View source for Mariupol Mennonite Brethren Church (Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine)

Mariupol (Mariopol) Mennonite Brethren Church was in Mariupol, a city on the Sea of Azov in the Russian [[Ekaterinoslav Guberniya (Ukraine)|province of Ekaterinoslav]], Ukraine. Northwest of Mariupol was the [[Bergthal Mennonite Settlement (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Bergthal Mennonite settlement]], which was sold in 1874 when the Mennonites moved to [[Canada|Canada]]. This settlement became a part of the larger Catholic and Lutheran settlement known as the [[Planerkolonie (Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine)|Planerkolonie]], which established daughter settlements west and east in the Don River Basin. One of the villages west of the river was Neuhoffnung, where Eduard Wüst was the minister of a separatist movement. Through his evangelistic work Protestants and Catholics were converted.

Around 1866 baptism by immersion was introduced at Mariupol. Among those baptized were J. Fitz, Schröder, Preiss, and Liedtke, who made contact in the villages near the Don River with Heinrich Bartel, Regehr, and Abr. Cornelssen of the [[Mennonite Brethren Church|Mennonite Brethren]]. Others who were working here were Johann and Karl Foth, W. Berchthold, Leppke, and Wölk. The number of Mennonite Brethren increased.

In the 1880s many of the Mennonite Brethren immigrated to [[North America|North America]]. Those of Lutheran and Catholic background who remained in [[Russia|Russia]] encountered difficulties in registering as Mennonite Brethren with the Russian government. The Mariupol Mennonite Brethren group, which was then primarily of non-Mennonite background, joined the Baptist Union in 1887 as the Belachvetch Church in the Mariupol district and as the Liebental Church in the Don area. Some of these Baptists came to America and joined the [[Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church (Hillsboro, Kansas, USA)|Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren]] of [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]] and Wittenberg, [[South Dakota (USA)|South Dakota]]. In 1886 the Mariupol Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia had a membership of 300 and a total population of 538.
= Bibliography =
Friesen, Peter M. <em>The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia (1789-1910)</em>, trans. J. B. Toews and others. Fresno, CA: Board of Christian Literature [M.B.], 1978, rev. ed. 1980.

Friesen, Peter M. <em>Die Alt-Evangelische Mennonitische Brüderschaft in Russland (1789-1910) im Rahmen der mennonitischen Gesamtgeschichte</em>. Halbstadt: Verlagsgesellschaft "Raduga", 1911: 427.

Harms, John F. <em>Geschichte der Mennoniten Brüdergemeinde</em>. Mennonite Brethren Pub. House, 1924: 67.

Malinowsky, Josef Aloys. <em>Die Planerkolonien am Asowischen Meere</em>. Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlags-Aktienges., 1928.
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