Menno Simons — elder of the Anabaptist-Mennonites

· Germany, History, Mennonites

Born in 1496 in Witmarsum, Friesland [Netherlands] — died January 31, 1561 near Lübeck, Holstein [Germany]), Dutch priest, early leader of the peaceful wing of the Dutch Anabaptists, whose followers formed the Mennonite church.

Life

Little is known about the early life of Menno. He was born into a Dutch peasant family; his father’s name was Simon. At an early age he was enrolled in a monastic school, possibly the Franciscan monastery at Bolsward, to prepare for the priesthood. In March 1524, at the age of 28, he was ordained at Utrecht and given a parish at Pingjum, near his birthplace. Seven years later, in 1531, he became the village priest in his home parish at Witmarsum.

Although Menno was to become a leading preacher of formal Christianity, his primary interest was teaching. During his first year as a priest, he began to doubt the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. This was likely due in large part to the anti-sacramental tendencies spreading in the Netherlands at the time, tendencies developed from the humanism of Erasmus and the ethical concerns of the Brethren of the Common Life. These uncertainties first led Menno to read the Bible and the writings of Martin Luther. At first he read the Bible with great trepidation, knowing that this step had led Luther and the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli out of the Roman Catholic Church, but he soon agreed with them that the authority of the Bible must be primary in the life of the believer and in the church. By 1528 he had become known as an evangelical preacher, though he continued as a parish priest.

From doubts about the Eucharist, Menno gradually moved to questions about infant baptism and the meaning of belonging to the church. His reading of the New Testament led him to the firm conviction that only people of mature faith who know Jesus as Lord and are willing to pay the cost of following him can be fit for church membership. Only such people may be baptized as the seal (sign of commitment) of the covenant and a witness to the whole world. The grace of Christ is sufficient for children until they reach the age of accountability and make a conscious decision for or against him. Menno experienced a conversion that was the most important thing for his entire life and theology.

Meanwhile, the revolutionary wing of early Dutch Anabaptism continued its agitation. On April 7, 1535, the Olde Klooster near Bolsward, which they had seized as a staging area for the Münster uprising, fell to an attack by the state police. Among those killed were members of Menno’s congregation and Peter Simons, who may have been his own brother. This prompted him to preach openly against the errors of the revolutionaries. In doing so, he explained with increasing clarity how he believed the true character of the believers’ church ought to be: pure doctrine, biblical application of the sacraments, moral obedience, love for neighbor, clear and open witness of faith, and readiness to suffer. The fall of Münster on July 25, 1535, increased his desire to help those he considered lost souls. This firm and frank ministry soon endangered his safety, and in January 1536 he went into hiding after a spiritual struggle lasting 11 years.

Describing his decision, he wrote:

Menno spent a quiet year in hiding, trying to discern the direction of his future work. During this time he wrote “The Spiritual Resurrection,” “The New Birth,” and “Meditation on the 22nd Psalm.” At the end of 1536 or the beginning of 1537, he received believer’s baptism, was called to leadership of the peaceful group of Anabaptists founded in 1534 by Obbe Philips, and was ordained by Philips. He also married. From this time on his life was in constant danger as a heretic. In 1542 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–58) personally issued an edict against him, offering a reward of 100 guilders for his arrest. One of the first Anabaptist believers executed for sheltering Menno was Tiard Reynics of Leeuwarden in 1539.

From 1543 to 1544 Menno worked in East Frisia, where in January 1544 he held a conversation or debate with the Polish reformer Johannes a Lasco (1499–1560). The next two years, 1544–46, were spent in the Rhineland, after which he traveled from his new residence in Holstein, near Oldesloe, northeast of Hamburg, right up until his death in 1561. Here he had time to write extensively and set up a printing press to distribute Anabaptist writings. In his travels he not only revisited the Netherlands but also went to Danzig.

Influence

Menno was not the founder of the Mennonite Church, nor the most articulate representative of early Anabaptist theology. His greatness lies in the leadership he provided to the northern Anabaptists during the formative first generation, a leadership sustained through his calm, biblically oriented approach and through his writings, which deepened the penetration of the movement. Although these writings may seem tedious and excessively polemical, they outlined the Anabaptist faith, which he defended on the one hand against Catholic and Protestant attacks and on the other against distortions by fanatics from within the movement. During the last years of his life, he was especially troubled by some of his own brothers who demanded great strictness in applying the ban (excommunication) and other disciplinary measures. His more than 40 extant writings all have as their preface the words of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 3:11 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

(C.J.D).

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