Village News

It is almost 150 years ago that Mennonites started formally leaving Imperial Russia for Canada. As we celebrate this anniversary, we are beginning to look back at some of the important events and people who began the Mennonite settlement of Manitoba. Before these first emigrants left their home, they wrote a bold letter to Imperial representative asking for support in their emigration to the Americas and displaying their gratitude for the support they had received from the Czar during their long habitation in Russia.

Your highest Excellency, General-Adjutant Lord von Todtleben:

The Mennonites of the Kleine Gemeinde, of the Heuboden, and Gruenfelde (Blumenhof) Church Districts of the Nikolaithaler Woll-estbesirk, in the Ekatherinoslawschen Government District, express their thankfulness and petition.

Through the representation of your highest Excellency, we recognize the great goodwill and grace of his Majesty, our beloved Czar, and that it has never been the will of his Majesty, and is still not his wish, to rule against the conscience of a Non-resistant Gemeinde, nor to want to enact laws on account of which they would be in conflict with their faith.

It is our priceless and Holy duty to preserve and cling to the Faith of our fathers, which is grounded in the Word of God, by walking in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as for us, every requirement, even if only indirect, of Military or Civil Service, encroaches upon the deepest sense of our Confession of Faith, and makes us transgressors of our Covenant with God. Therefore, your highest Excellency, we cannot recognize that we are in error; notwithstanding that we have any important privileges and freedoms; and that notwithstanding our common Confession of Faith, many Mennonites do not find it objectionable to serve in a public office; which, however, is a Sin and Crime against our people. Through the organization of the Wollost, and much more so, through the enactment of the new military laws, we find ourselves compelled (although not without great regrets) to take the Pilgrim’s Staff; this is the only way agreeable with our conscience, and also (thanks to his Majesty), is permitted by law. As we relied on the Regulations of June 4-6, 1871, which has received the highest confirmation, we have divested ourselves of the greatest portion of our homes and properties and made ourselves ready to travel in accordance with our planned emigration to America.

Filled with feelings of thankfulness and love for Russia and particularly towards our beloved Monarch and Czar, his highest Excellency, we submit our humble petition.

• To carry out the gracious provision that those who are already homeless, as well as those Mennonites who intend to emigrate in the future, will be granted their Emigration Passes.
• That his Excellency will sympathize with our present situation of being without a country, and after consideration, will at the earliest opportunity, graciously grant permission for our people to leave.

We are not leaving with ingratitude; but rather, we take leave of Russia with heart-rending tears and thankfulness, so that even our distant generations will remain filled with feelings of thankfulness for Russia and continue to pray to the King of Kings, for its Monarch; that the Ruler of Destiny will keep him worthy to be the Ruler of the land and a people whose borders are peaceful. We shall also pray that the Monarch himself, will finally come to the higher freedom which is prepared for us through the blood of our Lord Jesus.

May your highest Excellency, be good enough on behalf of the delegates of the Gemeinde we represent, to bring our thankfulness before his Majesty.

Signed: Peter Toews, Elder Abram L. Friesen, Elder Peter Friesen, Minister Abraham Loewen, Minister Jakob Barkman, Minister Peter Kroeker, Minister Cornelius Friesen, Minister

Presented in Chortitz on April 25, 1874

Credit: Delbert Plett, History and Events, Steinbach: D. F. Plett Farms, Ltd., 1982: 71-72.