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

ueckenau (then Halbstadt, since 1867 Huebert’s assistant), an act that was also announced to all the Molotschna elders in writing. Till then, Huebert had always designated himself as “minister” in his signature. This last confirmation or ordination took place in the late summer of 1868 in the home of Brother Cornelius Neufeld in Neukirch. No definite date has been ascertained. Later H. Huebert transferred the office of elder for the M.B. Church in the Molotschna to Abram Schellenberg, now in America, and for the congregation in the Kuban to Br. Daniel Fast, now retired. Elder Huebert became an invalid prematurely. This was probably largely due to a difficult ten-month imprisonment in connection with matters relating to the M.B. Church as a consequence of a false accusation in 1866. But in spite of the fact that he was always very sickly, he reached the ripe old age of eighty-five and died in the Kuban in 1895, weary of life and filled with the desire to see his Savior, whose appearances he had daily expected as an unshakable “believer in the Kingdom.” Of all the Brethren he was the most profound thinker; in conversation and mutual edification he was both profound and interesting; but because he possessed a very weak voice and his memory often failed him because of his physical infirmities to the point of fainting, he was not an eloquent speaker. Nevertheless, during his term as bishop, not only did the congregations in the Molotschna and the Kuban become organized, but were also firmly established in their evangelical order. (Huebert’s “Acknowledgement” cf. N108: Letter of Elder Johann Harder of Nov. 12, 1862). In the Chortitza-Einlage M.B. congregation the ordering of the office took a different course 43 (cf. further XIXff.). 244 §97 XVII. FURTHER DIFFICULTIES AND FINAL VICTORY OF THE M B. CHURCH AS A LEGAL MENNONITE CONGREGATION IN THE MIDST OF THE SOUTH RUSSIAN MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD 1. In the meantime, the congregation suffered not a little oppres- sion: incarceration (Br. Jakob Wall), forced labor, etc. The worst were the impediments placed in the members’ way with regard to their civic and business life as a consequence of the church ban with its total “avoidance” which each congregation imposed on all those who had left the church. The exceptions were Gnadenfeld, which only excluded the brethren “from its spiritual fellowship,” and Ohrloff, which, in line with the position it had already adopted in the issue, exercised no ecclesiastical discipline at all on those who joined the Brethren from their congregation. Well-to-do people, such as Isaak Matthies of Rudnerweide, became impoverished as a result of this “ban.” It was difficult to bear the constant threats of banishment to Siberia issued very seriously at the time by many influential opponents, which then sounded so infinitely gruesome, and the terribly rude, hateful and scornful tone employed by the greater and lesser local author