was another source of community tension. The Germans of either denomination called the village "Alt-Schwedendorf" (literally, old Swedes' village) after the existing Swedes settlers. Basing themselves in Alt-Schwedendorf for a time, the Germans established several entirely German villages (Kolonien). In addition, some Germans also remained in Alt-Schwedendorf. In all, there were the following four initial settlements. They were initially established along confessional lines first in 1782, with the latter ones created in the period 1802 to 1806, viz.: (, , , ; also known as (Verbivka); Старошведське and Вербівка are rendered in German as Staroschwedske and Werbiwka respectively): originally, and overwhelmingly, Lutheran, it was founded by Swedes in 1782, and later supplemented by German settlers, mostly Lutherans, in the period 1802 to 1806. As the oldest and, then, sole village already established, it served as the short-term mustering place from which three other (German) colonies were settled according to religion and ethnicity. As such, for a time, its inhabitants included some German Roman Catholics who settled to the north in the new village of Klosterdorf, or left the area entirely, for destinations such as the Taurien district of Crimea, further to the south. The majority of the influx, however, consisted of German Lutherans who were settled to the south of Alt-Schwedendorf in what were, at least, at the outset, the exclusively German Lutheran villages of Mühlhausendorf and Schlangendorf, for which, see below. After years of tension between the Lutheran Swedes and Lutheran Germans, the Swedes built their own parish church dedicated to St John the Baptist (consecrated 1886; it was later closed during Soviet times and used for various purposes, but is now refurbished and used as an Orthodox Christian church) in the village of Gammalsvenskby/Alt-Schwedendorf, while the German Lutherans of the two southern neighbouring villages built their own house of worship (Betthaus, literally German for prayer house) between the two German Lutheran villages of Mühlhausendorf and Schlangendorf, and dedicated it to St Peter and St Paul (consecrated 1888). As for Alt-Schwedendorf, in 1915, it, along with the three other original villages, was subsumed into modern Zmiivka (see German Schlangendorf, below). As Gammalsvenskby, it is, however, accorded historic status in the region for its association with one of the few settlements of Swedish-speaking colonists in what was once known as South Russia or New Russia, and now forms part of Ukraine (see article on Gammalsvenskby for more details of this