All Things Are Possible with God - 1910
Baron Pavel Nicolay
Introduction
Baron Paul (Pavel) Nicolay was an evangelical nobleman who became concerned for Russian college students. He saw that morals were low and spiritual needs great. Although he was a frail man, he left government service in 1899 to free himself for full-time Christian work. Among his first actions was to bring John Mott, a leader of the Christian Student Movement, to speak in St. Petersburg. Soon he formed a student movement in Russia. Paul organized discussions, gave lectures and preached in university cities on the need to make Christianity a practical reality in life. The movement grew steadily until the communists crushed it in 1917. He escaped execution himself only because a Russian worker spoke up for him. The following selection from a letter he wrote in Odessa on this day, April 26, 1910, gives a picture of him as an analyst and organizer.
Quote
“In Kieff (13,000 students) the character of the place and students is somewhat different from Moscow. The Jews are numerous and form a compact group. The present attitude of the young educated Jews and Jewesses is most interesting. They cling to their nation on national grounds, but feel themselves estranged from their orthodox co-religionaries intellectually and morally. They have perverted views about Christianity (no wonder), have no ideals, no hopes, and are as in a wood not knowing which way to turn. Their mental keenness and openness are promising. The Poles (Catholics) form another compact group, a world for themselves; many rich dandies among them. An interesting religious movement is making itself felt among the Catholic students too, and gives us points of contact with a few individuals. The Russian men and women students in Kieff seem inferior to the Moscovites in independence and energy. Official oppression is more keen and they live more solitary lives, especially the Kursistki [women students]. This is said to be the cause of many suicides. On the other hand, the Moscovite Kursistka [woman student] who helped me in Kieff says there is more interest among the women students for religious questions in Kieff than in Moscow.
“I gave two lectures one on the Deity of Christ with 500 attendants, men and women students only, and one on a religious theme : ‘What reality can Christ bring into our lives,’ with 200, and the behavior of the audience was good. Ninety took inquiry cards, but only 12 sent them to me. The upshot of over a fortnight’s stay was one woman’s group of 10 and two men’s groups of five or six reliable members in each after the chaff had fallen off. God’s assistance was especially visible in our finding leaders whom God seemed to have prepared. I find the result meager, but suppose a first beginning must be small in this country.
“... If you come it will need preparing the ground and forming local associations before you arrive to preserve the results, and lots of prayer to open the way for you and counteract the opposition of the influential clerical spheres. All things are possible with God.”
Langenskjöld, Greta. Baron Paul Nicolay: Christian statesman and student leader in northern and Slavic Europe, trans. Ruth Evelyn Wilder. New York: George H. Doran, Co., 1924.