|
  Historical Committee
Inauguration
of the Memorial Plaque
to the
Anabaptist Martyrs of Zurich
by Ruedi Reich, President, Reformed Church of Zurich
Dear sisters and brothers,
We commemorate here our brothers in Christ who were cruelly tortured
and executed for their faith during the Reformation. The Reformation in
Zurich regarded itself as a rediscovery of the liberating Gospel of
Jesus Christ. For this, the members of the newly forming protestant
Church were also ready to give up their lives.
We are therefore all the more ashamed and pained that the Reformed
Church should have become a persecutor. In the Zurich of the
Reformation, our brothers in the faith of Anabaptist convictions were
persecuted, tortured and cruelly executed in a combined action by
Church and State. We acknowledge this historic sin and, from today’s
point of view, consider it a betrayal of the Gospel. Before God and
before men, we point to this dark side of the Reformation, and we ask
God and you, dear brothers and sisters of the Mennonite faith, to
forgive us. We are grateful for the fellowship with the Mennonites in
the past and today. In the midst of a violent world, we wish to work
together for peace, reconciliation and justice. May this reconciliation
with each other give us the strength to work together commissioned by
Jesus Christ as agents of reconciliation, in small things and in great
ones. For this, we ask God’s blessing with all our heart.
|
|
|
Mennonite Historical
Bulletin
|
Mission
Statement:
"God calls us to preserve our faith heritage, to interpret our stories,
and to proclaim God's work among us."
|
|