Orloff (Schönsee) Mennonite Church, located in the Slavgorod Mennonite settlement in Siberia, was organized in 1908. This was one of the five congregations of the Slavgorod settlement and the mother church of the others. The congregation served the following seven villages: Schönsee, Lichtfelde, Orloff, Schönwiese, Schönau, Rosenhof, and Friedensfeld. The first leading minister was Peter J. Wiebe, followed by Cornelius D. Harder, who was ordained elder. When Harder left for Canada in 1927 he was succeeded by Gerhard Warkentin. Other ministers were Gerhard A. Wiebe, Abram Töws, Cornelius Dück, Johann Fast, Heinrich Wiebe, Bernhard Derksen, Wilhelm Raabe, and Peter G. Wiebe. In 1922 the congregation purchased a house and remodeled it into a church. To what extent the religious life and activities of the congregation, which had to cease in 1932, were revived after 1953 had not become apparent by the mid-1950s (see also Slavgorod Mennonite Church).

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 85. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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