Russian Officers Give Schuller a Cool Response

Invited to bring religion to the Russian Army, Robert H. Schuller, the Orange County televangelist, found himself on Monday evening addressing a hostile, restless crowd of 600 officers who appeared to find his message irrelevant.

“We have completely different problems and a completely different language,” Alexander Nikitin said, shaking his head in disgust at Schuller’s pep talk on the power of positive thinking. “He’s speaking for his own audience, for American senior citizens or for people who already have some faith in God.”

Schuller’s visit, the first time an American religious leader had addressed Russian officers, was arranged by Gen. Nikolai Stolkarov, assistant chief of staff of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ armed forces. Stolkarov had met Schuller this spring in Garden Grove after attending the evangelist’s Easter service.

Stolkarov said that army leaders must seek a new humanitarian foundation to replace the collapsed ideology of communism. “An army is inherently built around violence, so it’s important to give soldiers spiritual values,” he said.

Schuller, who arrived here May 29 and left Tuesday, brought a message that perseverance, optimism and faith will make any dream come true.

Urging the officers to begin thinking positively and exercising leadership, he said: “The future of your country depends on those sitting in this room. You must believe that each of you can change your country into the country you want it to be.”

But his words found little resonance in this audience. With their olive-drab uniforms shorn of the old Soviet army insignia, the officers said they were too concerned about keeping their jobs, finding housing and feeding their families to spend time dreaming about the future.

Scornfully jabbing his finger at the Russian translation of Schuller’s best-selling book “Principles of a Happy Life,” which advises people to accept that “everything will turn out well in the future,” an officer who would only give his name as Mikhail said: “Living by these principles would be impossible for us.”

A longtime aide to Schuller said Thursday that the televangelist “really wasn’t upset” at his cool reception in Moscow. “He knew going in that it could be a negative crowd because these people had been taught atheism all their lives,” she said.

Yet few officers said they believed Schuller understood Russia well enough to offer advice.

Times staff writer Lanie Jones contributed to this story.