On 21 January 1525, at a secret meeting at the house of Felix Manz, Reformation leaders met to counter attempts to dictate church policy by the City Council of Zurich. There George Blaurock, a former priest, requested Conrad Grebel to baptize him in the apostolic fashion — upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ — instead of in the Catholic fashion of only one baptism in infancy. Grebel baptized him and Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others present, thus was born the Anabaptist movement.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Conrad-Grebel, Felix-Manz, George-Blaurock, history, Jesus, Reformation[/tags]

One of the early leaders, with Felix Manz, of the Anabaptist movement, more specifically of the Swiss Brethren at Zurich (of which the Mennonites and Hutterites are the direct theological descendants). Grebel and Manz, both well educated men of standing in Zurich were among the first supporters of Zwingli's reformation. But following the reformer's lead — the study of the Bible — they came to see the obvious differences in the apostolic churches and those of their own day. This difference lay most visibly in the practice of and theology behind infant baptism. Their resistance crystallized when in the Fall of 1524 Grebel's wife bore a son. The Grebels refused to baptize their son and other parents followed their example.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Conrad-Grebel, Felix-Manz, history, Hutterites, Mennonites, Reformation[/tags]

At the house of Felix Manz in Zurich on 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz met with fellows of like faith despite opposition from the town council. They had been commanded to stop holding Bible classes and had been warned by the council that all babies were to be baptized within eight days of birth or face banishment from the territory.

When George Blaurock, a former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the apostolic fashion — upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ, Grebel baptized him on the spot and Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others. Thus, Anabaptism was born. Today the direct descendants of the Anabaptists are the Mennonites and the Hutterites.

Persecution forced the Anabaptists north. Many of them found refuge on the lands of some exceptionally tolerant princes in Moravia. There they founded a long-lasting form of