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

Church was that branch of the Mennonites which sought with all zeal to restore the movement to the pure Mennonitism of the sixteenth century. In his zeal for this cause, he submitted the content of his findings for publication to the periodical, Jug.-Kherson. As had been said in cordial advice and warning to the administration of the Mennonite Church in the summer of 1895, and as had been understood and confirmed by the honorable elders at that time, Voth (in retirement) and Warkentin (active): damage and dishonor did not ultimately accrue to the M.B Church from this divided action against its own will. (Cf. #214 and 240.) The strange thing in this unpraiseworthy episode was that in this colony the relationship between the leadership of the two Mennonite fellowships around 1895-% had been as cordial, and the official interchange between them as sensibly ordered, as perhaps nowhere else at the time. 2. No further materials have come to our attention about the inner life of the Tiege M.B. Church beyond the comprehensive report of the Minister Richert which we used in Section 235, 2. (What became of Br. Richert?) The M.B. Church of Tiege, or Sagradovka, considered in the narrower sense, exists and is active in the prosperous volost of Ohrloff, or the so-called Sagradovka Settlement, amid the sixteen well-grouped villages. Its members number approximately one-fifth of the population. A number of committed men serve as teachers of the Word and leaders of the Church, who, together with the congregation, seek to fulfill the will of God in faithfulness and in accordance with their best insights. This fellowship is more conservative in character (see # 198 and 244) than the one in Friedensfeld (see #249, c). Yet, occasioned by the conference session of May, 1910 (approved by the Ministry of the Interior), the church in session rejected all thoughts of repression of the “free Brethren” and of the M.B. Church of Rueckenau, Molotschna, though such repression had been intended from several quarters. For many years the office of elder in this church was combined with that of the Friedensfeld Church. Succeeding Br. Jakob Richert, the now aging and ailing Br. Isaak Rgehr was for many years the acting elder. The Lord will abide with him, though his evening has come, until he is permitted to see the eternal morning! In June of 1902 Br. Johann Nickel was ordained by Br. Jantz of Friedensfeld as the elder of the now independent church of Tiege, Sagradovka. A relatively substantial The M.B. Church 1885-1910 551 □umber of its members were, and still are, active as public school teachers of the settlement. Two of the “children” of the M.B. Church of Tiege are in foreign missionary service: Mrs. Abram Huebert in India, and Br. Heinrich Reimer, a graduate of the Hamburg Seminary, in the Cameroons of Africa. 3. The affiliated groups of the M.B. Church of Tiege, Sagradovka, within the latest time period: 1) Millerovo