Menno Simons

Menno Simons (born 1496, Witmarsum, Friesland [Netherlands]—died January 31, 1561, near Lübeck, Holstein [Germany]) was a Dutch priest and an early leader of the peaceful wing of Dutch Anabaptism, whose followers formed the Mennonite church.

Life

Little is known about Menno’s early life. He was born into a Dutch peasant family, and his father’s name was Simon. At an early age he was enrolled in a monastic school, possibly at the Franciscan monastery in Bolsward, to prepare for the priesthood. In March 1524, at the age of 28, he was ordained at Utrecht and assigned to the parish at Pingjum, near the place of his birth. Seven years later he became the village priest in his home parish at Witmarsum.

Though Menno was to become a leading advocate of ethical Christianity, his initial concern was doctrinal. During his first year as a priest, he questioned the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. His concerns may have developed because of the antisacramental tendencies prevalent in the Netherlands at that time, tendencies that developed from the humanism of Erasmus and the ethical concerns of the Brethren of the Common Life. These doubts led Menno to read both the Bible and the writings of Martin Luther. At first he read the Bible with real fear, for he knew this step had driven Luther and the Swiss Reformer Huldrych Zwingli out of the Roman Catholic church, but he soon agreed with them that biblical authority ought to be primary in the life of the believer and in the church. By 1528 he was known as an Evangelical preacher, though he continued as parish priest.

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From doubts about the Eucharist, Menno moved gradually to questions about infant baptism and the meaning of church membership. His study of the New Testament led him to the firm conviction that only persons of mature faith, who acknowledged Jesus as Lord and had counted the cost of following him, could be eligible for membership in the church. Only such persons could be baptized as a seal (sign of guarantee) of the covenant and a witness to all the world. The grace of Christ was sufficient for children until they reached the age of accountability and made a conscious choice either for or against him. The experience of conversion came to be central to all of Menno’s life and theology.

Meanwhile, the revolutionary wing of early Dutch Anabaptism continued its agitation. Members of that wing, under the leadership of the millenarian John of Leiden, had taken control of the town of Münster and were under siege from the bishop and local nobles. On April 7, 1535, the Olde Klooster near Bolsward, which had been occupied by the Anabaptists as a staging area for aid to Münster, fell before the onslaught of the state militia. Among those killed were members of Menno’s congregation and Peter Simons, who may have been his brother. This prompted him to preach openly against the errors of the revolutionaries. In doing so, he articulated with increasing clarity what he believed to be the true nature of a believers’ church: pure doctrine, scriptural use of sacraments, ethical obedience, love of neighbour, a clear and open witness to the faith, and a willingness to suffer. The fall of Münster on July 25, 1535, increased pressure within him to help those whom he considered to be misguided spirits. This bold and outspoken ministry soon jeopardized his safety, and in January 1536 he went into hiding after a spiritual struggle of 11 years.

In describing his decision, he wrote,

Pondering these things my conscience tormented me so that I could no longer endure it.…If I through bodily fear do not lay bare the foundation of the truth, nor use all my powers to direct the wandering flock who would gladly do their duty if they knew it, to the true pastures of Christ—oh, how shall their shed blood, shed in the midst of transgression, rise against me at the judgment of the Almighty and pronounce sentence against my poor, miserable soul!

Menno spent a year in hiding, finding a sense of direction for his future work. During this time he wrote Van de geestlijke verrijsenisse (“The Spiritual Resurrection”), De nieuwe creatuere (“The New Birth”), and Christelycke leringhen op den 25. Psalm (“Meditation on the Twenty-fifth Psalm”). Late in 1536 or early in 1537, he received believer’s baptism, was called to leadership by the peaceful Anabaptist group founded in 1534 by Obbe Philips, and was ordained by Obbe. He also married. From this time on his life was in constant danger as a heretic. In 1542 the Holy Roman emperor Charles V himself issued an edict against him, promising 100 guilders reward for his arrest. One of the first Anabaptist believers to be executed for sheltering Menno was Tyaard Renicx of Leeuwarden, in 1539.

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From 1543 to 1544 Menno worked in East Friesland, where in January 1544 he had a major interview or debate with the Polish Reformer Jan Laski, or Johannes à Lasco (b. 1499, Warsaw, Poland—d. 1560). The next two years, 1544–46, were spent in the Rhineland, after which Menno traveled from his new home base in Holstein, near Oldesloe, northeast of Hamburg, until his death in 1561. Here he found time for extensive writing and established a printing press to circulate Anabaptist works. His travels took him not only back to the Netherlands but also to Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland).

Influence

Menno was not the founder of the Mennonite Church nor the most articulate spokesman of early Anabaptist theology. His greatness lay rather in the leadership he gave to northern Anabaptism during its formative first generation, a leadership maintained through his calm, biblically oriented approach and through his writings, which consolidated the insights of the movement. Though these writings often seem tedious and excessively polemical, they delineated the Anabaptist faith he defended against both Catholic and Protestant attacks on the one hand and distortions by zealots from within the movement on the other. During the last years of his life he was troubled particularly by some of his own brethren, who pressed for great rigour in the application of the ban (expulsion from the church) and other measures of discipline. More than 40 of his writings are extant.