I. S. Prokhanov

Ivan Prokhanov ( was born on April 17, 1869 in Vladikavkas, Caucusus, Russia. At ten days old he fainted and was lifeless. When brought to the doctor he said Ivan was dead. As his family wept, they prepared a small box to lay him in for buiral but he started to move and cry. His mother told this story to him many times leaving the impression that his life had great purpose.

As a young man he gave his life to Christ and committed to sharing the gospel however he could. He studied as an engineer and worked in this field during the day. The rest of his time he shared the gospel in many ways. Prior to 1905 all other religious sects experienced terrible persecution at the hands of the state church. These laws started to change in 1905. Prior to their change Ivan decided to print a collection of hymns that he wrote or translated called the Gusli (Harps). It was forbidden to print anything outside of the Orthodox views at this time. Many said to him “Don’t try.” But he felt an assurance to print the hymn book even with a law prohibiting it. He put in a request to the government to print the book, his only request was that it be done quickly. They agreed and he continued to push until three months later he had 20,000 hymn books in his hands. Concerned about a reversal of this government approved book he shipped the books to Believers all over Russia. A network that he had started years before. Of course the hymns were sung in their secret meetings but when discovered by local authorities there was nothing they could do because the government approved name was on the inside cover! In the end Prokhanoff says it was a miracle “What a task! What a risk! What a feat! God gave sufficient faith and energy to accomplish such things (Prokhanoff, p. 123)

The hymns mostly came from Prokhanoff who endeavored to write joyful and hope filled poems to counter the pessimistic, minor key church songs of past centuries. He was always the optimist because he had the gospel truth. He invited believers who were composers to make the music joyful and uplifting. After the risky Gusli was published and laws changed, he produced a total of twelve hymn books made especially for the Russian Evangelical church. His visits to Europe made it possible to include some of the Protestant hymns as well.
He was a tireless leader of the Evangelical church in Russia. During the famine of 1920-21 he almost starved to death but thanks to the generous gifts of food packages from America he and many others survived. In the 1920s there was also a famine of God’s Word. There were very few Bibles in Russia. He raised over $100,000 from a tour of North America and during a short window of relative freedom was able to print many Bibles, hymn books and Christian Literature with these funds.
He left Russia in 1928 temporarily but the laws started to change making it impossible for him to return. The persecution of Christians again became strong. He passed away in 1935.