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| Russian Czar Nicholas II in his coronation robe. |
If in Holland Mennonites were persecuted, and in Polish-Prussia they were mostly tolerated, and America left to themselves—in Russia they were a privileged community.
J. Winfield Fretz looked to the Russian Mennonite experience and concluded that this was the course “Mennonitism will take where it is free to apply its principles, economic and social as well as political, to every-day life,” with “at least fifteen different types of mutual aid activities” (note 1). While exaggerated and idealized, unlike the Mennonite experience in contexts before or after, Mennonitism did flourish in Greater Russia because--as one of dozens of “foreign faiths”--it re-imagined itself within Greater Russia’s messianic mission to serve and rule nobly over many peoples (some parallels with America’s self-understanding).
What did imperial Mennonitism look like? Johann Cornies became the first state-appointed Mennonite servitor tasked with guiding the Mennonite community—and indirectly the faith tradition—into an imperial albeit non-resistant tradition. The role of such community servitors was “to instill moral behaviour, social discipline, and submission to general laws” for their community to achieve the conditions of its charter privileges and meet their own religious goals—i.e., to flourish precisely as Mennonites under the Tsar as “patron and guardian of the faith” of his Orthodox and non-Orthodox subjects (note 2).
After the death of Alexander I in 1825 and subsequent coronation of Nicholas I, Mennonite leader 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.” Cornies had hosted the emperor in his home for tea only a month before his death (note 3). Cornies’ letters—official and personal over two decades—consistently demonstrate filial piety towards the “blessed Monarch” and his “wise, generous and benevolent government” (note 4).
Three decades later: The exuberant festal greetings to Alexander II upon his coronation in 1856—signed by nine elders (bishops) and two district chairmen—“express reverently and in childlike manner” that, “next to God’s all-wise providence, we owe our thanks for this noble peace to the most gracious and fatherly sentiments of Your Imperial Majesty” (note 5).
Again, three decades later: When Alexander III was crowned in May 1883, Mennonites eagerly anticipated future stability. “The coronation of our beloved Royal couple is planned for May. May God sustain and bless them for our sake; may he also destroy all godless and wicked plans that are still being forged somewhere in darkness” (note 6).
Royal birthdays, coronations and anniversaries were public holidays, and all religions of the empire were required to celebrate accordingly. The Russian Mennonite poet and evangelist Bernhard Harder penned multiple hymn texts for these celebration for use in Mennonite worship—praising the Tsars as God’s chosen, blessed agents of justice in the battle against the revolutionary forces of hell unleashed on earth (note 7). It is not surprising that Peter M. Friesen’s great history of the Mennonite Brotherhood (1911) included a portrait of the Tsar in the preface (note 8).
The 1911 Mennonite Ministers’ Handbook offers a sample service for the celebration of the Tsar’s birth—prayers and a sermon (note 9). I have translated the sample materials to show how Mennonites in Russia--pretty much all of them for more than a century--thought about the Royal Family, consistent with their reading of the historic Mennonite confessions of faith (note 10).
Addresses for Crown Holidays.
Birth Feast of His Majesty the Emperor.
Prayer: You have, O Lord, blessed and preserved our dear Tsar in the past year of his life; for this, O Father, we do not withhold our thanks.
Take care of him also in the future by your divine power; protect him and his crown! Let there always be peace and tranquility on his chair and throne. Stretch forth thy mild hand of blessing over our Fatherland; let thy kingdom come in power through thy might; protect all who dwell therein!
Address. Loyal attendees! In 1 Peter 2:17 it says, "Fear God, honour the King!" I want to take this word of the Apostle as a basis for my short speech. Today is the feast of the birth of His Majesty our dear Emperor. This day is an important day for us [p. 92], a day when we can invoke new blessings upon His Majesty and His government, and on which our love for the Emperor and our loyalty as his subjects is strengthened and invigorated. The close connection in which God has placed us to our monarch makes this our duty. If we compare the entirety of the inhabitants of the country to a body, then His Majesty the Emperor is the head of this body. And if we compare the entirety of the inhabitants of the country to a family, then His Majesty the Emperor is the one who has the the father's seat in this large family. That is why the emperor is called the head of state and the father of the country.
As it is self-evident that the members of the body carry the head, serve and follow and protect it,--so it should also be self-evident for us as Christian citizens that we carry our head of state, the Emperor, with our prayers; follow his orders, commands and laws and in times of danger stand faithfully by him and protect him as much as we can. And just as well-raised, pious family members love and honour the head of the family, are obedient to him and allow themselves to be guided by him,--so too as members of the great national family, we should love and honour our national father, the Emperor, be obedient to him and submit to his leadership gladly and willingly. And today, on the feast of our emperor's birth, we are to unite and commit ourselves to this anew.
And so it is the fear of God from which flows the willingness to behave in a godly and right manner toward the head of state and the father of the nation. And it is to the fear of God that the apostle Peter calls us when he says in our text: "Fear God! "Fear God," each one of us should be told. Parents should urge their children to fear God, teachers their students, preachers their congregational members. Such fear of God and godliness is useful for all things and has promise for this life and the life to come. In godliness there is a blessing, a great blessing for all that is called human. "Behold, blessed is the one who fears the Lord," says Psalm 125:4. "How great is thy lovingkindness, O God, which thou showest unto them who fear thee"--we read in the 22nd verse of the 31st Psalm. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and helpeth them out," [p. 93] says Psalm 34:8. "And as a father hath mercy on children, so the Lord hath mercy on them that fear him, and helpeth them out," says the psalmist in another place. "But unto you that fear the Lord shall the sun of righteousness arise," says Malachi 4:2. "He that fears the Lord shall prosper in the latter end," says Sirach. And in his other passage Sirach says, "He that feareth God shall not be afflicted, neither shall he be afraid of anything." So the fear of God is of the greatest blessing in every respect. And, as I said, even in a civic sense the fear of God is not without significance and blessing. He who fears God is at the same time a faithful follower and subject of his monarch, and is gladly and willingly and conscientiously subject to the authorities who have power over him.
He who fears God realizes that the authorities, of which the sovereign monarch is the highest head, are ordained and appointed by God, and that they are God's servants who do not bear the sword in vain. He who fears God gladly gives to everyone what he owes him: tax to whom tax is due, duty to whom duty is due, and it will not be difficult for him to fulfill the other word of our text: "Honour the king. Honour the king! For us, who live in an empire, this word is: "Honour the emperor!" And how do we honour him? Well, by looking up to him reverently as to the anointed of God; then also by considering him the anointed of God; then also by submitting most obediently to the laws of the land according to which he rules, and by conscientiously fulfilling our civic duties.
And finally also by praying for our Emperor and commending him to the grace of God and the protection of the Almighty, and by remembering him lovingly everywhere. In this way we honour the Emperor and behave toward him as befits faithful Christian subjects. And also, when we are gathered here (in God's house) to celebrate the feast of the birth of our dear emperor and pray for his salvation and blessing from above, this is also part of what the Apostle means when he says in our text: "Honour the king. Honour, then, our emperor! God Almighty, bless him and keep him, and give him strength and courage and wisdom to fulfill his high task [94] and help him that, through his government, the best of our fatherland may be promoted. May he also bless the dear mother of the country, the heir to the throne and the other royal children, as well as all the authorities and the fatherland. Amen!
Prayer: We come before your continence, O Lord our God, King of Heaven and Earth, and pray for our dear Emperor, whose feast of birth is today. Praise be to thee that thou hast kept him alive, and hast brought him safe and well to this hour. We thank you that you have always been close to him in the year that has passed and have helped him in the fulfillment of his difficult governmental duties. We thank you for all the benefits and blessings you have bestowed upon him, and that we have been able to live safely and in our faith under his rule. At the same time, however, we also ask you to continue to preserve the breath and life of our dear monarch. Be his and his people's protection and shield and fortress and strong fortress. Give him the wisdom to administer his high office according to your will and to promote the best of our fatherland. Crown him everywhere with grace and mercy. Amen!
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It is not surprising that in each generation until WW1, Mennonites had a lively conviction that the purposes of God were at work in and through the Russian Royal Family, through whom God’s kingdom is glorified on earth.
There is no Mennonite tradition “as such,” and many features and episodes in the Russian-Mennonite experience are largely inexplicable from a modern, western framework. But from “up north in Canada,” it does seem to rhyme with the various Mennonite self-understandings of American imperial Mennonitism.
---Notes---
Note 1: J. Winfield Fretz, “Mutual Aid Among Mennonites (I),” Mennonite Quarterly Review 13, no. 1 (1939) 28–58; 46; 44.
Note 2: Robert D. Crews, “Empire and the Confessional State: Islam and Religious Politics in Nineteenth-Century Russia,” American Historical Review 108, no. 1 (2003): 50–83; 52; 55f.
Note 3: Johann Cornies, “No. 49, To Traugott Blueher, 15 February 1826,” 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), 56.
Note 4: Cornies, “No. 66, To Klaas Dyck, 14 August 1826,” Transformation I, 81.
Note 5: “Abschrift der eingereichten Dankschrift der Mennoniten im südlichen Rußland an Sr. Majestät den Kaiser Alexander II. vor der Krönung im August 1856,” Mennonitische Blätter 4, no. 1 (1857): 5. https://mla.bethelks.edu/.../1854-1900/1857/DSCF0069.JPG.
Note 6: Mennonitische Rundschau 4, no. 16 (April 18, 1883): 1. https://archive.org/.../sim_die-mennonitische-rundschau....
Note 7: Cf. Bernhard Harder, Geistliche Lieder und Gelegenheitsgedichte von Bernhard Harder, edited by Heinrich Franz (Hamburg: A-G, 1888), vol. 1, no. 515–538, 562–588, http://chort.square7.ch/Pis/Hard1.pdf. Each text is to be used with a beloved hymn melody.
Note 8: Peter M. Friesen, The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910 (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978), https://archive.org/.../TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia1.../.
Note 9: Handbuch zum Gebrauch bei gottesdienstlichen Handlungen zunächst für die Aeltesten und Prediger der Mennoniten-Gemeinden in Rußland, edited by the Allgemeiner Konferenz der Mennoniten in Rußland (Berdjansk: Ediger, 1911), 92-94. https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/264.097%20Al34h/.
Note 10: E.g., see the article, “On Secular Authority,” in “Confession, or Short and Simple Statement of Faith of Those Who are Called the United Flemish, Frisian, and High German Anabaptist-Mennonite Church,” published by the Church in Rudnerweide in South Russia, 1853, translated by Peter J. Klassen, in One Lord, One Church, One Hope, and One God: Mennonite Confessions of Faith, edited by Howard John Loewen, 115–128 (Elkhart, IN: Institute for Mennonite Studies, 1985), 123f. https://archive.org/details/onelordonechurch02loew/.
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