Marten (Martinus) Micronius, (Marten de Cleyne), a Reformed theologian of the Reformation period, studied at the University of Basel under Bullinger, who influenced him deeply. In 1550 he became pastor of the Dutch congregation in London, which was under the leadership of John á Lasco. When it became difficult for him to stay here under Queen Mary, he and his group in 1553 sought a new home in Denmark, in Wismar, Lübeck, and Hamburg. He was rejected everywhere by the strict Lutherans. After a short stay in Emden he became pastor in Norden in 1554, and died there on 12 September 1559.

In Wismar, Micronius met Menno Simons. The Mennonites living here received the refugees with sympathy and willingness to help them. Soon they were engaged in religious disputations, in which Hermes Backereel wished to represent the refugees in debating with Menno Simons, who had been living here in concealment. After the first meeting Micronius was called from Emden. In the discussion of disputed points on 6 February 1554, Micronius expressed his surprise that Menno's concept of the Incarnation was not among these topics. Then it was discussed for eleven hours, after which they ate a meal together. On 15 February the discussion on the Incarnation was continued in the home of a Mennonite. This time the debate became so heated that Micronius and his party were finally driven out. Their relations with the refugees had an unhappy result for the Mennonites. Micronius reported that Menno was living in Wismar and that the government was tolerating Anabaptists. This ungrateful recompense for the fraternal care they had given the refugees upon their arrival worried Menno deeply. It also made it necessary for Menno to leave Wismar; he took up residence in Fresenburg in 1554.
Micronius as well as Menno published an exact report on the course of the two debates. On 18 June 1556 appeared Micronius' booklet, Een waeraechtigh verhaal der t'zammensprekinghe tusschen Menno Simons en Martinus Mikron van der Menschwerdinghe Jesu Christi, to which Menno replied with Een gants duytlick en bescheyden antwoort . . . Oct. 15, and Een seer hertgrontlijck Sentbrief aen M. Micron ... of 16 September 1556 (Menno Simons, Opera, 1681: 543-618). The discussion was closed with Micronius' Een apologie of verandtwoordinghe ... in 1558. A first edition of each of Micronius' works is found in the Amsterdam Mennonite Library.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 676-677. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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