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

ys some competent and spiritual men in the Prussian congregations. Especially outstanding among the spiritual leaders of our parent congregations in Prussia, as they appear to us in our Russian historical recollections, was Elder Cornelius Warkentin of Rosenort in the vicinity of Elbing. (Cf. below § 63 ). He organized the affairs of the church for the Chortitza Mennonites in 1794. Warkentin was an impressive and attractive personality. He wrote, spoke, officiated, and acted before high and low alike as a man of splendid general and theological training. Not only his fellow believers, but also Catholic and Lutheran clergymen, imperial Russian colonial officials, governors and important personalities alike treated him with reverential love. His sojourn in the Chortitza colonies was one uninterrupted Pentecostal celebration for those orphaned settlers, his departure— a heart-rending grief. His journey through Russia was like the grand processional of a foreign but co-religionist bishop among Mennonites, Lutherans, Catholics and Greek Orthodox alike. The Countess Rumianzev, a favorite of Empress Catherine the Great, invited him as her equal to her castle for a cup of coffee after she had visited him, and Warkentin accepted with dignity and humility, “like one of God’s nobility,” this and every other honor bestowed upon him. The governor as well as the mayor of Riga invited him to festive dinners with the first families of the city and into the intimacy of their family circles. Equal honor was accorded him by the presence in his private Riga church services of persons of all confessions and walks of life. Seven years after these events, the blessed Tsar Alexander I presented him with a large gold medal struck in his honor, with the Tsar’s name and likeness on one side and Warkentin’s name on the other "for his excellent church organization in the Mennonite congregations,” a medal presented to him together with a highly flattering document making him an imperial dignitary. Warkentin’s religious character appears from the notes in his diary as that of a truly believing Christian; in church matters he appears extremely tolerant. He hopes for a happy reunion in eternity with a Catholic priest. (That was the period of the tolerant, evangelically inclined Catholic pastors and bishops.) i) Naturally, Cornelius Warkentin was one of the better exceptions, but certainly not the only one among his fellow workers. 40 The worse Ladekopp Church Leaders in West Prussia, 1910. Back row: J. Wiens; A. Jansson; (d.H. Friesen, Ladekopp); J. Penner; Schroeder; E. Ciaassen, B. Andres; front row: J. Dyck; C. Jansson; Elder J. Neufeld; P. Penner. Prussia 55 56 DUTCH-PRUSSIAN ANABAPTISTS Ohrlofferfelde Church Leaders, 1910. Back row: P. Freese; J. Heidebrecht; (d.Elder J. Penner, Platenhof); H. Friesen; Mekelburger; front row: D. Mekelburger; Elder C. Neufeld; J. Quiring. Prussia 57 exceptions were drawn f