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

sm has occasionally taken on the attributes of concrete practice rather than mere belief. This was true in the case of the radical Miinsterites and of Melchior Hofmann in the sixteenth century, as well as in the initial movement of the Mennonites to Rus- sia in the late eighteenth century. These radical millenarians em- phasized escaping the tribulation of the Antichrist and the finding of a ‘‘place of refuge’ for themselves and the rest of the remnant who escape the dragon. They claimed to know the exact place and time of the return of Christ, as in the case of Hofmann, or attempted to bring in the kingdom by force, like Minsterites. Thus millennialism may be invoked as a general escape mechanism for those Christians who experience enormous spiritual and physical conflicts with hostile forces in the world. Their hope must take some tangible form to resolve the conflict. In some cases, it may in- volve economic factors, such as the landless aspiring to future pros- perity. In other cases, political oppression has triggered the impulse to The Emergence of Chiltasm 53 prepare for the second coming. But that does not explain all millen- nial movements. The phenomenon is one of the most complex, per- sistent, and interesting in all of religious history. Millennialism was not indigenous to the early Mennonite faith but found its expression during the Russian experience. Cornelius Krahn, a contemporary Mennonite scholar who has specialized in the teachings of Menno Simons and the history of the Russian Menno- nites, states unequivocally that Menno does not even refer to the millennium.'! Another recent authority holds that the early Menno- nite leaders, such as Simons, Grebel, Philips, Michael Sattler, Hans Langenmantel, Pilgram Marpeck, Thomas von Imbroich, Leenaert Bouwens, and Peter Riedemann were free of chiliastic leanings, and that millennialism, although introduced by the German Mystics, Pietists, and Baptists, became an important part of the credo of some Mennonites only after the Russian migration.'"? He claims that Russian millennialism came first, after which it filtered to Germany, America, and Switzerland. The Influence of Jung-Stilling The same scholar emphasizes that the writings of Johann Hein- rich Jung, or Jung-Stilling, Pietist physician and economist, had a profound influence on Russian Mennonites.’ Jung-Stilling was born in 1740 near Hilchenbach, Westphalia, the son of a tailor and schoolmaster. At the age of fifteen he came to Litzel, where he was influenced by religious separatists, worked as a teacher and tailor, and learned eye treatment from a Catholic priest. He studied this same treatment at Strasbourg between 1770 and 1772, where he met Goethe and Herder. He became well known for his treatment of cataracts, lectured at Kaiserslautern, and became a professor at the universities of Marburg and Heidelberg. Though Jung-Stilling was a prominent figure in the higher circles