The Lutheran Church in Johannestal

Most, if not all of the colonial villages established colonies in Russia were segregated by religion, either Catholic, Protestant, or Mennonite. Johannestal was established as a Lutheran village and remained so. Although the church was Lutheran, many of the members of the village were reformed, including some of the church pastors. In latter years of the colony's existence, a small Baptist group met in private homes in the village.

In the 1930's many of the churches in Russia were destroyed or severely damaged by the Godless Society, sponsored by the Communist Government. The Johannestal church fared better than some: it's steeple was removed along with all of the religions ornamentation and altar, however the building was left standing and was used as a "Klub" or social hall for the village. In recent years the church has been re-claimed by the Ukrainian Lutheran Church and services are held there about once per month.

We do not have any good photographs of what the church looked like before the steeple was removed. About all that was available was the photograph in Height (top left picture below.) Gary Schorzmann commissioned an artist to draw what the church looked like, going from the Height photo and more recent photographs. The four graphics are superimposed on a map showing Johannestal and the neighboring villages highlighted in yellow.

Johannestal Church Montage prepared by Gary Schorzmann and used with his kind permission