Perilous Journey: The Mennonite Brethren in Russia 1860-1910, John B. Toews, 1988

ts associated with Brethren beginnings. Official documents tell of group concerns and aspirations. They clearly delineate the contentious issues which separated the dissenters from the mother church. Unfortunately there are virtually no documents which tell the "inside" story, which inform the reader of the private spiritual pathways which the early Brethren followed. This makes it virtually impossible to trace the course of the group's inner journey or to explain adequately some of its less desirable activities. At times the reform ideals they wished to proclaim were marred by human failings. The Brethren story is one of becoming and so the laudatory and the contradictory, the bad and the good are generously mixed. I have tried to tell both sides of the early Brethren story. V This study does not try to be all-embracing or compre- hensive. The forces and influences shaping the new movement are fleetingly mentioned. I have probably oversimplified the complex Mennonite world which both nurtured and opposed the new movement. Though I had access to many and varied sources I occasionally selected a specific diary or journal to illustrate the major issues of an era or substantial shifts in the priorities of the Brethren. Only the material used directly in the narrative has been cited. This slim volume will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics which shaped the early Brethren experience in Russia and intensify the awareness of this tradition among both old and new adherents as well as the simply curious. John B. Toews vi CONTENTS Preface v I. One Man's World 1 II. Expanding Horizons 11 III > New Be^* i miin^s •■•••••■■>•**•*•••■■••**••• *■■■■>■•••»■**•■>•»•••••*>■■■•■•••••• 25 IV. Dangerous Journey 37 V. Becoming God's People 47 VI. New Horizons and Old Values 55 VII. Crisis 67 VIII. Loving the Brother 77 Epilogue 91 vii CHAPTER 1 ONE MAN'S WORLD It was New Year's day, 1838. David Epp noted in his diary 1 that Mennonites gathered for worship in the villages of Einlage, Neu-Osterwick and Schoenhorst. In Chortitza, the district center, elder Jacob Dyck read the marriage, birth and death statistics of the previous year and preached the New Year sermon. The mood of the gathering invited the congregation to recall and reflect. Now, after almost half a century on the new frontier, the offspring of the original migrants and their children felt quite at home. They no longer feared the ravages of drought, locusts or the hostility of the indigenous people on whose land they had settled. It was good to be a Chortitza farmer — the new markets, the increased cash flow, the expanded farming operations. Farms seemed to change hands more frequently. Carriages, though still a rarity, appeared on village streets. Epp sensed a striving and aggressiveness among his fellow colonists. At times he was not sure it was all to the good. David Epp's forebears ha