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

of the Great Trek continued to migrate to the United States until the late 20s and early 30s when the Soviets would no longer permit them to leave Central Asia.’ Good farmers were needed to help develop cooperative farms, and since Mennonites had been there for some 50 years, they were chosen to take part in the experiment. Those coming to America found a new life in a strange new land, but they would always remember Turkestan and their brethren who had stayed behind. / 16 CONCLUSION The major Mennonite migrations from Central Asia to America which began in the mid-1880s did not bring all Turkestan Mennonites to a New World refuge. In fact, many Mennonites chose to stay in Ak Metchet and the villages of Aulie Ata. In Ak Metchet“Claas Epp continued his teachings into the second decade of the twentieth cen- tury. Soon after the turn of the century, Epp began preaching that a “New Ak Metchet’” would come down from heaven in the near future, a parallel of the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. Some remaining followers believed Epp had gone too far in his predictions and one by one more families left his fold. A disappointed old man who stood alone many times in his life, Epp died on January 19, 1913, at 75 years of age, just five days after the death of his beloved wife, Elizabeth. This self-styled prophet of Central Asia succumbed to stom- ach cancer, thus ending a colorful era of erratic leadership among Mennonites: 7 The Fate of Central Asia Colonies Epp’s death did not end millennial belief in Ak Metchet, however. This model brotherhood actually made few changes in its theological attitudes but set aside some of its more extreme tenets for the time be- ing in order to attend to pressing tasks on newly acquired farms. In- stead of emphasizing millennialism they concentrated on learning to fertilize and irrigate the sandy Central Asian soil.? For several decades they lived relatively undisturbed and unmolested, hardly affected by either the ravages of World War I or the subsequent change Concluston 191 to a Soviet regime. In 1925, when the Soviets were seeking to im- prove all of Central Asia economically, the government issued a decree guaranteeing the spiritual and economic autonomy of all Ak Metchet Mennonites.* Even though the surrounding population was forced to join collective farms, the Mennonites were allowed to retain their traditional way of life of family farming. Being secure economically, their attention turned to a spiritual growth which they believed had been neglected for over a decade. Their new millennial studies pro- moted the belief that Claas Epp soon would return to earth with Christ.‘ But this economic and spiritual security was destined to be shattered. In 1935 the second five-year plan of the Soviets directly led to the demise of the utopian dreams of Ak Metchet Mennonites. Early in that year the mayor of Ak Metchet was ordered by Soviet authori- ties a