Elizabeth Dirks – Martyr
Elizabeth Dirks grew up in a convent in East Friesland, in the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-1500s. As a nun she learned to read, both in her native German and in Latin, and became a devout student of the Bible and, in reading it, she was convicted that her monastic lifestyle was not Scriptural. Seeking to leave her convent, she switched clothes with a visiting milkmaid and walked out wearing that simple disguise.
Elizabeth became a follower of the Anabaptist Menno Simons – the man from whom the Mennonites take their name. Her knowledge of the Scripture placed her in high esteem with this group of Believers. Such was her familiarity with Simons that, when she was arrested by Catholic authorities in 1549, they initially thought she had married him. As it was, they caught her with a Bible – that being the chief indication of her status.
At her interrogation, they initially tried to get her to take an oath. To this she refused, saying that Christ commanded that her “Yes should mean yes, and her no should mean no.” She was threatened with torture if she refused to name those whom she had taught. She replied, “No, my Lords, do not press me on this point. Ask me about my faith and I will answer you gladly.”
Moving away from naming names, they hoped to corner Elizabeth on her beliefs. Her answers were full of Scripture, countering every argument they made against her. She declared that church buildings were not the house of God, but our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Asked if she were saved by baptism, she said, “All the water in the sea cannot save me. All my salvation is in Christ, who has commanded me to love the Lord, my God, and my neighbor as myself.” She insisted that only Christ has the authority to forgive sins, not priests.
Persisting in her refusal to name names, she was taken to the place of torture. They placed screws on her thumbs and fingers until blood spurted from her fingernails. She did not give up her friends, but cried aloud to Jesus for relief from her agony. Next, they lifted her skirt to apply larger screws to crush her shins. She pleaded that she had never allowed anyone to touch her body and the torturers promised to respect her. Tightening the screws until her shin-bones were crushed, the torturers realized they would get nothing out of Elizabeth. Rather than burn her at the stake, as was customary, they tied her in a bag and drowned her.
The testimony of Elizabeth Dirks shows great courage, determination, modesty, and faith.
