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

eir intentions, the church elders decided, on January 18, 1860, to ban these people from the church and transfer further responsibility to the Area Administrative Office. Of and by itself this church ban, as a right granted by the Gospel and Menno Simon’s teachings to every church for its self-governance, could give the newly 348 THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH organized fellowship no reason for complaint, especially since the brethren of this fellowship had already publicly seceded from their former churches, had not the local authorities, as a result of this ban, declared the brethren ineligible for various civil rights guaranteed by the law of the realm. Thus, under threat of the church ban, all intercourse with the banned was forbidden, not only in regard to religious fellowship, but even in regard to purely secular matters such as : buying, selling, the making of contracts, services, co mmuni ty living, etc. The natural consequences thereof were: a) the complete standstill in farming, industry and business of those banned, whose debtors even believed themselves justified in stopping payments, and b) the denial of the right to pursue their businesses outside the colonies through a custom existing in the Mennonite colonies, though not accepted by imperial law, that visas or passports are issued only upon receipt of a so-called ecclesiastical certification issued by the church elders concerned, which is naturally not granted to the banned, and when issued by their church, is not recognized. m) “The ruin arising for the newly-formed church from such an application of the church ban is evident, and in this regard it is sufficient evidence to mention the Mennonite Isaak Matthies, whose sizeable business, according to receipts (ca. 15,000 silver rubles annual turnover) was not only totally boycotted, but, at the discretion of the local administration, a part of his assets were also sold at public auction to satisfy several of his creditors, while various Mennonites, who owed Matthies some 30,000 silver rubles, stopped payment 139 (because Matthies was banned), and the municipal court left without consideration Matthies' request to demand payment of at least part of this debt to avert the sale of his property. In precisely the same manner regarding the property of each one, all the remaining brethren in the new church are condemned to complete bankruptcy. But soon another type of persecution was added to all this heartache on the part of the police, i.e. the local Area Administrative Office,— persecutions, which involuntarily call to mind the fanatical religious hatred and Inquisition of the Middle Ages. Endless summons and hearings in the Area Administrative Office, threats, imprisonments, hunger and hard labor sentences, etc., were and are the order of the day. The following facts offer proof thereof: n) “I. The Circular of the Molotschna Mennonite Area Administra- tive Office, which begem to make