The name Old Colony Mennonites (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Altkolonier-Mennoniten'') is used to describe that part of the

Russian Mennonite The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...

movement that is descended from colonists who migrated from the

Chortitza Colony Chortitza Colony was a volost Yekaterinoslav Governorate granted to Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonite for colonization northwest of Khortytsia Island and is now part of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Chortitza was founded in 1789 by Mennonite set ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(itself originally of

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

origins) to settlements in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Theologically, Old Colony Mennonites are largely

Conservative Mennonites Conservative Mennonites include numerous Conservative Anabaptist groups that identify with the theologically conservative element among Mennonite Anabaptist Christian fellowships, but who are not Old Order groups or mainline denominations. Con ...

. Since Chortitza was the first Mennonite settlement in Russia, 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. 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 Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

wing of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

"; and are typically more conservative than most other Russian Mennonites in North America. In 1990, Old Colony Mennonite communities could be found in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

; by 2013, the vast majority of Old Colony Mennonites lived in

, where about 60% of the 100,000 Mennonites were affiliated with the ''Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde'' and

, where about 75% of 70,000 were affiliated with the ''Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde''. A smaller group lived in

, where about 50% of 10,000 were affiliated with the ''Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde''.Gingerich, Melvin and John B. Loewen. "Belize." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2013. Web. 23 Sep 201

/ref> Smaller groups of Old Colony Mennonites also lived in Paraguay, Argentina, Canada and the US.

References

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. {{Mennonites in the world Ethnoreligious groups

See also

References

Literature