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

on to culture, but there they come under the influence of culture before they really know or want it; we, here, receive impetus for new life from this fresh air. The spiritual tension which will exist between there and here, will give birth to religious warmth. That is indeed how things developed. They experienced an unexpected religious freshness over there and in turn influenced the Mennonites of Russia. Much of what earlier was characteristic of the “Brethren Church” and perhaps of Gnadenfeld and Ohrloff, became the common experience of Mennonites in both Russia and America. These men: Sudermann, Peters, etc., understood and desired nothing of Russia except its abundantly fertile soil and its Tsar as an eminent abstraction who was real for them only in the sense of being the author and protector of the “Great Charter of Privileges.” Naturally, they were prepared to give the required legal “tribute, tax and toll” and perhaps, in case of an emergency, a “charitable donation” for their altogether strange and distant fellow countrymen. They do not, nor were they capable of appreciating the Tsar’s enormous efforts on behalf of his people— particularly also, in the creation of the new military law 20 and all that it entails, which, in the lengthy footnote above, we have described as a Military Service and Emigration 593 relatively evangelical step forward. Nor did they even think of meeting the needs or sympathizing with the trials of this people. They were not only extreme Mennonites; they were also “Germans” in the measure and manner of that German-Russian, gray -haired Lutheran pastor who assured the author that he could not be a truly evangelical preacher if he were convinced that the gospel could be preached and the Christian life nurtured equally well in the Russian, as in the German language! The pious, rather well-educated (but exclusively German educated) Elder Sudermann said to Governor-General Kozebue from New-Russia: “Those of our young people who attend Russian institutions of higher learning are lost.” This incident took place during negotiations between the Supervisory Commission and the Governor-General at Odessa in 1869 on the occasion of the “Alexander stipends” which were established by the Mennonites at the instigation of the above mentioned authorities. The stipends (two from the Molotschna and one from Chortitza) were to assist young Mennonites who were seeking education at Russian secondary schools. Subsequent developments have proven the beloved, honorable bishop to be in error. American Mennonite brothers admit that it is far more difficult to keep their young men within the brotherhood in America than it was in Russia. At least this has been personally expressed to the author by several American Mennonite minis ters and elders who have returned to Russia as visitors and by a number of Russian Mennonite ministers and elders who travelled over there and have returned. The num