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

d both groups meet together in an annual conference of the South German Mennonite Churches. Of great importance is the 25 year-old “Vereinigung der Mennoniten Gemeinden im Deutschen Reich.” The above-named Jahrbuch states: “On the 29th of April, 1884, a small and insignificant entity came quietly Prussia 71 into being in the capital city of the German Empire . . . the ‘Vereinigung der Mennoniten Gemeinden im Deutschen Reich’. ... In an essay in the Mennonitische Blaetter, ‘The necessary goals of the Association of German Mennonites,’ it states: ‘All of the various goals of the Association should be united under the following main goals: 1) The preservation and proclamation of the Gospel in our congregations; 2) The revival and strengthening of the Christian and Mennonite sense of community through the promotion of literary publications.’ We can name three great accomplishments of this Association: a) All the German congre- gations without exception stand in a closer or looser association with it and thus also with one another, something that seemed impossible 25 years ago; b) regular church services now take place— in some instances churches have even been established— in many cities where Mennonites formerly lived alone and without care: in Berlin, Munich, Regensburg, Hannover, etc.; c) the congregation in Galicia, which was on the verge of disintegration, has been revitalized and now has an appointed, theologically trained, warm-hearted and energetic minister (elder) in the person of Br. Heinrich Pauls, who was ordained by the last minister and elder, Klein, who died recently at a ripe old age, and the above-mentioned missionary Nikolai Wiebe.” e) Periodicals: Mennonitische Blaetter, Gemeindeblatt and Christ- licher Gemeinde Kalender. Appendix 4 The church services in Prussia of 50, 100, or 200 years ago were portrayed in Appendix 3; that is how they came to Russia. ‘‘But we have continually said to ourselves: this or that, in its time, was an ‘innovation’ as a consequence of the growing indifference and spiritual impoverishment; thus and only thus could a missionary church of martyrs impossibly have been built up; what was it like in the beginning?” For many years we could find no information in the available sources regarding the large Flemish and Frisian congregations which constituted the majority of the Mennonites. The “Old Flemish” congregation in Brenkenhofswalde-Franztal we found to be an exception. We were inclined to believe, however, that they had appropriated the mid-week devotional and "discussion” hour (cf. below IX. 9.) from the evangelical Pietists, specifically of the Moravian Brethren, and that the art of mutual edification practiced in Holland, especially in the Frisian congregations, where it came to an end between 1700 and 1800 (according to Ramseyer and ten Cate) had been introduced through Rhynsburger influence. Now we are told in no uncertain terms, however, that