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

gation of the communion service scheduled for the coming Sunday and preached the customary preparatory sermon. 10 On June 5 the Chortitza 3 communion celebration numbered 432 participants, including 56 new members. Since only the elder presided at the ceremony, Neuendorf conducted its communion service a week later. Baptism was always a spiritual highpoint in the life of the local congregation. The lengthy period of preparation taught treasured religious values to the young. As they memorized the catechism, precepts heard since childhood were fixed in their minds. In later years the annual reading of the articles reminded them of the commitment which they had made. As a yearly event baptism affirmed the Mennonite interpretation and practice of faith. Baptism spoke of continuity. It was comforting to see the young following the old traditions. The words read and spoken in the lengthy liturgical process, the candidate's pledges; the sight and sound of water as it was poured over the heads of the recipients — the ancient faith still lived! How comforting for mind and spirit. The yearly rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper reminded Chortitza Mennonites that faith was still their reason for being. By and large they were willing to apply its principles in the world of every day with its village politics and quarrels or its basic concerns with planting, harvesting and livestock raising. The Mennonites of the 1830s and 1840s were a frank and direct people who knew what faith demanded of them and what they expected of each other. There was no need for an extensive written law since the demands of public and private morality were implicitly understood. Decades and even centuries had produced a Christian fabric in which custom and religion were deeply interwoven. There was also an awareness, generational ly nurtured, that the Sermon on the Mount must be applied to daily life and that the life of Christ was a model worthy of imitation. For diary writer Epp it was natural that religion intervened in everyday life; Epp the farmer was also Epp the Lehrer (Teacher). He held this position for life unless he became guilty of a severe moral lapse or proved incompetent. Epp was not only a preacher and worship leader but also the guardian of public morality. Together with his fellow Lehrer and elected deacons, he participated in a ministerial council known as the Lehrdienst. Such respected community leaders were popularly addressed as Ohms and even the room in which they met for consultation came to be called the Ohmsstuebchen (Ohms' room). The jurisdiction of the Lehrdienst encompassed matters like public drunkenness, false rumors and even assault cases, providing they were not too serious. Virtually all indiscretions involving civil and at times 4 criminal law brought the villagers before the Lehrdienst. Major infractions were presented to the Bruderschaft, an assembly of all adult males having memb