21 January 1525 · event
The Zürich baptisms
On 21 January 1525, Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock at a gathering associated with Felix Manz in Zürich. This is a central starting point for Swiss Anabaptist history.
Bible study in Zürich led Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and their companions to seek a fellowship shaped by the New Testament. Their conviction that baptism should follow personal faith brought them into conflict with the city’s requirement that infants be baptized. The supplied overview describes the council’s order to conform or leave.
On 21 January 1525 the believers gathered in the home associated with Manz’s mother. After prayer, Blaurock asked Grebel to baptize him upon his confession of faith. Blaurock then baptized others in the gathering. The act joined the outward sign to a deliberate commitment to follow Christ together.
The gathering became a defining beginning of the Swiss Brethren. Its consequences can be followed through the lives of the three men: Manz’s imprisonment and death at Zürich, Blaurock’s continued preaching into Tyrol, and Grebel’s place in the first fellowship. The linked first-century source passages show the biblical pattern of teaching, faith, and baptism to which they appealed.
Sources for this history: [1] [2] [3] [4]
