RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Naville Nazarenes
NAZARENES: The name given to two modern religious sects. For Nazarene as applied to Jesus Christ and his disciples see Nazareth.
1. Adherents of Jacob Wirz, a silk- weaver of Basel (b. 1778; d. 1858). This little sect owes its origin to the most various spritual elements. Its doctrines are based upon medieval Catholic ideas and the mystical conceptions of Jakob Bohme, Michael Hahn, and Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (qq.v.). Among its beliefs were the following: Jesus wished to be thoroughly and perfectly engendered in Wirz, who was to become by grace what Jesus is by nature; Jesus Jehovah, one being with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the basis of man's life and action, whom we embrace in connection with the holy mother community in heaven, and its true members on earth, so that we may together grow into a perfect temple of the divine wisdom in Christ. The following elements are prominent: (1) the Catholic element, as expressed in the supplications to Mary and the saints, in the practise of making the sign of the cross, and in the high estimation of celibacy; (2) the theosophical element, from which source the adherents draw their higher wisdom. Regarding the objective facts of salvation as well as the subjective process of salvation, the crudeness of the conceptions is striking, as, for instance, in the explanation of the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. If "the blood of Jesus" is the material for the rebirth of the whole universe " then the man who wishes to be blessed must entirely absorb this human and divine substance by faith, which possesses a magnetic power." Therefore, justification is imputed only in the beginning; it must rise to the grade of a sanctifying and unifying justification, which brings with it a transformation into the divine being of light. The firm faith in this supposedly higher knowledge produced a certain self-consciousness which not only turned against ecclesiastical Christianity, but also, and more especially, assumed an attitude of opposition to theologians and set its face against all scientific investigation as a falling away from Christ. The vitality and growth of this sect is very limited; it exists only in a few scattered places, such as Barmen and Elberfeld, and in a few districts in the hill-country of Wurttemberg, and does not appear to have any future. J. Herzog.
2. Hungarian Anabaptists. They originated about 1845 and number at present about 15,000. They have an active propaganda, are growing in importance, and have reproduced the quieter and purer type of Anabaptism of the middle of the sixteenth century. Little is known of them because they are inactive in the work of publication, and are averse to everything not strictly religious. Their hymn-book is their only official publication (Zurich, 5th ed., 1889). There is an excellent article concerning them by G. Schwalm (JPT, xvi. 484-545, 1890).
The name " Nazarene " has long been officially used. Probably the brothers Hemsey, who labored about 1840 as artizans in Switzerland and came into contact with Frohlich and his adherents in Thurgau or near Strasburg, brought this type of Christianity to their native land. After 1848 a
large number of Nazarenes were found in Hungary, whose most zealous apostle was Stephen Kalmar (d. 1863). They have since spread through southern Hungary. They have only one article of faith: the Bible gives God's commandments; to keep them conscientiously is " the way " to salvation. They admit that in the other churches children of God are found, but claim that they should join the Nazarenes. They lay stress upon the doing of God's will, and upon suffering. Complete passivity and patient bearing of insults and ill-treatment characterize them. They do not complain of severe oppression, to which they were formerly especially exposed. This is the lot, they say, of the children of God. They firmly refuse to take an oath and decline military service. It is not the bearing of arms in itself to which they object, but the purpose of killing the enemy which they regard as antichristian. In their religious phraseology they agree with other pietists and prefer to use Biblical language. They are noted for their beautiful singing. They kneel at prayer, sometimes observing silence. Baptism is of adults and by immersion, followed by prayer and imposition of hands by the elders. They are sought as laborers because of their diligence, sobriety, honesty, and thrift, and are not opposed to amassing wealth. The persecutions through which they passed often produced in them a certain fanaticism, characteristically Anabaptist, evinced by their hatred of the church, of priests, and of the educated ministry. To these they apply all words spoken by Jesus against the Pharisees and scribes. From their pietistic standpoint, every external formality of worship appears to belong to the kingdom of apostasy. They therefore form no church organization; they do not even record their baptized members. All who become " converted " and " have the testimony of the congregation " may receive immersion, These join thereby not an organized " church " but the " Christ-believing congregation." But almost all Nazarenes know each other personally, however dispersed they may be. Their elders enjoy an almost unrestricted influence, they advise in all possible concerns, even in matrimonial affairs. Their position is not fixed by rule; there is no formal control over financial administration and relief; everything is a matter of confidence. The Nazarenes have personal and epistolary intercourse with the Frohlichians in Zurich and Strasburg, with some neo-Baptists in Wurttemberg, with Lothringians, and with the Amish Mennonites in America, whom they call coreligionists. But their relation to the Baptists, otherwise nearest to them, is by no means friendly. The Baptist congregations they put on the same basis as the " church." Baptists who join them they baptize again. Their following is from the lower classes. Their future, when their virtues, their growing wealth, and their industry procure for them greater importance and when their narrow vision gives place to needed scientific education, can not be foreseen. Political changes in Hungary have greatly ameliorated their condition. The period 1848-1868 was their time of struggle. Their children were forcibly removed and baptized in the churches; and they themselves suffered long terms of imprisonment for refusing military service.
Nazareth
Neale