Abraham Friesen, an elder of the Kleine Gemeinde, of Ohrloff, Molotschna, who was elected to succeed Klaas Reimer as elder on 3 April 1838. Bernhard Fast of the Ohrloff Mennonite Church, having been requested to ordain him, discussed the matter with his coelders, Peter Wedel, Wilhelm Lange, Benjamin Ratzlaff, and Abraham Friesen. Since Friesen was not willing to agree to certain conditions—such as not accepting members from other congregations without a church letter—for his ordination as elder, he assumed the elder's functions without the usual ordination. When the elders were reluctant to recognize Abraham Friesen as an elder of the Kleine Gemeinde, Johann Cornies had him decreed an elder in 1843 by the Board of Guardians (Fürsorgeamt) at Odessa. Abraham Friesen must have been a better educated leader than his predecessor, Klaas Reimer. Numerous (handwritten) writings by him have been preserved and can be found in homes of the members of the Kleine Gemeinde and in the Mennonite Library and Archives (North Newton, Kansas). The booklet, Eine einfache Erklärung über einige Glaubenssätze der sogenannten Kleinen Gemeine (Danzig, 1845), written by a "Faithful servant," has under the conclusion the initials "A. F.," which very likely stand for Abraham Friesen. This booklet also contains the correspondence with Elder Bernhard Fast. Friesen died 1 July 1849.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 403. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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