Stephan Funk, a preacher of the Mennonite congregation near Thorn, West Prussia, presumably an immigrant from Moravia, became known through his contact with King Charles XII of Sweden in connection with the siege of Thorn in 1703. When the king heard of Funk and learned that the Mennonites rejected warfare, he ordered Funk to preach a sermon in the camp in his presence and prove his principle of nonresistance from the Bible. Funk complied. After the sermon the king inquired whether all wars were unconditionally condemned in the Scriptures. Funk answered, "If anything could be allowed in the Holy Scriptures, it must be that a king who is attacked in his own realm might defend himself; but that a king march into another realm to conquer and devastate it, for that there is no freedom in the Scriptures; on the contrary, it is absolutely opposed to Christ's teaching." This is recorded by W. Mannhardt on the basis of the church record kept by Heinrich Donner at Orlofferfelde.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 424. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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