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

are publicly that this will never happen again in order to make peace from our side possible. This was done publicly in the Ohrloff Church even before we and the four above-named ministers sent our last letter off to you. Had these four ministers and their adherents been the kind who could have been calmed by such promises, they would not again have complained to you about it. Oh how gladly would ‘Ohm’ Bernhard Fast again and again declare before the church never again to extend the Lord’s Supper to any but Mennonites; truth to say, however, a very unique spirit of unrest has taken root here and would have manifested itself even if the Lord’s Supper had not been extended to p. Moritz. Before ever we saw p. Moritz we had sensed this spirit quite distinctly: and although, in our Documentary Supplement 137 weakness, we immediately did battle with it, it has nevertheless remained. It is the Lord who must destroy it. Had a spirit of love and peace been present in the church, these four ministers would gladly have forgiven ‘Ohm’ Bernhard Fast and his adherents, for he is far from extending the Lord’s Supper any longer to anyone who does not wear the outward appearance of a Mennonite. Of this the entire congregation can be and is assured, if only it does not deliberately suppress this conviction. d) “The above-named four ministers and numerous brethren have written you, with regard to the Bible Society, that we have, against their will and advice, written to St. Petersburg, persisting in our request for permission. It is inconceivable to us that they could say such a thing since the situation is quite different. It stands thus: When the council of ministers met on this matter and reached the point at which permission had to be requested, it came to the conclusion that the elders and several of the brethren should write to St. Petersburg for authorization. Neither the four ministers nor the brethren raised any objections to this; only when everything was completed and the statutes had arrived did they speak out against it. But by then it was obviously too late. And as far as the titles of president, director, etc., are concerned, let it be said that these have never been adopted by us, for we call our officers by their German designations, such as Vorsitzer (chairman), Beisitzer (vice chairman), Rechnungsfuehrer (treasurer), and Schriftfuehrer (secretary). The opponents of the Bible Society submit to you that these titles, which we do not even use, are the cause for their separation. Here they do not give this as their reason, but argue that the word Verein (society) should be abolished because it ties us to other religious groups and this will make us subject to military service. They said the same in ‘Ohm’ Fast’s very home before the budget advisor and Lord Contenius who, irritated by such remarks, raised his snuff-box to the sky and said: The two are as little related as my snuff-box and the moon. Fr