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

dings to forgive him for Christ’s sake. In spite of my intercession, they excommunicated him [as they had earlier excommunicated Hoppe when he had predicted this, that which they called ‘gossiping about them with malice’]. I washed my hands of this matter, and so they also excommunicated me ... . Wilhelm Bartel.” As already mentioned, all the letters of W. Bartel do indicate a sobering and a lamentation over the “corrupt brotherhood.” He compares himself to Jeremiah sitting on the ruins of Jerusalem and weeping (August, 1862). But nowhere do we find an ‘I’ or even a ‘we’; always “they have sinned.” The church was cleansed, edified, and expanded. Except for Bartel and J.M., all who at that time erred as the "liberated” and “strong” (who were nevertheless so weak), have confessed their sins and errors and have become members again (although J.B. and B.B. stood alone for a while after 1865). But after 1865 none of these has exerted any permanent influence upon the further development of the M.B. Church. 5. In 1862 the “doctrine of freedom” was formally condemned by the entire M.B. Church, but not yet the overly-enthusiastic movement, even though the latter had become considerably more moderate §118 274 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH by 1864. Compare #171, “Documentary Supplements," and the “Minutes of the Meetings of the Ohrloff Ministers.” After Claassen had returned from St. Petersburg on June 1862, this matter concerning W. Bartel , and a number of members who had withdrawn from the fellowship because of it (Abraham Comelssen 81 and others in Kakbas), was rectified as much as possible. The membership was reconciled, but soon the divisions became apparent again. (#183-B. Becker’s letter, December 14-19, 1864.) The “doctrine of freedom” no longer had any defenders except for J.M. who still tried to revitalize the movement, was excommunicated for these attempts, and in the “June Reforms” of 1865 was once more specifically censured. Soon thereafter he permanently left the church. §119 6. New confusions brought about by the overly -enthusiastic and strong ones. During the fall of 1862 the preparations for the resettlement in the Kuban, as well as the vigorous struggle for the preservation of civil and ecclesiastic rights as Mennonites, came to the fore, as set forth above under XVII. Claassen was frequently absent. In August, 1862, his journeys to the Kuban began, and he himself settled there in 1864. During this time the church leadership in the Molotschna was gradually transferred to the younger brethren, Benjamin Becker and Bernhard Penner (since Huebert had become weak, and Jakob Reimer, who with increasing sharpness had opposed the manifestations of excessive enthusiasm which were again beginning to become more and more pronounced, had been set aside and finally excommunicated by the “strong ones” in December, 1864). Gerhard Wieler had, as a rule, worked in the spirit of unity with Becker