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

ment, and if so, who, for what reason, and how many times; and, 4) what kind of methods could be employed to both hinder the spread and completely exterminate the movement.” The brethren wrote: “To the Supervisory Commission in Odessa: “. . . We are not a newly arisen sect, as the illustrious Supervisory Commission loves to call us, but are the seed of the imperishable Word of God, which was preached to us by the apostles, explained by the Holy Spirit, and at the same time are a fruit of the living faith of our beloved progenitor Menno Simons, who held to the same church organization and confession of faith as we do; consequently, we have the right to call ourselves the truly genuine Mennonite family. . . . “The reason why we did not write to our committee earlier is that we knew our good name had already been considerably blackened; the only thing we have left to add is that we do not necessarily detect a negative attitude in the first three points of the above orders to our Area Administrative Office, but detect at least this much in the (last) one that it, 45 too, appears to be guilty of seeking means with which to eradicate our fellowship. In response we say to you quite frankly that it is a futile effort; for the leader of our fellowship is called Jesus Christ, highly to be praised in all eternity, who has given us the promise: ‘No one shall pluck you from my hand,’ and calls out to us: ‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:32). We 246 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH have confidently believed this till now and intend similarly to believe His Word in the future, being determined, in case one no longer wishes to permit us to do this, to give our life for it. But we still believe and are of the conviction that the illustrious committee also knows something of the injury done to and deterioration of the church and its members by the Ohrloff ‘Barley Story’ 46 and the like (compare above #52(2]), and how the elders and ministers, without cause, today live in disunity and conflict with their members; and we do not believe that the illustrious committee will condemn those to punishment or even consent to having their name removed from the list of the colonists who believe and live according to the Scriptures, who cannot be accused of any political offence, and who, in contrast, live quiet lives; rather we believe, that as much as lies in its power, it will take us under its protection. . . . Finally, we would like to petition the illustrious committee, to scrutinize all the documents beginning with no. 1, which have passed between us, the elders, and the Area Administrative Office, in order to arrive at an unequivocal conclusion. All of the documents are still available at the local Area Administrative Office, in case they should not yet be in your hands. "And now we commend you and ourselves to God, to whom we raise our hearts and hands,