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

ch Neufeld, the son of the elder's old friend led the congregation in song. It seemed the disruption generated by the new faith would never end. Even this young song leader was rebaptized and joined the Molotschna dissenters in 1862. Members of Jakob Hildebrand's extended family were also affected. As Cornelius explained: "the cousins of my mother and at the same time our best friends went over to them." 20 Hildebrand endured another kind of pain. Young Gerhard Wieler, following in the footsteps of his father Johann, began teaching in the village of Alt-Kronsweide. The year had hardly begun when local mothers, outraged over his new teaching methods, invaded the classroom. That very day the angry young teacher skated across the frozen Dnieper to protest this insult to his pedagogical dignity to Jakob Hildebrand. He won the support of an understanding elder. The village women beat a hasty retreat. No one tangled with Ohm Jakob. 21 A few years later the same Gerhard was in the home of the aged elder once more. It was not a friendly visit. The conversation had barely begun when Wieler, a zealous convert to the new movement, shouted: "You Ohm Jakob have preached many a soul into hell." 22 Hildebrand was unable to dampen the young man's ardor or broaden his tolerance. Ironically, by 1866 the same Gerhard was readmitted into the old church. Apparently he had not found the pure church among the separatists. 23 The Neu-Kronsweide awakening of 1853-54 established an interesting sequence of response and counter response in the Chortitza settlement. Segments of the larger community tolerated and even welcomed the revival at first. Both traditionalists and reformers sat together on the same church benches. The Unrau house meeting attended by Hildebrand reflected a sense of togetherness characterized by dialogue, discussion and appeals to common sense. Moderation was still the order of the day. In the words of Cornelius Hildebrand: Father wished to unite, conciliate and hold together. He made many concessions to the movement, to the chagrin of some of his church members who wanted the elder to be firmer and harsher and often made sharp accusations because of his yielding attitude. Father, however, allowed 29 himself to be led by the heart rather than the mind and his Christian disposition was deeply afflicted by the split. 24 In the end good will did not prevail. The religious revolution began to move towards the left. Doubts arose among the newly converted as to whether the old order provided adequate spiritual nurture. Was not traditional Mennonitism stagnant and corrupt? New kinds of leaders like the emotional Gerhard Wieler urged an end to compromise. They spoke loudly and demanded decisive action. Here were men inclined to the dramatic and heroic, men who desired a precise formula for the movement of God's Spirit in their midst. Their distinction between right and wrong, truth and falsehood allow