Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 7, No. 3, 2007

Orthodox author, stated, a ‘lightning conductor for Baptists of Russia’. 17 In the German colony of Alt-Danzig, about one hundred miles to the north, another Mennonite Brethren, J. Kowalsky, baptized twenty-seven in September 1864. The authorities imprisoned Kowalsky and exiled him to i o Turkey. 1 But the group in Alt-Danzig persisted. At first they knew nothing about Baptists but, with problems among the Mennonite Brethren, turned to the German Baptists for help. After the announcement in 1868 from the governor of the province that German Baptists were to be tolerated, the field was open at least for work among fellow Germans. 19 In the wake of revival, Abraham Unger (1820-1880) from the Mennonite colony of Chortitsa baptized fifty candidates at Alt-Danzig on 11 June 1869 (o.s.). 20 The leading figure to emerge in Alt-Danzig was Johann E. Pritzkau (1842-1924), who was probably immersed in the 1864 baptism in Alt- Danzig. JJe was born in this colony and went to Jiamburg for study with Oncken where he was ordained for mission service. Upon his return in 1869, aged twenty-seven, he began a notable ministry of fifty-five years that extended to both Germans and Ukrainians. 21 With the encouragement of Pritzkau, Oncken, now almost seventy years of age, made his second trip to Russia, a most arduous journey, which included a wagon and carriages without springs. At one point the police detained him. With his prestige and acumen, he helped to bring stability to both the nascent Mennonite Brethren and German Baptist work, fie visited Alt-Danzig, arriving 16 September 1869 (o.s.), shortly after the June baptism. He not only preached but also baptized. Here a German Baptist Church was constituted with Johann Pritzkau as one of the elders. He also visited other sites, including Einlage where he advised the Mennonite Brethren on proper church order, and ordained Abraham Unger, their 11 Missionsblatt, June 1865, pp. 92-94; July 1865, pp. 106-108; Oct. 1865, pp. 156-57. Quarterly Reporter , April 1869, p. 360. Johann Wieler, ‘Erweckungen und Verfolgungen in Siid-Russland’, Der Sendbote, 1 April 1874, p. 51. Arseni! Rozhdestvenskii, Yuzhnorusskii shtundizm (SPB, 1889), pp. 44-45. K I Veltistov, ‘Nemetski! baptizm v Rossii’, Missionerskoe obozrenie, June 1902, p. 1022. 18 Missionsblatt, Oct., 1865, p. 157. J.E. Pritzkau, Geschichte der Baptisten in Siid-Russland (Odessa: Wenske & Liibeck, 1914), pp. 12, 31. Pritzkau recorded twenty baptized in Alt-Danzig. 19 Baptist Missionary Magazine, February 1869, p. 61. 20 Quarterly Reporter, July 1870, pp. 836-38. 21 For a biography of Pritzkau, see J.J. Pritzkau, Prediger J.E. Pritzkau, der Pionier der deutschen Baptisten Siid-Russland’, Familienfreund, 15 August 1927, pp. 4-5. References to his life may be found in his work, Geschichte der Baptisten in Siid-Russland. Penetration of the Baptists into the Russian Empire of the Nineteenth Century 43 leading pasto