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

hree farms in the village of Or- loff in addition to his land in Hahnsau. In 1862, he married Eliza- beth Jantzen, a daughter of Abraham Jantzen, and a daughter was born to the young couple that same year, followed by a son, Claas, in 1864.** Little is known of Epp’s career until a decade later. In 1874, the great decisions involving the Mennonite migration to America disturbed the normally happy Epp household. Claas Epp, Jr., after much soul-searching concerning the migration and plagued by disagreements with his 69-year-old father over theology and the leadership of the family, decided to stay in Russia, work in private circles, and emphasize the imminent end of the age and the pre- millennial return of Christ.“7 The Mennonites, he taught, were elected to please God, who had promised them an open door" in order to prepare a place of refuge*® for other believers in the Christian church who were fleeing the tribulation. With a deepening sincerity he incorporated the ideas of Jung-Stilling and set the date of Christ’s return so definitely that he could not help being discredited later. The date he said, would come before the end of 1889.*° South to Samarkand: A Chiliastic Hope to Meet the Lord With this prediction of Christ's return the rivalry of the Wall and Epp families continued into the second generation. Cornelius Wall, unlike his father Johann, wholeheartedly embraced Claas Epp’s chiliastic views and propagated them through his preaching. So popular did Wall become, that Epp came to regard him as a rival for leadership and realized that only more aggressive and dramatic action on his part would maintain his dominance over this faction. Thus he abruptly demanded that the group begin immediate plans for an eastern migration. The less decisive Wall responded by urging patience, and intense arguments ensued between the rival followers of Wall and Epp over the turnabout. The outcome of this tactical ploy was that Claas Epp and his followers rewon control of the theological leadership of the Trakt community.*! Even intellectual leaders in the group, such as teachers and ministers, were attracted to Epp’s speculations. Epp became their spokesman and prophet. In 1877, he incorporated his ideas in a book entitled The The Emergence of Chiltasm 6] Hie entsiegelte Weissagung bes Propheten Danief und die Deutung der @ffenbarung Befu Chrift, bargelegt von Claab Epp in Hahnd-Au bei Saratow. Sweile Wuflage. UltTfdhau bei Neufaly a. O. Verlag von Friedrid Auguft Ruhmer. 1878. The title page of Claas Epp’s book, The Unsealed Prophecy of the Prophet Daniel and the Interpretation of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 62 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites Unsealed Prophecy of the Prophet Daniel and the Interpretation of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” This prophetic work not only used the Revelation but also went back into the Old Testament to the Book of Daniel for “