The Danziger Old Flemish at De Drie Kruikjes: What Did Orthodoxy Look Like?

Already before 1619, the renovated warehouse hidden behind this house on the Nieuwzijds Achterburgwal had been the hidden church of the Old Flemish Mennonites. In 1632, a part of the congregation decided to merge with the Flemish at the nearby Kerk bij ’t Lam. The Old Flemish who did not wish to merge aligned themselves with the more conservative Danziger Old Flemish. For a period between 1632 and 1646, there was unclarity about who retained the right to use the property. The staunchly orthodox group moved over to house next door, called De Zes Kruikjes [the six jugs], until the formal ruling on the original meeting place came down in their favour. Thereafter, they returned to their original hidden church, De Drie Kruikjes [the three jugs].

These Mennonites held more strictly to simple dress for longer than most other Dutch Mennonites, and they enforced stricter views on the ban and rules against buitentrouw (marriage with people outside of their faith group). They also practiced foot washing after most other Dutch Mennonite groups had stopped doing so.

However, Mennonite theological orthodoxy in the Dutch context did not per se connote disconnect from surrounding economic and cultural life – particularly by the eighteenth century. For instance, Jan Christiaan Sepp (1739-1811), who was selected as minister at De Drie Kruikjes as of 1781, ran a successful bookshop, and he was involved in publishing, illustration, and printmaking. He was a natural history specialist and collector, and he collaborated on a number of important books about naturalia like Flora Batava and Nederlandsche Vogelen. Sepp was also one of the founders of Felix Meritis ("Happy through Merit"), an intellectual society established in 1776 for furthering of the arts, culture and sciences based on Enlightenment ideals.

Today, nothing remains of De Drie Kruikjes. Only one drawing by Gerrit Postma, who grew up in the Collegiant-Mennonite Oranjeappel nearby, provides a sense of what the building looked like. By the time he drew it in the 1830s, the building was already out of use as a hidden church. As the congregation got smaller, the 41 remaining Danziger Old Flemish decided to merge with the Zonists. This unification, under guidance of their elders and ministers (including Sepp), took place in the late 1780s.