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Our Flemish Roots -being the Magazine/Journal of the Flemish Mennonite Historical Society Inc. Preservings $20.00 No. 22, June, 2003 “A people who have not the pride to record their own history will not long have the virtues to make their history worth recording; and no people who are indifferent to their past need hope to make their future great.” — Jan Gleysteen Our Flemish Roots - A Century of Struggle Notwithstanding the most severe perse- cution of the Reformation, the Mennonite Church survived in Flanders from 1530 until 1650. Three-quarters of the 1204 martyrs in the Spanish Netherlands were Menno- nites (almost half of them women) as op- posed to the Reformed (Calvinist) faith. As many as seventy percent of the martyrs in Ghent, Bruges, and Coutrai were Menno- nites. Two-thirds of the martyrs from the Lowlands documented in T. J. van Braght’s 1660 Martyrs’ Mirror were Flemish. “For the Flemish followers of Menno Simons it was `a century of struggle,’” writes histo- rian A.L.E. Verheyden. Where the brother- hood of the Northern Netherlands soon di- vided under the influence of the individual- ism of elders, “....the severe repression in the South saw the Mennonites rallying anx- iously around the church and expecting from it the greatest blessing,” Anabaptism in Flanders (Scottdale, Pa., 1961), page 9. During this time a steady stream of refu- gees left Flanders and Brabant fleeing to Holland and Friesland with many eventu- ally settling in the Vistula Delta where they were known as the “Clerken” (clear, pure het Gravensteen, Ghent. In the courtyard and dungeons of this prison-castle our Flemish Mennonite ances- or “Reine”). Some 40 to 60 percent of the tors were tortured and executed for their faith. “All in all, 146 Mennonite martyrs were imprisoned and genetic heritage of the Polish-Prussian executed here (105 were burned at the stake just outside the castle’s main gate),” Jan Gleysteen, Mennonite Mennonites (and hence of the Russian Men- Tourguide to Western Europe (Scottdale, Pa., 1984), pages 246-247. nonites) can be traced to the Flemish lands of modern Belgium. The diaspora carried with it the spirit of medi- aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. in the day-to-day lives of modern Mennonites eval monasticism and the core teachings of the Even in 1920, the Flemish-based Kirchliche con- and other descendants, totalling some 600- Catholic faith which gave it birth. It was the Flem- gregations included 80 percent of the 100,000 700,000 souls. The Editor. ish Mennonites who successfully transplanted Mennonites in Russia. The three denominations their Christo-centric communities from Flanders, immigrating to Manitoba in 1874 to 1878 - the Brabant, Holland, and Friesland, to the Vistula Kleine Gemeinde, Bergthaler, and Old Colonists Inside This Issue Delta starting in 1530, and in 1789 to southern - were all of the Flemish Ordnung. Feature Articles .............................. 3-61 Russia. It was the Flemish Mennonites, as op- Through the Martyr’s Mirror our Flemish posed to the Friesians, who - after the division of Mennonite ancestors left a ringing testimony of President’s Report ............................. 62 1567 - were predominant in the Vistula Delta and their faith and theology. Although constantly un- Editorial ............................................. 63 in Imperial Russia. The “Rein” Flemish (the der attack by Satanic forces, many of their best Letters .......................................... 66-69 Grosse Gemeinde), constituted 80 percent of the traits have been carried forward for almost 500 population in the Molotschna Colony during the years and are still practised in hundreds of tradi- News .......................................... 70-96 1860s. In Chortitza, the Flemish influence was tionalist (Kirchliche) and conservative commu- Articles ....................................... 97-117 even more prominent, clearly dominating spiri- nities in North and South America. Their pro- tual and cultural life of the “old” Colony until the found ethical, moral and spiritual values and Material Culture ....................... 118-127 demise of the Mennonite commonwealth in the Christo-centric biblicism continue to be reflected Book Reviews .......................... 128-139 Introduction - “The Flemish Mennonite Church - 1530-1650” Our ancestral roots in Europe - spiritual and the Flemish and Friesian roots of the Polish- will be only the first of several issues to bring cultural - are a significant element of our history. Prussian Mennonites. forth material from that perspective. Historians such as Henry Schapansky and Johan Topics for future study include: the unique The past six months have again been marred Postma have estimated that genetically we are 25 Flemish inheritance laws and customs providing by the horrible tragedy of war, perceived by some to 65 percent Flemish (Schapansky, The Old equal inheritance for women; the Flemish con- around the world as the aggression of a Super- Colony, page 46/Postma, Das niederländische fessions of faith and their significance in the 17th power against the small country of Iraq and the Erbe, page 107). An examination of these roots century battles for doctrinal orthodoxy as well as Muslim people. Others, particularly in the U.S., will add considerably to what we know about to modern Mennonites; the research of Russian have rallied patriotically around the flag, seeing who we are as a people of God and a community Mennonite family names in Flanders and the re- the “Blitzkrieg” (a.k.a. “Schock and Awe”) as the of faith. sources available in modern Belgium; a pictorial liberation of a subjugated people from an evil The Anabaptists in Flanders were influenced tour guide to cities and sites in Belgium of sig- dictator, albeit that Saddam Hussein was himself almost exclusively by the wholesome Christo- nificance to the descendants of the martyrs; the put into power by the U.S. in the previous re- centric teachings of Menno Simons. Notwith- story of painters such as Hubert and Jan van gime change. In an already familiar process, we standing the severest persecution of the Spanish Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, are now hearing chatter on the news from “in- Inquisition, the church struggled heroically and, Joachim Patinir, Jan Gossaert, Quinten Metsys, formed” insiders about the evils of Iran. In this almost miraculously, survived from 1530 to 1650, Peter Paul Ruebens, Jakob Jordaens, Anthony highly charged atmosphere, the guest essay by a period characterized by historian A. L. E. von Dyck (Pres., No. 16, page 129), and Pieter Dr. Harry Loewen, “Following Jesus - Christian Verheyden as “a century of struggle.” Verheyden Bruegel - the elder and younger, and the influ- Pacifism” is a timely reminder to the followers of adds that “...tolerance became the principle char- ence of Flemish art and culture; the prominence Christ as to where their ultimate loyalty must lie. acteristic of the Mennonitism of the South” of Flanders and its cities in medieval trade, com- The articles section includes another account (Anabaptism in Flanders (Scottdale, 1961), page merce, printing and education and its impact upon of the Ebenfeld/Steinbach massacres of 1919 as 10), a trait shared by its descendants in Polish- the ability of Flemish Mennonites in the centu- well as the stories of two Ältesten (Abram J. Prussia and Russia. The liberalism and ries following to fight off incessant hordes of Buhler and Peter P. Reimer) and an article by assimilationist agenda which fractured the sectarians, apostates and quislings, on the one Ältester Daniel Janzen, Warendorf, Germany, Doopsgezinde in the north, and the intolerance hand, whilst wresting region after region across about the Neu-Samara settlement in the Volga and strictness of the ban plaguing the Dutch four continents from untamed wilderness and region of Russia. The material culture article, “The Mennonites, were not imposed on or exported to establishing indigenous communities, with the History of Plautdietsch,” by linguist Reuben Epp, the South where the “....church was always first, other, and clinging tenaciously to a faith centered traces our colloquial language across Europe, from and individual achievements were secondary,” on Jesus Christ and the narrative of His life, medieval times to the present. (Verheyden, page 3). Moderation and clear teachings and commandments. Their descendants The book section includes a variety of excit- biblicism were evident at every step of our five will be strengthened and enriched through con- ing and informative books of interest to our faith century-long exodus across Europe, Asia, and necting their personal story and that of their spiri- and culture. Henry Schapansky reviews the es- North and South America. The Flemish Menno- tual communion with their Reformation ances- say of Dr. J. B. Toews, “Mennonite Brethren nite Church was not extinguished, as has some- tors, the Flemish Mennonites, who struggled so Beginnings,” in the recently published denomi- times been reported, but became an expatriate - heroically to preserve their teaching and church. national history, For Everything there is a Sea- often suffering and sometimes prospering - The faith and practice section includes sound son, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the M. people in exile. In every important sense, the and inspiring articles by Walter Klaassen (Men- B. Conference. Schapansky goes beyond the pro- traditionalist (Kirchliche) and Conservative Men- nonites neither Catholic or Protestant), John fessions of the “Ausgetretenne’,
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