History of the Russian Mennonites

The Russian Mennonite beginnings stretch back to the Reformation in the sixteenth century in the Low Countries, including Flanders and the beautiful and historic city of Bruges. Many regularly appearing Russian Mennonites names are represented in the Anabaptist group in Bruges, for example, and can also be used as a window onto the larger story. In a 1576 report on Bruges, Monk Alfonso of St. Emilian wrote to Philip II--the "most Catholic" of Emperors--that the “city is completely infected by said heretical pest more than any other city of the region. … it is a refuge and a storehouse of all heretics and miscreants. Of a thousand homes in that city, not one is pure" ( note 1 ). Most famously, a "Group of 12" Anabaptists were martyred in Bruges in 1561 ( note 2; pic ). A hymn was written to remember these “twelve friends killed in Bruges”; the entire story is sung in twelve verses and each martyr is individually named ( note 3; pic 3 ). The hymn entitled “Grace