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

year as itinerant minister. Now he, too, is aging and frail. In respect to the matter of the so-called "open communion,’’ he and his congregation assume a mild and mediating position both in word and in practice. Here, too, Br. Abram Wall served for four years (at the close of the nineties) as school teacher and minister. He had been minister of the Mennonite Church in the Crimea (see “Spat” below); then he served as itinerant minister here, and now is residing in Miloradovka (see below). A minister alongside Br. Jantz, was Br. Heinrich Friesen of Tiege (one of the first residents of Friedensfeld, though not actually one of the founders of the young men’s group mentioned above in connection with Franz Peters, and former student of Herm ann Janzen in the Ohrloff Association School.) In his latter years he became even more active in the preaching of the Word at home and as an itinerant minister in winter, as did also his son, Heinrich Friesen, a local teacher. d) This church, in the narrower sense of a local congregation, was always zealously concerned about its school. A considerable number of the youth have graduated from secondary school, especially from the one in Ohrloff and from the teacher-training course in Halbstadt. Sunday school, youth programs, and music and singing associations were cultivated here with love, zeal, and understanding. In the matter of singing and music, the family of Bernhard Dyck was especially prominent. For a time, as a result of economic difficulties caused by the moving away of a number of co-owners of land, and by a series of poor crops around 1900, it seemed that the village would dissolve as a center of the “Brethren.” Long since, however, this crisis has been overcome and, to our great joy, Friedensfeld has been solidly confirmed as a "village of brethren.” God has added His blessing in terms of bounteous crops. Young families are moving from here to neighboring churches in Nepluiev and elsewhere, and sire carrying with them an interest in culture and Christian warmth. May Friedensfeld blossom, and in increasing measure live up to its name (“Field of Peace”) “until He comes” to establish His eternal kingdom of peace! In the period here dealt with, the church in the village of Friedensfeld (Miropol) erected a beautiful building with spacious meeting rooms for congregation and school. 2. The affiliated groups associated with the M.B. Church of Friedensfeld in the most recent period. 1) Nepluievo, since 1880 (see #226 above) Postal Address: Nikopol, Province of Ekaterinoslav. The M.B. Church 1885-1910 547 Leadership (about 1905): Ministers, Heinrich Isbrandt Friesen, Peter Wiebe, Isaak Toews. Deacons (?). Meetings alternated between the village-schools of Steinau and Blumenfeld; since 1905 the congregation owns a church building. 2) Novopodolsk (i.e., “Judenplan”), District of Kherson. Postal Address: Sofievka, Province of Kherson. In the Jewish colonies