Gustav Adolf Schiffmann

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Gustav Adolf Schiffmann (born July 31, 1814 in Stettin , † July 18, 1883 in Großtabarz ) was a Protestant pastor in Stettin and an influential member of German Freemasonry as a Masonic researcher and writer .

Life

Gustav Adolf Schiffmann was the son of the Stettin master baker Johann Gottfried Schiffmann and his wife Dorothea Elisabeth nee Matthias (also Matthies); he was married to Auguste Georgine Elisabeth nee Schulze.

Schiffmann was appointed to the Church of St. Jacobi in Stettin as a deacon in 1843 . In 1854 he was promoted to archdeacon , which he remained until the end of his life. He was a pioneer of ecclesiastical liberalism and co-founder of the German Protestant Association , whose branch in the ecclesiastical province of Pomerania he founded in 1864 and headed for a long time. Despite the support of the Prussian Crown Prince , the later Emperor Friedrich III. , applications for pastoral positions in Berlin were unsuccessful.

Working in the Masonic Order

Schiffmann was longtime chair Master of Szczecin Masonic Lodge Three golden anchor for love and loyalty , an offshoot Lodge also of Freemasonry called Grand National Masonic from Germany . Within the order he held the offices of the Provincial Grand Master of Pomerania and the order's sub- and senior architect.

The master of the order of the Freemasons, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, entrusted him with the scientific task to clarify, as stated in the Eckleff files , but from many sides, also by the Crown Prince himself, the long-reaching origins of the Swedish teaching method of the Grand State Lodge behaved. Schiffmann gave himself to the investigation with great zeal. The results of his studies, according to which the Eckleff files did not prove to be absolutely perfect in every respect, led to serious disagreements. The continuation of the studies was put in the way of the order leader, who did not agree with the procedure of the Crown Prince, whereupon the Crown Prince resigned as Order Master in 1874.

In order to prevent Schiffmann from succeeding as master of the order, the electoral law was changed. A plethora of pamphlets and publications outside the circle of the Grand State Lodge were the result. As a result, Schiffmann was expelled by judgment of the Order Council in 1876 on the pretext of having violated the requirement of silence in three brochures on the chapter of the Great State Lodge (partly historical, partly polemical) and his box, which stood behind him, was suspended. She then joined the Great Lodge of Prussia called Royal York for friendship .

In 1882 the exclusion was reversed by the order master Gustav von Ziegler . In the meantime, the previously disputed research results had proven to be correct.

Fonts

The most important writings of Schiffmann for the history of Freemasonry are:

  • Andreas Michael Ramsay. A Study of the History of Freemasonry. Manuscript for Brothers. Zechel, Leipzig 1878.
  • Freemasonry in France in the first half of the 18th century. Edited from the oldest French writings and documents . Zechel, Leipzig 1878.
  • The emergence of the knight degrees in Freemasonry around the middle of the XVIII. Century. Edited according to the oldest Masonic manuscripts and pamphlets . Zechel, Leipzig 1882. ( digitized version )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German gender book (Genealogisches Handbuch Bürgerlicher Familien) Volume 150, Limburg 1969, p. 191.
personal data
SURNAME Schiffmann, Gustav Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Protestant pastor in Szczecin, Masonic researcher and writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1883
Place of death Großtabarz