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

ted, not dispelled. Uncertainty about future plans caused great anxiety and the fear that perhaps God had forsaken them. Some said it was Epp’s superpiety that would annihilate the movement. Others believed Epp to be the only leader who could restore hope to the group.”’ Despite criticism, the movement inspired by Epp found many natural leaders who were ready to support the Bride Community on their proposed expedition: men like Cornelius Wall, the image of an Old Testament prophet with his long flowing beard, and Jacob Toews, a minister of outstanding ability. Franz Bartsch, a teacher with great intellectual capacity, and Martin Klaassen, who had writ- ten a book about Mennonites, also came to the fore. Other leaders were the Penner brothers, J. K. and Wilhelm, both ministers and teach- ers, and Hermann Jantzen, a strict disciplinarian and leader of men. All were ready and willing to follow Epp and his doctrine. During this period when new leadership came forward to support Epp, some American Mennonite voices raised a new protest against his movement. The editor of Zur Heimat, a pragmatic realist, warned that even with considerable support the Epp venture was des- tined to fail because of the dissension and splits in the movement. Prospects of peace and unity in a distant ‘‘utopia,” he wrote, would never come to pass if Mennonites could not agree in their Russian homeland. The hardships of a trip to Turkestan, he warned, would only heighten dissension. Even the supposed cement of religious unity, he concluded, would only be torn apart by millennial con- troversy.”° In spite of this new criticism and increased divisions, Epp con- tinued promoting plans for emigration. Through intense Bible studies he repeatedly emphasized the necessity of following revelation, es- Plans and Hopes 85 caping military conscription, and finding freedom in a place of refuge from the Antichirst.* Since Russian conscription law did not imme- diately affect Turkestan, it appeared the Lord was opening a door to Epp and his faithful followers.*' For the remnant of Mennonites, he believed, moving eastward was the only hope for Christianity in the last days. The barren but promising land of their vision was Turkes- tan, where they hoped to meet the Lord. 7 BEGINNING THE TREK As the summer of 1880 approached, the Mennonite millennialists of Russia began busily preparing for their impending trip. The first contingent left in July 1880; the last arrived in Turkestan in December 1881. The first two trains originated from the Trakt; the third came from the Molotschna colony; and the fourth and fifth left from the Trakt. Before this great trek was finished, the five wagon trains would make their way across steppe, desert, and mountain to the new Russian province. Some of the participants in this journey would re- main in this new land, while a majority would leave a few years later to find a refuge in America. In their