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

lls significant gaps in our knowledge of Wuest's early career (1841-1847). It suggests that his preaching, both as to style and content, crystalized before he left to minister to the German colonies in Russia. 26 Ibid., 10-15 27 See Gotthold Muller, Christian Gottlob Pregizer. Biographie und Nachlass (Stuttgart, 1962) 28 Doerksen, 16 29 P.M. Friesen, Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Bruederschaft in Russland (Halbstadt, Taurien, 1911), 175-182 30 Eduard Wuest to Jakob Hildebrand, Schoenwiese, September 28, 1854. Toews, 112. 31 Ibid., 97 32 Ibid. 33 /bid., 113 34 Ibid., 112 35 According to his biographer Wuest felt a close spiritual kinship with the Mennonites. See Jakob Prinz, Die Kolonien der Bruedergemeinde. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien in Suedrussland (Moscow, 1898), p. 86ff. 3<i Jacob Bekker, Origin of the Mennonite Brethren Church (Hillsboro, Kansas, 1973), 26 37 Ibid., 27 38 Friesen, 104 39 Friesen, 225 40 Ibid., 224 36 CHAPTER IV DANGEROUS JOURNEY The Mennonites belonging to the Wuest "brotherhood" at first had no intentions of leaving the church in which they were raised. Instead they demanded that the old piety accommodate their special religious sensitivities. They wanted a believers' church based on a voluntary membership which stood within Mennonitism but which did not include the entire community. However pious their intentions, the action of these non- conformists slighted many Gnadenfeld brothers and sisters. There were widespread demands for the excommunication of the radicals. The private communion soon generated vigorous debate during two Gnadenfeld church meetings. A vocal, protesting minority forced the elder's hand and demanded the dissenters leave the church. They did. The break with the old order came suddenly and unexpectedly. Had the reformers pushed too hard or had orthodoxy become too brittle? These were mute questions. The debate was closed; the dialogue ended. It was now clear that a spiritual pilgrimage in the context of the traditional community was impossible. The eighteen Molot- schna villagers who seceded January 6, 1860, felt they had no other option. Not all the signatories were members of the Gnadenfeld congregation nor was the impetuous response to a stormy congregational meeting necessarily indicative of the dynamic which gave birth to the new movement. The action of the majority of the dissidents was probably rooted in their personal, protracted spiritual journeys. They were sure of their new life experience and certain of the direction in which they were travelling. In their secession statement and in letters addressed to the leaders of the Old Church they sought to articulate their religious concerns. 37 The tone of the secession manifesto was overwhelmingly negative. 2 The first sentence focused on the corruption of contemporary Mennonitism. The purity of the believers' church could not b