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

e of attitude by the government only added fuel to a smoldering debate going in the Mennonite community. The commu- nity had hoped to be unified, but differences between the Epp and Peters factions proved a great stumbling block. Very often the Tashkent brethren traveled the thirteen miles to Kaplan Bek to discuss the possibility of a move to Aulie Ata. They even broached the subject of reorganizing into one congregation and electing a single elder. Both Cornelius Wall and J. K. Penner, however, questioned whether they could stay with a combined group because both men had had disagreements with Epp. Furthermore, they did not like Epp's weekly letters in which he told them the “Lord is writing to the church of Philadelphia,’ as they were called according to Revelation 12.” Although Abraham Peters essentially agreed with Wall and Penner, he cautioned them not to deny the need for Christian unity in a Muslim land.2* But as Peters became more familiar with the radi- cal theology of Epp and some of his followers at Kaplan Bek, he became disillusioned about the worth of unity for unity’s sake and the cooperative settling of a frontier area with a man he believed 112 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to be a modern-day “false prophet.’’?? Now Wall, Penner, and Peters believed Epp could bring their people only sadness and disunity.*° The Trakt people at Kaplan Bek disagreed with these three leaders. They believed Epp’s letters urging them not to accept “worldly” elders or preachers who would lead them away from God's Word. Epp told them to be wary of following such men because it would not only lead to sinful alternative service for the govern- ment but also to a denial of the efficacy of their millennial faith. This correspondence suggested that the group consider leaving Kaplan Bek for the khanate of Bukhara, where Epp now believed the place of refuge to be located. Let the Peters’ contingent go to Aulie Ata, where they would live in sin, argued Epp, but let the faithful millennialists go in search of the Christ.*' The dream of settling the area south of Samarkand had long been an obsession of Claas Epp. This, said Epp in a letter to the group, was the open door spoken of in Revelation 3:8: “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” While plans were completed for the trip to Bukhara, Epp was planning his departure from the Trakt in order to join them as soon as possible.*? Deputation to Bukhara In mid-June 1881, the Kaplan Bek Mennonites sent a deputation composed of Wilhelm Penner and another man to explore the country of Bukhara and ask its khan for permission to settle there. They left Tashkent on the mail wagon, crossed the Hunger Steppe, a waterless, treeless, extremely hot region, and came to the Zaravshan River near Samarkand. Here they left the mail wagon