Anna Catharina vom Büchel

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Anna Catharina vom Büchel , also Buchel (* February 23, 1698 in Elberfeld ; † November 13, 1743 in Ronsdorf , both today districts of Wuppertal ), was a Zionite and was venerated by her followers as a prophetess and mother of Zion .

Life

Anna Catharina vom Büchel's grandfather moved from the Büchel farm near Remscheid to the pre-industrial Elberfeld around 1660 . His granddaughter Anna Catharina was the daughter of a baker .

From about 1722 she had raptures and visions . From 1726 she held regular pietistic edification hours in Elberfeld , which were initially tolerated by the Reformed Church . She was employed as a maid in the house of the Bolckhaus family, where she probably first met her future husband Elias Eller , an important representative of late radical pietism . He is said to have explained to her the revelation of John Rev 21,1–2 EU in private hours of inspiration  , which says that at the Apocalypse , the Last Judgment and the final battle between God and the devil, God will emerge from this battle as the victor. Thereupon the earth and heaven will be renewed and a city will descend from heaven: the new Jerusalem .

Büchel was particularly inspired by this. From 1726 at the latest, she announced that she was called to beget a new Savior in Elias Eller (1690–1750) . Initially, their followers decided to fertilize the spiritual and religious life within a Philadelphic Society supported by Eller as a Pietistic Society or conventicle , similar to Jane Leade in England before . In this Elberfeld partnership , Büchel soon appeared regularly as a prophet and was quickly able to gather a steady group of followers. In the first year of its prophecy, fifty households were already counted in the movement. The revelations Anna recorded by Eller in a book, which is called Ronsdorfer shepherd's bag carries. The trailers were put in a register and labeled as Sealed . This directory was part of the shepherd's bag and has been preserved.

Outstanding supporters were Reformed theologians such as Daniel Schleyermacher (1695–1776) and Peter Wülffing (1701–1776) from Solingen . The prophet Anna vom Büchel was called Mother Zion by her followers , Elias Eller called her Father Zion . In addition, she had other honors such as God's tent with the people , Mother Jerusalem or the Ark of the Testament .

Büchel continuously urged people to move out of Elberfeld, which she equated with Babel . Possibly she had knowledge of the anonymous prophetic miracle speeches that were widespread and popular in pietistic circles . The contents of this little book can be summed up to two points:

  • Babel must go under
  • Jerusalem needs to be built

It is more likely, however, that she heard one of the sermons of the future Zionite Peter Wülffing, who preached several times in Elberfeld. These sermons were imbued with the idea of ​​a pure, true Zionite Church that had to separate itself from its surroundings.

Among other things, Büchel prophesied that she and Elias Eller would build up the new Zion and that a son would be born to them who would rule the world as the new Messiah (see also Rev 12,5  EU ). At the age of 36, she married Elias Eller on January 26, 1734, after he separated from his first wife Katharina Bolckhaus in 1727 and divorced in 1733. As early as 1727 Eller had announced that he wanted to marry Mrs. Büchel. The first son Benjamin was born on July 4, 1734, who died unexpectedly on November 21, 1735. In July 1736 she gave birth to their daughter Anna, who died in August of the same year. Sarah (died 1770) was born on January 1, 1738, and Rachel was born on December 6, the following year. In 1737 the construction of a separate settlement called Ronsdorf began . The conduct of the exodus from Elberfeld to Ronsdorf was to take place under Büchel and Eller's guidance, both had sprung from the tribe of Judah , the family of David , and both would now bring about the millennial kingdom .

Eller began to clear a piece of forest in the spring, and in the same year the first Zionites from Elberfeld moved to the new settlement that was being built, which the followers of the Philadelphian Society saw as the Heavenly Jerusalem . In the further course of the development of the settlement, Anna vom Büchel took a back seat, although she continued to hold debates and was venerated as a prophetess, the sources cannot prove that she played a dominant role. She lived with Eller in their spacious new home, known as the tabernacle , and held her meetings there. According to the notes of Jakob Bolckhaus, Anna vom Büchel is said to have slept gently on November 13, 1743 at three o'clock in the morning. This is also evidenced by a protocol that was signed by 54 parishioners and submitted to the Prussian King Friedrich II in Berlin . According to other sources, she died suddenly in Johann Caspar Bosselmann's restaurant, or was found there shortly after a banquet. The circumstances suggest a stroke .

Others

In Ronsdorf a street is named after Elias Eller. Feminist theologians and historians called for the renaming of “Elias-Eller-Strasse” to “Anna-vom-Büchel-Strasse” in order to draw attention to the central role of their visions in the history of the Ronsdorf sect and to their life's fate.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Spectacular insight into the history of the founding of the town of Ronsdorf. ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. sonntagsblatt-online.de, March 6, 2009, accessed March 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sonntagsblatt-online.de
  2. ^ A forgotten sensation from the Ronsdorf church history Westdeutsche Zeitung, March 3, 2009, accessed on July 6, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Vom Büchel, Anna Catharina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vom Buchel, Anna Catharina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian prophetess, Zionite and mother of Zion
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1698
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1743
Place of death Ronsdorf