History of the Russian Mennonites

The factors weighed by families leaving (or thinking of leaving) Russia in the 1870s for “America” were many. The presenting issue was the requirement of some form of obligatory state service. But other factors were also at play and are well expressed in a series of letters from a Görtzen family in Franzthal, Molotschna to relatives already in Kansas. What will the neighbours do? What do our children and their friends want to do? What can we get for our farm? Will we have enough money? How cold is the weather there? Will we go hungry? Is there enough land for our children here in Russia? What will our son think of us when he's called up for state service? Is there more freedom there than here? Is it safe? What about Canada? Does anyone really know the future? What is God's will? Are the church fights (sheep stealing) worse there than here? The congregations here are all divided whether to stay or not. Here are some excerpts: “My wife and I are not able to do much work any

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