ProQuest Dissertations - The University of Arizona Campus Repository

Catholic, and all he could do was moum their violent deaths (Simons 1982:9-10). But he
began to feel responsible, and in January of 1536 he finally followed his conscience,
renounced his priesthood, and went into hiding outside of Witmarsum. The shed that hid
him also served as a secret meeting place for local Anabaptists. Here he was baptized by
Obbe Philips and married Gertrude, his ''faithful helpmate for many years." Soon the
hide-out was discovered, but the small congregation managed to escape to the area of
Groningen. In 1537, Menno Simons accepted the position as elder and was ordained by
Obbe Philips (Bender and Smith 1974:32, 36-37; Schroeder and Huebert 1996:iii. 113).
Shortly after ordaining Menno Simons. Obbe Philips left the Anabaptist movement
and Menno Simons became the dominant figure among Dutch and Northern German
Anabaptist groups. Continuing persecution, but also the nature of his influential work, led
Menno Simons, his wife and three children to move repeatedly. In 1554, they - as did
other families - followed the invitation of Bartholomaeus von Ahlefeld who, impressed
with the Anabaptists, offered them asylum on his Fresenburg estate. Menno Simons and
his family moved to the village of Wuestenfelde, north of Bad Oldesloe in Holstein.
Throughout the German states of Schleswig and Holstein. sympathizing noblemen
invited the Dutch Anabaptists who were known as hard-working farmers capable of
transforming marshy lands into fertile farmland (Bender and Smith 1974: 33: Schroeder
and Huebert 1996:112-113; Simons 1982:15).
As elder, Menno Simons served Anabaptist congregations across northern Europe and
also participated in public debates in Emden und Lubeck. His writings'^ -he published
twenty-four titles between 1539 and 1561 - were extremely influential. His most famous
book was Foundations of Christian Doctrine (1540) which, directed at the contemporary
political and religious authorities, renders many of the original Anabaptist doctrines.
For the complete works of Menno Simons see Simons 1982 (originally 16"* century).
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