion in Communist Lands (Keston College)
Publication Year1980
URLhttps://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/rcl/08-3_201.pdf
Source TypeJournal article
Claims Backed By This Source (21 claims)
This source backs 21 claims across the atlas. As facts: 14 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 2 holds, 1 connected. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Spread Events, 7 claims: 2 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 6 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.