The Anabaptists are among the most radical currents of the 16th century reformation. The seeds of the movement originated in Zurich in connection with the reform of Ulrich Zwingli. One of the main leaders of the movement became Dr. Baltazar Hubmaier (1480 / 81-1528). In 1526 he went to Moravia to Mikulov.
Faithful differences began to emerge between the groups of brothers in 1526. The group around dr. Hubmaier acknowledged secular power, allowing the brothers to wear a sword and have private property. The second group refused weapons, paid taxes and proclaimed joint ownership of property. They were referred to as stabblers (Stäbler) or people of cane(cane peolple) or companions (Gemeinsammer) or few pines (Kleinhäufler). They called the brothers who carried the weapons the Schwertler(Schwertler) or the sword people. They asked Jakub Hutter to solve exesting problems, who introduced common property ownership in the village of Hustopeče with a solid organizational and religious structure of the fraternal community. The Hutterites, the Hutterische Brüder, as they began, represented the largest stream among the anabaptists.
A common feature of all anabaptists was the refusal to baptize small children. Only adults who knowingly proclaim their faith could receive baptism. All early members of the movement received baptism again, which gave rise to the name of anabaptists (lat. Anabaptistae, German Wiedertäufer, Täufer). In Slovakia they were referred to as Habans. This name has persisted so far. The origin of the word is not clearly illuminated. The earliest evidence of the use of this name appears in Adam Cobor’s letter of June 11, 1667. It was probably used earlier. It is also documented in several documents from the end of the 17th century as well as in Bel’s Notity. It was commonly used at a later time. The anabaptists considered this sign pejorative. In 1780, the Velké Leváre brothers who became Catholics of the Emperor demanded that the word Haban be forbidden. The emperor, in a rescript of 1781, forbade the use of this insult. For the hutterites living in America, the words continue to have a negative connotation and consider it abusive. In the professional community, the word haban is used to denote recatholized anabaptist and their children. Until their re-Catholicization, we are talking about neo-baptists, anabaptists, or hutterites.
