On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top mennonite beet borscht recipe the page across from the article title. Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The majority of the early Mennonite followers, rather than fighting, survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their belief in believer’s baptism.

Though Mennonites are a global denomination with church membership from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, certain Mennonite communities with ethno-cultural origins in Switzerland and the Netherlands bear the designation of ethnic Mennonites. The early history of the Mennonites starts with the Anabaptists in the German and Dutch-speaking regions of central Europe. Some of the followers of Zwingli’s Reformed church thought that requiring church membership beginning at birth was inconsistent with the New Testament example. Many government and religious leaders, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, considered voluntary church membership to be dangerous—the concern of some deepened by reports of the Münster Rebellion, led by a violent sect of Anabaptists. They joined forces to fight the movement, using methods such as banishment, torture, burning, drowning or beheading. Despite strong repressive efforts of the state churches, the movement spread slowly around western Europe, primarily along the Rhine.

Officials killed many of the earliest Anabaptist leaders in an attempt to purge Europe of the new sect. By 1530, most of the founding leaders had been killed for refusing to renounce their beliefs. Many believed that God did not condone killing or the use of force for any reason and were, therefore, unwilling to fight for their lives. The non-resistant branches often survived by seeking refuge in neutral cities or nations, such as Strasbourg. In the early days of the Anabaptist movement, Menno Simons, a Catholic priest in the Low Countries, heard of the movement and started to rethink his Catholic faith. He questioned the doctrine of transubstantiation but was reluctant to leave the Roman Catholic Church.

Evangelical Mennonite Church in Altkirch, Association of Evangelical Mennonite Churches of France. Praise team at The Meeting Place in Winnipeg, Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. During the 16th century, the Mennonites and other Anabaptists were relentlessly persecuted. This period of persecution has had a significant impact on Mennonite identity.