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Healing the Tatar soul
TATARSTAN Winter 2008
When Ivan the Terrible conquered the Tatar homeland of Kazan in 1552 and brought it under Russian domination, he did so with two weapons: the sword and the cross.
Ivan understood that it wasn’t enough to capture people’s bodies; he wanted their souls as well. But acts of terror—forcing the Muslim Tatars to be baptized or drowned—may have bought their allegiance to a country, but it only embittered them toward Russian Orthodoxy.
Today, few Tatars call themselves Christians. Few run to welcome the good news of Jesus. To be a Christian is to be a Russian. For a people who appear to blend seamlessly into Russian culture, they hold on to one distinction: to be Tatar is to be Muslim.
“A young Tatar woman said of the cross that it is like a swastika, something to be feared, and that being baptized was like being raped, something that is forced upon you,” explains “Keri,” a former worker among the Tatar people.
“The problem lies in their identity with Islam. They are not devout Muslims but they cling to that identity because it is what it means to be Tatar and to convert to Christianity means they have turned their back on being a Tatar.”
This is particularly true in Tatarstan, a republic of the Russian Federation. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Islam has seen a resurgence. Tatarstan’s capital, Kazan, has become home to the largest mosque in Europe, and the number of mosques throughout the republic has grown from less than 100 to about 1,000. While the majority of Tatars remain only nominally or culturally Muslim, they seem determined to remind the world that Ivan the Terrible never won their hearts after all.
Despite the significant barriers, Southern Baptist workers are determined to find ways to introduce the Tatar people to the truth of Jesus’ sacrificial love for them. Approximately 2 million Tatars live in Tatarstan, but close to 5 million are part of a diaspora living all over the former Soviet Union. Unlike other people groups, they do not establish their own distinct communities in the places where they have relocated. This presents both challenges and opportunities for workers wishing to reach them.
Rosa*, a Tatar woman who lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is one example. When her Tatar mother died, her father remarried a Russian woman. “We were an ordinary Soviet family, with no belief in God,” she explains. “We were Tatars from Kazan, but Muslim in name only.”
Years later, when invited to a Russian church, she was curious rather than afraid. Having known only the emptiness of Islamic tradition, and the weight of legalistic orthodoxy, she recognized true love when she heard about Jesus.
“It was like a light came on in my heart,” Rosa explains. “I said, ‘Yes! This is God!’”
Her upbringing, in which a Soviet mindset overshadowed her Tatar identity, resulted in more openness to the gospel.
But Rosa may be the exception rather than the rule, and much prayer is needed to soften the hearts of these people once known for their aggressive efforts to take Islam to the rest of Central Asia.
Workers among the Tatars take seriously this ancient saying: If you want something done, give it to a Tatar. They dream of the day when this people group will eagerly take the message of Jesus to others in the Muslim world.
Pray for these workers, that they will be able to identify the Tatar populations scattered throughout Central Asia and find effective ways of reaching them with the good news. Pray also for the Tatars—that they will receive Jesus, the one who shed his own blood to win their hearts.
Pray for the Tatars
updated January 2008
- A young believer, has recently moved back in with her grandmother, a very strong Muslim who kicked her out of the house for becoming a "betrayer" of her faith. Because she is the only believer in her family, the woman's decision caused a family rift. While her grandmother is strongly opposed, some of her relatives in a nearby village support her right to "choose her religion." Please pray that this young woman would stand strong and that her family would see the love of Christ in her.
- Remember two believers as they travel and encourage those who are studying the Word. Ask that the scattered seekers and believers will grow and that others will be gathered around them to become churches. Ask that these new brothers and sisters will share with family and friends.
- Please remember a Tatar man who has confessed to being a believer for a while. He has been sharing his faith with others, and has been threatened by a local religious leader. The religious leader said that he should be killed for turning his back on Islam and proclaiming that Jesus is the only way. Please remember him as he discusses with his wife the possibility of his being baptized this summer.
- One new believer recently took the bold step of obedience and was baptized. Pray that her husband and children will see her faith and turn to God. Pray that house church will be started in her village.
- With new visa regulations, workers in Tatarstan have been given new hoops to jump through in order to live and work among the Tatar people. Pray that workers will continue to have access for living among and sharing the good news with Tatars.
Resources
Download the Tatar PowerPoint presentation
Learn more about the peoples of the former Soviet Union
Kazakhs :: Kyrgyz :: Muslims of Moscow :: Tatar :: Turkmen :: Uzbek
*Names changed to protect believers.