THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

er to us in accordance with our Flemish custom. We petitioned him for an elder, but he was not yet inclined since he wanted to return again later. When he returned he cast the lot between me and Cornelius Janzen; and though I was inexperienced and unqualified, the lot fell to me. Nevertheless, I sought to be content with my lot for I could see it only as the will of God. Although we repeatedly requested ordination, 130 IN RUSSIA 1789-1860 Janzen refused to comply because of the great opposition to such a move, as we learned later. That was in 1815. We waited until 1816 for ordination, in the meantime, we studied the Bible and many other writings. Thus we discovered that Menno Simons had probably never received ordination. [That is an error. According to many reliable historical sources, Menno Simons was ordained by Obbe Philips, the brother of Dirk Philips and a former Catholic priest, who was an Anabaptist elder or bishop. But Menno appealed to it as little as he appealed to his Catholic ordination as presbyter or priest, preferring to appeal rather to his calling by the ‘godly.’ Compare above #4, e, footnote.] Even Heinrich Janzen of Schoenwiese was ordained, as is reported, by a minister, Cornelius Warkentin. [Wrong! C. War ken tin was ordained by Elder Regier before his death. See above.] So I too accepted it, and Cornelius Janzen ordained me as the elder of our small congregation [‘about 18 or 20 brethren’] with an ordination sermon before the congregation. Thereupon I, though very unworthy, served our small congregation with baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jakob Enns and Johann Wiebe, however, held a meeting with their ministers where it was decided that if those, whom I had baptized, wanted to join them, they would have to be baptized again. f) “In 1819, Elder Franz Goerz [the first Rudnerweider] came from Prussia, and when he had arrived we visited him, seeking whether he possessed the true faith. But we had no sooner begun our discussion with him when we arrived at the millennium, when people would beat their spears into pruning hooks and their swords into plowshares ... as he read in Isaiah chapter 2. When I saw his error, my spirit became zealous to convert Goerz, and I said: Do you know the book called Wandelnde Seele (Wandering Soul)? [an old Anabaptist book]. ... He answered: Yes. Then I said: Then you will know what it says of those words. Two more times he spoke to us in an effort to draw us into this terrible error. Later Peter Wedel [Alexanderwohl] came [from Prussia] with his ministers. . . . He moved in with me. . . . All of them tried to persuade me to come to their services ; they would even order the service the way I wanted it. But I spoke to them on a number of issues, and finally it came to the point where they asked me whether or not I rejected all other nations [he means confessions]? Because they pressed me hard for an answer, I told them that I believed that all thos