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

should begin to feel at home among the Russians. There was uneasiness in the Brethren soul. Too much was being asked too soon. Discontinuity threatened continuity. Amidst all the expanding awareness there remained significant remnants of an earlier, essentially rural piety which was reluctant to enlarge its horizons. Two forces 63 worked at cross purposes. On the one hand there was something of the open existential dynamic of the movement's founding years which, nurtured by foreign influences, continued to grow. On the other, there were elements of the conservative, the rigid and isolationistic. A segment of the one-time radicals was becoming reactionary. Unwittingly and almost simultaneously they were becoming both the liberal and conservative. NOTES 1 Richenda C. Scott, Quakers in Russia (London, 1964), 113ff. 2 David Epp Diary (Mennonite Heritage Center, Winnipeg, Man.) July 19, 1842. See also James Urry, "John Melville and the Mennonites: A British Evangelist in South Russia, 1837-C.1875," Mennonite Quarterly Review, LIV, (1980), no. 4, 305-322. 3 Charles Tylor (ed.), Memoir of John Yeardley (London, 1859), 19, 400, 402-414; Allen, William, Life and Correspondence (London, 1846), II, 19-93. 4 P.M. Friesen Alt-Evangelisehe Mennonitische Bruederschaft in Russland (Halbstadt, Taurien, 1911), 382-384. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid., 386. 7 Ibid., 395. 8 Ibid., 367-68; 411; 414-416; 430-35; 601-601; Alexander Karov, The Russian Evangelical Baptist Movement (manuscript in possession of the Southern Baptist Historical Commission), 110-111. *> Friesen, 397-399. 10 Hermann Neufeld recorded the ministry of two Baptists at the annual Brethren conference in 1907. One of them was the German Baptist mission inspector Karl Maschner from Berlin. Hermann Neufeld Journals (Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies in Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba), II (1904), 199- 201. 11 G. Harder, "Reisebericht," Friedensstimme, IV (1906), no. 23, 239; G. Unruh, "Der Bibelkursus in Waldheim," VII (1909), no. 50, 2-3; M. Huebert, "Zwei Segenstage in Lichtfelde," Friedensstimme VII (1909), no.A38, 3-4. 12 J. Huebert, "Meine Eindruecke von dem Leben unserer Mennoniten in Suedrussland," Friedensstimme, VII (1909), no. 45, 3. 13 Ibid. '•• Ibid. M Ibid. » 6 Ibid. 17 David G. Rempel, "The Mennonite Commonwealth in Russia. A Sketch of its Founding and Endurance, 1789-1919," Mennonite Quarterly Review, XVLII, no. 4 (October, 1973), 283-286. 18 Ibid., 269. 19 B.B. Janz Papers (Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies, Winnipeg, Manitoba), Peter Riediger, "Mission der Mennoniten in Russland unter den Russen." 4-5. 64 2" Ibid., 4-5. 21 Adolf Reimer, "Bilder aus der Arbeit unter den Russen," Friedensstimme, V (1907), no. 11, 128-129; Adolf Reimer, "Reiseerfahrungen," Friedensstimme, VII (1909), no. 44, 4. 22 Riediger, 30. 23 Ibid., 27. 2 -> 76ic/., 24ff. 25 Ibid., 20. 2 « 18. 2 ? /fcfd.,30. 2 » Ibid., 2-3. 2 » 7Wd.,