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

man has to come before the leadership because his wife has beaten their maid, a member of the Prussia 61 congregation. The man admits that his wife reaches “the end of her rope” rather quickly, on the other hand, however, the maid is not very obedient; yet such conduct shall not be repeated in the future. The girl, however, did not want to return to the family. Blood brothers not only quarreled but also fought over the division of inherited furniture. Other brothers do not keep their word in money matters and are therefore refused access to the co mmuni on table. Unhappy marriages create problems: one wife runs away from her husband and does not want to return to him. With much patience and effort the ministers are able to reconcile the couple. Another wife tells the leadership that she was matched with her husband. After much effort even this case is resolved. A young sister has become engaged to a Lutheran organist. After serious consideration her Mennonite conscience is sensitized; she turns to the leadership for counsel. At first she is refused access to the communion table; after she has broken the relationship and begged earnestly to be readmitted she is again accorded full membership. Another brother is summarily excommunicated because he has married a sister of the Thiensdorf [Frisian] congregation! Soon his wife dies, now he wants to marry within the circle of his old congregation; “upon confession of guilt [!] and request for forgiveness” he is reinstated. An instance from another congregation is recorded where a man married his deceased wife’s sister, is excommunicated, but then finally reinstated “through a vote of the brethren.” This occasioned the calling of a conference of the elders of Danzig, Elbing, Heubuden, and Grosswerder on June 14, 1781. A resolution is passed that all marriages not allowed in Leviticus, chapters 18 and 20, are to be punished with perpetual excommunication [!]. Instances of severe immorality also dishonor the congregation and fill the hearts of the devout with anxious worries. The secular life: dancing, bowling, the drinking of hard liquor etc., lead to special meetings of the elders and teachers with the hope of curtailing such practices. [Nothing new under the sun!] We notice, however, that the leadership is alert to its duties [even though one may perhaps observe that they are guilty of too much “congregational order” and not enough spiritual power]. Nonetheless, the spiritual offices of the church are held in high regard. [As a whole, one had sunk quite low, though there were still certainly many “who had not sullied their clothes,” and who now most assuredly “walk with Christ in white robes,” Revelation 3:4. It is from these that we have received our fundamental teachings and our constitution.] b) If the foregoing is highly instructive with regard to Wiebe’s own and his closest sister congregation’s life, the following passage taken from the same sou