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

“The way is finally open”—Russian Mennonite Immigration, 1922-23

In a highly secretive meeting in Ohrloff, Molotschna on February 7, 1922, leaders took a decision to work to remove the entire Mennonite population of some 100,000 people out of the USSR—if at all possible ( note 1 ). B.B. Janz (Ohrloff) and Bishop David Toews (Rosthern, SK) are remembered as the immigration leaders who made it possible to bring some 20,000 Mennonites from the Soviet Union to Canada in the 1920s ( note 2 ). But behind those final numbers were multiple problems. In August 1922, an appeal was made by leaders to churches in Canada and the USA: “The way is finally open, for at least 3,000 persons who have received permission to leave Russia … Two ships of the Canadian Pacific Railway are ready to sail from England to Odessa as soon as the cholera quarantine is lifted. These Russian [Mennonite] refugees are practically without clothing … .” ( Note 3 ) Notably at this point B. B. Janz was also writing Toews, saying that he was utterly exhausted and was preparing to ...

From USSR to Cherrywood Station: Mennonites winter in Markham-Stouffville, 1924

On September 26, 1924, 126 Russian Mennonite passengers disembarked the S. S. Melita at Quebec City ( note 1 ). They were among some 20,000 Mennonites who could immigrate to Canada from the Soviet Union in the 1920s. A number of these families received train cards to Cherrywood (Pickering) and Locust Hill (Markham) stations, where they were received by Markham area Mennonites. The Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (CMBC) registration forms record each family's travel dates as well as their "first place of arrival" in Canada. The attached artifacts—a few pages from the financial records booklet kept by Markham-Stouffville treasurer J. L. Grove, plus some correspondence—profile concretely the level of support of this community north-east of Toronto for co-religionists fleeing the Soviet Union. Mennonites in Ontario had been well informed of the relief needs in Russia since 1921 and plans for mass immigration ( note 2 ). In April 1924 the local Stouffville Tribune ...

Outrage in Canada: Ukrainian in Waffen-SS honoured in Parliament. Mennonite Connections

As an historic peace church, Russian Mennonite congregations in Canada never celebrated “their veterans” who had volunteered with the Waffen-SS or Wehrmacht in complex times; hundreds did however volunteer to protect and defend their corner of Ukraine from a new era of Moscow-based Bolshevism. Some later self-identified as "The Lost Generation." German Prussian Mennonites in contrast understood that heritage differently and celebrated the “Heroes' Day Memorial” service anually until 1945. After 1945 Germany appropriately renamed their remembrance day as Volkstrauertag —the People’s Day of Mourning ( note 1 ). Many descendents live in Canada. A parallel Ukrainian story made the news in Canada in September 2023. The Speaker of the House of Commons invited a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran to a joint session of Parliament for the visit and address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 22. Without good vetting by the Speaker, the guest was laud...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 1 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accuarte and carefully considered. ~ANF American Mennonite leaders who supported Trump will be responding to the election results in the near future. Sometimes a template or sample conference address helps to formulate one’s own text. To that end I offer the following. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mennonites in Germany sent official greetings by telegram: “The Conference of the East and West Prussian Mennonites meeting today at Tiegenhagen in the Free City of Danzig are deeply grateful for the tremendous uprising ( Erhebung ) that God has given our people ( Volk ) through the vigor and action of [unclear], and promise our cooperation in the construction of our Fatherland, true to the Gospel motto of [our founder Menno Simons], ‘For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.’” ( Note 1 ) Hitler responded in a letter...

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...

What is the Church to Say? Letter 4 (of 4) to American Mennonite Friends

Irony is used in this post to provoke and invite critical thought; the historical research on the Mennonite experience is accurate and carefully considered. ~ANF Preparing for your next AGM: Mennonite Congregations and Deportations Many U.S. Mennonite pastors voted for Donald Trump, whose signature promise was an immediate start to “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Confirmed this week, President Trump will declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to carry this out. The timing is ideal; in January many Mennonite congregations have their Annual General Meeting (AGM) with opportunity to review and update the bylaws of their constitution. Need help? We have related examples from our tradition, which I offer as a template, together with a few red flags. First, your congregational by-laws. It is unlikely you have undocumented immigrants in your congregation, but you should flag this. Model: Gustav Reimer, a deacon and notary public from the ...

Mennonite-Designed Mosque on the Molotschna

The “Peter J. Braun Archive" is a mammoth 78 reel microfilm collection of Russian Mennonite materials from 1803 to 1920 -- and largely still untapped by researchers ( note 1 ). In the files of Philipp Wiebe, son-in-law and heir to Johann Cornies, is a blueprint for a mosque ( pic ) as well as another file entitled “Akkerman Mosque Construction Accounts, 1850-1859” ( note 2 ). The Molotschna Mennonites were settlers on traditional Nogai lands; their Nogai neighbours were a nomadic, Muslim Tartar group. In 1825, Cornies wrote a significant anthropological report on the Nogai at the request of the Guardianship Committee, based largely on his engagements with these neighbours on Molotschna’s southern border ( note 3 ). Building upon these experiences and relationships, in 1835 Cornies founded the Nogai agricultural colony “Akkerman” outside the southern border of the Molotschna Colony. Akkerman was a projection of Cornies’ ideal Mennonite village outlined in exacting detail, with un...

1929 Flight of Mennonites to Moscow and Reception in Germany

At the core of the attached video are some thirty photos of Mennonite refugees arriving from Moscow in 1929 which are new archival finds. While some 13,000 had gathered in outskirts of Moscow, with many more attempting the same journey, the Soviet Union only released 3,885 Mennonite "German farmers," together with 1,260 Lutherans, 468 Catholics, 51 Baptists, and 7 Adventists. Some of new photographs are from the first group of 323 refugees who left Moscow on October 29, arriving in Kiel on November 3, 1929. A second group of photos are from the so-called “Swinemünde group,” which left Moscow only a day later. This group however could not be accommodated in the first transport and departed from a different station on October 31. They were however held up in Leningrad for one month as intense diplomatic negotiations between the Soviet Union, Germany and also Canada took place. This second group arrived at the Prussian sea port of Swinemünde on December 2. In the next ten ...

Mennonites, the Queen, the Anthem and Monarchy Generally

For most Canadians, Queen Elizabeth II had been omnipresent their entire lives: on our coins, bills and stamps. In school in the 1960s and early -70s, my generation sang "God Save the Queen" every other day in class, and "O Canada" on the other days. A portrait of the Queen was in every classroom. I vividly remember lining Niagara Street in St. Catharines as a school child in 1973 when the Queen came whizzing through in a black limo in the rain to get to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the first capital of Upper Canada, now full of Mennonite farms. That black limo was owned by a wealthy Mennonite fruit farmer—my relative Isbrand Boese! It is not outside the tradition for Mennonites to sing “God save the Queen/King”. On Sunday, September 20, 1937, 700 people gathered in the Coaldale Mennonite Church (Alberta), and the service concluded with the singing of national anthem ["God save the King”] ( note 1 ). Mennonites organized this celebration to give thanks and to honour ...

Russian Mennonites were Monarchists

In 1848, Evgenii von Hahn, President of the Guardianship Committee for Foreign Settlers in New Russia, tasked each village administration to work with the schoolteacher to produce an exact historical description of its settlement and key events in its history ( note 1 ). Looking back 44 years, the mayor and teacher of the Molotschna village of Altona had no difficulty identifying and describing the most glorious event in their history ( note 2 ). “There are moments in life that are too great for the human heart, when we are simply overwhelmed--exquisite, great, blissful moments when our voices fall silent, when we are moved so profoundly in our inward being that our hands fold of their own accord and our eyes gaze heavenward and prayer is the one thing needed by an overflowing heart. One such great, blissful moment was in the year 1818, when the most blessed Emperor Alexander I on his journey from the Crimea to St. Petersburg honoured our colony [village] with his distinguished visit a...

History of the Russian Mennonites

Search This Blog