Frisian or Flemish, sprinkling or pouring?

In Russia, there were two groups of Mennonite settlers—the Flemish and the Frisians. Land scout Jacob Höppner was Flemish, and his partner Johann Bartsch was Frisian—that flipped later.

If you looked closely, the Frisian men in the 1820s wore long beards and their clothing had buttons; the Flemish were more conservative and only used hooks (note 1).

In church the differences were more pronounced. When baptizing, the Frisians sprinkled, whereas the Flemish poured. The latter required two character witnesses before baptism (note 2).

Before the first settlers left for Russia in 1788, the Frisian and Flemish Mennonite elders still had not settled the issue of intermarriage—in some cases requiring rebaptism.

The Flemish received communion from the elders sitting; the Frisians standing, followed with footwashing (note 3). The Frisians received the communion bread from the elder on a clean handkerchief and ate with caution and respect; the Flemish did not have that practice (note 4).

In both the Frisian and Flemish congregations “all knelt down in mental [silent] prayer” at the start of worship (note 5). The Flemish ministers sat and read a sermon; the Frisian ministers stood and were more free when preaching (note 6).

We know that in Prussia the Flemish did not sing at the communion service but sat quietly until the sermon began and departed “unsung” as well. Frisian Mennonites however sang “psalms and other Lutheran hymns,” Abraham Hartwich described in the early 1700s (note 7).

Relationships were hardly friendly between the Mennonite groups. Hartwich—a generally unsympathetic observer—noted that the Flemish found the Frisians to be too loose and referred to them as dirt- or manure-carts (Dreckwagen). Why? Because they accepted any kind of Mennonite.

Not to be undone, the Frisians referred disparagingly to their more rigorous Flemish brethren as “Münsterites,” for their rigorous and frequent application of the ban (note 8).

In 1819, a significant group from the newly created (1808) Prussian “United Frisian and Flemish Mennonite Church” arrived in Russia and established the Rudnerweide congregation on the eastern edge of the Molotschna.

The others in Molotschna deemed the group as Frisian; their push for ecumenical renewal, mission networks was foreign. The Flemish viewed their materials as innovations which were ultimately destructive to the fabric of Mennonite faith and life.

The rift came to a head in 1826 when Frisian Rudnerweide Elder Görz was asked by the elder-elect of the large Molotschna Flemish Church, Bernhard Fast, to preside over his ordination—by-passing the Flemish elder in Chortitza, and signaling a more united Flemish-Frisian Mennonite vision. In reaction, four ministers and three-quarters of the Flemish congregation left the newly ordained elder and church in Ohrloff to form the “Pure Flemish Church” (Reinflämische Gemeinde) or “Large Church,” led by Jacob Warkentin (note 9).

In the Flemish tradition, only the elder—not the preachers—were ordained with the laying on of hands (note 10).

The divisions and misunderstandings between the Flemish and Frisian Mennonites in Russia were largely healed by 1853 with the republishing of the 1660 “United Flemish, Frisian, and High German Anabaptist-Mennonite Confession” (“Rudnerweide Confession”)—just in time for the new divide between the secessionist Mennonite Brethren and the now “old church.”

The differences between the Flemish and Frisians ceased to be geographical or ethnic descriptors already in the 1580s. Even then the terms described two different parties in the church with a mix of ethnic backgrounds (note 11).

---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Illustration: Dirk Philips (1504-1568), the first elder of the Danzig Mennonites. Philips’ strong views on church discipline and the ban for the creation of a pure church contributed to the growing differences between Flemish and Frisian factions. His efforts to mend differences proved to be unsuccessful. Picture source: https://hdl.handle.net/11245/3.19322.

Note 1: Tobias Voth report copied in The New Evangelical Magazine, and Theological Review [London], 10 (March 1824) 91-92. https://books.google.ca/books?id=szoEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q&f=false. The earlier traditions around beards and clothing changed over time in Prussia; cf. Hermann G. Mannhardt, Die Danziger Mennonitengemeinde. Ihre Entstehung und ihre Geschichte von 1569–1919 (Danzig, 1919), 111, https://archive.org/details/diedanzigermenno00mannuoft/page/n129/mode/2up?q=1808.

Note 2: "Ein alter Brauch," Mennonitische Blätter 59, no. 1 (1912), 5, https://mla.bethelks.edu/gmsources/newspapers/Mennonitische%20Blaetter/1912/1912-01d.JPG.

Note 3: Ibid., and also Voth, The New Evangelical Magazine.

Note 4: Abraham Hartwich, Geographisch-Historische Landes-Beschribung [sic] derer dreyen im Pohlnischen Preußen liegenden Werdern (Königsberg, 1723), 291, http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/resolve/display/bsb10000874.html. See previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/communion-and-white-handkerchief.html.

Note 5: William Allen, Life of William Allen: With Selections from His Correspondence, vol. 1. (Philadelphia: Longstreth, 1847), 402, https://books.google.ca/books?id=bLUmXra1oWcC.

Note 6: "Ein alter Brauch," 5.

Note 7: Hartwich, Landes-Beschribung, 290.

Note 8: Cf. Hartwich, Landes-Beschribung, 279. See previous post: https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/01/munsterite-ultimate-mennonite-insult.html.

Note 9: Cf. letter from Molotschna elders and teacher Tobias Voth to Prussian church leaders, in Peter M. Friesen, Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 1789–1910 (Winnipeg, MB: Christian, 1978), 135-141; esp. 137, https://archive.org/details/TheMennoniteBrotherhoodInRussia17891910/.

Note 10: Friesen, Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 50f.

Note 11: For more on the early beginnings of both groups, see GAMEO https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Flemish_Mennonites, and https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Frisian_mennonites.

---

To cite this post: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, "Frisian or Flemish, sprinkling or pouring?," History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), May 29, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/05/frisian-or-flemish-sprinkling-or-pouring.html.

Comments

Swiss and Palatinate Connections

Sometime after 1850 Andreas Plennert and his family immigrated to South Russia from the Culm Region of West Prussia. Though there was at least one Mennonite “Plehnert” who had already immigrated to Russia in 1793, it is not a very common Prussian-Russian Mennonite name. As such, however, it is easier to trace than many and offers a minority narrative and identity within the longer and broader Russian Mennonite story. The account below is adapted largely from information in Horst Penner, Die ost- und westpreußischen Mennoniten , vol. 1, though I have expanded upon his work to offer a slightly different narrative. In 1724 there was a group of Mennonites forced out of the Memel region in East Prussia for political and religious reasons and were given assistance to resettle back to West Prussia in areas populated by Mennonites. Among the 23 households that went to the Stuhm region there is one Plenert listed, namely Christian Plenert. We know that Mennonites entered the Memel region ...

Fraktur (or Gothic) font and Kurrent- (or Sütterlin) handwriting: Nazi ban, 1941

In the middle of the war on January 1, 1942, the Winnipeg-based Mennonitische Rundschau published a new issue without the familiar Fraktur script masthead ( note 1 ). One might speculate on the reasons, but a year earlier Hitler banned the use of the font in the Reich . The Rundschau did not exactly follow all orders from Berlin—the rest of the paper was in Fraktur (sometimes referred to as "Gothic"); when the war ended in 1945, the Rundschau reintroduced the Fraktur font for its masthead. It wasn’t until the 1960s that an issue might have a page or title here or there with the “normal” or Latin font, even though post-war Germany was no longer using Fraktur . By 1973 only the Rundschau masthead is left in Fraktur , and that is only removed in December 1992. Attached is a copy of Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann's official letter dated January 3, 1941, which prohibited the use of Fraktur fonts "by order of the Führer. " Why? It was a Jewish invention, apparent...

Catherine the Great’s 1763 Manifesto

“We must swarm our vast wastelands with people. I do not think that in order to achieve this it would be useful to compel our non-Christians to accept our faith--polygamy for example, is even more useful for the multiplication of the population. … "Russia does not have enough inhabitants, …but still possesses a large expanse of land, which is neither inhabited nor cultivated. … The fields that could nourish the whole nation, barely feeds one family..." – Catherine II (Note 1 ) “We perceive, among other things, that a considerable number of regions are still uncultivated which could easily and advantageously be made available for productive use of population and settlement. Most of the lands hold hidden in their depth an inexhaustible wealth of all kinds of precious ores and metals, and because they are well provided with forests, rivers and lakes, and located close to the sea for purpose of trade, they are also most convenient for the development and growth of many kinds ...

Why Danzig and Poland?

In the late 16th century, Poland became a haven for a variety of non-conformists which included Jews, Anti-Trinitarians from Italy and Bohemia, Quakers and Calvinists from Great Britain, south German Schwenkfelders, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian, and Greek Catholic Christians, some Muslim Tatars, as well as other peaceful sectarians like the Dutch and Flemish Anabaptists. Unlike the Low Countries and most of western Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a “state without stakes,” and as such fittingly described as “God’s playground” ( note 1 ). In the view of 17th-century Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel, it was “the ‘Promised Land,’ where the refugee could forget all his sorrow and enjoy the richness of the land” ( note 2 ). Over the next two centuries an important strand of Mennonite life and spirituality evolved into a mature tradition in this relatively hospitable context ( note 3 ). Anabaptists from the Low Countries began to arrive in Danzig and region as early as 15...

The Shift from Dutch to German, 1700s

Already in 1671, Mennonite Flemish Elder Georg Hansen in Danzig published his German-language catechism ( Glaubens-Bericht für die Jugend ) as preparation for youth seeking baptism. Though educational competencies varied, Hansen’s Glaubens-Bericht assumed that youth preparing for baptism had a stronger ability to read complex German than Dutch ( note 1 ). Popular Mennonite preacher Jacob Denner (1659–1746), originally from the Hamburg-Altona Mennonite Church, lived in Danzig for four years in the early 1700s. A first volume of his Dutch sermons was published in 1706 in Danzig and Amsterdam, and then in 1730 and 1751 he published two German collections. Untrained preachers would often read Denner’s sermons: “Those who preached German—which all Prussian preachers around 1750 did, with the exception of the Danzig preachers—had no sermons books from their co-religionists other than this one by Jacob Denner” ( note 2 ). In Danzig and the Vistula Delta region there were some differences...

On Becoming the Quiet in the Land

They are fair questions: “What happened to the firebrands of the Reformation? How did the movement become so withdrawn--even "dour and unexciting,” according to one historian? Mennonites originally referred to themselves as the “quiet in the land” in contrast to the militant--definitely more exciting--militant revolutionaries of Münster ( note 1 ), and identification with Psalm 35:19f.: “Let not my enemies gloat over me … For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.” How did Mennonites become the “quiet in the land” in Royal Prussia? Minority non-citizen groups in Poland like Jews, Scots, Huguenots or the much smaller body of Mennonites did not enjoy full political or economic rights as citizens. Ecclesial and civil laws left linguistic or religious minorities vulnerable to extortion. Such groups sought to negotiate a Privilegium or charter with the king, which set out a legal basis for some protections of life an...

Last Days of Mennonite Life on the Molotschna, September 1943

The Molotschna Mennonite Colony was established in 1803; 140 years later its villages were evacuated by retreating German armies. A map of the larger German operation of 1943 and the various "Trecks" is attached. The tens of thousands of evacuees included some 35,000 Mennonites. Nazi Germany had utterly failed Ukrainians, but continued to have plans for their "ethnic Germans" in the east. On Sept. 8, 1943 , the Red Army successfully took Donetsk (Stalino), 230 km east of Molotschna. The next day, S.S. administrators gave orders that every Molotschna family should load one wagon with their possessions and prepare for an orderly evacuation. Hitler was intent on holding Crimea, and sought to set up a defensive line from Zaporizhzhia to Melitopol and south to the Sea of Azov. Evacuation plans east of this line were in place since late June—initially to be resettled “somewhere” west of the Dnieper; on Aug. 17 first steps were taken to move 8,000 hospital beds west o...

Mennonite Literacy in Polish-Prussia

At a Mennonite wedding in Deutsch Kazun in 1833 (pic), neither groom nor bride nor the witnesses could sign the wedding register. A Görtz, a Janzen, a Schröder—born a Görtzen – illiterate. “This act was read to the married couple and witnesses, but not signed because they were unable to write.” Similarly, with the certification of a Mennonite death in Culm (Chelmo), West Prussia, 1813-14: “This document was read and it was signed by us because the witnesses were illiterate.” Spouse and children were unable to read or write. Names like Gerz, Plenert, Kliewer, Kasper, Buller and others. 14 families of the 25 Mennonite deaths registered --or 56%--could not sign the paperwork ( note 1 ; pic ). This appears to be an anomaly. We know some pioneers to Russia were well educated. The letters of the land-scout to Russia, Johann Bartsch to his wife back home (1786-87) are eloquent, beautifully written and indicate a high level of literacy ( note 2 ). Even Klaas Reimer (b. 1770), the founder t...

Plague and Pestilence in Danzig, 1709

Russian and Prussian Mennonites trace at least 200 years of their story through Danzig and Royal Prussia, where episodes of plague and pestilence were not unfamiliar ( note 1 ). Mennonites arrived primarily from the Low Countries and in large numbers in the middle of the 16th century—approximately 750 families or 3,000 refugees and settlers between 1527 and 1578 to Danzig and Royal Prussia ( note 2 ). At this time Danzig was undergoing tremendous demographic, cultural and economic transformation, almost tripling in population in less than 100 years. With 80% of Poland’s foreign trade handled through this port city ( note 3 ), Danzig saw the arrival of new people from across Europe, many looking to find work in the crammed and bustling city ( note 4 ). Maria Bogucka’s research on Danzig in this era brings the streets of the maritime city to life: “Sanitation facilities were inadequate … The level of personal hygiene was low. Most people lived close together: five or six to a room, sle...

Russia: A Refuge for all True Christians Living in the Last Days

If only it were so. It was not only a fringe group of Russian Mennonites who believed that they were living the Last Days. This view was widely shared--though rejected by the minority conservative Kleine Gemeinde. In 1820 upon the recommendation of Rudnerweide (Frisian) Elder Franz Görz, the progressive and influential Mennonite leader Johann Cornies asked the Mennonite Tobias Voth (b. 1791) of Graudenz, Prussia to come and lead his Agricultural Association’s private high school in Ohrloff, in the Russian Mennonite colony of Molotschna. Voth understood this as nothing less than a divine call upon his life ( note 1; pic 3 ). In Ohrloff Voth grew not only a secondary school, but also a community lending library, book clubs, as well as mission prayer meetings, and Bible study evenings. Voth was the son of a Mennonite minister and his wife was raised Lutheran ( note 2 ). For some years, Voth had been strongly influenced by the warm, Pietist devotional fiction writings of Johann Heinrich Ju...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog