A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

idst." 25 When a month had passed and the Brethren had not returned to 46 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH their churches, some of them were put under the ban by the elders. For some families this meant economic ruin and incredible hardships. Abraham Cornelsen, the schoolteacher from Elizabethtal, for instance, was dismissed from his position and banished from the village with his large family. He found a temporary shelter in an abandoned village of the Nogaians (a nomadic tribe). Through the intervention of a prominent member of the Gnadenfeld Church, the family was permitted to return to the colony." Another member of the group, Jacob Wall, was sentenced to imprisonment and hard labor. Some years later, in 1865, Heinrich Huebert was imprisoned for ten months on a false charge of having baptized a Russian girl." This experience seriously affected his health in later years. Others who desired to leave the colony were denied passports. Thus the plight of the Brethren became more and more critical. Claassen's Second Trip to Petersburg After the October "ultimatum" 28 from the Colony Administrator, Claassen realized that unless some higher authorities intervened, the days of the young Mennonite Brethren Church in the Molotschna colony might be numbered. That Claassen was a man of quick decision and decisive action can be seen from the fact that he left for Petersburg the day after the second major encounter of the Brethren with the officials at Halbstadt. On October 31, accompanied by his Lutheran-Pietist friend Otto Forchhammer, Claassen started out on his prolonged and difficult mission which eventually was crowned with success. Traveling by mail coach to Moscow, the trip in itself proved to be a real ordeal, especially since they experienced several serious mishaps. The long drawn-out negotiations in Petersburg (until June, 1862) constituted severe tests of faith, patience and courage for Claassen. 29 The purpose of Claassen's mission in Petersburg was twofold: first, to obtain recognition and protection from the government for the Mennonite Brethren Church in the Molotschna; and second, to secure permission for resettlement in another part of the country. (After some preliminary discussions, in which even the Amur area in Eastern Siberia was under consideration, Claassen and the Brethren decided on the Kuban area in the Caucasus.) 30 While Claassen was engaged in these negotiations, the Brethren in Chortitza experienced even more severe oppression than their fellow- believers in the Molotschna. Even before the church was officially organized, strong measures were taken to prevent all private religious gatherings. Wilhelm Janzen, one of their members who attended the prayer meetings, was given ten lashes and jailed in an unheated room because he refused to promise not to attend these meetings anymore. 3 ' The situation of the Brethren in Chortitza reached a critical stage in