Abraham Culvensis

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monument
Culvensis' grave

Abraham Culvensis , also Abraomas Kulvietis, Abraham Kulvietis , (* around 1509 in Kulva near Jonava , † July 19, 1545 in Vilnius ) was a Lithuanian lawyer and Protestant theologian from Lithuania .

Live and act

Coming from an old, wealthy noble family, Culvensis studied from 1528 to 1537 in Krakow. When he heard of the renewal of science through humanism, he first went to the University of Leuven where he was influenced by Erasmus of Rotterdam , then to Wittenberg to Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon . From there he moved to Leipzig in 1536 and completed his studies in Siena , Italy , with the completion of an academic doctorate in law in 1537 .

In 1538 he returned to his homeland and gave lectures in Vilnius . Here he built a school around 1540 , which was attended by 60 students. As a Protestant school principal, however, he was strongly hostile and finally forced to leave his home. He went to Königsberg in Prussia , started teaching there and in 1542 soon became the first director of the ducal particular who was preparing for university studies.

When the Albertus University in Königsberg opened in 1544 , he was the first to receive the chair for Greek and Hebrew. As a letter from Paul Speratus to him shows, he enjoyed great respect in the university and in the church. Speratus urged him to become a teacher of his fellow citizens in the evangelical knowledge of the faith. The first Lithuanian catechism, which was printed in Konigsberg in 1547, goes back to these suggestions . He also translated evangelical songs into Lithuanian.

On hearing that his mother was dying, he traveled home in 1546 . Duke Albrecht I of Brandenburg-Ansbach had obtained safe conduct for him from the King of Poland-Lithuania Sigismund I, the old man , but he started this journey as a sick man and only came home to be there with the clear confession Gospel to end his life. Rumor has it that he was poisoned by his enemies.

Works

  • Confessio fidei Abr. Culvensis , 1543

literature

  • Paul Tschackert : Document book on the history of the Reformation in the Duchy of Prussia. Vol. 1, 1890, p. 248, p. 342
  • Theodor Wotschke : AC Altpreuß. Monthly Bulletin 42 (1905), pp. 153-252
  • Ed. Kneifel. The pastors of the Ev.-Augsb. Church in Poland , undated, p. 213
  • Vaclovas Biržiška: Abraham Kulvietis. The First Lithuanian Humanist . Contributions of Baltic University Pinneberg, No. 47 (1947), p. 11
  • Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's Correspondence People Volume 11