Johannes Pistorius (Pastor)

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Johannes Pistorius (Artopoeus), German: Johann Becker , (born June 29, 1528 in Husum , † October 22, 1605 in Tetenbüll ) was a German pastor.

Live and act

Johannes Pistorius was the son of Theodor Pistorius (Diedrich Becker, † 1529/33) and his wife Anna, who died after 1575. His father " Magister Theodoricus Pistorius [...] was the first [in Husum] to begin exposing priestly tyranny". In 1527 he became archdeacon at the Marienkirche in Husum next to the main pastor Hermann Tast .

Johannes Pistorius received his education at the Husum Latin School and the Johanneum Lüneburg . From 1547 he studied theology in Copenhagen with his childhood friend Albert Meyer . During his studies he got to know the leading theologians Niels Hemmingsen , Johannes Machabaeus and especially Paul Noviomagus , who supported him.

King Christian III Pistorius financed a study visit to Strasbourg . Since the reformer Martin Bucer had to leave the city in 1549 because of his protest against the re-Catholicization ordered by the Augsburg Interim and went to England, Pistorius ended his studies prematurely. From the summer of 1551 he accompanied two sons of the Danish nobleman Eiler Hardenberg to study in Wittenberg as court master . There he studied with Philipp Melanchthon , whom he called " parens et praeceptor " for life .

In 1554 Pistorius went to Copenhagen again. Together with his friend Erik Hardenberg, he then visited well-known university cities in Central Europe, including Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Basel, Leiden, Paris and Padua. In 1557 he lived in Copenhagen and moved from there to Husum. In the same year he was appointed pastor of Tetenbüll and ordained by Hans Tausen in Ripen . In Tetenbüll he remained pastor from 1558 until the end of his life.

With the support of the stable man Caspar Hoyer , Pistorius became the first provost of Eiderstedt in 1584 . His friends repeatedly asked him to accept appointments as court preacher in Copenhagen and Gottorf, but Pistorius refused. The reason for this was probably not just modesty. Instead, it can be assumed that he wanted to avoid theological conflicts that appeared possible because of his positions. Although he mostly expressed himself moderately in ecclesiastical affairs, he was on the side of Melanchthon in the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and judged strict Lutherans in private notes sharply . He also spoke out against the introduction of the concord formula in the Gottorf regional church.

Pistorius left a library, the remains of which show that he was intensively involved with Reformed theology.

Importance as a theologian

Pistorius only wrote a compilation of historical data sorted by the days of the calendar. This collection is an extensive source for the history of the church and clergy of this time. Further publications are not known. Even so, he was a respected theologian. This can be seen, for example, in the support from the theologians from Copenhagen, an assessment by Melanchthon and the calls to important courts.

Through his friendly cooperation with Paul von Eitzen , Pistorius had a certain influence in the regional church of Gottorf. Duke Friedrich II asked both theologians to subject all churches and schools to a general visit. This project had to be interrupted due to the Duke's death.

family

On August 14, 1558, Pistorius married Margaretha (Mette) Hoyers, who died on June 6, 1596. Her father Henrich Meyer was mayor of Bremervörde and married to Margaretha Hoyers, a sister of Husum Vogts Johann Hoyer (1500–1577) and cousin of stable owner Caspar Hoyer.

Pistorius had four daughters and two sons. The son Theodor Pistorius (or Dirk Becker) (1568–1615) worked as a deacon in St. Peter from around 1600 and wrote occasional Latin poems.

literature

  • Dieter Lohmeier : Pistorius, Johannes . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 3. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1974, pp. 211-213

Individual evidence

  1. Peter Sax quoted from Wolf Werner Rausch: Reformation on http://www.geschichte-sh.de