by Brinton Rutherford
It was August 1527, a dangerous time. On January 5, 1527, Protestant authorities in Zürich drowned Felix Manz in the Limmat River. Barely three months later, May 21, Imperial authorities burned Michael Sattler in Rottenburg and drowned his wife in the Neckar River. Despite this, more than sixty travelers arrived by ones and twos, occasionally a threesome, in the humid August heat, tired and dusty from their journey to Augsburg, Germany.
The group first gathered on August 20 at the house of Gall Fischer, a weaver, and also a deacon in an Augsburg Anabaptist congregation. They spent three days discussing doctrinal concerns and disagreements. Issues of oath-taking, public end-time preaching, and military service were discussed.
By the third day, some consensus was reached. Notably, they agreed that the apocalyptic preaching of some of the brothers, most notably Hans Hut, needed to be excluded from public preaching. Proclaim instead the good news of God, the coming of the kingdom, Christ Jesus and him crucified, the forgiveness of sin, believer’s baptism, and the necessity of gathering as a voluntary community of faith.
On the last day, August 24, they gathered in the back room of Matthias Finder’s house. Matthias was a butcher. With this change of location also came a change of agenda. They considered the missionary nature of God’s character and of the incarnation. They considered their call as sent to preach, make disciples, baptize, and teach, likely pondering the words of Matthew 28:19-20, which according to scholars, is the most quoted passage in 16th-century Anabaptist writings.
By the end of this final session in Matthias’ butcher shop, mission teams were formed and sent throughout Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Hans Hut was appointed to stay in Augsburg, a fatal decision for him.
Previously, Augsburg authorities had tolerated these Anabaptists, but the news of the sending evangelists generated a rabid response. One Anabaptist leader was arrested the next day. Then on Sunday, September 15, at the house of “the bell-ringer at the wall,” the authorities raided and arrested all present. Among those arrested were Hans Hut. More arrests followed. But the evangelists were already gone.
Most of these evangelists were unable to work long. This Augsburg meeting became known as the Martyr’s Synod because, within five years, almost every one of the thirty-three persons known by name who attended the meeting was martyred.
Joachim März and Eucharius Binder were burnt in Salzburg in October 1527. Leonhard Spörle was executed in November. Leonhard Schiemer was beheaded in January 1528. Hans Schlaffer was beheaded in February. Eitelhans Langenmantel was beheaded in March. Thomas Waklhausen and Hans Leupold were burned in April, only eight months after gathering in Augsburg. But reports of those sent from this Synod indicate that often a few hours sufficed to start a new congregation. This is liminality and communitas in action in the sixteenth-century Anabaptist movement. They did not know these words, of course. They called it New Testament living, following the Spirit.