Calcar, Jan van (1696-1773)
Jan van Calcar (Calker) (1696-1773) was born at Deventer, Dutch province of Overijssel. He left his home church (Old Flemish) and joined the congregation of the Swiss Brethren at Hoogezand, Dutch province of Groningen, being baptized here in 1716 by Hans Ancken, Elder of the United Palatine and Swiss Brethren, who had immigrated from Switzerland in 1711. Jan van Calcar was a very pious and ascetic man, who left his business in order to live in the country and to do farm work, which seemed to him more according to the Gospel than business. In 1736 he met Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian Brethren, and became an ardent follower of this movement, without leaving his Swiss Mennonite Church. Van Calcar also urged his father-in-law W. Ebbing, who was at this time a sheriff and a member of the Reformed Church, to be converted and to leave his office; Ebbing migrated with his family to Hoogezand and also joined the Swiss Mennonite Church. Ebbing's daughters do not seem to have joined the Mennonite Church, but held important offices in the Moravian brotherhood. Hendrika Ebbing became in 1760 "Generalältestin der ledigen Schwestern" (Head of the Unmarried Sisters) at Herrnhut. A Levensbericht (Autobiography), written by Jan van Calcar himself, is found in the archives of the Mennonite congregation of Amsterdam.
Bibliography
Lütjeharms, W. Het philadelfisch-oecumenisch streven der Hernhutters in de Niederlanden in de achtiende eeuw. Zeist, 1935: 137.
| Author(s) | Nanne van der Zijpp |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Calcar, Jan van (1696-1773)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Calcar,_Jan_van_(1696-1773)&oldid=120924.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1953). Calcar, Jan van (1696-1773). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Calcar,_Jan_van_(1696-1773)&oldid=120924.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 490. All rights reserved.
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