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

hands according to the original “old Flemish” (or Ukowallian) rite. (It is also noteworthy that these congregations also consecrate the wives of the ministers at their ordination by the laying on of hands.) c) In the old days, as today, in the case of deplorable incidents concerning the person of the elder, one or more elders from other conference churches were consulted; but even if the elder was deposed, the local congregation made the final decision. The fundamental assumption of this system is that the leader of the congregation should be the wisest, most pious, most influential, honorable and trustworthy, fatherly older brother, leader and overseer, 34 but not an autocratic, lordly father. A gathering of such fatherly brothers constitutes the leadership of the individual congregation or also of the conference as such. The rest of the mature members of the church are not, however, regarded as unqualified, but as equally qualified brothers, and therefore any final decision can only be reached by the whole congregation, or even by the majority, after listening to the opinions, the counsel, advice, and admonitions of the leader or the church council. The entire history of the Mennonites, however, indicates that the majority of the congregation usually agrees with the elder; the overriding of the views of the elder by the majority of the congregation, after a fundamental statement of his views and desires, is the exception. Indeed, the elder is usually too cautious and too well acquainted with the views of the congregation, and the congregation usually regards the elder with too much trust and respect, for the two to disagree very often. 35 In the case of utterly incompatible positions with regard to important issues between two factions in the congregation, a schism, separation or withdrawal, usually occurs, often enough to the detriment of both parties, but sometimes to the benefit of the whole, as has happened to us and many larger church bodies. That is how it was and will remain in this imperfect world until the Lord Himself “will create something new” and “shepherd His flock Himself.” d) The "Frisian” and “Flemish” factions in Prussia, also at one time the product of the presumed impossibility of m akin g concessions on either side (cf. “Dutch Mennonites”), were originally distinguished from one another by a greater or lesser degree of severity in execution of Prussia 53 church discipline. In the matter of shunning of excommunicated members, the Flemish, as we already know of Menno, went so far as to forbid all family and matrimonial intercourse. In the case of mixed marriages, they usually excluded the member forever. That is why they were called “the fine ones,” i.e., the “strict ones,” and the Frisians “the coarse ones,” i.e., the less strict. The Flemish were generally regarded as more orthodox. That did not stop them, however, from becoming more worldly than the Frisians, who were