A 1685 illustration by
Jan Luyken, published in Martyrs Mirror, of
Dirk Willems saving his pursuer, an act of mercy that led to his recapture, after which he was burned at the stake near
Asperen in the present-day
Netherlands
The name Old Colony Mennonites (
German: Altkolonier-Mennoniten) is used to describe that part of the
Russian Mennonite movement that is descended from colonists who migrated from the
Chortitza Colony in modern Ukraine near Zaporizhia (itself originally of
Prussian origins) to settlements in
Canada. Theologically, Old Colony Mennonites are largely
Conservative Mennonites.[1]
Since Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in Russia (now modern
Ukraine), it was known as the "Old Colony". In the course of the 19th century the population of the Chortitza Colony multiplied, and daughter colonies were founded. Part of the settlement moved to Canada in the 1870s, and the Canadian community, whose church was officially known as the "Reinländer Mennoniten Gemeinde", was still informally known by the old name.[2][3]
When members of the Old Colony Mennonites then moved from Canada to other places, the name was kept.
"The Old Colony Mennonites represent one of the purest survivals of the
Brethren or
Anabaptist wing of the
Reformation";[4] and are typically more conservative than most other Russian and Ukrainian Mennonites in North America.[5]
In 1990, Old Colony Mennonite communities could be found in
Mexico,
Bolivia,
Belize,
Paraguay,
Argentina,
Canada, and the
United States of America;[5] by 2013, the vast majority of Old Colony Mennonites lived in
Mexico, where about 60% of the 100,000 Mennonites were affiliated with the Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde[6] and
Bolivia, where about 75% of 70,000 were affiliated with the Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde.[7] A smaller group lived in
Belize, where about 50% of 10,000 were affiliated with the Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde.[8] Smaller groups of Old Colony Mennonites also lived in Paraguay, Argentina, Canada and the US.
^Fretz, J. Winfield and H. Leonard Sawatzky. "Mexico." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2010. Web. 23 Sep 2014.
[1]
^Bender, Harold S., Martin W. Friesen, Menno Ediger, Isbrand Hiebert and Gerald Mumaw. "Bolivia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2013. Web. 23 Sep 2014.
[2]
^Gingerich, Melvin and John B. Loewen. "Belize." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2013. Web. 23 Sep 2014.
[3]
Literature
Huttner, Jakob: Zwischen Eigen-art und Wirk-lichkeit : Die Altkolonie-Mennoniten im bolivianischen Chaco. Berlin 2012.
Schartner, Sieghard and Schartner, Sylvia: Bolivien : Zufluchtsort der konservativen Mennoniten. Asunción 2009.
Cañás Bottos, Lorenzo: Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia : Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future. Leiden et al. 2008.
Hedberg, Anna Sofia: Outside the world : Cohesion and Deviation among Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia. Uppsala 2007.
Will, Martina E.: The Old Colony Mennonite Colonization of Chihuahua and the Obregón Administration's Vision for the * Nation, San Diego 1993.
Redekop, Calvin Wall: Old Colony Mennonites: Dilemmas of Ethnic Minority Life, Baltimore 1969.