Cholders, Arvids (1899–1966)

Arvids Cholders was an Adventist pastor and administrator, whose faithful leadership prepared the Adventist Church to hold fast to their faith in Christ for the ensuing decades of the Soviet Communist regime.

Early Years, Education and Marriage

Arvids Cholders (Čolders) was born on October 22, 1899, to a peasant family. His parents, Jazeps and Anna, lived in the area of the city of Valka in the province of Lifland, Russia. His sister was the first in their family to join the Adventist Church, followed later by the rest, including Arvids who was baptized in the city of Riga in 1917.

In 1927 he finished his studies in the Adventist Mission School in Suzhi and was appointed as a Bible worker after the session of the local conference. In 1925 he married Luize Valenchuk and they had two daughters.

Ministry

As a Bible worker and later as a pastor, Arvids ministered in many of Latvia’s churches. In 1930 he was ordained to the pastoral ministry, and amongst his other achievements he led out in the 1946-1947 restoration of the church building in Jelgava, which was destroyed in World War II.

After the retirement of Karlis Sutta from leadership in 1950, the All-Union Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Moscow appointed Cholders as leader of the Adventist churches in Latvia. There were restrictions placed on church services and other meetings which were enforced by the Soviet administration. Despite these difficulties, he helped the Church maintain its Christian standards and the Adventist fundamentals without compromise. At the same time, however, he did his best to adhere to the Soviet restrictions in order to avoid unnecessary conflict with those in power.

Despite his best efforts, however, the Soviet administration became upset with Cholders’ Christian steadfastness and consistency. The Council of Religion and Cults demanded that Adventists should send their children to school on Saturdays. Although he faithfully informed his members that the authorities expected them to adhere to their demands, Cholders discretely avoided enforcing them.

In 1960, the Soviet Council of Religion and Cults closed the All-Union Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Moscow. Then, two years later they did the same in Riga, where officials of the State’s Security Services arrived at the Adventist administrative building, confiscated all documents and church money and sealed the doors. Cholders was then dismissed from his position in the church leadership by the Soviet state administration.

Despite this, he continued to offer leadership discretely, albeit illegally. Unfortunately, the situation was bleak as the Church was now administered by the Council of Religions and Cults of the USSR whose executive members were atheists. It was during this time that Cholders became ill and retired. He passed away in 1966.

Contribution

His leadership of the Adventist Church in Latvia took place during the difficult political conditions of the Communist era. Through all this, however, he maintained his Christian standards and Adventist beliefs faithfully in the face of the Communist state’s aggressive atheistic propaganda. He was a leader in the Adventist Church under difficult circumstances at a time when the Soviet administration had hopes that the Christian church would simply disappear. They wished that the Adventist youth would abandon their religion and that the older members would just naturally die out. His faithful leadership prepared the Church to hold fast to their faith in Christ for the ensuing decades of the Communist regime.

Sources

Chernevskis, Edgars. “Čolderu dzimta.” Adventes Vēstis, no. 4 (1999, April): p. 4-5.

Cholders, Arvids. Biography. Unpublished and undated manuscript.

Pešelis, Andris. Septītās dienas adventistu Latvijas draudžu mācītāji. Riga: Patmos, 2021.