Adventism in Smolensk Region in Early 20th Century and Struggle of the Orthodox Church against It (Based on Materials of “Smolensk Diocesan Gazette” and Smolensk Archives)

The article presents the study of the history of the first representatives of Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) in the Smolensk province, who appeared there in the first half of the 20th century, as well as further struggle against them on the pages of the “Smolensk Diocesan Gazette”, the official “mouthpiece” of the Orthodox Church in the Smolensk region. When studying the controversy on the pages of the 1900–1918 diocesan gazettes, specifics of the attitudes of the leaders of the Smolensk diocese to Adventism were revealed, evolution of the main methods to fight it was highlighted, and location of the first center of SDA in the province was established. When the “Gazette” was shut down in 1918, the Bolsheviks came to power, and local church authorities stopped their public criticism and pressure, the SDA in the region under study began to develop rapidly, and had at least three congregations with a total of about 80 people by the end of 1925.