Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

this first wave of persecution. Some feel the
movement largely disappeared. A.L.E. Verheyden,
however, states that by 1550 Anabaptism
had become the main non-Catholic confession
in Flanders.
One of the main problems in this early time
was leadership. Some leaders complained in a
letter to the brethren in Antwerp: “We, leaders
of the churches in Flanders, are thoroughly worried
and saddened concerning the great need and
suffering which we note and see in our churches
everywhere as the poor weak brethren walk as
sheep without a shepherd. Herewith we may
complain and say that the harvest is plentiful but
the labourers are few.” The situation improved
after 1550. At this time leadership figures included
Jacob de Roore and Leenart Bouwens
(sent from the north) as well as Adriaan van
Kortrijk and others. Most of these leaders were
engaged in trade, a fact which likely contributed
to the spread of the movement.
In 1550 a certain Jan van Sol took it upon
himself to devise a plan against the Anabaptists
which he submitted to the authorities. The plan
revealed some interesting facts about the movement
at this time. The peaceful Anabaptists were
designated as the most important movement in
the Low Countries. Van Sol described the activities
of the deacons and the functioning of social
aid within the churches, an element he took to
be proof of the fact that the Mennonites were
increasingly well off. Although Van Sol’s exact
plan was not accepted, a wave of persecution
again swept the land. The Pacification of Gent
of 1576 made matters somewhat easier for a
while, at least in theory. The previous edicts
were annulled, but the Anabaptists now faced
strong opposition from the Calvinists. Nevertheless,
outright persecution ceased for the time
being. The worst punishment at this time was
banishment.
This relative time of quiet came to an end
in 1585 with the fall of Antwerp. Two years of
voluntary exile were suggested and many did indeed
leave the country. After 1587, the manhunt
intensified provoking further gradual emigration.
The last Flemish Anabaptist to suffer martyrdom
in the south was a woman named Anneke van
Uytenhove, buried alive in Brussel in 1597. Her
death brought to a close a tragic time of heavy
persecution, a time of which Verheyden has
estimated that seventy percent of all the martyrs
in the south were Anabaptists. Persecution of the
Anabaptists in Flanders and their subsequent exile
benefited Anabaptist brethren in the northern
Low Countries and far beyond.
Many texts resulting from this time are still
available to us, mostly in the form of martyr literature.
Martyr texts were not meant to be accurate,
or provide complete historical description,
but functioned as a means of edification and legitimization.
The martyr letters and testimonies,
often written under excruciating circumstances,
reveal a community with a renewed sense of
understanding the world and religion.
The theology reflected in the martyr texts
revolves first and foremost around the concepts
of boete en beteringhe (to do penance and better
yourself). These concepts dominate Anabaptist
understanding of the church, the sacraments
and death. The medieval preoccupation with
death and the fear of hell are familiar themes
in the martyrs’ letters. The presence of biblical
texts forces a new awareness of imperfection,
thus intensifying the penitential understanding.
The conscience of the individual now stands in
judgment of the true penitential attitude. The
salvation of the soul through penance acquires
cosmic dimensions, as its ultimate expression
in martyrdom reflects the struggle between God
and the devil. Simultaneously, penance becomes
the paradigm for social struggle, as the frequent
use of the Exodus metaphor illustrates. The
powerless minority forges a self-understanding
through its own ritual, sacraments and social
structure, vis-a-vis a powerful, or rather overpowering,
society.
The central role of the concept of navolging
(to follow after) and the symbol of the suffering
Christ are paramount in this struggle with
a powerful world. The innovative element in
Anabaptist penitential theology is its reliance
on Scripture rather than on the mediation of the
clergy. Lydtsaemheyt (long suffering) in following
the suffering Christ, constitutes the response
of the powerless to unjust power. Anabaptist
Christology does not center around a redemptive
theme but rather focuses on that of Christ, the
king, who willingly suffered as an example for
the church. The eschatological motivation is a
new element providing a rationale for temporary
suffering and rendering penance a cosmic event
of greatest urgency; similarly, the martyr’s death
gains eschatological significance.
Anticlericalism is rooted in this intensified
emphasis on penance made possible by literacy,
and as such is not a criticism of the position of
the clergy. Church structure and ecclesiastical
roles remain essentially the same, albeit with
a more democratic emphasis. The “magical”
function of the clergy is broken by the comparative
power of literacy, and hierarchical ecclesial
forms collapse. Church discipline is a practice
that acquires little emphasis in the south. The
church structure, the sacraments and the role
of scripture are familiar to us from other Anabaptists
groups, but gain a specific emphasis in
the Flemish context. Space does not allow us
to pursue this theme further at this point. We
may say, however, that the Flemish Anabaptists
developed their theology according to their own
particular situation.
N. Van der Zijpp has listed several differences
between the southern and northern brethren
as follows: First, the congregation in the south
centered around the brotherhood, rather than
around one or more elders. Second, the Flemish
were stricter in the issue of the ban as applied to
marriage. Third, the Flemish were more elaborate
in dress. Fourth, Flemish Mennonites were
mostly weavers united in guilds.
Many Flemish Mennonites fled to the Frisian
area where these cultural differences became
apparent and led to a whole range of conflicts
between the Flemish and the Frisians. As a
result of subsequent splits in the brotherhood,
confessions were written to attempt to unite the
differing factions. Several important documents
of this nature were drawn up in the seventeenth
century, among which is the confession of 1626,
called Olijftack.
It is, however, the well-known Dordrecht
Confession of 1632 that especially bears the
marks of Flemish influence and reflects the
strong theological contribution made by the
southern brethren. This confession by the Flemish
can be considered as the main document of its
kind within all of Anabaptism. Further evidence
of their influence and leadership during their time
of exile in the north is their participation in the
religious debates with the Calvinists during the
sixteenth century. When Mennonites were more
or less forced into these debates, the Flemish
proved to be most capable, and were therefore
sought out by their northern brethren to speak
Preservings No. 26, 2006 -