Lagutov, Pavel Ivanovich (1933–2012)

Pavel Ivanovich Lagutov was an Armenian Adventist pastor whose work in Georgia from 1968 to 1998 helped to reestablish the Adventist Church in that country.

Early Life

Pavel Ivanovich Lagutov was born April 22, 1933, in Yerevan, Armenia. He was the sixth and youngest child of a large Adventist family. His parents, Misak Gevorkyan and Vera Zakharova, sought to raise and educate their children in the Adventist faith. However, during the period of repressions in 1938, Pavel’s father was forced into hiding due to the life-threatening restrictions and hence was not able to support his family. In 1943, when Pavel was ten years old, his father died of an accident at the workplace. As the family moved to Mozdok, North Ossetia, the chain of tragedies continued when the two older sons were killed at the front line in World War II. Soon thereafter, Pavel’s mother also died, leaving the orphans behind.¹

Soon, a large Adventist family by the name of Lagutov decided to adopt Pavel. However, young Pavel did not want to burden them and he left the family and tried to live on his own without any supervision (as a homeless street boy). A year of homeless life ended when a local policeman took Pavel to an orphanage where he was raised from then on. At the age of 16 Pavel had to leave the shelter and begin an independent life. He started to work at a shop installing ventilation systems in order to make ends meet and live on his own.²

Marriage

When Lagutov turned 24, childhood memories of his family and the planted seed of faith started to grow. He found his sisters who instructed him in the faith of their parents. A year later, in 1957, while living in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan, he found a Seventh-day Adventist congregation and started attending church and soon was baptized. The following year he met Olga Shipotina and in 1960 they were married. Following his conversion, Pavel invited his brother, who lived and worked in Moscow, to come to Baku. He introduced his brother to other church members and told him about the faith of their parents. Thus, after returning to Moscow, Pavel’s brother also entered the waters of baptism. Pavel’s five children, three sons and two daughters, keep the memories of their devoted parents. Two of his sons continue their father’s ministry as Adventist pastors.³

Ministry

Pyotr Stepanovich Kulakov and Alexey Petrovich Tarchevskiy (the latter is a grandfather of Mrs. Lagutov), played important roles in the spiritual development of Pavel Lagutov. In 1968 Pavel was ordained as a local elder and assisted his church pastor as a Bible worker in Baku. He also visited Tbilisi, Georgia, on a regular basis.⁴ In 1977, upon the decision of the Transcaucasus Conference committee, the Lagutov family was sent off to serve in Tbilisi and replant a dissolving church there.⁵ During those years Pastor Lagutov served with Pastor Ivan Mikhailovich Dreiling, who came from Armenia in the same year. Their efforts were successful.⁶

In 1980 they were able to obtain registration from the government and started building a church, utilizing land that was purchased a few years earlier.⁷ By the end of 1990, there were 73 church members in Tbilisi.⁸

In 1986 Pastor Lagutov was appointed as a district pastor for the Adventist churches in Georgia. He began to visit and minister in various cities, such as Tskhinvali, Batumi, Kobuleti, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Ahmeta, and others. In 1988 he was ordained to the pastoral ministry.⁹

Later Life

In 1998 Lagutov retired but continued to help the local church until he moved to Mineralnye Vody, Russia in 2000. From 2000 to 2003 he served in the churches of Kapelnitsa and Lermontov. In 2005 Lagutov suffered a heart attack which significantly weakened his health. Several years later, in March 2012, he had a stroke which caused his death on May 8, 2012.¹⁰

The devoted ministry of Pastor Lagutov through the church planting and pastoral ministry became an essential contribution to the growth and development of Adventist churches in Georgia.

Contribution

Pavel Lagutov and his family have significantly contributed to the development of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Georgia. Since 1977, together with Dreiling family, they reestablished the Adventist church in Georgia, at a time when it had almost ceased to exist due to the persecution from the Soviet government.¹¹ They also constructed the Lotkini church that functions to this day and laid the foundation for local ministries in Georgia.¹²

Sources

Dreiling, I.M. Reminissences and Experience. Zaokski: Istochnik Zhizni, 2003. [Дрейлинг, И М. (2003). Воспоминания и Опыты. Заокский: Источник Жизни].

Lagutov, P. (February 25, 2019). Life and Ministry of Pr. Lagutov P.I. [Personal interview published in Sergo Namoradze. “Church Growth Theory and the Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Mission in Georgia: A Case Study.” Ph.D. Diss., Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, 2018.

Namoradze, S. “Church Growth Theory and the Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Mission in Georgia: A Case Study.” Ph.D. Diss., Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, 2018.

Yunak, D. O. Lift My Eyes to the Hill: The SDA History in Transcaucasia. Unpublished manuscript, 2012. [Юнак, Д.О. (2012). Возвожу очи мои к горам: История Адвентистов Седьмого Дня в Закавказье].

Notes

1. Peter Lagutov, interview by Sergo Namoradze, February 25, 2019.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. Sergo Namoradze, “Church Growth Theory and the Development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Mission In Georgia: A Case Study,” (Ph.D. diss., Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, 2018), 130↩

6. I. M. Dreiling, Reminissences and Experience (Zaokski: Istochnik Zhizni, 2003) [И М. Дрейлинг, Воспоминания и Опыты. Заокский: Источник Жизни, 2003], 65↩

7. L. Glazova, interview by Sergo Namoradze as cited in Namoradze, 2018, 131; Dreiling, 2003, 65, 66.↩

8. Dmitry Yunak, “Lift my Eyes to the Hill: The SDA History in Transcaucasia.“ Unpublished manuscript, 2012, [Д.О. Юнак, Возвожу очи мои к горам: История Адвентистов Седьмого Дня в Закавказье. Unpublished manuscript, 2012], 121.↩

9. Peter Lagutov, interview by Sergo Namoradze, February 25, 2019.↩

10. Ibid.↩

11. See Namoradze, 2018↩

12. See Dreiling, 2003.↩