Christoph Irenaeus

Christoph Irenäus (* around 1522 in Schweidnitz , Duchy of Schweidnitz , † around 1595 in Buchenbach ) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer.

Life

Although his parents lived in modest circumstances, he attended the famous Valentin Trozendorf school in Goldberg and probably went from there to Wittenberg . In addition to his studies, he taught and was principal of the school in Bernburg from 1545 to 1547. Then Philipp Melanchthon recommended him to Schweinfurt , but he took over the school in Aschersleben . Here he married the daughter of the superintendent Petrus Plateanus , was ordained by Johannes Bugenhagen in 1552 and took over a pastorate. Out of his sermons on the Creed grew a great work which was carried out in a strictly Lutheran spirit.

The Counts of Mansfeld then called him to Eisleben , where he was friends with the strict Gnesiolutheran Cyriacus Spangenberg . In 1566 he became court preacher in Weimar . He used his influence to bring supporters of Matthias Flacius into office in churches and universities. He remained a staunch advocate of this direction. He refused any mediation as undertaken by Martin Chemnitz and Joachim Mörlin .

He fought against the unification efforts of Jakob Andreaes verbally and in writing. Andreae wanted to negotiate with him in Weimar in vain in 1570. When the Protestant princes complained about the activities of the Flacians in Thuringia and Duke Johann Wilhelm had to dismiss some of them, he was transferred to Neustadt an der Orla as superintendent . Since he did not appear milder here either and resisted the authorities, he finally had to leave his office and go to Mansfeld .

Even the theologians from Jena were now writing against him. The struggle aroused the citizens too. Like Flacius, he had been on the move ever since. He is said to have been expelled seven more times by 1590. Even in his Silesian homeland he could not survive. Soon he appeared in Hessen , now on the Rhine . In Franconia he was accepted by Eberhard von Stetten. From here he continued the fight against Andreae and the Formula Concordiae . A personal encounter with Andreae made the fight even more intense.

The other employees at Formula Concordiae, Martin Chemnitz, Nicolaus Selnecker and Timotheus Kirchner also strongly rejected him. He wrote some explanatory letters, of which "the mirror of eternal life" was widely read, but consumed his strength in battle. In 1585 he was still active in Horn and came to Buchenbach an der Jagst around 1589, where he died over the course of the next decade.

literature

• Gustav Frank:  Irenaeus, Christoph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 582.
• Helmar Junghans:  Irenäus, Christoph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 178 ( digitized version ).
• Real Encyclopedia for Protestant Theology and Church . Volume 9, pages 41-413.
• Th. Preger: M. Flacius Illyricus . 2nd volume, Munich 1895.
• Rudolf Schenda: Irenaeus, Christoph . In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales . Volume 7, pages 270-273, Google Booksearch .
• Heinz Scheible: Melanchthon's correspondence . Volume 12, Stuttgart / Bad Cannstatt 2005, ISBN 3-7728-2258-4 .
• Kristina Lohrmann:  Irenäus, Christoph. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 1327-1328.