Creating a Spiritual Tradition: Nine Core Texts

Just before Mennonite immigration to Russia, Prussian leaders were feverishly translating the tradition from Dutch to German. In addition to the translations, a few other key pieces were also written and together these texts shaped the Russian Mennonite tradition.

1. In 1765 certain core writings of Menno Simons were selected, edited for brevity and focus, and translated into a first German edition by Johannes Deknatel (note 1).

2. Hymnals: In 1780, Danzig Flemish Elder Hans van Steen with supporting ministers published (translated): A Spiritual Hymnal for General Edification, in which, besides David’s Psalms, a collection of specially selected old and new songs can be found. The Flemish had “always” worshiped in Dutch and as late as 1752 they had ordered 3,000 Dutch hymnals from Amsterdam. Two-thirds of the hymns in the Danzig hymnal were adopted from the Lutheran and Reformed tradition This was the second unique Mennonite hymnal in “the language of the land”; in 1767 Elbing and West Prussian congregations introduced a German hymnal with hymns that would remain in the Mennonite repertoire for more than two centuries (note 2).

3. In 1782, a condensed German version of the Martyrs Mirror was published in 1782, entitled The History of the Martyrs, or Short Historical Account of the Persecution of the Mennonites. Its editor Isaac van Dühren (1725–1800) was a Danzig clothmaker, dyer, and Frisian minister, whose original translation from Dutch sought to reclaim, renew, and preserve Mennonitism proper. The martyr stories were highly cherished by the previous Dutch-reading generations (note 3).

4. In 1790, a very popular Dutch Mennonite religious book (“approved” by Prussian Mennonite elders for reading since first published) was also translated into German: Pieter Pietersz’s Way to the City of Peace (note 4; original 1625)

5. Two decades earlier in 1770 another popular Dutch Mennonite religious booklet was translated and published in Basel: Jan P. Schabalie’s The Wandering Soul (note 5; original: 1635). This volume and Pieter Pietersz’s text were also brought to Russia later, read devotionally, and used in debate around what it means to be Mennonite.

Three other highly influential pieces were published during this time:

6. In 1779 Flemish Elder Gerhard Wiebe together with his Frisian colleague Elder Heinrich Donner published a common “small catechism” for both Mennonite bodies to replace the century-old Hansen catechism for youth. This catechism was reprinted frequently into the second half of the twentieth century, uniting Mennonite groups and shaping their thought and spirituality over many generations (note 6).

7. In 1792, a new confession of faith (German) was published by Elbing Mennonite Elder Gerhard Wiebe. Its twenty articles are a theological summary of the tradition developed over the Polish and early Prussian period. This confession was taken to Russia and reprinted in 1870 and 1874 (note 7).

8. Frisian Elder Heinrich Donner also published a type of Ministers Manual (German) for communion services. The service suggestions, prayers, and songs are beautifully written and theologically rich (note 8).

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9. When the first Mennonites arrived in Russia 1788/9 without an elder or ministers, untrained and inexperienced lay-persons were elected to organize worship. There is a note that settlers had to be content with sharing Bible reflections in Low German with each other, or a “service that consisted of singing one song and a sermon that was read from a book of sermons.” That volume was a collection of sermons by the East Prussian Mennonite Elder Isaac Kröker (note 9).

There was likely no German preaching in either the Flemish or Frisian Mennonite churches in Danzig and Prussia until the 1760s (note 10).

These Mennonite cultural artifacts shaped the worldview and spirituality of Mennonites in Russia. Mennonites came to Russia from Prussia with these books; they continued to order or reprint them, and they also took most of these books with them again when they emigrated at different points for different places. Nothing of their caliber or lasting influence was written by Mennonites during the 19th century in Russia, with exception perhaps of P. M. Friesen's Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910, published in 1911 (note 11).

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Note---

Note 1: Johannes Deknatel, Auszug aus den merkwürdigsten Abhandlungen aus den Werken Menno Simons (Königsberg: Stöhr, 1765), https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/werkansicht?PPN=PPN657064149&PHYSID=PHYS_0005. [English of Menno Simons here: http://www.mennosimons.net/fulltext.html].

Note 2: Geistreiches Gesangbuch, zur öffentlichen und besondern Erbauung der Mennonitischen Gemeine in und vor der Stadt Danzig (Marienwerder, West Preußen, 1780), http://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=8000; also Geistreiches Gesangbuch, worin nebst denen Psalmen Davids eine Samlung auserlesener alter und neuer Lieder zu finden ist, zur allgemenen Erbauung herausgegeben, edited by Gerhard Wiebe (Königsberg: Kanter, 1767/1775), https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/783_952_G279_1775_c3/. See Hans-Jürgen Goertz, Pieter Post and Peter Letkemann, “Gemeindegesang und Gesangbücher der Mennoniten (Europa),” in Mennonitisches Lexikon (MennLex), volume V, http://mennlex.de/doku.php?id=top:gemeindegesang.

Note 3: Geschichte der Märtyrer, oder kurze historische Nachricht von den Verfolgungen der Mennonisten (Königsberg: Hartung 1782 / 1788]), https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN660141337.

Note 4: Pieter Pietersz, Ausgewählte Schriften von Peter Peters (Elkhart, IN: Mennonitische Verlagshandlung, 1901), https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100436203. ENGLISH: “Way to the City of Peace,” in Spiritual Life in Anabaptism, edited by C. J. Dyck, 231–283 (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1996).

Note 5: Schabalie, The Wandering Soul: Or, Dialogues between the Wandering Soul and Adam, Noah, and Simon Cleophas, translated and edited by C. J. Dyck, 231–283 (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1996), http://www.archive.org/stream/wanderingsoulord00scha#page/n8/mode/2up.

Note 6: Katechismus, oder kurze und einfältige Unterweisung aus der heiligen Schrift, in Frage und Antwort, fur die Kinder zum Gebrauch in den Schulen. Ausgegeben durch die christliche taufgesinnte Gemeine in Rußland, welche Mennoniten genennet werden (including the 1837 foreword of the eighth Prussian edition) (Berdjansk: Kylius, 1874; reprint), https://books.google.ca/books?id=zMY8AAAAcAAJm.

Note 7: Glaubensbekenntniß der Mennoniten in Preußen und Rußland (Berdjansk, 1874), https://chortitza.org/kb/bekent74.pdf.

Note 8: Abendmahls-Andachten: Gebete, und Liedern, vor, und nach dem heiligen Abendmahl, zum Gebrauch der Taufgesinnten Gemeine in Preußen (Marienwerder: Kanter, ca. 1788), https://mla.bethelks.edu/books/donner/.

Note 9: Isaac Kröker, Zwanzig Predigten über verschiedene Texte der heiligen Schrift (Königsberg, 1788).

Note 10: See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-shift-from-dutch-to-german-1700s.html.

Note 11: Peter M. Friesen, The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia 1789–1910 (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978), https://archive.org/details/TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia17891910/. German, 1911, vol. 1: https://books.google.ca/books?id=e5RQAQAAMAAJ&lpg=; OR vol. 1a: https://chortitza.org/pdf/pmfries1.pdf; vol. 1b: https://chortitza.org/pdf/pmfries2.pdf, vol. 2: https://chortitza.org/pdf/pmfries3.pdf.

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