HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

226 Reviewsamply discuss, for example, public punishment for personal sins—used to maintaindiscipline and harmony within the community.The Diaries illustrate the heterogeneity of the countryside during this period:Mennonites often served as "model farmers" for resettled Jews under imperial andprovincial tutelage and lived alongside Russians and non-Mennonite Germans aswell. Epp took his task as model farmer seriously and often upbraided Mennoniteswho worked on Sunday as a bad example to the Jews, who held the Sabbath assacred. Although forced to interact with one another in areas of mutual concern,such as common herding and grazing, Mennonite and Jew viewed the world differently,seemed not to trust each other, and consequently got along but poorly.Concerned with the spiritual, educational, and physical well-being of his ownflock, Epp rarely mentions any interaction with members of other religions (exceptfor the Jewish settlers). On occasion, he notes holidays as times when the localOrthodox population would not work in the fields, but on only one occasion does hewrite of a Mennonite man who decided to convert to Orthodoxy (p. 327). At nopoint do the journals recount a Russian becoming a Mennonite. Furthermore, Epp(usually a keen observer of the local and provincial scene) never mentions interactionwith the Old Believer or sectarian populations, which were quite large in thatpart of the empire. These omissions show that, while in a Russian world, the Mennonitesnever became "of the world." They had received guarantees to live in freedomfrom imperial army service and other duties, and the Mennonites tried to retaintheir independence from the rest of Russian society. Epp himself distrusted suchgifts as the Mennonite Charter of Privileges, and his entries chronicle the erosion ofthose "perpetual" liberties.The Diaries thus provide material for the study of communitarian groups in Russiaduring this period. More broadly, the book can be used to aid research on interfaithrelations as well as for more mainstream economic and social history. Eachyear's entries include, for example, detailed data on harvests, birth and death rates,and other pertinent raw source material.Epp's prose (and Dyck's translation) make for a good read: the stream of religiousactivities, notable events, and the rhythm of rural life follow easily from day today, year to year. His prose even becomes lyrical when recounting moments of particularlystrong emotion. He describes seeing his first wife, just deceased, in adream:It was past midnight when I dreamed that my dear, dear wife was standing at my side in a veryfamiliar dress and saying to me that I should accompany her through all of this life. I was sohappy. We walked hand in hand together towards our house, but we had to pass through deepwater that reached up to our chins.... I took my dearly beloved Maria in my arms and earnedher through the water, and on reaching home we sat down together in heartfelt love, just thetwo of us, and with a passionate kiss sealed our reunion forever, (pp. 180-81)Indeed, the cycle of life and, especially, early death comprises a leitmotif for thebook. Both scholars and students would do well to read the scores of entries detailingthe early death of Epp's family and parishioners. The journals remind thosestudying the social conditions of the Russian countryside that the endemic danger oflife in these times was an untimely death.