A "cosmic dimension" in Church history is the description given the offical registration of the Church in the Soviet Republic of Russia.

Announcement of the government's registration of the Church was made by Russia's Vice President Alexander Rutskoi June 24 at a dinner after the Tabernacle Choir performed in Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. (See Church News June 29.)Among those present when the announcement was read were Elder russell M. Nelson and Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve and Elder Hans B. Ringger of the Seventy and president of the Europe Area.

After returning to Salt Lake City, Elders Nelson and Oaks explained the significance of Russia, largest of the 15 republics in the USSR, registering the Church.

First, the apostles emphasized, the registration statement read by the vice president applies only to bhe Republic of Russia, not the entire Soviety Union. In Russia, as well as in other republics, a church must first receive recognition by the government in order to legally function there.

Official registration gives a church certain legal rights and privileges, such as the right to acquire property, hold bank accounts, make appeals to various government ministries in its behalf, and apply for visas for missionaries and others involved in its ministry.

On April 26, 1990, Elder Nelson and elder Ringger submitted to officials in Leningrad a petition for recognition for a branch of the church in that city. Recognition was grant ed on Sept. 13, 1990, and a second branch of the Church was formed in that city a short time later.

There now are those two branches in Leningrad, one in Moscow and another in Vyborg. (A branch has also been established in Tallin, in the republic of Estonia.)

"In the latter part of 1990, the USSR passed a new law on religion," explained Elder Oaks. "This new law,k among other things, outlined principles of religious freedom, and the rights and duties of churches. In March 1991, the Europe Area presidency directed the area's legal counsel in Frankfurt to file papers requesting recognition [throughout] the Republic of Russia.

"The events symbolized by the falling of the Berling Wall and what has happened in Eastern Europe and whaqt is now happening in the Soviety Union are of cosmic dimension," said Elder Oaks. He said the phrase "cosmic dimension" is appropriate because "a whole hug segment of the population of this planet--running into hundreds of millions--who were not available for the message of the restored gospel a decade ago are now available. the recognition of the Republic of Russia is an important part of that."

Elder Nelson said that the registration of the Church in Russia "changes the nature of our limitations."

"Heretofore, we've always felt the limitation of the growth of the church in russia was imposed by them as a government. That limitation has now been removed. now the limitation is placed upon the Church. We can move as fast as we choose to move, or as slowly as we choose. This recognition has just changed the focus of who holds the limiting factor."

Of Church members' acceptance of peoples of the Soviet Union, where communism and theism prevailed 70 years, Elder Nelson siad, "I velive we are at the point where we need to practice what Jesus taught. He siad, through His apostle to the Galatians, that it doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Greek, male or female, bond or free, you're all one in Christ Jesus. That's where we are now. When we take labels off people and just recognize them all as brothers and sisters, with the same Father in Heaven, we can make a degree of progress in applying Christianity in our actions as well as our thinking."

Elder Oaks said, "A tribute [is due] to the Christian churches in the USSR that have kept the light of christianity alive in the face of enormous persecutions and obstacles."

Pointing to a photogjraph of a Russian Orthodox official, Elder Oaks said: "You have only to look at the face of this dear man, and the faces of several priests, to know that these are good, God-fearing men and that they and their struggling congregations have been heroic in these years when the stated policy of the government was not just irreligious but anti-religious, and agressively so. In the face of that, they held things together.

"I think it's appropriate, when we rejoice in the opportunity to take the message of the restored gospel into Russia, to remember that we are building on the foundation that these good people have kept intact."

Elder Nelson outlined the history of the church in Russia. he said as far as he knows, the first ordained apostle to set foot in what is known now as Russia was Elder Francis Marion Lyman, who ffered a dedicatory prayer int he Summer Gardens of St. Petersburg [now Leningrad], on Aug. 6, 1903. Three days later, he offered another prayer inside the Kremlin walls in Moscow. Elder Lyman was then president of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Nelson, accompanied by his wife, Dantzel, Elder ringger, and Steven R. mecham, then president of the Finland helsinki Mission, and his wife, Donna Jean, went to the Summer Gardens on April 26, 1990, and offered a special prayer of gratitude and rededication.

In Leningrad with the Tabernacle Choir June 27-29,1991, Elder and Sister Nelson, responding to requests, returned to the Summer Gardens with three bus loads of choir members and others.

On each of those visits, Elder nelson explained how he and Elder ringger used Elder Lyman's published accounts as a guide to the park, with lies across from Mars Field and south of the Neva River. Elder Nelson said when he and Elder ringger went to the gardens the first time, they knew they were in the right park but weren't sure if they were in the same spot where Elder Lyman offered his prayer.

They found a statue of a woman with a sunstone, a design used in the architecture of the Nauvoo Temple. when they noticed two other statues, one inscribed "Camilla" and the other "Flora," the same names as the wives of President Spencer W. Kimball and President Ezra Taft Benson, they felt they were in the appropriate place.

Elder Nelson said there have been congregations of the Church from time to time in the Soviet Union, but with nearly 70 years of communism, from 1921 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established until recently, there was really not much in the way of activity by the Church there.

"Elder Ringger and I first met with leaders of the government in 1987, at which time we emphasized that we, as a church, believe in honoring and sustaining the law of the land," elder Nelson said. "We asked, 1What are the requirements for the Church to be established in your country?' They said, `People may worship as individuals, but if they are going to have congregations recognized and have funds and pursue their activities in a formal way, there must be 20 Soviet citizens who are members in a political district. they must apply for recognitions, and when that recognition is given, they can be officially registered.'"

The Church acquired its necessary 20 members gradually. "Citizens of Leningrad could go and come as their schedules, finances and visas would permit," Elder Nelson said. "A family by the name of Terebinin left Leningrad and went to Budapest, Hungary, where they found the Church, received the discussions and were baptized. They returned to their home in Leningrad.

"Then a young mother in leningrad had been praying for a Bible in the Russian language. she couldn't acquire one because of the great expense and the scarcity of Bibles in that country. she importuned her husband to take her to Helsinki, Finland. One day she was walking in the park where she stepped on an object under the cover of autumn leaves. She picked it up and found it to be the answer to her prayer. It was a Bible in the Russian language.

"She was so excited about finding this that she took it to another woman in the park there in Helsinki and explained her delight in finding the answer to her prayers. The other woman said, `Would you like to haave another book about Jesus Christ?' That other mother happened to be the wife of our district president there in Helsinki. the Russian mother accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, and that led to her conversion and baptism in Finland before she returned to Leningrad.

"These two families were the nuclei from which the congregations in Leningrad were derived."

At the time russia's vice president read the statement of registration of the Church, there were several hundred members in the Soviet Union. elder Nelson and Elder Oaks said any specific number of members they list "would be obsolete by the time it is published" since membership is growing so rapidly in Russia.

"This republic-wide recognition really is a significant step forward," Elder Nelson said.

Elder Nelson said he and Elder Oaks reported on July 3 to President Ezra Taft Benson that the Church has received official recognition in Russia. "This news brought joy to his heart, and being able to report it brought fulfillment to us," said Elder Nelson. "He was really pleased. To us, it represented a sense of closure of an important commission he has felt on the need to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people." KEYWORDS}