A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

dt Church Council, (who had insisted on reform of church life on the basis of Scripture), the five elders signed a letter addressed to the Colony Administrative Office in which they state that the organization of an independent church cannot be tolerated and that the Colony Administrative Office should do its part in dissuading these people from their erroneous endeavor. The statement is signed by the church elders Heinrich Toews, Benjamin Ratzlaff, Peter Wedel, Dirk Warkentin, August Lenzmann. 6 In a later explanation the five elders claimed to have exhausted all means at their disposal to persuade the erring members, with all "love and earnestness" to forsake their erroneous views, but without suc- cess." This claim is not supported by any evidence. It is inconceivable that they had exhausted "all means at their disposal" in the short time of less than twelve days. Communications in midwinter were slow. By the time the document reached the last elder, several days must have passed. Not even an attempt to contact them "in love and earnestness" was made during this period.' Pastor Dobbert of the Lutheran settlement of Prischib calls this statement of the elders "a testimony of poverty." 8 They apparently lacked the spiritual resources to meet this crisis and hence resorted to "worldly weapons" in this conflict. Reaction of District Officials As might be expected, the second reaction to the secession of the Brethren came from the Colony Administrative Office (Gebietsamt). David Friesen, the powerful executive in the Colony Administrative Office, had no sympathy for the dissenters and "disturbers of public peace." He immediately contacted the three appointed representatives of the Brethren and demanded an explanation. In a clear, concise statement the Brethren explained "that all of us would have preferred to stay in our own congregations; but since the teachers — as explained in our document of January 6, do not act in accordance with God's Word, we can not do this for conscience' sake, and (hence) desire to form our own church as Mennonites." 9 Obviously this explanation fell on deaf ears, because four days later, on January 27, 1860, a letter went out to all village offices (Schulzenaemter) prohibiting all religious gatherings on the basis of Article 362 of the Russian Penal Code. The article in question, issued in 1857, dealt with members of secret societies, and was intended primarily to curb the activities of political agitators and counter-revolutionaries. 40 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH According to this article, members of such societies were to be arrested and upon conviction, punished by imprisonment from one to three weeks; leaders of such groups were to be subject to a prison term from six months to one year. The village mayors were given strict orders to enforce this statute and report any violation immediately to the Colony Administrative Office. In their response