Ludwig Otto Ehlers
Ludwig Otto Ehlers (born September 1, 1805 in Sittensen ; † August 3, 1877 in Liegnitz , Lower Silesia ) was an Evangelical - Lutheran pastor in Liegnitz, councilor and superintendent .
Life
Ludwig Otto Ehlers was born as the son of provost Johann Hinrich Ehlers and his wife Elisabeth. Wurmb, born in Sittensen. From 1820 to September 1822 he attended the learned school of the Johanneum in Hamburg, then until 1824 the Athenaeum high school in Stade . Here he made a close friendship with Albert Lührs , who later became superintendent of Peine and was the main editor of the Hanoverian Catechism from 1862. Ludwig Otto Ehlers studied theology at the University of Göttingen from Michaelis 1824 to Easter 1826, then in Halle until the summer semester of 1827. Here he was particularly influenced by August Tholuck . With its help he was able to break away from rationalism and turn to the biblical message. In September 1827 Ehlers returned to Sittensen to support the elderly father. At the same time he wanted to prepare for the first exam. The sermons must have been so stirring, but also so appealing, that the congregation wanted him to help and replace his father, even though he had not yet reached the canonical age of 25. They made several applications, both to the Stade Consistory of the Lutheran General Diocese of Bremen-Verden , as well as to the responsible “high Royal British-Hanoverian Cabinet Ministry in Hanover”. They were all turned away. Such requests were suspect to the general superintendent Georg Alexander Ruperti in Stad . He suspected Ehlers of mysticism. Even repeated justifications could not dissuade him from his rejection. Ehlers' permission to preach was withdrawn. So there was no more staying for him in the area of the regional church of Hanover .
In the fall of 1828 Ludwig Otto Ehlers left Sittensen and went to Berlin. In order to earn a living, he first had to teach children. But he could also preach the gospel to prisoners. Here he received the call to support Pastor Bartsch, who was suffering from nervous disorders, in Prittisch (in Posenschen). On May 8, 1829, Ehlers was appointed by the Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews . He was first assigned as an assistant to the missionary Händes. There were u. a. visited the following cities or towns:
The activity was recorded in diaries. At the request of the company, Ehlers prepared for the first exam in Poznan . But his sermon on Gal 2:20 NIV “I live; but now not I, but Christ lives in me. For what I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me ”aroused such reluctance among the rationalist examiners that it was rejected. Ehlers now went to Berlin. On April 28, 1830, he passed the first exam there before the church authorities with the grade “very good”. However, due to excessive exertion, Ehlers had to give up his position as a missionary in 1831. He traveled to his mother in Hamburg to convalesce. "In the summer I bathed in the Baltic Sea and stayed in Cammin the following winter of 1832 ", said LO Ehlers in his curriculum vitae, as he wrote it down in his Hebrew Bible. Here in Cammin with Pastor Mila, he was preparing for the second exam, which he then passed in Stettin with the grade “Excellent”. Despite the urging of Bishop Carl Ritschl , Ehlers refused to sign the so-called Union Reverse . Because of this rejection, Ehlers was not able to work in the Evangelical Church in Prussia either.
Ehlers then went to the Kingdom of Poland ( Russian Poland ) and applied to the Evangelical Church of the unchanged Augsburg confession for a pastor's position. On June 16, 1833, the Gostynin parish elected him to be their pastor. Ehlers was ordained in Plock on August 11th . The introduction to Gostynin was difficult. Although the Protestant Church in Poland had not introduced the Union, it had no understanding for faithful action. So she demanded that he teach the children from Lutheran homes according to Luther's catechism , the children from Reformed parents according to the Heidelberg catechism . In addition, may he give the Reformed rite to the Reformed church members; H. with bread instead of the hosts and with donation words that do not testify after the words of institution that the elements given out are the body and blood of Christ.
Ehlers refused to give lessons according to the Reformed Confession. On the other hand, he initially agreed to give the Reformed church members the Lord's Supper according to their rite. After careful consideration, he withdrew this promise. This cancellation led to major disputes with the consistory in Warsaw. The church leadership insisted on their demand that the Reformed take part in the Lord's Supper. This fight lasted until the end of 1834. Ehlers had already signed the discharge papers. Then the matter came to the Minister of the Interior, Count Golovin. He saw that Ehlers could not act otherwise if he wanted to remain true to his ordination vows. He decided: if the congregation was ready to reimburse the Reformed for their share of the building costs that they had raised at the time for building the church, there would be no reason to remove Ehlers from Gostynin. The congregation was happy to do this. There followed now blessed years.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the congregation in Hausfreund, the chronicler wrote in 1927: “The work of the unforgettable, God-blessed Pastor Ehlers, who was also a zealous missionary to the Jews, was particularly beneficial for the congregation. Descendants of the Jews he baptized still live in the community today. "On July 1, 1835, he married Julie Beer from Loslau. The couple had three children: Anna Luise, Elisabeth Maria, and Johann Ludwig. August 1841 in Loslau, but the climate in Gostynin (the parsonage was surrounded by a large swamp) shattered the health of Ludwig Otto Ehlers. He had to leave Gostynin and sought recovery in Loslau. He intended to move on to his homeland, the kingdom Hanover .
Here, in Loslau , Pastor Kellner, Schwirz / Hönigern, asked him to dedicate his energy to the Lutheran Church in Prussia in the name of the synod representatives. On June 14, 1841, Ehlers agreed. The Upper Silesian congregations then elected him their deputy for the general synod. On October 14, 1841, he was introduced as a councilor in Breslau . Until the fall of 1842, he served the communities of Loslau, Ratibor and Gleiwitz. But he was expelled from the country as a "foreigner" by the Prussian authorities. His nationality, which he had acquired by passing his exams, was lost when he was employed in Poland. On October 25, 1842, Ehlers left Loslau with his wife and two daughters to return to his fatherland.
The trip had to be interrupted in Berlin because his son Martin was born on November 11, 1842. Ehlers wanted to travel on alone, but friends succeeded in allowing him to stay in Berlin for the time being. Ehlers wrote: ' Expelled from Prussia, I wanted to return to the Duchy of Bremen , but stayed (ig) noriert (tolerated) in Berlin, where I preached in the prayer room of the Lutheran congregation and officiated as the assistant to Pastor Lasius.' At the end of 1843, the Liegnitz parish elected Ehlers as their pastor. On March 12, 1845, Ehlers received the longed-for authorization from the authorities to look for a place of residence outside of Berlin. On March 12, 1845, he left Berlin with his wife and three children to travel to Liegnitz. "
In Liegnitz
On March 15, 1845, Ehlers and his family arrived in Liegnitz. On March 16, Palm Sunday, he delivered his first sermon to about 100 visitors. After the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV had issued the general concession on July 23, 1845 , "the Lutherans who are separated from the community of the Evangelical Church " in Liegnitz could think of building a church (officially called a house of prayer). In 1847 the church was built on Jauer Strasse. On January 1, 1849, Ehlers was given the task of publishing the church gazette (es) for the Evangelical Lutheran congregations . In August 1849 he was appointed superintendent . Two daughters, Caroline and Mieze, and a son, Johannes Jonathan Gerhard, were born to him. But the family also had to experience suffering. The son Martin died at the age of 20 on July 22, 1862.
At the beginning of the 1860s a conflict shook the young congregations of the Lutheran Church in Prussia. The subject of the dispute was the question: Is the church leadership divine or human right? There was a painful separation of many congregations from the Ober-Kirchen-Collegium (OKC; seat in Breslau) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia . Ehlers had to agree with those who saw only human rights here and are thus in opposition to the church leadership. He was suspended as superintendent on March 6th. On June 19, 1862, he formally separated from the OKC. The last number of the church gazette he published appeared on June 15, 1861. The Martins Congregation withdrew from the OKC. From 1862 to 1866 he published the Kirchliche Zeitblatt for Lutheran congregations . In 1864 the Immanuel Synod was founded , Ehlers became its senior. He administered this senior citizenship to the end.
On January 13, 1877, his wife Julie died. Beer. On August 3, 1877, Ehlers was fatally hit by a stray bullet from the nearby shooting range while walking to the Katzbach. In his memory, the Martinsgemeinde in Liegnitz erected a memorial in his honor at the point where the fatal shot hit him. His son Johannes Jonathan Gerhard Ehlers succeeded him in office.
From February 27, 2005 to April 10, 2005, an exhibition on Ludwig Otto Ehlers took place in the Sittensen Crafts Museum under the title A Life in His Time .
Souvenirs in Sittensen
In memory of Ehlers, the school building on Königshofallee in Sittensen was named after him. After the orientation stage moved out in 1985, the building was renamed "Ludwig-Otto-Ehlers-Haus". In addition to a few apartments, it now houses the "Villa Kunterbunt" daycare center. Regular theater performances take place in the former auditorium.
literature
- Johann Martens: Ludwig Otto Ehlers: the Jewish missionary. Self-published, Freetz, 2005 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- JJG Ehlers: Ludwig Otto Ehlers, A picture of life. Feesche, Hannover 1904 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
swell
- Harms-Ehlersches Familienarchiv Hermannsburg, now Hanover
- Secret State Archives - Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin (Dahlem)
- Archiwum Glowne Akt. Dawnych, Warsaw
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Memories of Johannes Dittrich on the Leipzig student Johannes Jonathan Gerhard Ehlers
- ↑ www.museen-in-bremen.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ehlers, Ludwig Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Protestant pastor in Liegnitz |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 1, 1805 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Morals |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 3, 1877 |
| Place of death | Liegnitz |