Editing Menno Simons (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
Menno Simons was born in 1496<ref>[http://www.mennosimons.net/life.html Menno's life]. Menno Simons.net. Retrieved on 15 April 2009.</ref> in [[Witmarsum, Friesland|Witmarsum]], [[Frisian freedom|Friesland]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Very little is known concerning his childhood and family except that he grew up in a poor peasant environment. His father's name was Simon, Simons being a [[patronym]], and he had a brother named Pieter.<ref name="gameo">[http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M4636ME.html Menno Simons (1496–1561)]. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved on 20 April 2009.</ref>

Simons grew up in a disillusioned war-torn country. Friesland was ravaged by war in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. [[Landsknecht]] soldiers haunted the Frisian lands in the 1490s to force the 'Free' Frisians to accept the Duke of [[Saxony|Saxony-Meissen]] as their head of state. The duke was the governor of the Netherlands for the [[Habsburg]] family. One of the archenemies of the Habsburgs, the Duke of [[Guelders]], invaded Friesland in 1515 and conquered half of it. Saxony ceded the other half to the Habsburgs. The Frisians tried to regain their freedom but they were too weak and eventually accepted the imperial authority of the Habsburg emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}

Simons learned [[Latin]] and some [[Ancient Greek|Greek]], and he was taught about the Latin [[Church Fathers]] during his training to become a [[priest]].<ref name="gameo"/> He had never read the Bible, either before or during his training for the priesthood, out of fear that he would be adversely influenced by it. When he later reflected upon this period in his life, he called himself stupid.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.dbnl.nl/tekst/simo021trac01_01/simo021trac01_01_0003.htm Menno Simons' uitgang uit het Pausdom.]. [[Digital library for Dutch literature]]. Retrieved on 20 April 2009.</ref>

===Priesthood and brother's death===
He was ordained as a [[Roman Catholic]] priest in 1515 or 1516<ref name='CathEncy'>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Mennonites}}</ref> in [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]]. He was then appointed [[chaplain]] in his father's village [[Pingjum]] (1524).

Around 1526 or 1527, questions surrounding the doctrine of [[transubstantiation]] caused Menno Simons to begin a serious and in-depth search of the [[Bible|Holy Scriptures]], which he confessed he had not previously studied, despite being a priest. Menno was not satisfied with the inconsistent answers which he got from [[Martin Luther]], [[Martin Bucer]] and [[Heinrich Bullinger]]; he resolved to rely on Scripture alone, and from this time describes his preaching as "evangelical", not "sacramental".<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Menno Simons |volume=18 |page=132 |first=Alexander |last=Gordon |authorlink=Alexander Gordon (Unitarian)}}</ref>
[[File:Mennokate.jpg|thumb|The house near [[Bad Oldesloe]] in which Simons is believed to have worked]]
Menno's first knowledge of the concept of "''re''baptism", which he said "sounded very strange to me", came in 1531 after hearing of the beheading of Sicke Freerks Snijder at [[Leeuwarden]] for being "rebaptized" ("Snijder", meaning "tailor", was probably not the family name, since Freerks is the patronym form of Freerk and Sicke was, in fact, a tailor by trade). A renewed search of the scriptures left Menno Simons believing that [[infant baptism]] is not in the [[Bible]]. He discussed the issue with his pastor, searched the [[Church Fathers]], and read the works of Martin Luther and Heinrich Bullinger. At some point, he also read some of [[Erasmus of Rotterdam|Erasmus of Rotterdam's]] writings, which affected his views of Christian life and church.<ref>{{cite book | last = Friesen | first = Leonard | date = 2022 | title = Mennonites in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union - Through Much Tribulation | location = Toronto | publisher = University of Toronto Press | pages = 24, 47–8 | isbn = 9781487505677}}</ref> While still pondering the issue, he was transferred to Witmarsum. Here he came into direct contact with [[Anabaptists]], preaching and practicing "[[believer's baptism]]". Later, some of the [[Münster Rebellion|Münsterite]] disciples came there as well. While he regarded them as misled and fanatical, he was drawn to their zeal and their views of the Bible, the Church, and discipleship. {{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

In 1535, his brother Pieter was among a group of Anabaptists killed near [[Bolsward]] because of his participation in the violent takeover of a Catholic monastery known as the Oldeklooster (or [[Bloemkamp Abbey]]). This monastery, near Bolsward in the Dutch province of [[Friesland]], was seized on 30 March 1535 by about 300 Anabaptists of Friesland, both men and women, led by [[Jan van Geelen]], an emissary of the Anabaptists of [[Münster]]. They thereby won a strong position and from here tried to conquer the entire province.  The imperial stadholder [[Georg Schenck van Toutenburg]] was put in charge of capturing the old monastery from the Anabaptists. He supposed that he would be able to do so easily, but found himself compelled to conduct a regular siege. On 1 April he decided to bombard the monastery with heavy artillery and tried to storm it, leading his soldiers in four assaults. On the third they succeeded in taking several positions, although some of the fortifications and the church remained in Anabaptist possession. On 7 April the monastery was finally stormed after a severe battle. 300 Anabaptists were killed. Of the ones who did not lose their lives in the attack, 37 were then beheaded and 132, both men and women, taken to [[Leeuwarden]], where another 55 were executed after a short trial. Jan van Geelen escaped. {{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

After the death of his brother Pieter, Menno experienced a spiritual and mental crisis. He said he "prayed to God with sighs and tears that He would give to me, a sorrowing sinner, the gift of His grace, create within me a clean heart, and graciously through the merits of the crimson blood of Christ, He would graciously forgive my unclean walk and unprofitable life..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://e-menno.org/ren.htm|title=Menno Simon's Renunciation of the Church of Rome|access-date=13 April 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519155149/http://e-menno.org/ren.htm|archive-date=19 May 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Anabaptists===
{{Reformation}}
Menno Simons rejected the Catholic Church and the priesthood on 12 January 1536,<ref name='CathEncy'/> casting his lot with the [[Anabaptists]]. The exact  date of his new [[baptism]] is unknown, but he was probably baptized not long after leaving Witmarsum in early 1536. By October 1536 his connection with Anabaptism was well known, because it was in that month that [https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Menno_Monument_(Witmarsum,_Friesland,_Netherlands) Herman] and [https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Gerryt_Jansz_(d._1536) Gerryt Jansz] were arrested, charged and beheaded for having [https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Menno_Monument_(Witmarsum,_Friesland,_Netherlands) lodged Simons]. He was ordained around 1537 by [[Obbe Philips]]. Obbe and his brother, [[Dirk Philips]], were among the peaceful disciples of [[Melchior Hoffman]] (the more radical of Hoffman's followers having participated in the [[Münster Rebellion]]). It was Hoffman who introduced the first self-sustaining Anabaptist congregation in the Netherlands, when he taught and practiced believers' baptism in [[Emden]] in [[East Frisia]]. Menno Simons rejected the violence advocated by the Münster movement, believing it was not Scriptural.<ref name='Gonzalez'>{{cite book|author=Gonzalez, J.|title=A History of Christian Thought|publisher=[[Abingdon Press]]|year=1975|pages=96}}</ref> His theology was focused on separation from this world, and baptism by repentance symbolized this.<ref name='Gonzalez'/>

{{blockquote|1=For true evangelical faith is of such a nature that it cannot lie dormant; but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it dies unto flesh and blood; destroys all forbidden lusts and desires; cordially seeks, serves and fears God; clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it; teaches, admonishes and reproves with the Word of the Lord; seeks that which is lost; binds up that which is wounded; heals that which is diseased and saves that which is sound. The persecution, suffering and anxiety which befalls it for the sake of the truth of the Lord, is to it a glorious joy and consolation.|2=Menno Simons|3=[[s:Why I Do Not Cease Teaching and Writing|Why I Do Not Cease Teaching and Writing]], 1539}}

Menno evidently rose quickly to become a man of influence. Before 1540, [[David Joris]], an Anabaptist of the "inspirationist" variety, had been the most influential leader in the Netherlands. By 1544, the term ''Mennonite'' or ''Mennist'' was used in a letter to refer to the Dutch Anabaptists.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University of Toronto Press| isbn = 978-1-4875-0551-6| last = Friesen| first = Leonard G.| title = Mennonites in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: Through Much Tribulation| location = Toronto ; Buffalo ; London| date = 2022-10-27| page = 46}}</ref>
Twenty-five years after his renunciation of Catholicism, Menno died on 31 January 1561 at Wüstenfelde, [[Holstein]], and was buried in his garden.<ref name="gameo"/> He was married to a woman named Gertrude, and they had at least three children, two daughters and a son.<ref>[http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/G430.html Geertruydt (16th century)]. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved on 26 October 2012.</ref> Only one daughter outlived him.<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = University of Michigan Library | last = Dosker | first = Henry E. | title = The Dutch Anabaptists | date = 1921-01-01 | page = 170}}</ref>