Georgy Vins

Georgi Petrovich Vins (Russian: Георгий Петрович Винс; August 4, 1928 Blagoveshchensk, Russian SFSR – January 11, 1998 Elkhart, Indiana) was a Russian Baptist pastor persecuted by the Soviet authorities for his involvement in a network of independent Baptist churches. Following an agreement between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Vins and his family were expelled from the Soviet Union in 1979 with a group of other dissidents (Alexander Ginzburg, Eduard Kuznetsov, Mark Dymshits and Valentin Moroz) in exchange for two convicted spies, Rudolf Chernyaev and Valdik Enger.

Georgi Vins was born in the Russian Far East to Peter Vins, an American citizen of Russian origin who had traveled to Siberia just two years before as a missionary and Lydia (Zharikova) Vins. Peter was arrested in 1930, freed three years later but re-arrested in 1935 and died in prison in 1943. The family was only later informed of his death. Peter Vins was the son of Mennonite Brethren leader Jacob J. Wiens born in Borden, Saskatchewan. See also: "Jacob J. Wiens was born in Russia", "Винс Яков Яковлевич родился в России в семье обрусевших выходцев из Голландии. Член Церкви евангельских христиан-баптистов.".

The young Georgi was brought up by his mother Lydia, with his various siblings. After the Second World War they moved to Kiev, where Vins qualified as an electrical engineer.

Georgi Vins became involved in Baptist churches in Kiev. As Nikita Khrushchev's anti-religious persecutions began in 1959, the state imposed new regulations on the Baptist church that drastically curtailed the small measure of independence they had enjoyed. As the Baptist movement split acrimoniously, Vins became one of the leading figures in the campaign to resist state pressure. He publicly opposed the pastor of his own congregation, in Kiev, who had accepted the new measures. Vins formed his own breakaway congregation, becoming its pastor, despite a lack of formal theological qualifications. The group met in a forest outside Kiev.

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