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

us tension) led them into odious carnal sins. Reimer never allowed himself to be carried away, offered firm resistance, and was temporarily dismissed from office. Yet his sober influence— though too one-sided— won the day; and for a long time he remained the soul of the community, leaving his imprint firmly upon it. He even regarded extemporaneous preaching to be an act of arrogance and frivolity; he always read his own sermons, although he prepared them hims elf §36(2) In the 1860s the Kleine Gemeinde fell into complete disarray until, in 1870, a part of it was reorganized under Jakob Wiebe in the Crimea as the Krimmer (immersionist) Mennonite Brethren Church alongside the M.B. Church of 1860. Brother Wiebe, together with his entire congregation, emigrated to North America where they function quite successfully alongside the older one in an ever-growing relationship as a sister church. Wiebe, who is still alive (1910), is the first leader of this fellowship. Many Kleine Gemeinde characteristics are still apparent in Wiebe’s church. A segment of the Kleine Gemeinde 7 has, as it appears, organized itself in the United States along the old lines. (Cf. further X. “Documentary Supplement,” #58.) §37 3. In the meantime, new disorders arose in the "large congre- gation.” Elder Jakob Enns died in 1818 and was succeeded by Jakob Fast of Halbstadt. A godly man, Fast was as soft and weak-willed as his predecessor had been harsh and domineering. He died shortly, however, weary of his thorny and burdensome office, though believing and trusting in his God. Bernhard Fast (1821-1860) of Halbstadt and later of Tiege succeeded him. Instead of being installed in office by the Chortitza elder, as orthodox Flemish protocol required, he had the immigrant Rudnerweide Frisian elder, Franz Goerz, Sr., perform the ceremony. This factor, together with the admission of an evangelical missionary (Moritz) to the Lord’s Supper (#59, c), the founding of a Bible Society as a branch Unrest and Reform 95 of the Russian Bible Society of St. Petersburg (#59, d), and the founding of a school of "higher” education 0 (the Ohrloff Association School— a simple, single class intermediary school! cf. #59, e) provided the impetus for the majority to disassociate itself from Elder Fast (about three- quarters of the "large” Flemish congregation; aside from these and the Kleine Gemeinde there also existed, since 1819/20, the Frisian Rudner- weide congregation 4 * * * * 9 and that of the Old Flemish, Alexanderwohl. Only about 150 families sided with Bernhard Fast). This schism occurred in 1822-24. The separatists had the Chortitza Elder Jakob Dyck, Sr., install an elder of their own and declared themselves to be the “pure Flemish church” (#59). Later this "large” or Lichtenau congregation again experienced violent convulsions as a result of severe clashes with the more progressively minded local civil Mennonite authorities, such as Johann