Bracketed by their rescue by the Prince of Transylvania in 1622 and the invitation of Russian Field Marshal Rumiantsev in 1770 to establish their home on his Ukrainian estate, the history of the Hutterites in Romania reflects a myriad of emotions from ecstasy to despair. The castle that was their initial sanctuary became their prison under the Jesuits who attempted to destroy them. Their numbers, initially bolstered by Carithian Lutheran converts, quickly dwindled under the imprisonment of their leaders and the threat that their children would be abducted and placed in Catholic orphanages. When nearly all seemed lost, their miraculous escape over the Transylvanian Alps into Muslim-controlled Wallachia restored religious tolerance. However, peace was short lived as soon thereafter Russian and Turkish armies swept across their new refuge. This is the story of these resilient survivors who would form the nucleus of the rebirth of the Hutteritian Brethren. today