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

in St. Petersburg, or Moscow, until his old age, in fellowship with pious Protestants and Greek Orthodox Christians, in intimate association with the “Paschkovzen” from 1880-90, and with deep devotion to the spread of the Holy Scriptures in the service of the Bible Society, first the British Bible Society and then the Russian. He was an extraordinarily popular person with the old brethren, a highly gifted and passionate violinist. Converted by Kappes, he was uncommonly “happy and free,” but generally naive and noble. Jakob Reimer of Gnadenfeld-Wiesenfeld set Brother Free and Exuberant Movement 265 Forchhammer, the man “beloved by all,” a living memorial in his “Reports” by placing him on a par with the “pastors”; Forchhammer had apparently been a special friend of the children. Remaining close to the “Secession” only until 1862, when Claassen returned home and he was informed of the complete and wretched bankruptcy of the “Liberated” through the unsparing letters of the sobered and disillusioned W. Bartel, he gradually drew away from the movement entirely. When the author met him in Moscow in January of 1889, he spoke of that time, as of a more than half-forgotten dream, with some distaste. Only at the mention of Claassen ’s name did he come alive, speaking of him with love and respect. For more information see #161 below: “Documentary Supplements.” According to the opinion of W. Bartel, who otherwise greatly admired him, Forchhammer’s "error” or “illness” of that time (1861) was his “smearing,” that is, the recognition of Christians of other denominations, especially those of the Mennonite Church. Thus W. Bartel writes to him with “loving exhortation” in Claassen’s letter: . . Our dear Forchhammer, it seems, cannot abandon his ‘smearing’ [he loved to visit the ‘Church’ 73 of the Anglo-American Evangelical Free congregations in St. Petersburg] . Farewell, old boy! Should you remain there when Claassen returns [home to the Molotschna], I hope that, next to Christ, you will have Martin Kautz from Elizabethdorf [Colony of Mariupol] at your side; then I think, you would remain healthy— that fellow would treat this, your ailing wound of pleasing men, with saltpeter and salt . . . . W. Bartel. March 16, 1861. Berdiansk.” W. Bartel writes to Johann Claassen in St. Petersburg already in somewhat more sober terms. “There must be considerable friction among the brethren [in the Molotschna] . . . with regard to the interpretation of the Word. There are those among them who demand that no worldly person is to be greeted or given the hand . . . and who impose yokes which neither they nor we can bear; ... I make mention of this in a letter of admonition to the entire congregation, that is, in the spirit of the Scriptures .... Do not at all count on good days ahead .... The coming of the Lord is at hand .... Berdiansk, April 8, 1861. Wilhelm Bartel. April 24 . . . Yesterday, on Easter Sunday, we, the brothers