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

ho, to the glory of God, were, like David, praising God with music .... Our fellowship also is not satisfied with Brother and Sister Giesbrecht either, for Sister Giesbrecht has complained of her poverty to her worldly relatives, and writes that only now is she finding out how dear and valuable her family members are. Similar things are being done by several brothers and sisters among you .... If one wishes to find out something about them, one has to go to the world and ask, they know almost everything about what is happening at the Kuban. Often we have to hold our mouth shut when they tell us about the brothers and sisters at the Kuban, how in all your poverty you are still covetous, each for his own situation. If you are not covetous of earthly possessions, then you are covetous of honor among yourselves. It is clear that where there is not love, there is covetousness, for covetousness is the root of all evil .... Dear brothers, to all of you who still love the truth, I write, let your hearts be purified through faith unto good works. For we are writing to you, after we have confessed before the Lord, that we wish to be purified of all those brothers and sisters who walk unworthily, so that we may be a new clay, b) We are also writing to you that we no longer recognize Abram Peters [of Ladekopp] as deacon or as one who cares for the poor. A servant is to hold the mystery of the faith in a clean conscience. Peters has been tested, but has not maintained the mystery of the faith. This became apparent in Liebenau in Reimer’s market when one evening, in the presence of Reimer, Claassen, Benjamin Becker, he banged his fist on the table and said that Wieler [Gerhard] would not go to Tiflis with Claassen. He said similar things to Br. Wieler, so that Br. Wieler cannot be satisfied with Peters, unless he humbles him self in this matter. In addition, J.B. writes to his wife from M., stating that he is acting like a person of the world. This also cannot be right. Dear brothers and sisters, be careful and produce true fruits of repentance, so that the Word of God may not judge you and say to you, Why should I punish you longer, since you are only going further astray. Dear brothers Documentary Supplements 423 and sisters, we implore you each to judge yourself. Be converted from your sin9, so that the heavenly Father will not need to judge you. Do not say, ‘From what shall we be converted?’ You have soiled your hands enough, even before you moved away from here. You should also know this: we do not intend to let regulations be prescribed for us by people such as Abram Wiens and Jakob Giesbrecht who always taught that it was wrong and unspiritual ... to greet brothers and sisters with a kiss, even though they greeted their nieces with a kiss. And especially Giesbrecht— how often have I admonished him— but he was always justifying himself, so that one had to shut his mouth, for he often taught things which