Joachim Moerlin

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Copper engraving by Joachim Mörlin, from the picture collection of the library of the Protestant seminary of Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Joachim Mörlin (born April 6, 1514 in Wittenberg , † May 23, 1571 in Königsberg ) was a theologian , pastor and reformer.

Life

Joachim was born as the son of the former professor of philosophy at the University of Wittenberg Jodok Mörlin and grew up with his brother Maximilian Mörlin . Mörlin's father suffered from constant financial hardship and in 1521, on Luther's recommendation, became a pastor in Westhausen near Coburg . Despite having a large family, he let his son Joachim begin studying theology after learning the pottery trade. In 1531 he came to his hometown Wittenberg, where he matriculated at the local university. His teachers were Martin Luther , Philipp Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen .

In 1536 Joachim Mörlin obtained his master's degree in Wittenberg and then worked as a preacher in various places. In 1538 he returned to Wittenberg, where he became a member of the academy and on August 10, 1539 worked as a deacon at the town church . He was soon considered to be "Luther's chaplain", who valued Mörlin's simple, popular but haunting manner of preaching. Under Luther, he acquired his doctorate in 1540, and in the same year he was appointed superintendent in Arnstadt .

In Arnstadt he was horrified from his position in 1543 because he criticized the unchristian behavior of the authorities, the mayor and the city council from the pulpit. In May 1544, Mörlin took up the post of superintendent in Göttingen, where he also encountered difficulties due to his preaching style. After four years his work here ended due to the disputes over the so-called " Interim ". Mörlin spoke out clearly against any interference in religious matters with the secular authorities, which also cost him his position here. He was expelled from Göttingen.

In 1550 Joachim Mörlin was appointed inspector and pastor to the Kneiphof Cathedral in Königsberg . Here he was quickly drawn into a teaching dispute over the doctrine of justification with Andreas Osiander , who taught as a professor at Königsberg University. Mörlin initially looked for a friendly relationship with Osiander, but this soon broke up. Since the Duke sided with Osiander, Mörlin soon had to leave Königsberg. Although this caused him a bitter injustice, he prayed for the Duke ("the gray head in Prussia") for life.

Now Joachim Mörlin has been appointed "superattendant" in Braunschweig . This office included the spiritual direction of the church in the city of Braunschweig and was created in 1528 by Johannes Bugenhagen. In 1553, in the midst of the chaos of war, fourteen days after the battle of Sievershausen, Mörlin arrived in Braunschweig. The city was just founded by Duke Heinrich d. J. besieged, Mörlin himself was temporarily in mortal danger. In Braunschweig he was able to work for the first time without a dispute with the authorities, he had a mostly harmonious relationship with the city council. With his rousing sermons he drew the masses into the churches and worked here in great blessing. It was the happiest time of his life. His later successor Martin Chemnitz worked alongside him as his coadjutor from 1554 . Mörlin worked in Braunschweig until 1567.

During this time, Mörlin had to discover how Melanchthon, whom he had revered as his “dear preceptor”, increasingly distanced himself from Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, which, for example, was reflected in the changes to the text of the Confessio Augustana Variata (1540 ), and in Melanchthon's attitude towards the elaboration of the Cologne Reformation order (1543). Mörlin was at the forefront of the North German Lutherans who took a stand against this, but did not participate in the often insulting attacks with which Flacius Illyricus, for example, covered Melanchthon, but tried to mediate.

After the Osiandrian dispute had caused great damage in the Prussian Church - even after Osiander's death (1552) - the Duke finally regretted the injustice he had done to Mörlin. He allowed himself to be persuaded by the Prussian estates to write Mörlin in order to win him over to Prussia again. He and Chemnitz were offered excellent conditions should they be convinced to return to Königsberg. Finally Mörlin and Chemnitz agreed to come to Königsberg. An important doctrinal and confessional document, the so-called “Corpus Doctrinae Prutenicum” was created as the fruit of the activities of the two Braunschweig theologians and was officially accepted and published by a synod. On August 11, 1567, Mörlin and Chemnitz were officially released by the Duke's embassy for their services in Prussia. Mörlin was allowed to leave, Chemnitz was appointed to his successor in the office of superattendant.

Mörlin left Braunschweig with a heavy heart: The city had become so dear to him that he could say: "Braunschweig is my heart!" But he held his new office as Bishop of Samland with the same zeal that he had worked in Braunschweig. However, he could only practice it for just under four years: At the age of 57, Joachim Mörlin died on May 23, 1571 of the consequences of an excruciating bladder operation. He was buried in Königsberg Cathedral. There a monument was erected in his honor (which no longer exists today), in the inscription of which his pastoral loyalty, his eloquence and his zeal for the honor of Christ were praised.

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Commons : Joachim Mörlin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Georg von Polenz Bishop of Samland
1550–1571 		Tilemann Hesshus
personal data
SURNAME Moerlin, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian, pastor and reformer
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1514
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenberg
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1571
Place of death Koenigsberg