Justus Jonas the Elder

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Justus Jonas in the Cranach register 1543
Signature Justus Jonas the Elder.PNG

Justus Jonas the Elder (born June 5, 1493 in Nordhausen ; † October 9, 1555 in Eisfeld ) was a German lawyer , humanist , hymn poet , Lutheran theologian and reformer .

As a personality of the Reformation , he emerged primarily through translations by Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon . He was a representative of the marriage of priests as part of the Wittenberg movement and appeared as an advocate for the reformers in legal matters. He played a key role in the reform of church politics in Leipzig , Halle (Saale) , Naumburg (Saale) and Zerbst with Anhalt . After Luther's death he consistently pursued denominationalisation and participated in this in Hildesheim , Coburg , Regensburg and Eisfeld .

Childhood and early education

Justus Jonas was born in the imperial city of Nordhausen in 1493 and grew up there as Jobst Koch . The father, Jonas Koch († after 1503), whose first name he later used as a family name, was a councilor of the urban upper class and maintained contacts with the neighboring Counts of Stolberg and Counts of Hohnstein .

His mother was either Jonas Koch's first wife from the respected family von Wenden or his second wife Katharina, who was named Wolffhain from her first marriage .

The influential family owned a stately home on what was then Holzmarkt (today Lutherplatz). Jonas received his first solid education at the city's Latin school. Perhaps his father, who is only attested to 1503, was able to introduce him to urban politics.

Studied in Erfurt

Woodcut of the Erfurt student riots

In the summer of 1506 Jonas began studying at the Artistic Faculty of the University of Erfurt together with Tilemann Plathner . During her studies, the university opened up to the influence of humanism , which stood out against the old scholastic academic tradition. Mutianus Rufus and Urbanus Rhegius founded a circle of friends committed to the new ideals in 1505, which Petreius Aperbacchus , Helius Eobanus Hessus , Herbord von der Marthen and Johann Lange joined. Acting as a corporation, the students got into serious arguments with the city's craftsmen.

Jonas, who enthusiastically listened to the lectures of Eobanus Hessus , was influenced by this humanistic circle, and it was probably also Hessus who inspired him to the ideas of Erasmus von Rotterdam . Jonas received his bachelor's degree in 1507 and a Magister Artium in 1510 . Before further unrest he fled to Wittenberg in the summer semester of 1511 . Here at the University called Leucorea , he took up legal studies under Henning Göde . In Wittenberg he made friends with Georg Spalatin and in 1511 he often attended the sermons of Wenzeslaus Linck . On Wednesday January 8th, 1513, he graduated from the Faculty of Law.

However, Jonas still had contacts in Erfurt and returned there in the spring of 1515. In 1516 he was ordained a priest , which gave him access to a canonical at the Severikirche . In connection with this, Jonas preached for the first time in the same year on the Erfurt Cathedral Hill and gave lectures on canon law on the Pauline letters at the university . On August 16, 1518, he became a licentiate doctorate in Law (juris utriusque). At the end of 1518 / beginning of 1519, after Göde's withdrawal, he obtained his lecturer's position at the Severikirche and thus a professorship in the law faculty.

Jonas as a humanist

Erasmus from Rotterdam

After his return to Erfurt, Jonas rejoined the humanist group, in which he gradually assumed a leading position. Mutian often extolled him in poetry. The decisive factor was the contact with Johann Lange, who increased Jonas' interest in theological questions and made him familiar with Martin Luther's ideas . Jonas began to learn the Greek language under his influence .

Elector Friedrich the Wise , who took over the protection of Erfurt through the Naumburg Treaty in 1516 , also promoted the renewal movement of his state university. In the spring of 1519 he commissioned Jonas to undertake a trip to Erasmus from Rotterdam to the University of Leuven . The purpose of the trip was to bring Martin Luther and the great humanist closer together. During his one and a half month stay in the Netherlands with Erasmus, he urged Jonas to turn to “true theology” and warned him about the “false preachers” who preached not Jesus Christ but people and themselves.

When Jonas returned to Erfurt, he had been elected rector of the university on May 2, 1519 in his absence . Jonas immediately tried to reshape the school, which was committed to the scholastic spirit, in a humanistic sense and to sharpen its theological profile. Even if these reforms seem in retrospect to be ineffective, they were seen as a great success in their time.

Just as Jonas turned increasingly to theology, the Erfurt and Paris universities were appointed as arbitrators for the Leipzig disputation . When Johannes Eck tried to influence voting behavior at the University of Erfurt by excluding non-theologians, he was unsuccessful, but Jonas himself increasingly saw himself as a theologian. Erasmus also took part in this process of change by writing to Jonas on June 1, 1519:

"Although I presume that you know yourself, I consider it appropriate to exhort you to devote all your studies to this service, which is the most wholesome of all, because God has not destined you to dirty right-handing, but seems to have chosen you as a tool, as it were, to make the glory of Jesus Christ his Son clear and to kindle the hearts of mortals for this study. "

Through the contact with the Wittenberg theologians and the circumstances in Wittenberg, a progressive process began with Jonas that turned the enthusiastic humanist into a companion of Luther. In 1527 he turned completely away from Erasmus.

Wittenberg time

Jonas as provost of the castle church

The Wittenberg Castle Church during the Reformation

In mid-1520, Jonas contacted the Wittenberg theologians, and Luther congratulated him on having completed his transition from law to theology. With the death of Henning Göde on January 21, 1521, the place of the provost of the Wittenberg castle church at the Wittenberg University became vacant. Spalatin, the friend from old Wittenberg student days, recommended Jonas to Elector Frederick the Wise with the consent of Luther and Philipp Melanchthon . Although this wanted to commit Mutianus Rufus , but this refused in favor of his former pupil. However, Spalatin did not hide the fact that Jonas had changed faculty and became a theologian. As such, he had to be represented at the lectures to which his canonical law professorship associated with the provost required him, but conversely he could read theology.

By accompanying Luther on his trip to the Reichstag in Worms , Jonas demonstrated his solidarity with the Wittenberg reformers, whom he impressively supported in his work “Acta et res gesta Doctoris Martini Lutheri”. On June 6th he was introduced as provost of the Wittenberg Castle Church. On June 19, Jonas explained to the elector that he wanted to pursue the theological doctorate. He emphasized how important it was to fill the provost with a theologian who could preach, advise, disputate and act accordingly. Jonas kept the post of provost and was exempted from teaching canon law personally . On September 24th he received his doctorate in theology and on October 14th as a doctor of theology and on October 17th he was admitted to the theological faculty. He paid 20 guilders from his income to the representative who had to give his lectures on canon law.

During Luther's stay at the Wartburg , questions about private masses (mass celebrations without a congregation), priestly marriage and celibacy were disputed in the faculty . Luther, who took a position against private masses in a letter, received encouragement from his friars. In the Wittenberg movement that developed from this, Jonas and Andreas Bodenstein campaigned for the abolition of various abuses and ceremonies in mass. At Christmas it was decided to serve the Lord's Supper "in both forms" (bread and wine ).

Jonas also joined the movement on the issue of priestly marriage. While Bartholomäus Bernhardi was the first Protestant pastor to marry a Kemberger bourgeoisie and on January 20, 1522 Andreas Bodenstein followed him with a pompous wedding with the 15-year-old Anna von Mochau, Jonas married Katharina on May 9, 1522, the daughter of the noble Erich Falck from Bleddin . Luther welcomed this, but Albrecht von Brandenburg and Johann Fabri intervened against this serious violation of current church law. The sovereign Friedrich the Wise also criticized the procedure and threatened to withdraw the benefice in 1523 , but his reaction was so cautious that the adherents of the priestly marriage prevailed. However, when Andreas Bodenstein exaggerated the situation in the iconoclasm and the overall situation became critical because of the Zwickau prophets , Jonas von Bodenstein turned away and stood behind Luther.

In the castle church, the liturgy was still celebrated in the traditional way, out of consideration for the elector. Luther disapproved of this, and Jonas, together with Johannes Bugenhagen, designed Protestant church service regulations for the monastery of the castle church, which were then printed in Latin. Due to the resistance of the elector, this service order was initially not applied, but after Luther's persistent sermons, Jonas was able to hold the first Protestant service on New Year's Day 1525. In the autumn the monastery was completely reformed - and thus inevitably also secularized .

Jonas as a Wittenberg professor

Justus Jonas as a Wittenberg professor

During his lectures in Wittenberg, which began in 1522, Jonas dealt with Paul's letter to the Romans and, following Luther's example, interpreted it, sometimes in Latin and sometimes in German. In 1524 he treated the Acts of the Apostles of Luke , which was printed in Latin and German, and in 1529 he gave lectures on the Psalms .

In 1523 he became dean of the theological faculty and held the chair until 1533. In the summer semester of 1530, in the winter semester of 1530 and in the winter semester of 1536 he also served as rector of the University of Wittenberg . On the occasion of the solemn doctoral doctorates of Johannes Bugenhagen, Caspar Cruciger and Johannes Aepinus , he expressed himself on June 17, 1533 in his speech “De gradibus in theologia” about the importance of theology in the new era. In his second speech from 1539, "De studiis theologicis", he stated about the study of theology:

“Theology is the teaching through which one teaches and learns in the knowledge of the wisdom and will of God ... It is not such a small knowledge that only serves the temporal life as the other arts, although this, as long as this Life lasts, has its fame, but it is that wisdom coming from above, for the knowledge of which man is created from the beginning and is endowed with that spirit from the spirit of God ... At least theology may because it does not hunt for earthly acquisition and that wind and smoke of worldly glory does not have to be despised before men, but what an immeasurable treasure it is in the eyes of God! "

As rector, he was supposed to be drawn into the scholarly dispute between Caspar Cruciger and Konrad Cordatus , but Jonas did not get involved in any literary argument and rejected Cordatus. Possibly he had already recognized and wanted to avoid the burgeoning dispute between the Lutheran and Melanchthonian understanding of theology. After all, the cause of the Reformation itself had enough opponents, as can be seen from his literary disputes with Georg Witzel and Johannes Cochlaeus .

Jonas as a Wittenberg reformer

Title woodcut of the Apology of the Confessio Augustana by Justus Jonas in German
Signatures of the reformers under the Schmalkaldic articles

Justus Jonas earned special merits less through his own theological work than through his numerous German translations of the Latin writings of Luther and Melanchthon. He also played a major role in the creation of Luther's translation of the Bible , in which he was one of the most active helpers, advisers and interlocutors. His translations made the writings accessible to a wide audience and thus contributed to the widespread dissemination of Reformation ideas.

When Luther suggested to Elector Johann to visit the churches and schools of the Saxon Kurlande, Jonas was among those who, alongside Luther, Melanchthon and Bugenhagen, had to work out the visitation plans. He also took part in the implementation of the same in the years 1528-1530. In 1529 he attended the Marburg Religious Discussion and negotiated with Martin Bucer in an in-depth and familiar dialogue about articles of faith of the Trinity , original sin and other things. Only on the question of the Lord's Supper could no understanding be reached. Further attempts at unification by the Upper German (under Bucer) and Wittenberg reformers led to the Wittenberg Agreement in 1536 , where they agreed on a communion formula designed by Melanchthon.

His participation in the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 and his participation in the Confessio Augustana were even more important . Jonas had already worked on the preliminary draft of the Torgau Articles , which offered an opinion on the articles of faith and church customs that have become disputed. The final version of the Evangelical Creed was worked on in Augsburg until the last minute. Jonas was given the task of translating Gregor Brück's preface into Latin. Furthermore, the negotiations on more or less important individual questions were entrusted to him, about which he conducted extensive correspondence.

Jonas also took part in the expansion and organization of individual regional churches and church areas. Since 1532 he maintained particularly close relations with the sovereigns of Anhalt and in 1538 was commissioned there to set up a new church order in Zerbst . This church ordinance, which he wrote, was formative for the entire future Principality of Anhalt . In 1536 he took over the pastor's office in Naumburg from April 27 to September 8 and initially had to face disputes with the Old Believers and the bishop. Under the protection of the elector, he pushed through the Reformation, which his successor Nikolaus Medler laid down on the basis of the church ordinance he had worked out. He was also present at negotiations in Braunschweig, sent the Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg a church ordinance and encouraged him to introduce them.

Although he did not personally take part in the Schmalkalden convent , the articles signed there bear his signature, which shows his importance for the Reformation. His contribution to the introduction of the Reformation in 1537/38 in the Albertine part of Saxony under Duke Heinrich should also be mentioned . After the death of George the Bearded , Jonas preached with Luther at Pentecost in Leipzig's Nikolaikirche , which marked the beginning of the Reformation in Leipzig. Jonas was entrusted with clarifying all matters relating to the introduction of the Reformation and carrying out the visitations in the Albertine part of the country; he also worked on its church regulations.

Jonas showed special organizational skills in his proposals for the establishment of a consistory with which the Wittenberg reformers, at the request of the elector, were to consolidate the religious order of the Protestant church, monitor the priesthood in all theological questions and take measures in the event of violations. Jonas himself was a member of the Wittenberg consistory , which was set up according to a consistorial order that he helped to draft. At Luther's request, however, he was released from the task in order to devote more time to his professorship.

As a travel companion to Melanchthon, Jonas witnessed his illness and Luther's 'pastoral attempts to rescue' on a trip to the Hagenau Religious Discussion . He was also present when Frederick the Wise was to be given the Lord's Supper in both forms before his death.

Justus Jonas in the Marienkirche in Halle

Jonas in Halle

At the beginning of the Reformation, the city ​​of Halle was the residential city of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and the preferred seat of its Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg , who was an opponent of the Reformation, which had found supporters in the city. In return for the payment of a special tax of 22,000  guilders to repay sovereign debts, however, the city council of Halle was able to enforce the appointment of a preacher and a schoolmaster “Augsburg Confession” on March 28, 1541.

After Johann Pfeffinger refused this call, an inquiry was made in Wittenberg. On the instructions of Johann Friedrich I of Saxony , Jonas was sent to Halle with his chaplain Andreas Poach . On April 15, 1541 he gave his first sermon in St. Mary's Church . Against the opposition of the old believers of Albrecht, he handed the Lord's Supper in both forms on April 28th. To consolidate his position, Jonas had Kilian Goldstein committed to Halle as a syndicus.

Jonas' congregation became so numerous that the rooms of the not yet completed Marienkirche soon no longer sufficed for the services. Jonas then preached in the hospital and achieved that the St. Ulrich's Church was made available to the increased number of Protestant believers by the council from Christmas 1541 . However, opponents, especially Dominicans and Franciscans , interfered with Jonas' sermons.

In order to further enforce the Reformation, an application was made to the council to abolish the monasteries. With his report of January 15, 1542, Jonas obtained a mandate that forbade the monks to “disturb” worldly concerns. When Jonas also opened the Moritzkirche for his sermon in the summer of 1542 , a monk attacked Jonas with an ax.

Soon evangelical preachers were active in all three city churches in Halle. Jonas wrote the Hallesche Kirchenordnung in 1543 based on the model of the Wittenberg church order. He also reorganized the school system. Since 1542 he referred to himself in letters as " Superintendent of Halle". After he had managed to stay in the city in negotiations with the elector, he was raised to bishop by the council on November 3, 1544 . The appointment certificate issued on December 11th made him pastor at the Church of St. Mary and city superintendent. His superintendent's position extended over the city of Halle to today's Saalkreis and the diocese of Merseburg .

Jonas and the death of Luther

Luther's burial after a colored woodcut from the 16th century

In January 1546, Jonas accompanied Luther on his trip to Mansfeld as legal advisor and negotiated with him about the distribution of the mining income and the foundation of a new school. The difficult negotiations dragged on for three weeks. Luther, who was already in poor health, fell ill and Jonas stood by him in prayer during the last hours of his life. On Monday, February 18, at 3 a.m., Jonas himself determined Luther's death and informed the Elector, Nikolaus von Amsdorf and Johannes Bugenhagen. On February 19, he gave a funeral sermon for Luther at the Andreaskirche in Eisleben and, at the will of the elector, transferred his body via Halle, Bitterfeld and Kemberg to Wittenberg, where he was buried under the pulpit of the castle church four days after his death.

Luther's death made a deep impression on Jonas. From the fighting community against the persistent resistance of the old believers, an intensive, warm and familiar working and living community between himself and Luther quickly developed. In doing so, both had become increasingly indispensable to one another. Nobody was able to raise Luther, who was often desperate, like Jonas. Jonas appears correspondingly frequently in Luther's table speeches . Luther, whom Jonas had assisted in early July 1527 in agony and agony of conscience, had announced to his friend on the following day: "I have to remember the day, I went to school yesterday". Jonas understood this without comment. He also saw his way as a life “school” with increasing demands. By the death of Luther, who had characterized their relationship in the fall of 1541 with the words, "He liked to joke and chat with him too much", Jonas felt lonely.

After the death of Luther

At the beginning of 1546 Jonas was at the height of his time in Halle, but the events of the Schmalkaldic War brought a rapid crash. On November 22, 1546, Halle was occupied by the troops of Duke Moritz von Sachsen , who took control of the dioceses of Magdeburg and Halberstadt . Jonas was immediately summoned to Moritzburg and, in the presence of the Magdeburg Archbishop Johann Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, the accusation was made of causing strife. The council campaigned for Jonas, but Jonas was expelled from Halle within ten days.

Jonas moved with his family first to Eisleben, then to Mansfeld and finally to Magdeburg. Only when Halle was recaptured by the Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich on January 1, 1547, did he return to Halle. Now the monasteries in Halle were abolished and the monks expelled. In the suburbs of Halles, Neumarkt and Glaucha , the Reformation was introduced at the St. Laurentius and St. George churches . In the battle of Mühlberg in April 1547, however, the evangelical imperial estates were defeated and Jonas fled to Nordhausen via Mansfeld, Goslar and Weimar .

On June 11th, on Melanchthon's initiative, he was appointed superintendent in Hildesheim. Although he actually took up the office, he returned to Halle in April 1548 to the great cheering of the population. However, since he was denied reinstatement in his office, he initially acted as an arbitrator in the questions of the Augsburg interim and the Leipzig articles . Although initially a friend of Melanchthon, he turned in the course of time to the point of view of the Gnesiolutherans , who accused Melanchthon of being excessively willing to concession with the Catholics. Jonas stayed in Halle until 1550 and followed a call from Duke Johann Ernst I to Coburg in July .

The last years of life

Epitaph in ice field

Plagued by many personal hardships and suffering from gallstone disease, Jonas began his service as superintendent in Coburg, where he continued the struggle to form the evangelical doctrine. On behalf of Albrecht I of Brandenburg-Ansbach , he interfered in the Osiander disputes and wrote an expert report that fell against Osiander. As a result, he approached Melanchthon again for a short time, but already represented the position of the Gnesiolutherans around Matthias Flacius in the synergistic dispute .

In October 1552 Jonas was commissioned by Johann Friedrich I of Saxony to organize the situation in Protestant Regensburg . Within ten weeks, Jonas had completed the task with a steady hand, despite his illness.

In August 1553 he went to Jena to take part in the development of the university that was being built there, but finally accepted the call of his former Elector Johann Friedrich I to Eisfeld as pastor and superintendent of the entire Coburg church. To renew the dilapidated church and school system, he set up a consistory in Regensburg.

Jonas also struggled with difficulties in the last years of his life. Above all, the internal Protestant disputes between the Gnesiolutherans and the Philippists wore him down. A few days after the peace of the Augsburg Empire and religion , Jonas died in the presence of his wife on October 9, 1555 at 9 p.m. As his last words are passed down:

"Lord Jesus Christ, into your hands I command my soul, you have redeemed me."

An epitaph at the entrance to the ruins of the old Eisfeld cemetery chapel, the Gottesackerkirche St. Salvator , honors his memory at the place where he last worked . It shows him and Nikolaus Kindt in prayer. Jonas is depicted as an old man with a flowing beard and hair combed into his forehead. His reformer statue in the Wittenberg Castle Church was designed according to this epitaph. His grave is under the former left staircase to the upper gallery. The words in an arch above the epitaph:

Nobile Doctorum par lector amice virorum
Hic cernis quorum nomina in orbe volant
Nicoleos primus fuerat cognomine Kindus
Sparsit in hoc populo qui sacra verba Dei
Ingenio et meritis magnus successit Ionas
Nunc pius in gremio vivit uterque Dei
D. Kind obiit Cal. Oct. anno 1549
D. Jonas obiit 5. Idus Octob. anno 1555
Quod fuerat fragile hoc requiescit corpus in agro
Exspectans summo gaudia summa the MJKE

Jonas as housefather

Justus Jonas's house in Wittenberg today

Jonas was one of the first who, moved by the events of the Wittenberg movement, married as ordained priests in 1522, contrary to current church law. Luther, who at the time was still unmarried himself, left it to Jonas to answer Johann Fabri , who had taken literary action against this development. In his work “Adversus Joanem Fabrum, Constantiensem vicarium, scortationis patronum pro coniugio sacerdotali… defensio” in 1523, Jonas pulled out all the stops to rebut Fabri's allegations against the dignity of marriage and especially the priestly marriage. He ironically showed how theologians could practice faith, patience, love and carrying the cross, especially in the hardships of married life. He also presented the experience of marriage as an important prerequisite for pastoral care for married couples and saw in the creation of children precisely the edification that gives marriage a meaning.

At that time, however, Jonas had not yet become a father. His wife Katharina gave birth to his first son Johannes only in 1524, who however died of the plague after three years . Apart from the second son, Justus Jonas the Younger , only a few other children survived, such as the seventh child, the daughter Sophia, who married Magister Caspar Wilhelm in Halle on March 4, 1549.

Jonas' wife Käthe, who stood by his side for 20 years, is mentioned several times by Luther, with whose wife Katharina von Bora she was in close contact. In addition to her job as a wife and mother, she had to head the household during her husband's frequent professional absences.

In 1528 Jonas bought the building opposite the castle church in Wittenberg for 150 guilders, which he had already moved into as the provost's seat in 1523. It was precisely at that time that the expansion of the fortifications began in Wittenberg. The house was often damaged and almost had to be torn down, as the protective wall was piled up directly on his house and constantly threatened his home.

When the plague raged in Wittenberg several times, the family sought refuge in Nordhausen with Michael Meyenburg . The income of the benefices from the village of Eutzsch had to be regulated, a vineyard had to be cultivated and students had to be supplied. In 1534 there were also disputes about the provost's untaxed brewing rights.

The marriage, which was considered happy despite many obstacles, ended when Käthe died on December 22, 1542 as a result of the birth of her 13th child in Halle. How committed she was to the prevailing ideals of virtue is shown by her apology on her deathbed to have to give up her role as a housewife: “Her doctor, I would like to break your fruit. I know we love children. Do not weep, it felt like the hern Christ so will ".

Jonas now surrounded a crowd of five underage children in need of care, while he himself was occupied with a variety of tasks. This will have helped his decision to marry Magdalena, 22, from Halle in June 1543. Luther, who became aware of this plan, warned him to remarry before the end of the year of mourning, which at that time could be considered bigamy . Magdalena gave birth to three more children to Jonas. First she had twins, one of whom died prematurely and only the son Martin remained. In May 1547 she gave birth to her son Philipp while fleeing from Duke Moritz in Goslar. After the turmoil of the Schmalkaldic War and constant change of residence, she died on July 8, 1549 in Halle.

The already 57-year-old Jonas was not viable without a woman at his side. That is why he married Margarethe Farnroeder from Naumburg (Saale) in May 1550 . She accompanied him on the last stages of his life and cared for him when he became ill and his vitality decreased. Even in better times he had suffered from paralyzing attacks in his fingers, gallstones, dizziness and gout attacks, which were accompanied by massive self-doubt and depression. He was well aware of his physical and psychological limits.

In the last days of his life, he appealed to the Elector August von Sachsen , who once promised him by Johann Friedrich I, but has lost a pension of 100 guilders annually since 1547, because of the insecurity of his existence and the fear that his widow would not be looked after after his death to continue paying along with the arrears. However, the elector refused.

Particularly in concern for his growing family, he paid close attention to his financial situation. Even as a Wittenberg professor, Jonas had to pay 20 guilders a year to the representative who took over his legal lectures. Despite his income as professor of theology and from his benefice as provost, he presented this as a considerable loss. When he left the Wittenberg consistory, he lost another 200 guilders a year.

At the beginning of his activity in Halle his income in Wittenberg continued. But when Jonas wanted to stay voluntarily in July 1544, the elector refused him the Wittenberg salary and the income from the village of Eutzsch, which was linked to the title of provost. After all, Jonas was able to negotiate an annual pension of 100 guilders for life for the elector's renunciation of the title of provost. In Halle, as superintendent, he received 300 guilders a year in addition to free accommodation.

During his escape from Halle in 1547, however, his position there was filled again. He tried by all means to get money back, but was able to obtain income from donations almost only through letters of petition to princes and friends. In this context, he also took legal action to claim his father's inheritance from his brother. His financial situation only improved again with the later accepted employment.

Jonas as a hymn poet

Title page of a hymn book from 1544 with Jonas' coat of arms (4th from left)
“Where the Lord God is not with us” from “Geystliche Lieder” Leipzig, 1563

In 1523 Luther expressed the desire for German community chants and himself became the inventor of the psalm song with the 130th psalm, which he wrote in song form. With this he wanted to confront Thomas Müntzer , who with his translation arranged ancient church hymns for the divine service according to Gregorian melodies with German translated psalms. Luther's request was also met by Jonas and in 1524 he edited the 124th Psalm “Where God does not stand with us”, which he linked with other Bible passages, primarily the 12th Psalm . The song found its way into the Protestant church hymn book with five out of eight stanzas and is part of the core inventory of the Protestant hymn and is based, for example, on Bach's chorale cantata Where God the Lord does not stay with us, BWV 178 (1724).

Presumably in the spring of 1545 he added two stanzas to Martin Luther's three-verse song “ Preserve us, Lord, by your word ”.

For prayer and penance services, Jonas took up the 22nd and 79th Psalm of the Luther translation and wrote on July 9, 1546 “Lord Jesus Christ, oh war God”. This song had 15 stanzas and was composed to the melody "Our Father in the Kingdom of Heaven".

When Elector Johann Friedrich and Duke Philip of Hesse went to the Schmalkaldic War in 1546, Jonas dealt with the interpretation of the 20th Psalm and created the song “The Lord hear you in need, the Son of God, Mr. Zebaoth , also the true God holy spirit, which all fear a comforter is, more in you Gideoni starch, proof of you be divine work ", again as contrafactum to the tune of" our father in heaven ".

To date, only six songs by Jonas are known, but there are references to other poems, such as a German battle song against Bishop Michael Helding (1548). In 1539 Jonas pointed to Prince Joachim von Anhalt said he had the hymn of Prudentius "ignee Deus, fons animarum" translated.

Jonas' instructions for village churches without Latin students are remarkable. Here he limits the weekend vespers to bells, singing a few songs and prayer. The village Sunday service is just as tight when there are no guests at the Lord's Supper: singing one or two hymns, reading the gospel , creed song, sermon, song, collection , blessing. With this order, Jonas approaches the Reformed worship. Jonas also introduced the liturgy that has been tried and tested in Saxony in Halle.

During his time as a humanist in Erfurt, Jonas had also written secular verses: 1509 eleven distiches on Eobanus Hessus ("Livor, ad exortam te protinus erige famam") and in 1510 fourteen distiches on Ludwig Londergut ("Dulcis Amor viridi matrem comitatus in Ida").

Name and coat of arms

Coat of arms of Justus Jonas

Justus Jonas was christened “Jobst Koch”. According to the scholarly custom of that time, he Latinized his first name in "Jodocus". In the academic environment he was called "Jodocus de Northusen" (Jodocus von Nordhausen) or "Northusanus". He later took the first name of his father, Councilor Jonas, as his last name. He enrolled in the Erfurt university register as "Jodocus Jonas de Northusen". Later, probably inspired by his law studies, he changed his first name to Justus ("the righteous"). The original and actually used name appears in formulations such as “Jodocus Koch, who calls himself Justum Jonam”.

The register books of the University of Erfurt contain a colored image of the coat of arms that Justus Jonas carried. It depicts the Old Testament scene of Jonah stepping out of the big fish's mouth: “Jonah was in the fish's belly for three days and three nights, and he prayed to the Lord. So he ordered the fish to spit Jonah on land ”( Jonah 2,1.11  LUT ). Typologically , this scene is also interpreted in the New Testament in Mt 12.40  LUT on Jesus' prediction of his resurrection: "Just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the sea fish, so the Son of Man will be in the middle of the earth for three days and three nights." Symbolism must have been very present for the theologian Jonas.

iconography

Detail from the epitaph for Michael Meyenburg by Lucas Cranach the Elder. J.

Justus Jonas was already present as professor of theology in Wittenberg during his lifetime, during his time in Halle and also during his time in Coburg in woodcuts and paintings of his environment. Later copperplate engravings and lithographs offer clearer representations, but do not depict the actual appearance of the reformer.

A probably realistic individual illustration can be found in the Cranach family record (see above) and on a portrait on a painting by the monogamist AR from 1578 , which shows Jonas as a preacher in Halle. Lucas Cranach the Younger also painted Jonas in great detail on the epitaph for his friend Michael Meyenburg in Nordhausen .

His own epitaph shows Jonas as an old man marked by life, while the statue of the Reformers in the Wittenberg Castle Church, which was created based on this model at the end of the 19th century, no longer shows these features. It was created in the pathetic style of its time in a glorifying veneration for the Reformation. Accordingly, she portrays Jonas in a heroic ensemble of the castle church.

Portrait medal

  • 1841 pewter medal, 45 mm, medalist unknown. Front: Perlkreis, inscription: D. IUSTUS IONAS FIRST PREDICTOR OF THE PURE DOCTRINE IN HALLE / below: 1541. - Hip picture with beret from the front, in the hands book with title: Die / Heilige / Schrift // Back: Perlkreis , nine lines of text : AT / ANNIVERSARY / OF / THREE CENTURY / FREE / EVANGELIC / CONFESSIONS / IN HALLE / 1841.

Appreciation

Jonas was not one of the reformers who wrote powerful theological writings. Theologically oriented towards Luther, he represented the interests of the Wittenberg reformers on the canonical and administrative level. His legal knowledge and also his practical experience in shaping the Reformation made him a particularly capable negotiator. His work as a translator was also in demand, through which he made the writings of the great reformers accessible to a wide audience.

He was remembered as a man at Luther's side, as a widely committed and thoroughly successful practitioner, as a translator of the writings of the reformers and as a reformer of Halle. Without a doubt he belongs to the second rank of the reformers. As a Wittenberg reformer he stands next to Johannes Bugenhagen, Casper Cruciger the Elder and others. However, through his work he has earned an undisputed place in the history of the Lutheran Reformation.

Works

Own writings

  • Praefatio in Epistolas divi Pauli Apostoli ad Corynthios , Erfurt 1520 (online)
  • Adversus Ioannem Fabrum Constantiensem Vicarium, scortationis patronum, pro coniugio sacerdotali […] defensio , Strasbourg 1523 (online)
  • Annotationes […] in Acta Apostolorum , Augsburg 1524 ( online ), German Augsburg 1525 (online)
  • From the old and new god, glawben and lere , Wittenberg 1526 (online)
  • The seventh chapter of Danielis of the Turk's blasphemy and terrible Morderey , Wittenberg 1529 (online)
  • Contra Tres Pagellas Agri. Phagi Georgii VVitzel […] Responsio , Wittenberg 1532 (online)
  • Wilch the right church, And against it wilch the wrong church, Christian answer and comforting instruction, Aries the Pharisaisch gewesch Georgii Witzels , Wittenberg 1534 (online)
  • Ludus Sylvani Hessi in defectionem Georgii Vuicelii ad Papistas , Wittenberg 1534.
  • Oratio […] de studiis theologicis , Wittenberg 1539 (online)
  • Church regulations at the beginning for the pastors in Hertzog Heinrichs zu Sachsen […] Fürstenthumb , Dresden 1539 (online)
  • Prayer and thanksgiving, Bey Abolition of the idolatrous papal procession that was formerly held on the day of Corporis Christi , Halle 1661.
  • Christian and short instruction, about forgiveness of sin and bliss , Wittenberg 1542 (online)
  • A sermon from the Historien Judae Jscharioth, and the Judas Kusse, As it is the world's art and the Teuffels list , Halle 1543.
  • The seventy-ninth psalm for the comfort of all Christians in these dangerous times , p. l. 1646.
  • Two Comforting Sermons on the Corpse Doct. Martini Luther zu Eissleben the XIX. and XX. Februararii done (with Michael Caelius ), Wittenberg 1546 (online)
  • Doctor Martin Luther's Christian parting and dying , Nuremberg 1546 (online)
  • Eyn almost comforting sermon, and interpretation of the histories of the wonderful XL. meetings , Regensburg 1555 ( online )

Latin-German translations

Title page of Luther's translation That free will is nothing, 1526
  • Martin Luther :
    • From Martini Luthers urteyll , Wittenberg 1520, who vowed to the church and the monastery .
    • That free will is nothing , Wittenberg 1526 (online)
    • Interpretation […] of the song Mose on the second and thirtieth Cap. Deutero. Wittenberg 1532 (online)
    • Ecclesiastes odder preacher Salomo , Wittenberg 1533 (online)
    • Propositiones ... vom Ablas , first Jena 1555 ( online after printing Jena 1567)
  • Philipp Melanchthon :
    • Vnderricht [...] against the Lere der Widerteuffer , Wittenberg 1528 (online)
    • Epistle S. Pauli zu Colossern , Wittenberg 1529 (online)
    • Apologia of the Confessio Augustana , Wittenberg 1535 (online)
    • Loci Communes, that is, the furnemesten article Christian lere , Wittenberg 1536 (online)
    • Epistle to the Landtgraven zu Hessen , Nuremberg 1540 (online)
    • Von der Kirchen, vnd alten Kirchenlerern , Wittenberg 1540 (online)
    • Aries to the pure Bapst Celibat, vnd prohibition of priestly marriage , Wittenberg 1541 (online)
    • Lazari lawsuit for the rich door , Wittenberg 1541 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de )
    • Right comparison and peace act, in religion sachen , Wittenberg 1541 (online)
    • Responsibility on the Cölnische under Clerisey Schrifft, widder Ern Martin Bützern from Gangen , Wittenberg 1543 (online)
    • The Prophet Daniel , Wittenberg 1546 (online)
    • Causes, why the churches, which profess pure Christian doctrine, accepted the same doctrine, and ought to remain guilty forever , Wittenberg 1546 (online)
    • What the unified right church of Christ is, where it is certain to be found, what the wrong church is , Regensburg 1553 (online)
  • Paolo Giovio :
    • Origin of the Turkish Empire up to the current Solyman , s. l. 1538.
  • Henry VIII :
    • Writes to Keizerliche Maiestat to all other Christian kings and potentates , Wittenberg 1539 (online)
  • Lower Austrian stands :
    • A kleglich request from the v. Nider Austrian lands concerning the great current journey of the Tuercken half , Wittenberg 1539 (online)
  • Veit Dietrich :
    • Preface to the whole Bible, how the goods Church of God on earth had started , Erfurt 1548 ( online )

German-Latin translations

Remembrance day

October 9 in the Evangelical Name Calendar .

literature

Web links

Commons : Justus Jonas the Elder Ä.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Justus Jonas the Elder  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Neubert, Günter Stammberger, Bernhard Grossmann, Martin Hoffmann: The churches in the district of Hildburghausen ... nothing other than God's house - the gate of heaven .... Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2006, ISBN 3-86180-174-4 , p. 70.
  2. ↑ Justus Jonas in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
predecessor Office successor
- Senior pastor at the Marktkirche Our Dear Women in Halle
1541–1547 		Sebastian Boetius
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on May 17, 2006 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Jonas, Justus the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cook, Jodocus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German reformer
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1493
PLACE OF BIRTH Nordhausen
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1555
Place of death Ice field