Leonhard Schiemer was an early pacifist Anabaptist

Anabaptist

Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

 writer and martyr whose work survives in the Ausbund

Ausbund

The Ausbund is the oldest Anabaptist hymnal and one of the oldest Christian song books in continuous use. It is used today by North American Amish congregations.-History:...

.

Background

Schiemer was born around 1500 in Vöcklabruck

Vöcklabruck

Vöcklabruck is the administrative center of the Vöcklabruck district, Austria. It is located in the western part of Upper Austria, close to the A1 Autobahn as well as the B1 highway, and has been ranked in the top 10 most-visited cities in Austria....

, where he grew up in a religious environment and trained to be a tailor

Tailor

A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...

. He originally wanted to become a Roman Catholic priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 but as an adolescent joined the Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 in Judenburg

Judenburg

- People :* Renate Götschl* Egon Haar * Herbert Hufnagl, journalist * Gernot Jurtin* Christian Muthspiel, jazz musician, painter* Kurt Muthspiel, composer * Wolfgang Muthspiel* Christian Pfannberger* Walter Pfrimer* Georg Pichler...

. Six years later he left he monastery and arrived at Nürnberg, where he — disappointed with monastic life — returned to tailoring.

Anabaptist encounters

Biographers disagree whether Schiemer first made contact with Anabaptists in Nürnberg. Schiemer may have made arrangements to travel to Nikolsburg

Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...

 in Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

, where Balthasar Hubmaier

Balthasar Hubmaier

Balthasar Hubmaier was an influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader. He was one of the most well-known and respected Anabaptist theologians of the Reformation.- Early life and education:...

 was an important Anabaptist leader. Here he witnessed the May 1527 disputation between the Stäbler (shepherd's staff) und Schwertler (sword) Anabaptist groups. While the Stäbler under the leadership of Hans Hut

Hans Hut

Hans Hut was a very active Anabaptist in Southern Germany and Austria.-Life:Hut was born in Haina near Römhild, south Thuringia and became a travelling bookseller. Hut was for some years sacristan in Bibra to the knight Hans von Bibra...

 held a position of absolute nonviolence

Nonviolence

Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...

, Hubmeier and the Schwertler professed that Christians were permitted defend themselves and others with the sword. It is unknown which of these positions Schiemer adopted. Some biographers think he probably adopted Hubmeier’s view, because later in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 he was reluctant to accept Hans Hut.

Conversion

Only a few weeks after the Nikolsburg disputation Leonhard Schiemer went to Vienna. There he again met — as already mentioned — Hans Hut and the Anabaptist congregation at Kärntnerstraße. Within two days, Schiemer was won over to the Anabaptist view and at the same time convinced of the pacifist beliefs of the Stäbler. He was baptized

Believer's baptism

Believer's baptism is the Christian practice of baptism as this is understood by many Protestant churches, particularly those that descend from the Anabaptist tradition...

 and became a member of the Vienna congregation.

Schiemer immediately began an extensive missionary endeavor. Next he worked a short time in Steyr

Steyr

Steyr is a town, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers Steyr and Enns. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and simultaneously the 3rd largest town in Upper Austria....

 und Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, taking part in the August 1527 Augsburg Martyrs' Synod

Martyrs' Synod

The Martyrs' Synod took place in Augsburg from 20 to 24 August, 1527. The purpose of this meeting, attended by about sixty representatives from different Anabaptist groups, was to come to an agreement over the differences related to the central Anabaptist teachings among the Swiss and south German...

 and was sent from there as a messenger to Tyrol

Tyrol (state)

Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

, where he settled in Rattenberg

Rattenberg

Rattenberg, Austria is a town on the Inn River, near Rattenberg mountain and Innsbruck. With a population of 440, it is the smallest town in the country....

 on the Inn

Inn River

The Inn is a river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube and is approximately 500km long. The highest point of its drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina, at 4,049 metres.- Geography :...

. He joined an existing Anabaptist congregation there, which called him to serve as bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 shortly after his arrival.

Arrest

A few weeks later, Schiemer was arrested at the instigation of the Roman Catholic authorities. An Anabaptist bishop present at the interrogation reported on his activities: within six months of his baptism he preached in 28 cities, winning more than 200 converts to Anabaptism.

Schiemer used the short stay in prison (until January 1528) for composing and publishing a number of works including:

• Was die Gnade sei (What Grace Is)
• Vom Fläschl (Just as a bottle is narrow at the top and wide below, the way to heaven is narrow and difficult … but the Lord comforts those in extreme misery. Suffering is nothing other than the price of eternal life.)
• Von der Taufe im Neuen Testament (About Baptism in the New Testament).
• Ein Bekenntnis vor dem Richter zu Rotenburg (A Confession before the Judge of Rattenburg; January 1528).

Schiermer's writings where widely circulated and after his death had a significant influence on the development of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n and south German

Southern Germany

The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...

 Anabaptism.

Teachings

Schiemer appears to have confirmed the doctrine of the Trinity.

Schiemer separated the outer word of God, the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, received through one's ear, from the inner word, the direct word of God, that only a spirit-possessed person is able to hear. The inner word leads to loving God and following Christ, while the outer word is only used to devise external rules and regulations. It makes people merely good citizens, but not devoted and sacrificial followers of Jesus.

The followers of Schiemer also the renounced private property. He was fascinated with early Christian communism

Christian communism

Christian communism is a form of religious communism based on Christianity. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system...

 and taught this as a sign of the true Christian. The Hutterite

Hutterite

Hutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. Since the death of their founder Jakob Hutter in 1536, the beliefs of the Hutterites, especially living in a community of goods and absolute...

s have made this ideal a principle of their community.

The central message of Schiemer's writing is on the theology of the cross and Passion

Passion (Christianity)

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...

 mysticism of the Late Middle Ages

Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

: Christ suffered for the faithful of this world. His theology also appears in the hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

s he composed, which have been passed down in the Ausbund, which is still used by descendants of the Anabaptists, the Amish

Amish

The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...

.

Martyrdom

In January 1528 Leonhard Schiemer began looking for a way to escape, but failed. He was arrested again and subsequently handed over to the executioner

Executioner

A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...

. After extensive torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 he was ultimately beheaded

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

 on 14 January 1528 in Rattenberg.

Schiemer's martyrdom was not the only in Rattenberg. Between 1528 und 1540 the Roman Catholic authorities ordered the execution of another 70 Anabaptists men and women who testified to their religious beliefs with their blood.

Significance

Leonhard Schiemer is counted — in spite of his short career — as the most important representative of the Hut Anabatists. In spite of his intellectual relationship with Hut, Schiemer remained an independent thinker. He deemphasized the apocalyptic teachings of Hut, promoting the ideal community, which is prepared for suffering and sacrfice in this world and consciously renounces the use of power und force. His ideas can be found in avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

and modern pacifist movements.