Mennonite Love Affair with the Bible Society

Two evangelical Quaker missionaries and Bible distributors, Stephen Grellet and William Allen, visited the Mennonite colonies in 1819. They were invited to Russia by their “friend” Tsar Alexander I four years earlier (note 1). The missionaries were advocates of prison reform, good hospitals and schools—including for girls—religious lessons and the broad distribution of Bibles. Their purpose was to teach, to “strengthen,” “comfort” and “give much counsel to Mennonite elders and ministers,” and to distribute Christian reading materials” (note 2). The Quakers found kindred spirits. Allen wrote his daughter that “the whole subject of these [Mennonite] colonies is so interesting, that I hardly know how to keep my letter in moderate compass” (note 3).

Two years later the Molotschna was visited by a delegation from the non-denominational British and Foreign Bible Society and the Russian Bible Society—the latter headed by the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education in the government of Tsar Alexander I. The British agent, Reverend Ebeneezer Henderson, placed before Molotschna elders and its “leading men”—undoubtedly Johann Cornies is meant here—a “higher” vision for Mennonite existence and mission in New Russia. Henderson wrote in 1826:

“Placed in the centre of an extensive territory, where they are surrounded by Russians of various sects, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Tatars, and Jews, we could not but regard them as destined by Divine Providence to shine as lights in a dark place, and took an opportunity of pointing out to their Elders, and other leading men, their obligations to use their endeavours to enlighten all around them, by promoting, to the utmost of their power, the circulation of the Holy Scriptures among them, in their different languages. Our proposal, that they should establish a Moloshnaia Bible Society, they cheerfully acceded to, and have since carried it into effect. … As they live on habits of friendship and intimacy with their Tatar neighbours, and one of their principal men [Cornies] speaks the Tatar with fluency, we furnished him with a good supply of New Testaments, and other portions of Scripture, in that language, that they might commence their operations without delay." (Note 4)

The vision resonated with Johann Cornies and some elders. Soon the Molotschna branch of the Bible Society was the largest outside of St. Petersburg. But it would not prove easy to keep up this level of enthusiasm. In March of the same year Cornies wrote to his friend David Epp in Prussia:

“Our Bible Society’s account in St. Petersburg is more than 6,000 rubles. The sale of books of holy scripture has not yet declined, which means that the Bibles are being read. Last year, sales brought in 672 rubles, 25 kopeks. Sixty-three members paid 227 rubles, 78 kopeks, and donated 29 rubles, 30 kopeks. [But] our membership is declining. … Our interest is immediately awakened, but then falls off.” (Note 5)

For decades Mennonites in Russia were seen by Bible, missionary and tract societies in Berlin, London, Basel and the United States as strategically placed to support missionary activity deep into central Asia and even China (note 6).

Some ministers however thought that these innovations were destructive to the fabric of Mennonite faith and life. Old Flemish Minister Jacob Warkentin (Molotschna) appealed to the Prussian mother church and requested to have their own elder. His fear was that Elder Bernhard Fast’s support for a Molotschna branch of the Russian Bible Society would link them to other religious groups and could “make us subject to military service”; they thought the “military-like” offices of president, secretary, etc. displayed pride rather than piety (note 7). “The problem, as one contemporary recalled, was that “most Mennonites had no idea what missions or a missionary was” (note 8).

But interest in scripture distribution grew. Orders from the Chortitza Mennonite church were also placed through Cornies’ office. Assistant Phillip Wiebe wrote minister David Epp (Chortitza) in September 1840:

“ … You will receive the accompanying crate marked D.E. containing seven Bibles for seven silver rubles, seventy kopeks, and nine Bibles for nine silver rubles, for a total of fifty-eight rubles, forty-five kopeks, plus ten New Testaments for twenty rubles and eighteen Bible stories at 105 kopeks for eighteen rubles, ninety kopeks. ... It was not possible to meet your wishes completely with respect to the Bibles, since the supply in the local depot was not sufficient, as is the case with New Testaments for one ruble eighty, of which there are only three or four left. They are preferred here as they are there. Mr. Cornies also requests that you kindly take the eighteen copies of Bible stories on consignment. Please notify my employer, who is cashier and depot director, about the receipt of the crate.” (Note 9)

Prussian Mennonites were also invited “to take collections in support of the dissemination of the Word of God among Evangelicals [Protestants] in the Russian Empire;” these were sent directly to Cornies (note 10).

In 1843 one visitor from the London Bible Society was very much impressed with the spiritual leadership especially in the Molotschna Colony—spearheaded by a few church leaders and Cornies.

“There are a few [who are] zealous for the glory of God; who maintain spiritual worship, both in public and private. … They have one very able man among them, by whose labors, partly, this pleasing state of things has been brought about.” (Note 11)

“Among these good friends, I found the preachers most willing to forward the work of Scripture distribution; and I was happy to be able to give them a supply, of which they were greatly in want. May the Lord bless the labors of these good men, for the benefit of all the surrounding colonies.” (Note 12)

Cheap Bibles and free German religious tracts provided through the British and Foreign Bible Society, Russian Bible Society and Berlin Bible Society were actively distributed by Molotschna supporters for decades. These were received with enthusiasm by an increasingly literate and intellectually curious community.

Distribution of tracts, the sale of New Testaments, Psalms, and full Bibles, and some evangelism to Catholics and Orthodox continued well into the 1880s by individuals outside the ministries of the institutional church and often with the support of local police officials. See Peter Penner’s brief report on his four years of ministry as a travelling “colporteur for the Lord” as well as the “memories of a Bible colporteur” (note 13).

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Life of William Allen: With Selections from His Correspondence, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Longstreth, 1847), 149f., https://books.google.ca/books?id=bLUmXra1oWcC.

Note 2: Life of William Allen, vol. I, 401–403. James Urry first brought some of these materials to light in his 1987 essay, “‘Servants from far’: Mennonites and the pan-evangelical impulse in early nineteenth-century Russia,” Mennonite Quarterly Review 61, no. 2 (1987), 213–227. Cf. Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labours of Stephen Grellet, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Longstreth, 1867), 389; 409; 441, https://books.google.ca/books?id=ErsRqec-8DYC.

Note 3: Life of William Allen, vol. I, 402.

Note 4: Ebeneezer Henderson, Biblical Researches and Travels in Russia (James Nisbet, 1826) 386, https://books.google.ca/books?id=8yFaAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA386#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Note 5: “No. 52: Johann Cornies to David Epp, Prussia. 10 March 1826,” in Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe: Letters and Papers of Johann Cornies, vol. 1: 1812–1835, translated by Ingrid I. Epp; edited by Harvey L. Dyck, Ingrid I. Epp, and John R. Staples (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 61f. On growth, see “No. 350, Johann Cornies to Daniel Schlatter, 11 March, 1833,” ibid., 317, https://books.ca/books?id=54Z6CwAAQBAJ&pg.

Note 6: Cf. reports in the Boston-based Baptist paper, Christian Watchman 19, no. 20 (May 18, 1838) 78; 26, no. 7 (Feb. 14, 1845) 1; Watchman and Reflector 69 no. 53 (Dec. 31, 1868) 1.

Note 7: Cf. letter from Molotschna elders and Tobias Voth to Prussian church leaders, in Peter M. Friesen, The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910 (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978), 135–141; esp. 137, https://archive.org/details/TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia17891910/.

Note 8: Abraham Braun, “Kleine Chronik der Mennoniten an der Molotschna seit ihrer Ansiedlung bis in mein 80. Jahr,” Mennonitisches Jahrbuch 1907, no. 5 (1908) 66–79; 70f., https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/kb/mj1907.pdf. English translation: https://www.mharchives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Braun-Abraham-A-Brief-History-of-the-Mennonites-in-the-Molotschna-Edited.pdf. Franz Isaac, Molotschnaer Mennoniten: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte derselben(Halbstadt, Taurien: H. J. Braun, 1908), 93–95, https://archive.org/details/die-molotschnaer-mennoniten-editablea. English translation: https://www.mharchives.ca/download/3573/.

Note 9: “No. 347, Phillip Wiebe to [David] Epp, Khortitsa, 1 September 1840,” Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe: Letters and Papers of Johann Cornies, vol. 2: 1836–1842, translated by Ingrid I. Epp; edited by Harvey L. Dyck, Ingrid I. Epp, and John R. Staples (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 282f., https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/100164/1/Southern_Ukrainian_Steppe_UTP_9781487538743.pdf.

Note 10: “No. 516, Johann Wiebe (Neuteich, Prussia) to Johann Cornies, 23 December 1841,” Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe, vol. 2, 423.

Note 11: “Mennonites in Russia,” Christian Watchman 24, no. 27 (July 7, 1843), 1.

Note 12: “Mennonites in Russia,” Christian Watchman 24, no. 27 (July 7, 1843), 1.

Note 13: Mennonitische Rundschau 8, no. 6 (February 9, 1887), 1, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/lfrs99.pdf; Johann Bartsch’s extensive report, “Erinnerungen eines Bibelkolporteurs,” Mennonitische Rundschau 26 (June 17, 1903), 1–2, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/ekl427.pdf; (November 18, 1903), 2–3, https://media.chortitza.org/pdf/ekl428.pdf.

To cite this page: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, "Mennonite Love Affair with the Bible Society," History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), November 19, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/11/mennonite-love-affair-with-bible-society.html.

Comments

The Executioner of Dnepropetrovsk, 1937-38

Naum Turbovsky likely killed more Mennonites than anyone in the longer history of the Anabaptist-Mennonite movement. This is an emotionally difficult post to write because one of those men was my grandfather, Franz Bräul, born 1896. In 2019, I received the translation of his 30-page arrest, trial and execution file. To this point my mother never knew her father's fate. Naum Turbovsky's signature is on Bräul's execution order. Bräul was shot on December 11, 1937. Together with my grandfather's NKVD/ KGB file, I have the files of eight others arrested with him. Turbovsky's file is available online. Days before he signed the execution papers for those in this group, Turbovsky was given an award for the security of his prison and for his method of isolating and transferring prisoners to their interrogation—all of which “greatly contributed to the success of the investigations over the enemies of the people,” namely “military-fascist conspirators, spies and saboteurs.” T

Village Reports Commando Dr. Stumpp, 1942: List and Links

Each of the "Commando Dr. Stumpp" village reports written during German occupation of Ukraine 1942 contains a mountain of demographic data, names, dates, occupations, numbers of untimely deaths (revolution, famines, abductions), narratives of life in the 1930s, of repression and liberation, maps, and much more. The reports are critical for telling the story of Mennonites in the Soviet Union before 1942, albeit written with the dynamics of Nazi German rule at play. Reports for some 56 (predominantly) Mennonite villages from the historic Mennonite settlement areas of Chortitza, Sagradovka, Baratow, Schlachtin, Milorodovka, and Borosenko have survived. Unfortunately no village reports from the Molotschna area (known under occupation as “Halbstadt”) have been found. Dr. Karl Stumpp, a prolific chronicler of “Germans abroad,” became well-known to German Mennonites (Prof. Benjamin Unruh/ Dr. Walter Quiring) before the war as the director of the Research Center for Russian Germans

"Women Talking" -- and Canadian Mennonites

In March 2023 the film "Women Talking" won an Oscar for "Best adapted Screenplay." It was based on the novel of the same name by Mennonite Miriam Toews. The conservative Mennonites portrayed in the film are from the "Manitoba Colony" in Bolivia--with obvious Canadian connections. Now that many Canadians have seen the the film, Mennonites like me are being asked, "So how are you [in Markham-Stouffville, Waterloo or in St. Catharines] connected to that group?" Most would say, "We're not that type of Mennonite." And mostly that is a true answer, though unnuanced. Others will say, "Well, it is complex," but they can't quite unfold the complexity. Below is my attempt to do just that. At the heart of the story are things that happened in Ukraine (at the time "New" or "South" Russia) over 200 years ago. It is not easy to rebuild the influence and contribution of "Russian Mennonite" women and th

Prof. Benjamin Unruh as a Public Figure in the Nazi Era

Professor Benjamin H. Unruh (1881-1959) was a relief and immigration leader, educator, leading churchman, and official representative of Russian Mennonites outside of the Soviet Union throughout the National Socialism era in Germany. Unruh’s biography is connected to the very beginnings of Mennonite Central Committee in 1920-1922 when he served as a key spokesperson in Germany for the famine-stricken Mennonites in South Russia. Some years later he again played the central role in the rescue of thousands of Mennonites from Moscow in 1929 and, along with MCC, their resettlement in Paraguay, Brazil, and Canada. Because of Unruh’s influence and deep connections with key German government agencies in Berlin, his home office in Karlsruhe, Germany, became a relief hub for Mennonites internationally. Unruh facilitated large-scale debt forgiveness for Mennonites in Paraguay and Brazil, and negotiated preferential consideration for Mennonite relief work to the Soviet Union during the Great Famin

The Shift from Dutch to German, 1700s

Already in 1671, Mennonite Flemish Elder Georg Hansen in Danzig published his German-language catechism ( Glaubens-Bericht für die Jugend ) as preparation for youth seeking baptism. Though educational competencies varied, Hansen’s Glaubens-Bericht assumed that youth preparing for baptism had a stronger ability to read complex German than Dutch ( note 1 ). Popular Mennonite preacher Jacob Denner (1659–1746), originally from the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, lived in Danzig for four years in the early 1700s. A first volume of his Dutch sermons was published in 1706 in Danzig and Amsterdam, and then in 1730 and 1751 he published two German collections. Untrained preachers would often read Denner’s sermons: “Those who preached German—which all Prussian preachers around 1750 did, with the exception of the Danzig preachers—had no sermons books from their co-religionists other than this one by Jacob Denner” ( note 2 ). In Danzig and the Vistula Delta region there were some differences

Plague and Pestilence in Danzig, 1709

Russian and Prussian Mennonites trace at least 200 years of their story through Danzig and Royal Prussia, where episodes of plague and pestilence were not unfamiliar ( note 1 ). Mennonites arrived primarily from the Low Countries and in large numbers in the middle of the 16th century—approximately 750 families or 3,000 refugees and settlers between 1527 and 1578 to Danzig and Royal Prussia ( note 2 ). At this time Danzig was undergoing tremendous demographic, cultural and economic transformation, almost tripling in population in less than 100 years. With 80% of Poland’s foreign trade handled through this port city ( note 3 ), Danzig saw the arrival of new people from across Europe, many looking to find work in the crammed and bustling city ( note 4 ). Maria Bogucka’s research on Danzig in this era brings the streets of the maritime city to life: “Sanitation facilities were inadequate … The level of personal hygiene was low. Most people lived close together: five or six to a room, sle

The Tinkelstein Family of Chortitza-Rosenthal (Ukraine)

Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in "New Russia" (later Ukraine), est. 1789. The last Mennonites left in 1943 ( note 1 ). During the Stalin years in Ukraine (after 1928), marriage with Jewish neighbours—especially among better educated Mennonites in cities—had become somewhat more common. When the Germans arrived mid-August 1941, however, it meant certain death for the Jewish partner and usually for the children of those marriages. A family friend, Peter Harder, died in 2022 at age 96. Peter was born in Osterwick to a teacher and grew up in Chortitza. As a 16-year-old in 1942, Peter was compelled by occupying German forces to participate in the war effort. Ukrainians and Russians (prisoners of war?) were used by the Germans to rebuild the massive dam at Einlage near Zaporizhzhia, and Peter was engaged as a translator. In the next year he changed focus and started teachers college, which included significant Nazi indoctrination. In 2017 I interviewed Peter Ha

“First Arrival of German Troops in Halbstadt” (Volksfreund, April 20, 1918)

“ April 19, 1918 will always remain significant in the history of the Molotschna German Colony. That which until recently could hardly be imagined has occurred: the German military has arrived to free us from the despotism, rape and pillaging of barbarous people and to reestablish the order and security of life and property--something desperately necessary for our land. For this we give thanks above all to the One in whose hands the peoples and nations and also individuals rest. ...” ( Note 1 ) Mennonites greeted their “guests and liberators” with festivities that included baked goods (Zwieback), meats and even the German anthem “ Deutschland, Deutschland über alles "—all before the watchful eyes of their Russian /Ukrainian neighbours. The troops arrived by train; and to the shock of most present, three bound prisoners—all well-known bandits and terrorists—“were brought out of one of the railway cars without any prior notice, lined up and shot right in front of us” as an exampl

Invitation to the Russian Consulate, Danzig, January 19, 1788

B elow is one of the most important original Mennonite artifacts I have seen. It concerns January 19. The two land scouts Jacob Höppner and Johann Bartsch had returned to Danzig from Russia on November 10, 1787 with the Russian Immigration Agent, Georg von Trappe. Soon thereafter, Trappe had copies of the royal decree and agreement (Gnadenbrief) printed for distribution in the Flemish and Frisian Mennonite congregations in Danzig and other locations, dated December 29, 1787 ( see pic ; note 1 ). After the flyer was handed out to congregants in Danzig after worship on January 13, 1788, city councilors made the most bitter accusations against church elders for allowing Trappe and the Russian Consulate to do this; something similar had happened before ( note 2 ). In the flyer Trappe boasted that land scouts Höppner and Bartsch met not only with Gregory Potemkin, Catherine the Great’s vice-regent and administrator of New Russia, but also with “the Most Gracious Russian Monarch” herse

What does it cost to settle a Refugee? Basic without Medical Care (1930)

In January 1930, the Mennonite Central Committee was scrambling to get 3,885 Mennonites out of Germany and settled somewhere fast. These refugees had fled via Moscow in December 1929, and Germany was willing only to serve as first transit stop ( note 1 ). Canada was very reluctant to take any German-speaking Mennonites—the Great Depression had begun and a negative memory of war resistance still lingered. In the end Canada took 1,344 Mennonites and the USA took none born in Russia. Paraguay was the next best option ( note 2 ). The German government preferred Brazil, but Brazil would not guarantee freedom from military service, which was a problem for American Mennonite financiers. There were already some conservative "cousins" from Manitoba in Paraguay who had negotiated with the government and learned through trial and error how to survive in the "Green Hell" of the Paraguayan Chaco. MCC with the assistance of a German aid organization purchased and distribute

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog