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

ship and that they thereby be spared from all further persecution by local authorities and that they be assured legal freedom in the practice of their ecclesiastical and civil rights. The original is signed: Mennonite Johann Claassen, Liebenau Colony, Taurida Province, Berdiansk District, Molotschna Mennonite District. St. Petersburg, May 15, 1862, 36 Galeeren Street, House of Domontovitsch, Room F. g) Promemoria “Regarding the persecutions and oppressions in matters of faith, Documentary Supplements 347 which a part of the Mennonites at the Molotschna, Province of Taurida, District of Berdiansk, have suffered. h) “The Mennonites of the Molotschna . . . to . . . ‘exist to this day’ [cf. above #105). i) "The state of affairs. In recent years, the Lord through His Spirit aroused in many souls a desire earnestly to seek their redemption: they began diligently to read in the Bible. This reading of Holy Scripture aroused in many the wish to pattern their faith and life in accordance with it, and at the same time revealed to us the present religious decadence in our church, so that little of the truly evangelical disposition, to which the Mennonite name owes its good reputation, could be found. At the same time we recognized with amazement and regret, that our church life had deteriorated to dead forms, while, with regard to church discipline, an indulgence toward public vices was practiced which our doctrines do not permit. More and more, this became a subject that was often discussed by the seriously-minded, and all recognized with clarity and certainty that this condition in our churches did not correspond either with the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor with the ordinances of Menno Simons. k) “A further natural consequence of this appeared on January 6, 1860, when a number of Mennonites from various Molotschna congregations, at first 27 in number [the 9 members (men) from Gnadenfeld, Reimer and others, who first expressed their consent to such a move on January 18, are obviously added to the original 18], resolved to organize an independent church and set themselves the obligation of reestablishing the earlier moral purity and the true spirit of faith in the church and in private life among the rest of their Mennonite comrades. After the election of ministers 138 had taken place, the new congregation immediately informed the elders of the other congregations and explained the reasons for this decision. Unfortunately the majority of the elders, after declaring this act to have undermined their authority, resolved to oppose the recognition of the new group as an independent fellowship with all the powers at their disposal, the more so since the latter, as the expression of a moral and spiritual need already felt by many for some time, attracted more and more participation and like- minded people. l) “After feeble and naturally futile attempts to dissuade the new fellowship from th