Sittert, Tieleman Tielen van (d. 1664)

Tieleman Tielen van Sittert (died 1664 at Amsterdam), was a Dutch Mennonite elder, originally belonging to the High Germans, a friend of Elder Leenaert Clock. In 1630-1639 he served as an elder of the united Frisian and High German congregation and, after the merger (1639) of this church with the Flemish, in the united Flemish-Frisian-High German congregation bij 't Lam until June 1664. After the Lamist-Zonist schism in June 1664 he served in the Zonist congregation for a few months until his death. Van Sittert, often called Tieleman Tielen without his family name, was conservative, strictly maintaining the old doctrines and ardently defending his view that his church was the only truly Christian church. Among the Flemish-Frisian-High German delegates assembled at Haarlem in 1649 it was especially van Sittert who advised the rejection of the request of the Waterlanders to merge with the Flemish. From about 1650 he showed himself a fierce opponent of Preacher Galenus Abrahamsz and Collegiant ideas. Meihuizen is of the opinion that the pamphlet Commonitio ofte Waerschouwinghe aen de Vlaemsche Doopsgesinde Gemeynte binnen Amsterdam (no publisher indicated-1655) was drawn up (probably Cornelis de Vries was the author) with the help and at any case in the spirit of van Sittert. In this booklet, whose author calls himself a "voorstander" (deacon) and member of the Amsterdam Flemish congregation, Galenus, David Spruyt, and Frank Beuns are severely attacked and charged with Socinianism. Tieleman Tielen was a noted personality among the conservative leaders and often conducted services, particularly baptism and communion services in other congregations, for example, at Utrecht and Hamburg-Altona.

Tieleman Tielen co-operated with Jan Cents and others in drawing up the Jan Cents confession of faith of 1630, on the basis of which the merger of the Frisian-High German group with the Flemish came about in 1639. He was the editor (publisher) of Christliche Glaubens-Bekentnus der Waffenlosen und fürnehmlich in den Niederländern (unter dem nahmen der Mennonisten) Wohlbekanten Christen, wie auch Etliche Christliche Gebähte eben derselben Glaubensbekenner . . . (Amsterdam, 1664, 1686, and 1691; n.p.-1711; Basel, 1822); an English edition was printed at Amsterdam in 1712 in behalf and upon the request of the Mennonites in Pennsylvania; a large number of reprints were published in America, both in English and German. This Christliche Glaubens-Bekentnus is a translation of the Dordrecht Confession of 1632. To the translation van Sittert added a number of prayers, seven hymns (written by Leenaert Clock), and a brief Mennonite history. This book was very popular among the South German, Alsatian, and American Mennonites; in places it is still used.

Bibliography

Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1863): 80; (1898): 62.

Friedmann, Robert. Mennonite Piety Through the Centuries. Goshen, 1949: 118 f.

Meihuizen, H. W. Galenus Abrahamsz. Haarlem, 1954: passim.

Schijn, Hermann. Geschiedenis dier Christenen, welke in de Vereenigde Nederlanden onder de Protestanten Mennoniten genaamd worden . . . Tweede Druk op nieuws uit het Latyn vertaald, en vermeerdert door Gerardus Maatschoen. Amsterdam: Kornelis de Wit, 1743. Aanhangzel Dienende tot den Vervolg of Derde Deel van de Geschiedenis der Mennoniten .. . in het welke noch Negentien Leeraars der Mennoniten . . . Amsterdam: Kornelis de Wit, 1745: v. III, 241.

Wolkan, Rudolf. Die Lieder der Wiedertäufer. Berlin, 1903. Reprinted Nieuwkoop : B. De Graaf, 1965: 115-18.

Author(s)	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1959

Cite This Article

MLA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Sittert, Tieleman Tielen van (d. 1664)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 18 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sittert,_Tieleman_Tielen_van_(d._1664)&oldid=109448.

APA style

Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1959). Sittert, Tieleman Tielen van (d. 1664). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Sittert,_Tieleman_Tielen_van_(d._1664)&oldid=109448.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 535-536. All rights reserved.

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