The Mennonite Series Part 1: Anabaptism in the Netherlands
Mennonite history is quite fascinating, and there is often a debate about whether Mennonites have a “culture” of their own. Or, if it is simply a religion. In the beginning the group that decided to break away from the Roman Catholic state church, did so for religious reasons. Catholicism was the predominant religion in the 1500s, when the Reformation movements of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Menno Simons, changed everything.
It all started in the Netherlands. The first groups that broke away were called Anabaptists. In the 1530s, a man named Melchior Hoffman brought the Anabaptist faith to the Netherlands and baptized many adults into the faith. In case you didn’t know, the Catholic state church practiced infant baptism, and the term “Anabaptism” means to be baptized “over again”. Adult baptism as well as pacifism were the main trademarks of the Anabaptists and later, the Mennonites.
Menno Simmons The Anabaptist Reformer
Anabaptist doctrines were first preached in Zurich, Switzerland. They spread to southern Germany and then to the Netherlands. Once Melchior Hoffman had introduced the religion to these communities it began to grow and many reformers arose.
Menno Simons was a prominent religious leader for the Dutch Anabaptist movement during the sixteenth century. This was due to his help in supporting and establishing Anabaptism as a legitimate Reform movement. His teachings live on through the Mennonites, a religious sect that birthed many different branches including the Amish.
Menno Simons was an educated man as well as a Catholic Priest. He was from a peasant family but had an education; he learned Greek and Latin and had an interest in Theology. He became a priest in his early 20s, even though he had never read from the Bible, because he did not want to be misled by misinterpretation of the Scripture. Reading this I had a little chuckle because the idea of “not reading the bible too much”, is still around in many Mennonite churches. Also, because of fear of being misled. (in German we call this, evasheten)
Menno Simmons eventually would be frustrated by the controversy around scriptural interpretation and started studying the bible himself, for clarity. He became an evangelical preacher but did not leave the state Church until 1536. When his brother, an Anabaptist, was attacked and died as a result of refusing to fight back.
Mennonites and The Endless Search for Religious Freedom
Menno Simmons did not start the movement, but once he became an Anabaptist he was always moving around and spreading their message. He was never in one place too long, because he feared persecution. He became a prominent speaker and leader within the movement. His followers became known as the “Mennonites”.
The Anabaptist group in the Netherlands faced intense persecution, and many were killed. The early Mennonites died to hold on to their faith. Because of the persecution they were facing, many fled to Danzig Poland, and they settled in an area called Vistula Delta. The Mennonites thrived for several generations, establishing prosperous farming communities and contributing to the development of the region.
The Forming of Mennonite Tradition and Culture
In Vistula Delta, the Low German language that Mennonites speak today was born. In the 16th Century the area where the Mennonites were living and farming, was taken over by Prussia. This is when High German gets introduced to the Mennonites and most churches still use High German today. The new Prussian government did not like that the group was not willing to participate in the Military and again faced persecution. The Mennonites fled again, from Prussia to Russia.
The Mennonites were promised farmlands and religious freedom to come to Russia, by Catherine the Great. They came to Russia in 1789 and built their own communities, schools, and churches. The Mennonite settlers did not conform to the Russian way of life and kept themselves apart. They really didn’t even learn the Russian language in the beginning. They had their own way of life that had become traditionalized, and one could argue this is where the Mennonite religion also became a culture.
