Eben-Ezer was a colony founded in the North Caucasus in 1904 by former residents of the village Emmaus, about 45 miles (73 km) to the southeast, as the crow flies. The colonists left Emmaus because of attacks from mountain tribes. They were joined in Eben-Ezer and by residents of other Cloeter (Clöter) settlements.
These Cloeter settlements were founded by followers of Lutheran pastor Samuel Gottfried Christoph Clöter (1823-1896), who was an influential pastor who had preached about the coming end of days since 1865. He purchased land on the Terek River southern Russia to establish a chiliastic separatist settlement. He considered the area "God's chosen land for the millennial kingdom."
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| Eben-Ezer plat map Source: 1961 Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Russland Map courtesy of Black Sea German Research plat map collection |
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| Location of Eben-Ezer, North Caucasus |
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Sources:
- Black Sea German Research plat map collection
- Germans from Russia Settlement Locations, Caucasus Colonies map
- German-Russian Handbook, Ulrich Mertens, p. 336
- Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus Russland, 1961 (Homeland Book of the Germans from Russia), Johann Kampen and Hans Kampen, eds.
- Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Spring 1998, Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 12
- Map of German Settlements in the North and South Caucasus, Karl Stumpp
