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Religion
Catherine the Great's Manifesto of 1763 promised the freedom of religious worship:
We grant to all foreigners coming into Our Empire the free and unrestricted practice of their religion according to the precepts and usage of their Church. To those, however, who intend to settle not in cities but in colonies and villages on uninhabited lands we grant the freedom to build churches and bell towers, and to maintain the necessary number of priests and church servants, but not the construction of monasteries.
Painting of the Norka church and bell tower by George Brill, son of Conrad Brill. Used with permission of the Brill family.
Religion and the church were important to the colonist's intellectual world and helped sustain their moral standards, language, and ethnic character.
Practically all of the colonists claimed a religious affiliation. Based on the 1767 Census Revision, most of the 218 families in Norka were of the Reformed Tradition. Only 16 families (7 percent) identified themselves as Lutherans, and 6 families (3 percent) were Roman Catholics. Many Catholic heads of household were craftsmen from non-German countries or provinces such as France, Flanders, and Brabant.
Many colonists were part of the Pietism Movement, which originated in 17th-century Germany. This movement emphasized the need for a "religion of the heart" instead of the head and was characterized by ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, and even mysticism.
Religious life in Norka was formed by pastors, many of whom were influenced by the Moravian Brethren faith. Spiritual leaders such as Johann Baptist Cattaneo, Friedrich Börner, and Karl Jakob Früauf had close ties to the Moravian seminary in Barby, Germany, and the Moravian settlement of Sarepta, Russia, located on the southern fringe of the Volga German settlements. The Moravian Brethren already had considerable experience founding colonies in America and elsewhere. Their success at Sarepta and influence over Norka was due mainly to their previous experience with establishing colonies. This included careful preparation and the support of the powerful Russian Count Chernyshyov, a close confidant of the Empress who was sympathetic to the society's missionary goals as long as they did not attempt to convert Orthodox families.
By 1875, a growing religious sect, the Der Brüderschaft Versammlung (the Brethren), comprised 26 members in Norka. These people were known as Ausgänger (outliers) by the established church officials. Tensions between the Brethren and the church officials would prompt many to emigrate from Russia.
In 1879, it was reported that there were 67 Baptists in Norka.
By 1906, 23,179 parishioners (22,794 Reformed and 385 Lutherans) were residing in the Norka Parish, which included the colonies of Huck and Neu-Messer. Neu-Messer was incorporated into the Norka parish at its founding in 1863. At the time, Norka was the second-largest parish in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia. Only the Frank parish was larger (28,039 members).
At the end of the 1920s, official church life was being systematically destroyed in Norka and throughout the Volga region by the Soviet government. Gerd Stricker writes, "Half of the parishes were vacant by 1923, and most were vacant by 1927/29." The pastors were arrested and exiled, disappeared, or were murdered. The people of Norka became "sheep without shepherds," and their faith would be severely tested in the years ahead.
Practically all of the colonists claimed a religious affiliation. Based on the 1767 Census Revision, most of the 218 families in Norka were of the Reformed Tradition. Only 16 families (7 percent) identified themselves as Lutherans, and 6 families (3 percent) were Roman Catholics. Many Catholic heads of household were craftsmen from non-German countries or provinces such as France, Flanders, and Brabant.
Many colonists were part of the Pietism Movement, which originated in 17th-century Germany. This movement emphasized the need for a "religion of the heart" instead of the head and was characterized by ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, and even mysticism.
Religious life in Norka was formed by pastors, many of whom were influenced by the Moravian Brethren faith. Spiritual leaders such as Johann Baptist Cattaneo, Friedrich Börner, and Karl Jakob Früauf had close ties to the Moravian seminary in Barby, Germany, and the Moravian settlement of Sarepta, Russia, located on the southern fringe of the Volga German settlements. The Moravian Brethren already had considerable experience founding colonies in America and elsewhere. Their success at Sarepta and influence over Norka was due mainly to their previous experience with establishing colonies. This included careful preparation and the support of the powerful Russian Count Chernyshyov, a close confidant of the Empress who was sympathetic to the society's missionary goals as long as they did not attempt to convert Orthodox families.
By 1875, a growing religious sect, the Der Brüderschaft Versammlung (the Brethren), comprised 26 members in Norka. These people were known as Ausgänger (outliers) by the established church officials. Tensions between the Brethren and the church officials would prompt many to emigrate from Russia.
In 1879, it was reported that there were 67 Baptists in Norka.
By 1906, 23,179 parishioners (22,794 Reformed and 385 Lutherans) were residing in the Norka Parish, which included the colonies of Huck and Neu-Messer. Neu-Messer was incorporated into the Norka parish at its founding in 1863. At the time, Norka was the second-largest parish in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Russia. Only the Frank parish was larger (28,039 members).
At the end of the 1920s, official church life was being systematically destroyed in Norka and throughout the Volga region by the Soviet government. Gerd Stricker writes, "Half of the parishes were vacant by 1923, and most were vacant by 1927/29." The pastors were arrested and exiled, disappeared, or were murdered. The people of Norka became "sheep without shepherds," and their faith would be severely tested in the years ahead.
Sources
Mertens, Ulrich, Allyn Brosz, Alex Herzog, and Thomas Stangl. German-Russian Handbook: A Reference Book for Russian German and German Russian History and Culture with Place Listings of Former German Settlement Areas. Fargo, ND: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State U Libraries, 2010. Print.
Schultheis, Fabian Zubia. "Influence of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine among the Volga Germans". AHSGR Journal, Spring 2020. Pages 10-15.
Stricker, Gerd. Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas: Rußland. Berlin: Sidler Verlag, 1997. Print
GASO. F. 2. V. 1 A. 12411. BI. 96.
Schultheis, Fabian Zubia. "Influence of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine among the Volga Germans". AHSGR Journal, Spring 2020. Pages 10-15.
Stricker, Gerd. Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas: Rußland. Berlin: Sidler Verlag, 1997. Print
GASO. F. 2. V. 1 A. 12411. BI. 96.
Last updated February 5, 2024