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

mentary Supplement 193 accordance with his Christian duty.” For this reason he could not be made a member of any order 106 and elevated into the nobility along with it, because people were then of the opinion that if one left the Mennonite farming communities one ceased to be a Mennonite. He requested that all medals given him be “without ribbons or decorations”— hies lienty i uschka. A former president of the Supervisory Commission in Odessa, State Councillor, Privy Councillor and Senator von Hahn, who, as Comies’ superior and friend, knew him intimately as the result of a long-standing correspondence and personal contact, attested of him : “Comies was a unique man. He possessed a keen mind and was, in every regard, a practical advisor. We have him to thank for the beautiful woods that lie like an oasis in the desert around the Molotschna Colony.” (According to Unruh, Klaassen and others.) 2. The Agricultural Society, a) A long period of preparation preceded the creation of the Agricultural Society of 1830. Since Johann Comies was its soul (not only during his lifetime, but through the power of his ideas continues in this capacity to this day, just as the Mennonite brotherhood of Dutch-Prussian origin still bears the religious imprint of Menno’s fundamental ideas), the Agricultural Society had already existed some thirteen years prior to its formal organization and naming, indeed it had existed as long as had Comies’ model farm at Juschanle. Associations had long since proven their worth in the Molotschna Mennonite area: the Ohrloff “School Association,” with Comies as the central figure, the Bible Society, and the Literary Society. The founding charter grants the society, later known as the “A.S.,” the status of a “free academy!” This designation was not regarded too noble for an institution consisting of Mennonite farmers which had Comies as its central driving force. The occasion for the creation of a society with the status or character of a “free academy,” which, in tune with the times, was granted strong powers of command and execution by the highest authorities, came from a wish expressed by Tsar Alexander I in Steinbach upon seeing the successfully planted groves of trees especially in that village (founded by Klaas Wiens, Molotschna’s first colonial administrator) and Juschanlee. Fr anz Isaak, a former Ohrloff minister, writes regarding this noble visit and the founding of the Agricultural Society: “The extent to which the government was concerned to expedite and bring to fruition the Mennonite responsibility of being a model in work and conduct can be seen by the fact that His Majesty Tsar Alexander I visited the colonies in 1818 [cf #64 ] and 1825, which inspired the inhabitants to go about their work with joy and courage; for they saw him face to face who was, in so large a measure, the promoter of their well-being. His gracious condescension to enter many of the homes and his friendly