The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia, 1880-1884, Fred Richard Belk, 1976

ok Peer? BALTIC § Reondsbury : O SCHLFSWIG-HOLSTEIN beck Lubc 4 Hannover 28 The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites tion, final, and absolute. With a literal interpretation of all Scrip- ture, there was little room for analysis or disputation of its merits or adjustment to individual situational ethics. All social values were based on what was written, and any deviation from the Word was denounced as evil. To enforce this belief in the Bible, the church would excommunicate and ostracize anyone caught not adhering to the teachings of Holy Scripture. With the Bible as their guide and authority, they had no need for a church hierarchy or priesthood. From the very beginning, eccle- siastical hierarchy was unknown, and equal rights were extended to all members, with the Bible as the court of appeals. Every member could study the Bible and form his own convictions.'® According to the beliefs of early Mennonites, the sacraments were exclusively for the elect of God who had made a Christian profession and were thus qualified for baptism, admission to church membership, and access to holy communion. The qualification for communion rested upon whether the participant followed scriptural standards. These sacraments, then, were of a highly exclusive nature. Such were the cardinal tenets of the early Mennonites. Banned in Zurich before 1530, they expanded throughout the Swiss Confederation, Austria, Bavaria, Wirttemberg, the Palatinate, and the Netherlands. The symbol of their resistance to state control was the sacrament of baptism for believers and their abhorrence of violence. Charges of radicalism and disruptive nonconformity were leveled at these Mennonites by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. Intense persecution led some of them to become even more critical of the established churches. They began rejecting this present world in favor of winning Christ's kingdom with a sword. The violently revolutionary fiasco of the kingdom of Minster in Westphalia in early 15384, however, was repudiated by most sensitive Christians. Here Anabaptist nonresistance gave way to an aggressive spirit of revolution. Anabaptists were invited to gather at the city of Minster to await the ushering in of the New Jerusalem. The Roman Catholic bishop of the city, alarmed by the audacity of these radicals, raised an army to expel them. In a siege of more than a year, horrible bloodletting on both sides gained Minster an unsavory reputation. After this episode, opponents of these excesses have in- discriminately condemned those of Anabaptist leaning, no matter what their actions or beliefs. '® Mennonite Backgrounds 29 Political Ideas The majority of Anabaptists, who rejected revolutionary violence, continued preaching the suffering of the cross as a call of Chris- tianity. The Schleitheim Confession, resulting from a meeting of Anabaptists in 1527, taught love and peace as a standard for dissent- ers.