The vigorous and sizable man was a former priest, variously known as “the Second Paul,” “Strong George,” and “the Mighty Joerge.” William Estep called George Blaurock (1491-1529) “the Hercules of the Anabaptists.” He became the standard for the itinerant evangelist. More than that, he was a disturber of the tranquility of this misguided world, and that crime earned him the distinction of being forcibly evicted. George Blaurock made that exit by being burned at the stake at Innsbruck, Austria.
In preparation for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, he had studied at the University of Leipzig. He evidently felt that any pride of learning was fatal to a pastoral ministry. His education was altogether lost sight of as he never received high praise for his erudition, or polished manner. With George the important thing was zeal. When the “tall, powerful figure with fiery eyes, black hair and a small bald spot” arrived in Zuerich, Switzerland, he found some “more zealous” than Zwingli. “It came to pass that a person from Chur [a town near the eastern border of Switzerland] came to them, namely a cleric named George of the House of Jacob, commonly called ‘Bluecoat’ (Blaurock)… This George came, moreover, with the unusual zeal which he had, a straightforward, simple parson. As such he was held by everyone. But in matters of faith and in divine zeal, which had been given him out of God’s grace, he acted wonderfully and valiantly in the cause of truth. He first came to Zwingli and discussed matters of belief with him at length, but accomplished nothing. Then he was told that there were other men more zealous than Zwingli. These men he inquired for diligently and found them, namely, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz.” So reads the reminiscences of The Beginnings of the Anabaptist Reformation, written around 1525.
Disillusioned with the Catholic Church’s stance on the doctrine of baptism, he had come to Zuerich to join the reformers under Ulrich Zwingli. Cut loose from Catholicism, he quickly married.
Blaurock and a brother named Stumpf spoke pointedly to Zwingli about a purified church “as also the apostles [had it] in Acts 2.” Zwingli was a bold man, but he cowered before the idea of local churches with only a believing membership. Those who did embrace this biblical idea thereafter went forward without the talented reformer. They were to become the nucleus of an awakening that would be tagged “the Anabaptist movement.” Blaurock is called the first Anabaptist because he was the first of that group of young Swiss brethren to submit to rebaptism. To ana-baptize means to baptize again or a second time. But the believers such as Blaurock did not call themselves Anabaptists because they did not consider infant sprinkling to be a true baptism.
On January 21, 1525, in the home of a Hebrew scholar named Felix Manz, George asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him, thereby renouncing his Roman Catholic baptism. “After the prayer, George Cajacob arose and asked Conrad to baptize him, for the sake of God, with the true Christian baptism upon his faith and knowledge.” Neither Grebel or Manz were considered ordained clergymen. This itself was a break from ecclesiastical authority and a return to biblical simplicity. Encouraged by Blaurock’s obedience, the others requested baptism, and Blaurock obliged.
Thereafter the awakening spread quickly. Our brother’s commanding presence and aggressive evangelistic tactics had already won him a wide hearing among the lower social levels. Perhaps the word “aggressive” is too tame to describe Blaurock’s doings. On the first Sunday in February of 1525 at a Reformed church building in Zollikon, he and the regular preacher arrived at the church building at the same time. George asked him what he intended to do.
“Preach the Word of God,” answered the Reformed clergyman.
“You were not sent to preach; it was I,” and with that clearly stated, he manned the pulpit.
Not surprisingly, within a week Felix Manz, Blaurock, and forty-eight newly baptized believers were arrested. Twenty-four of the prisoners recanted. The remainder held fast until they finally escaped their confinement April 5. An incensed Ulrich Zwingli described Blaurock as “a fool, who in his presumption counted no one a child of God unless he was a madman like himself.”
Undetered, at Zollikon, after an immense crowd witnessed the spectacle of Blaurock’s burning oratory, one hundred and fifty individuals requested baptism. In characteristic Blaurock fashion, they were immediately baptized. At Hynwyl, he preempted the regular Rreformed minister by stepping into the pulpit at a church building and preached to about two hundred people who had gathered early. Since “the earth is the Lord’s” Blaurock assumed that he had as much authority to preach in that pulpit as he did on any street corner.
Not amused, the state church again arrested Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock, this time accusing them of communism and insurrection. According to Philip Schaff, in the end of their interrogation the authorities threatened those “who stubbornly persisted in their error, with death by drowning. He who dips, shall be dipped–cruel irony.” On January 5, 1527, after a third arrest, Felix Manz received “the third baptism” by being drowned in the River Limmat.
Brother Blaurock was exiled since he was a foreigner to the region. At this time, Sturdy George had an opportunity to practice something he had written two years previous, “The weapons of the Christian knight are not carnal but are nevertheless mighty before God in withstanding all human blows.” Blaurock was stripped to the waist and beaten with rods through the streets of Zuerich, “until the blood should flow.” Having lost his co-worker, he barely escaped the city alive. Standing on a hill overlooking the city, he ceremonially shook the dust from his shoes and clothes. Thereafter he was driven into exile and wandering. We assume that his young wife accompanied him on many of these journeys over the rough terrain of Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
In May of 1529, he commenced his work in the mountains of the Tyrol (a region in Catholic Austria). Many of his spiritual children would also suffer exile and become part of the Christian colonies in Moravia (a large area in central Czechoslovakia). Blaurock’s brief career was important because he traveled widely, and introduced the circle in Zuerich to the meetings of believers in the Tyrol and the colonies in Moravia. This connection would prove vital in the coming years as hundreds of harried and beleaguered saints sought asylum in Moravia.
One Christian gentleman who had served as a monk alongside Blaurock in Chur would lay down his life while moving believers on that underground railroad to Moravia. His name was Wolfgang Ullmann. After being baptized by Conrad Grebel, he went to minister the Word at St. Gall in Switzerland. On a mission to lead other Swiss Christians to safety in Moravia, he was arrested in Swabia. He was tortured by fire and beheaded with ten other brethren. Their wives were drowned. Speaking of his old friend, Blaurock said, “Wolfgang…and associates witnessing in a valorous and knightly manner with their bodies and their lives unto death that their faith and baptism was grounded in the divine truth…Thus did it spread through persecution and much tribulation. The church increased daily, and the Lord’s people grew in numbers.”
Mighty George was also destined to martyrdom. On August 14, 1529, Blaurock was captured in Tyrol. From his prison cell in Guffidaun Castle, racked with pain, he wrote an evangelistic plea that concludes: “Continue no longer in your hardness, sickness, blindness, and ungodliness, when you can have a Physician who can heal all your infirmities, and who will afford His services gratis (Mt. 9:12).” He also left written admonitions to his children in the faith, and composed two lengthy hymns.
George Blaurock was burned at the stake at Innsbruck after being “stretched” in order to secure an oath of allegiance to the state Church. Threatened with even worse tortures, he faltered by trying to satisfy his interrogators. Unsatisfied, they only brought a new accusation that, “You follow neither Christ nor your own ordinances,” and off to the burning stake he was taken. Happily, Blaurock knew that his inquisitors would not have the last word. The final assessment of his career would await the judgment seat of His risen Lord.
Materials for this article taken from:
Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers, The Westminster Press, edited by George H. Williams & Angel M. Mergal
The Anabaptist Story, Eerdmans, by William R. Estep
The History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII, Eerdmans, by Philip Schaff
The Pilgrim Church, by E. H. Broadbent
The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, Eerdmans, by Leonard Verduin