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

lotschna. C. The Kuban M.B. Church from 1873 to 1885 §231 1. We interrupted our narrative of this church in the year 1873, atthat point when Elder Heinrich Huebert settled there permanently and the re- verberations of fanaticism of the period before 1866 had been overcome. Because of Elder Huebert’s f ailing health, Brother Daniel Fast was elected The M.B. Church 1873-1885 501 elder. On May 5, 1877, he was ordained by Huebert and inducted into the office of elder. 2. a) The death of Johann Claassen. For many years Brother Johann Claassen had been the authorized agent and representative of the Mennonite Brethren Church. Since 1869 he had been Area Administrator. In the early 70s he was decorated for distinguished service as colonizer and administrator. 298 Following this period, Claassen ’s health began to fail rapidly. Earlier, Claassen had moved from Ovetschka to the lower Kuban Valley, and had lived in immediate proximity to the river, a very unhealthy location. It was also isolated from the two neighboring villages, which made the medical care of the brother very difficult. So his faithful, intimate brother, Deacon Abram Peters of Ladekopp, now already deceased, brought him to the village of Wohldemfuerst. Graciously he, together with his dear (second wife), cared for him. Claassen died in the Lord on December 27, 1876, at the age of 56. He was bora in Prussia in Ohrlofferfelde, near Tiegenhof, and had immigrated as a child with his widowed mother, Helen, nee Penner, from the Roten Bude. (She was the second wife of David Claassen of Ohrlofferfelde.) Johann Claassen remained steadfast in the faith of his loving Savior, whose gracious fellowship he experienced intimately until the time of his death. b) Our appraisal of Claassen’s significance, which emerges clearly from his letters and other documents, can be seen in the following letter. 299 “Sevastopol, January 11, 1901. My dear and esteemed brother and father in Christ, Abram Peters! Peace and grace as a greeting for the new century. May Jesus, the unchanging Jesus, and His free grace, through which we all receive life and salvation, life and holiness, remain great in your life, and may He become ever greater in the evening of your life; may He carry you in the maternal arms of His love during the remainder of your earthly pilgrimage, and may He prepare and protect all of us for life in the Father’s house! I received your letter and have sent it to the brothers Kroeker, the editors of the Kalender, with the explanation that I know you as one of our oldest and most revered members, and that I consider your objections with the highest regard. I knew nothing about the article in the Kalender before it was published. (Only now have I looked through the article in its entirety.) Kroeker is to be blamed only to the extent of having thrown a shadow upon Claassen without also making reference to positive aspects of the matter. One cannot deny