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

he elders and ministers of all the M.B. churches met and explained the differences between the M.B. Church, The M.B. Church 1873-1885 479 the Baptists, and the Mennonite Church. When the particular draft had been examined by the whole gathered congregation 272 it was sent to the Ministry together with a particular Confession of Faith (a revision of the Hamburg Confession which was adapted to the Mennonite teaching). In 1875 the church decided to print the Confession together with some “Explanations.” It was printed in 1876 by Spittler in Basel. But because the Confessions arrived from Basel precisely at the time when efforts were being made to separate from the Baptists, the additional note stating that they had fellowship with the Baptists was not favorably received by many brethren and they regarded it to be unnecessary (Epp). Even less acceptable was the language which described the relationship to the Mennonite Church. It is a blemish on the record of the church of that day and it is hard to imagine how the deceased Unger, who was so sensitive and moderate, could permit such a thing. (Compare sections 201, 211 and 221 as well as the Confession of 1900/1902, pp. 5 and 6.) 7. Attempts of an Administrative Nature to I .ink the Einlage M.B. Church to the Baptist Confession. (Substantially according to the Heinrich Epp.) a) When the Baptists received recognition as a branch of Pro- testantism by an imperial decree on March 27, 1879 (codified as Articles 1106, 1107, 1108; Volume XI, Part I Collection of Laws of 1896), the government wanted to know how many Baptists there were and where they lived. Therefore an order from the government was received by the Chortitza Volost to report on this matter. Thereupon the seceded Mennonite brethren were all reckoned as Baptists. When the brethren Jakob Koslowsky, Abraham Unger, and Johann Friesen, who all lived in Einlage, became aware of this and inquired concerning the issue of the area administrator, he replied that they should submit a request to rectify the situation. Thereupon the Einlage congregation decided that Br. Abraham Unger and Br. Abraham Lepp were to investigate the matter. The brethren did their utmost. They reported from Ekaterinoslav that the authorities were demanding that the Confession of Faith be submitted in the Russian and the German languages. The completion of the translation into Russian was submitted to Br. Johann Wieler, who at that time was teacher at the Halbstadt Secondary School. He submitted the translation to P. M. Friesen, the teacher of the Russian language in this school, for revision. The brethren Unger, Lepp, Johann Siemens, and J. Wieler also worked with P. M. Friesen in Halbstadt to formulate new explanations concerning the relationship of the M.B. Church to the Mennonite Church and the Baptists, as well as a petition to the Ministry of the Interior (Epp). After these documents had been presented to the authoritie