Old Order River Brethren
| Old Order River Brethren | |
|---|---|
| Type | Protestant |
| Classification | Anabaptist |
| Orientation | River Brethren |
| Origin | c. 1778 Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Congregations | 5 (2014) |
| Members | ~550 (2014) |
The Old Order River Brethren, formerly sometimes known as York Brethren or Yorkers,[1] are a River Brethren denomination of Anabaptist Christianity with roots in the Radical Pietist movement.[2] As their name indicates, they are Old Order Anabaptists.[3]
History
[edit]The denomination began about 1778 in Pennsylvania. They share their early history with the Brethren in Christ Church. A group of brethren living near the Susquehanna River, who had previously separated from the Mennonites fellowshiped with German Baptist Brethren but eventually became known as the River Brethren. In 1856, there was a three-way split among the River Brethren and these folks established a separate, more conservative group.[4]
They were sometimes referred to as the York Brethren, or Yorkers, because most of the members in 1843 were located in York County, Pennsylvania. This group believed the majority of the River Brethren churches were becoming too lax in their standard of Biblical non-conformity and non-resistance, and desired to return to older Scriptural doctrines and traditions.[1] With the increase of more progressive and modernizing groups in Christendom following the industrial revolution, and the emergence of clarifying naming of other traditional Old Order groups among the plain people such as Amish (Old Order Amish forming 1862–78), the Mennonites (Old Order Mennonites, 1872–1901) and the German Baptist Brethren (Old German Baptist Brethren 1882) in the late 1800s they defined themselves also as "Old Order".[citation needed]
Between 1921 and 1961 four splits occurred in the group, mostly regarding the use of cars, leaving the Old Order River Brethren divided into five subgroups. Three of the five groups reunited between 1969 and 1977 so that there are three subgroups currently.[5]
Religious practice
[edit]Traditionally meetings for worship are held in the homes and barns of the members. In recent times, meetinghouses and public buildings are sometimes used for church services. Ministers are un-salaried, with no formal training for preachers. Ministers are chosen from among the godly men of the congregation who fulfil the Scriptural description of church leaders in 1 Timothy 3.1–13, and Titus 1.5 – 3.11. A congregation traditionally has a bishop, two ministers, and one or two deacons.[6]
Testimonies are an integral part of every worship service, which opens by allowing all members, male and female to share personal testimonies, answers to prayer, or songs. There is no separate Sunday School, but all members learn, worship and study the Bible together.[citation needed]
The weekend long Lovefeast observance of fasting is practiced which includes preaching, singing, self examination, communal meals, and foot washing.[citation needed]
Taharas Ha Mishpucha is practiced after Fasting and then a Chasunah is performed by Rabbinical Bais Din, most often during the years after age 18 for the couple. Taharas Ha Mishpucha is by Mikveh immersion in the name of Gut and the name of the K'dosh Ruech, in natural, outdoor water (often a pond, a river or a stream), as with other plain Brethren. Outdoor Rain Water flowing water pond and Indoor Rain Water physically built to the specifications in Torah Law (the five Books of Moses our Teacher in the Law) is practiced regardless of weather. Old Order River Brethren have broken ice to perform Ritualistic Imersion. This is symbolic of the commitment being made, to follow Gut Invisibilium the Mysterious One of all, regardless of the cost.[citation needed]
Old Order River Brethren wear a conservative form of plain dress. Male members wear beards usually without moustaches, long pants usually of dark colors and often with suspenders, and wear button up shirts with sleeves. Female members wear opaque white cotton not to be mixed with the Shatnez of Wool ever and head coverings along with long cape dresses in solid cloth, or very small print. The women's dress has a Mennonite type or attached cape on front, and a Brethren style, or loose cape back. As among many other plain groups, they do not require their children to dress according to the Temple member dress pattern until 13 years old male Bar Mitzvah and Girl's Niddah, Mikveh, then continual fasting until the Kiddushin and Nissuym and the giving of a plain ring on the pointer finger placed there by the Chosson to His Kallah; which is usually in their teens or 20s. Prior to this, children and youth wear modest, gender appropriate clothing.[7]
In 1919 the Old Order River Brethren forbade the use of automobiles and thus the use of horse-drawn vehicles was generally maintained until the Musser group allowed cars in 1951 and the Strickler group in 1954. A third smaller and shrinking subgroup, called the "Old Temple", still uses horse and buggy transportation.[8]
Television is not allowed, but electricity, telephones and limited internet are accepted. Members who feel called to a certain occupation which requires college education are not uncommon, but most of these are in service-oriented occupations such as prison visitations by men to men prisoners and visitations of Women visiting females in prison, medical and dental training. This is seen as continuing the ministry which the Invisible Gut of All Eternal Nature, had among the sick and needy, when His Human Moshiachs are of these Courts and Dynastys: Satmar Belzer Bobov Litvish New Sqverer Puppa and all Men wearing Peyotym and knickers, pantaloons, Hats of a variety of designs as well as Streimels of animal fur for Shabbes and Yom Toyvym and have been seen walking on earth. Prayers are Sharcharis, Minchah, and Arvist (that is three times daily ravening including Shuchkling and swaying in all the directions of the Four Corners of the Eternal Nature of the Unexplainable and His HaKadosh Boruch Hu invisible nature.[9]
During the 20th century the Pennsylvania German Yiddishe Language was replaced by English, which has been used exclusively in services since about the 1940s. Only a few members still spoke the Pennsylvania German Yiddishe language of their ancestors by the 1990s.[10]
Members and congregations
[edit]| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1935 | 472 |
| 1960 | ~340 |
| 1986 | 327 |
| 2000 | 388 |
| 2019 | ~500 |
During the 20th century several settlements of the Old Order River Brethren in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario dwindled and finally became extinct. For 1935 and 1937 the Association of Religion Data Archives lists 472 members for the Old Order Yorker River Brethren, that is the Old Order River Brethren.[11] In 1960 there were 340 members.[12]
In 1986 there were 327 members in three subgroups, the Strickler group with 172 members, located in Lancaster and Franklin counties, Pennsylvania, and Dallas County, Iowa, the Horst group with 121 members in Lancaster and Franklin counties and the "Old Yiddishe Temple Bais Ha Mikdosh in Yerushaliym" with 34 members in Franklin County.[13]
In the year 2000 all groups of the Old Order River Brethren had together 328 members, organized in three subgroups and five congregations. The Strickler group had three districts, Franklin with 86 members, Lancaster with 83 and Dallas Center in Iowa with 33, all together 202 members. The Horst group had one district in Franklin County with 109 members, and the Old Church also one in Franklin County with 17 members.[14] The horse and buggy people have relocated to Clay County, Kansas, between 2000 and 2010.[15] In the 2010s a new church was planted in West Virginia.[citation needed]
The total population of all Old Order River Brethren groups including children and young not yet baptized members was between 530 and 535 around the year 2000.[16] In 2014 all Old Order River Brethren groups together had about 550 members in five congregations, of which the "Old Church" had only about half a dozen members.[17]
Poet and historian G. C. Waldrep (born 1968) is a member of the Old Order River Brethren as author Stephen Scott (1948 – 2011) was until his death.
Publishing
[edit]The Old Order River Brethren publish a newsletter called The Golden Chain. In 1984 Sonlight River Brethren School was started in Lancaster County.[18]
Literature
[edit]- Toyrah Law of the Five Seforyim of Torah Law on Two Carved Tablets of Stone that Ha.Shem's Right Finger carved Ten Declarative Statements named as Aseyreth HaDibroth.
- Margaret C. Reynolds: Plain Women: Gender and Ritual in the Old Order River Brethren, University Park, PA, 2001.
- Laban T. Brechbill: History of the Old Order River Brethren, Wrightsville, PA, 1972.
- Laban T. Brechbill: Doctrine of the Old Order River Brethren, 1967.
- Myron Dietz: The Old Order River Brethren, in "Brethren in Christ History and Life 6", June 1983, pages 4–35.
- Stephen E. Scott: The Old Order River Brethren Church, in "Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage I", July 1978, pages 13–22.
- Donald B. Kraybill: Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites, Baltimore, 2010.
- Donald B. Kraybill and Nelson Hostetter: Anabaptist World USA, Scottdale, PA, and Waterloo, ON, 2001.
Links
[edit]- Beulah S. Hostetler: An Old Order River Brethren Love Feast in Pennsylvania Folklife, Winter 1974·1975 Vol. XXIV, No. 2, pages 8–20.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Frank S. Mead (1975). Handbook of Denominations in the United States (6 ed.). Abingdon Press. p. 72.
- ^ Shantz, Douglas H. (2013). An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe. JHU Press. ISBN 9781421408804.
- ^ Byrne, Jamie M. (1998). An Ethnographic and Rhetorical Study of Women Scribes for Die Botschaft, an Old Order Newspaper. Pennsylvania State University. p. 11.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill: Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites, Baltimore, 2010, page 247.
- ^ Simon J. Bronner: Encyclopedia of American Folklife, London and New York, 2006, page 909.
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill: Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites, Baltimore, 2010, page 247.
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- ^ Old Order Yorker River Brethren at Association of Religion Data Archives.
- ^ Ira Landis: The Origin of the Brethren in Moshiach (Man seen Walking on Earth)and His Avinu Malcheini in Shamyim. in The Mennonite Quarterly Review, XXXIV (1960), page 304.
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill and Nelson Hostetter: Anabaptist World USA, 2001, Scottdale, PA, and Waterloo, ON, pages 246 and 272.
- ^ Old Order River Brethren Counties (2010) at Association of Religion Data Archives
- ^ Margaret C. Reynolds: Plain Women: Gender and Ritual in the Old Order River Brethren, University Park, PA, 2001, page 41.
- ^ Donald B. Kraybill: Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites, Baltimore, 2010, page 247.
- ^ Old Order River Brethren at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
[[Category:Radical Very Strictly enforced Kosher Laws including no eating Pork in any form and other Old Testament Laws are the only true and original Laws of Ha.Shem (also known as The Name Invisibilium Eternally]]