Elias Eller

Elias Eller (born July 4, 1690 at Hof Ronsdorf (now part of Wuppertal ); † May 16, 1750 in Ronsdorf) was the founder and leader of a radical-pietist Christian sect of the Zionites and founder of the city of Ronsdorf, today a district of Wuppertal.

Live and act

Elias Eller came from a rural family. He was the son of John Eller (1632-?) And his wife Anna Gertrud Garschagen (1658-1737) and lived as a belt caster and textile manufacturer in Elberfeld (now Wuppertal-Elberfeld). In 1712 he married the owner of a foil tape factory , the widow Katharina Bolckhaus b. Jansen, although she was 20 years older. Eller and his wife had contacts with separatist enthusiasts and chiliastic enthusiasts from an early age . This faith was promoted by appearances by revival preachers like Ernst Christoph Hochmann von Hochenau .

A young maid worked in her household , the baker's daughter Anna Catharina vom Büchel , who from 1722 seemed to be gifted with divine inspirations . Eller only believed in the truth of these revelations after a long period of hesitation and after being persuaded by his wife. In private hours of edification he explains from the Büchel from 1726 the Revelation of John (cf. Rev 21,1–2  EU ), which says that in the Apocalypse , the Last Judgment and the final battle between God and the devil , God is ultimately the victor will emerge from this struggle. Thereupon the earth and heaven will be renewed and a city will descend from heaven: the new Jerusalem .

Büchel was particularly inspired by this. Among other things, von Büchel prophesied in her visions that she would build up the new Zion with Elias Eller , and that a son would be born to them who would rule the world as a new Savior and Messiah (cf. Rev 12,5  EU ). The conduct of the exodus from Elberfeld to Ronsdorf was to take place under Eller's and Büchel's guidance, both had descended from the tribe of Judah , the family of David , and both would now bring about the millennium . Eller let himself be guided to choose a group of elect. These chosen ones were in his opinion as far back as the kingdom of heaven partake expectant Blessed chosen.

At first Eller decided to fertilize the spiritual and religious life within a Philadelphic Society he supported as a Pietistic Society or conventicle , similar to Jane Leade in England . Outwardly, the interpretations of Eller and his supporters in the meetings sounded like ordinary pietistic devotional speeches. At first he and his disciples belonged to the Reformed community of Elberfeld. Among his followers were theologians such as Peter Wülffing and Daniel Schleyermacher , the grandfather of the later theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher .

In this Elberfeld partnership , Büchel soon appeared regularly as a prophet and was quickly able to gather a solid group of supporters. 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. Eller sent messengers through Germany, Holland and Switzerland to invite all peoples to the New Zion .

Eller divorced the sick Katharina Bolckhaus, she died soon afterwards on August 11, 1733, according to tradition, "in madness ". Married Already on January 26, 1733 Eller second wife, the matriarch of the sect, Anna Catharina from Büchel. On July 4, 1734, the first son with the ruler's name Benjamin (cf. Ps 68.28  EU ) was born, but he died surprisingly on November 21, 1735. Eller announced his second coming according to Rev 12.5  EU , but had to experience that his wife gave birth to three girls instead of the expected boy, for example the daughter Anna in July 1736, who died shortly after the birth in August of the same year on 1. January 1738 Sarah († 1770) and on December 6, 1739 Rahel. Sarah and Rahel were called “the two oil children” according to Zech. 4.11–14  EU .

With his teaching, however, Eller soon came into conflict with the Reformed communities in Elberfeld. The Zionites were also known under the names "Ellersche Rotte" or "Ronsdorf Sect" . To avoid the pressure, he bought part of his former family farm Ronsdorf (first mentioned in 1494) from his brother Samuel in 1737, as well as other adjacent properties across the border from Elberfeld. He withdrew there and built a settlement based on the model of the biblical camp of the Israelites . His tape factory was also relocated here. All the houses were on the " tabernacle, " i.e. H. the parish hall and residence of Eller and the preacher Daniel Schleyermacher elected in 1741 . Ronsdorf was already in 1745 the town charter , thanks to the many contacts Ellers up to the Prussian King Frederick II.

Eller called the city the true Philadelphia (cf. Rev 3 : 7-13  EU ), Noah's ark , Zion , the city founded by God himself, the bride of Christ; Elberfeld, on the other hand, Sodom , its pastors bastards , hirelings and preachers of lies , as well as their teachings school bickering . Outside the church, he celebrated love feasts at home with the consecrated , which also degenerated into the flesh. When his wife Anna vom Büchel died at the end of 1743, he now declared himself the sole bearer of the divine revelations and was idolized. Eller was mayor, judge and spiritual leader with almost despotic power and wanted to be prophet, high priest and king. In 1745 he pushed through the election of a second pastor, Peter Wülffing from Solingen . With Schleyermacher, a group that doubted the authenticity of the revelations split off from the community in 1749, and Schleyermacher was subsequently excluded from the community. Eller achieved that the King of Prussia , Friedrich II , appointed Wülffing as court preacher and consistorial councilor . On September 15, 1749, Eller married the rich widow Anna Gertrud Bosselmann, nee. Lucas (1695–1763), the widow of Elberfeld's mayor Johann Kaspar Bosselmann , died in 1750 of dropsy .

aftermath

After Eller's death, his stepson Bolckhaus took over the leadership of the sect alone, and Eller's daughter Sarah, who had previously appeared as a prophet, tried to strengthen Bolckhaus and Wülffing in her divine debates in the fight against Schleyermacher and the doubters. An investigation into blasphemy , witchcraft and other crimes and the arrest of Schleyermacher was ordered through defamation and bribery , but he was able to flee to Arnhem in Holland .

After Ronsdorf left the synod in 1754 , the decline of the religious community increased. Wülffing, who had introduced a new catechism , a new Bible translation, a new liturgy and new songs in Ronsdorf, fell out with Bolckhaus and was suspended by the Düsseldorf government at his instigation. On May 31, 1768, with the election of a new preacher named Herminghaus, the congregation was accepted back into the Reformed Church.

Others

In 1940 Elias Eller 's former home on Klein's corner was demolished.

In Ronsdorf a street is named after 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.

A memorial stone is dedicated to Eller in Ronsdorf.

• 

  Memorial stone in Ronsdorf

• 

  Lettering of the memorial stone

• 

  Plaque at the memorial stone

literature

• Johann Werner Knevels: Secret of the evil of the ellerian sect in Ronsdorf in the Duchy of Berg. Marburg 1751.
• J. Ad. Engels: An attempt at a history of religious enthusiasm in the former Duchy of Berg. Celeb 1826.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Krug: Critical history of the Protestant-religious enthusiasm, sectarianism and the entire un- and counter-church innovations in the Grand Duchy of Berg, especially in the Wuppertal. 1851, pp. 77-203.
• Max Goebel: History of Christian Life in the Rhenish-Westphalian Protestant Church III. 1860, 456 ff.
• Wilhelm Crecelius:  Eller, Elias . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 50-52.
• Theodor Wotschke : From the death of Zion's mother Anna Eller in 1743 in Ronsdorf. In: Monthly Issues for Rhenish Church History 27, 1933, 28.
• Gerhart Werner:  Eller, Elias. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 455 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Edmund Strutz: Elias Eller - city founder of Ronsdorf. In: Wuppertal biographies. 2. F., 1960, 24 ff.
• Edmund Strutz: Elias Eller, the founder of the city of Ronsdorf. In: Rhine. Lb. I, 1961, 102 ff.
• Gerhart Werner: Elias Eller. In: Tradition. Journal for company history and entrepreneur biographies 12 , 1967, 596 ff.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Eller, Elias. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1501-1502.
• Claus Bernet : The New Jerusalem in the Rhineland. An investigation into the motives for founding the town of Ronsdorf. In: Monthly Issues for Protestant Church History of the Rhineland , 57, 2007, 129–148.
• Claus Bernet: Built Apocalypse. The Utopia of the Heavenly Jerusalem in the Early Modern Age. Zabern, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-8053-3706-9 .

Web links

Commons : Elias Eller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Volkmar Wittmütz: Biography in the portal Rheinische Geschichte
• Günter Konrad, Klaus-Günther Conrads: Elias Eller. In: ronsdorfer-buergerverein.de. Retrieved February 1, 2016 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Edmund Strutz : The pedigree of the Elberfeld mayors and city judges from 1708–1808 . 2nd Edition. Degener, Neustadt ad Aisch 1963, ISBN 3-7686-4069-8 , p. 116 f .
2. ↑ Spectacular insight into the history of Ronsdorf's founding, March 6, 2009 ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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, accessed March 2009 
3. ^ Ronsdorfer Bürgererverein: As town and community founder “Mr. Ronsdorf "
4. ↑ Geschichtswerkstatt-Rronsdorf.de ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2007 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. , Ronsdorf timetable, accessed April 2009