The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

their concern for the problems of the Mennonites, both Grottenhelm and the khan hired Mennonites for work in Petro-Alexan- drovsk, Khiva, and at Urgench, another city of the Amu Darya. Mennonite carpenters and wood-carvers began laying a large wooden floor for Grottenhelm, while others made glass mosaics and a wooden floor like the one belonging to the czar in St. Petersburg for the khan’s Jewish wife in a new building under construction at Khiva. These ex- tra jobs, however, did not satisfy the majority of the people. Hiring of Cossack Guards The majority were far more concerned about continued Turkoman banditry than they were about the additional income these jobs would bring. The settlers debated the issue of self-defense at length, and at last arrived at an uneasy compromise: the majority decided to hire two cossack night watchmen to protect the settlement. Though the minority argued that this was a repudiation of the very basis of their belief in nonresistance, they could not dissuade their distraught and fearful brethren. The cossacks were to be paid 12 rubles, or about six dollars a month for their trouble. They were excellent marksmen with rifles, and the word of their nightly presence and warlike prowess was well publicized. A few nights after they began work, sev- eral Turkomans tried to raid a Mennonite walled compound. The cossacks simply fired over their heads and they retreated. The pres- ence of the night watchmen resulted in a definite drop in the rate of robbery and assaults. 168 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites A relative calm returned to the upper and lower villages. But it did not last. The minority still argued that it was against God’s will to use force, and He would bring judgment upon them. Their antagonists, however, were grateful for the protection, because it was learned that the arrested bandits had recently been released from Khiva and had sworn revenge. Individuals of both opinions were un- happy at Lausan because of the dissension in the settlement, and several openly maintained that Lausan was no longer the place of refuge; the entire group should move to a new land.° Fantasy of Claas Epp Their problems were further compounded because the group had lost faith in their erstwhile prophet, Claas Epp, during this period of controversy and general confusion. He lost much support when he loftily maintained that he was a “‘special witness’ and could not be bothered with the temporal problems of the community. Worldly con- cerns no longer were important, he said, because the kingdom of God was near. Because of his complete indifference to their immediate problem, the majority faction rejected him as fanatical and irrelevant. Epp maintained only a small group of faithful followers who remained by his side. They believed Epp was right, that the end was near, and the more practical ministers were being used by the devil. Those ministers, Jacob Toews, J. K. Pen