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

ership in the local church. Its decisions, reached after open discussion and debate, were final. Expulsion from the congregation not only meant a loss of face, but of the legal privileges associated with the greater Mennonite community. Though sparingly used, excommunication was an effective weapon in regulating Mennonite life and morality. The diary supplies an explicit insight into the operations of the Lehrdienst and also provides one of the few surviving portraits of Russian Mennonite life around 1840. What major problems confronted the Chortitza Mennonites? According to Epp there were two: drunkenness and deviant sexuality. All instances of drunkenness came before the Lehrdienst, and as far as Epp was concerned there were too many. On September 9, 1837, the council heard that Daniel Loewen was "insubordinate, abusive, given to cursing and drinking strong brandy, which caused such behavior." 11 After lengthy discussion he promised to abstain from strong drink. The new year had scarcely begun when a number of young men stood before the council charged with drunkenness and disorderly conduct at the August fair (Jahrmarkt) in Niko- pol. 12 The matter was deferred to a later Bruderschaft at which the ten rowdies were excommunicated. 13 Epp lamented: "When will this dissolute, wild life in the community end?" 14 It was not to be. A few days later more men appeared before the Lehrdienst on charges of intoxication and fighting 15 and were expelled from the congregation the following Sunday. 16 Later in the summer elder Dyck delegated Epp to visit the Osterwick mayor in an effort to curb his alcoholism. 17 Pub fights, wife beatings, unbecoming boisterousness and even accidental death 18 — Epp associated all such incidents with excessive drinking. Being a serious person Epp at times overlooked the obviously humorous. After Aaron Peters and Gerhard Siemens had freely imbibed at the Michailov fair they boarded a coach for Chortitza and annoyed the other passengers with their drunken antics. In the coach was an Odessa supervisory official, bound for an inspection tour of Chortitza. 19 The carousing colonists were of course reported to the volost head John Siemens and the local Lehrdienst took appropriate action! Reflecting on the year just past, Epp jotted his last entry for 1838. "The immorality of adolescent youth steadily increases as does the consumption — [should I say] swizzling — of brandy and the dancing at weddings." 20 Two years later he again lamented: 5 "Immoral conduct intensifies: there is fornication and licentious behavior. Dancing at weddings and annual fairs is the order of the day." 21 The following year he once more complained of the prevailing "drunkenness, adultery and fornication." 22 A second major problem for Epp involved the question of sexual morality in the Chortitza settlement. His approach to the subject was candid. The perimeters of sexuality were clear: marriage was