The word itself means "guys who hang around villages," rather unglamorously. The Circumcellions were a Christian suicide cult of the fourth and fifth centuries. Their religious practice consisted of delivering random beatings to strangers along the road, with the purpose of goading the strangers into killing them. If that didn't work, they just threw themselves off a cliff instead.
"Since they were destined to be martyrs, the Circumcellions didn't trouble themselves with such virtues as chastity and poverty. Frequently drunk, they cavorted with women and often robbed those victims who failed to assist their martyrdom with a sufficiently violent counterattack. Frequently, their enthusiasm outstripped their common sense."
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GJ - A WELS pastor sent me this, but he is not looking for credit. He thought the parallels were astounding.
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bruce-church (http://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "WELS Found Its Role Model - The Circumcellions":
So true, but not only about initiation. It's their whole mindset. WELS is the true heir of Walther since they continued to innovate their doctrine into the 1960s, and after that innovated worship and evangelism with their CG stuff more than anyone else. From Walther's day down to the present, they all knew their innovations were un-Lutheran, but it seemed they thought they were more spiritual if they could provoke a fight with Lutherans of some stripe, just like Stephan did with the state church and with civil authorities:
Circumcellions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcellions
