History of the Russian Mennonites

Arguably the most significant outside religious influence on Mennonite s in the 19th century was the revivalist preaching of Eduard Wüst, a university-trained Württemberg Pietist minister installed by the separatist Evangelical Brethren Church in New Russia in 1843 ( note 1 ). With the end-time prophesies of a previous generation of Pietists (and many Mennonites) coming to naught, Wüst introduced Germans in this area of New Russia to the “New Pietism” and its more individualistic, emotional conversion experience and sermons on the free grace of God centred on the cross of Christ ( note 2 ). Wüst’s 1851 Christmas sermon series give a good picture of what was changing ( note 3 ). His core agenda was to dispel gloom (which maybe could describe more traditional Mennonites) and induce Christian joy. This is the root impulse of the Mennonite Brethren beginnings years later in 1860. “Satan is not entitled to present his own as the most joyful.” His people “sing, jump, leap ( hüpfen )

Heinrich Balzer (1800-1846) has been called "the philosopher” of the Molotschna. In a unique 1833 treatise Balzer provided “a possible philosophical foundation for the Mennonite faith as it was developed by the early Swiss Brethren and Menno Simons," as assessed by Anabaptist historian Robert Friedman. Its 10 pages appear to be "entirely in the spirit of early Anabaptism"( note 1 ). J. Denny Weaver—who like Friedmann is most at home with American Swiss Mennonite thought—summarized it as a “philosophical” argument for conservative Mennonitism and community maintenance ( note 2 ). Even James Urry, our best Russian Mennonite historian, does not strongly challenge this reading. Urry’s essay on Balzer however is important for understanding the social and religious world of the text in the 1820s and 1830s. Balzer’s distinctive contribution, according to Urry,  “... was to add a new dimension built on reaction to post-Reformation developments in theology and secular ph

After four decades in Russia, the president of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Colonists, Andrei Fadeev, considered only eight of 116 Mennonite teachers in the two larger regions of Katerynoslav and Tauria—which included the Molotschna—fit to teach ( note 1 ). Jakob Bräul’s Rudnerweide schoolhouse was given the same status as Heinrich Heese’s Ohrloff Agricultural Society School with regard to policies and “especially for the teaching of Russian” ( note 2 ). Fadeev triggered great angst when by “imperial decree” he distributed a book to church elders written by German Mennonite Abraham Hunzinger on the modernization of Mennonite schools and church. It was a friendly gesture and poke. The Molotschna was already a tinderbox, and this spark introduced by a state official to strengthen the community ignited a fire in the colony. Fadeev wrote to Johann Cornies on January 12, 1832: “Most valued Cornies ... I advise you to acquire and read a booklet sent to your church leaders from

In 1848, Evgenii von Hahn, President of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in New Russia, tasked each village administration to work with the schoolteacher to produce an exact historical description of its settlement and key events in its history ( note 1 ). Looking back 44 years, the mayor and teacher of the Molotschna village of Altona had no difficulty identifying and describing the most glorious event in their history ( note 2 ). “There are moments in life that are too great for the human heart, when we are simply overwhelmed--exquisite, great, blissful moments when our voices fall silent, when we are moved so profoundly in our inward being that our hands fold of their own accord and our eyes gaze heavenward and prayer is the one thing needed by an overflowing heart. One such great, blissful moment was in the year 1818, when the most blessed Emperor Alexander I on his journey from the Crimea to St. Petersburg honoured our colony [village] with his distinguished visit a

It is surprising for many to learn that Russian Mennonites sang the Russian national anthem "God save the Tsar" in special worship services ... frequently! We have a "Mennonite prayer" and sermon sample for the accession of the monarch ( Thronbesteigung ) or its anniversary, with closing prayer-- and another Mennonite sampler of a coronation ( Krönung ) prayer, sermon and closing prayer ( note 1 ). After 70 years with one monarch, the manual is made for a time like this--try sharing it with your Canadian Mennonite pastor ;) Technically there is no “between” monarchs: “The Queen is Dead. Long live the King!” But there is much that happens or can happen before the coronation of the new monarch. Including revolt. Mennonites in Molotschna had hosted Tsar Alexander I shortly before his death in 1825. Upon his death in December, Alexander's brother and heir Constantine declined succession, and prior to the coronation of the next brother Nicholas, some 3,000 rebel (mos

After the death of Tsar Alexander I in 1825 and subsequent coronation of his heir Nicholas I, Johann Cornies wrote to his friend in St. Petersburg: “Praise be to God that Russia’s throne is again filled by a father. As good and loyal subjects, our wishes and prayers should try to support him ” ( note 1 ). Cornies was the leading Mennonite of his era; he had hosted the emperor in his home for tea only a month before his death ( note 2 ). Cornies’ letters—official and personal over two decades—consistently demonstrate filial piety towards the “blessed Monarch” ( note 3 ) and his “wise, generous and benevolent government.” Some years later Cornies summarized five decades of Mennonite experience under the Imperial House of Russia: “Since its first settlement, the entire Mennonite brotherhood … has lived in peaceful and blessed tranquility under the wise, generous and benevolent government of their Most Serene Highnesses, Emperors and rulers of the land. It cannot sufficiently honour and p