Friends of Man

TheFriends of Manare aChristian denominationfounded in 1919 byFrédéric-Louis-Alexandre Freytag,the former Branch manager of theSwissWatch Tower Societysince 1912. He founded a group first named theAngel of the Lord(this name was inspired by a verse of the Apocalypse),Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society,thenChurch of the Kingdom of Godor thePhilanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man.

History

The group began when Freytag started publishing his own personal views and sentThe Message of Laodicea(Le Message de Laodicée), in which he claimed he was the legitimate successor ofCharles Taze Russell,to theBible Students.Therefore, he was ousted from the Watch Tower Society byJoseph Rutherfordin 1920.He published two journals, the monthlyThe Monitor of the Reign of Justice(Le Moniteur du Règne de Justice) and the weeklyNewspaper for All(Le Journal pour tous).

In Italy, the first community was founded in 1946 inTurinby Sebastiano Chiardola.

When Freytag died in 1947, one of his followers, Bernard Sayerce (1912–1963), aRoman Catholicschoolteacher, claimed he was his successor.Almost all of the 900 French and Belgian assemblies joined this new group which had a peak of 9,700 members between 1958 and 1962.In 1963, Lydie Sartre (1898–1972), who was named the "Dear Mom", then Joseph Neyrand (1927–1981) in 1971, replaced Sayerce as leaders of the movement, named "Amis sans frontières" in 1984.

Beliefs and practices

The movement theology includes Christian doctrines ofrestorationismandmillennialism.Its beliefs can be found in Freytag's writings:The Divine Revelation(La Divine Révélation,1920),The Message to Humanity(Le Message à l’Humanité,1922) andThe Eternal Life(La Vie éternelle,1933).The movement stresses the need to change the character of humanity by practicing the Gospel. Members believe that only 144,000 persons, who are the Kingdom of God's members, will go to heaven. They areantitrinitarianand believe in a sole God,Jehovah.They are vegetarian.

In 1951 the movement turned increasingly tophilanthropy:help fordisadvantaged,disaster relief and material donations for farmers.

They celebrate the feast of the Army of the Lord on 18 April and the feast of the little flock on 18 October. The weekly four meetings are largely devoted to study of the founder's writings. Baptism and theLast Supperare celebrated only within the Swiss branch, not in France.

Organization

Friends of Man in the world

The movement was later under the leadership of Édouard Rufener, then Marie Roulin, then Mr. Kohli. Anelderoversees a community.

The main headquarters are inCartigny, Switzerland.In France, the national headquarters were located in rue Amelot, in the11th arrondissement of Paris,with a strong influence in the south-west, before moving to Les Ormeaux, inLot-et-Garonne.Every year, there are one or two congresses composed of speeches, artistic galas and concerts (e.g. at theParc des Princesin 1948 and 1949, in Bordeaux in 1950 and in Toulouse in 1951). Regional meetings are also organized in European countries as well as in non European countries such as Algeria and Morocco.

The 71,500 members are active in twenty countries, including Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, UK, U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Australia, but particularly in Italy.