Morning star
The morning star is to the sun and moon , the mythological most significant single star . Generally speaking, the brightest star that emerges before sunrise is called the morning star . Cultural history knows the motif of the morning star in multiple unfolding.
The main morning star is Venus when it rises well before the sun. The time of appearance of Venus depends on its position in relation to the sun. After being the morning star for about six to seven months, Venus remains unobstructedly invisible behind the sun for about three months and then becomes the evening star for six to seven months . The whole cycle lasts around 19 months.
Even Mercury occurs - although less obvious - as the morning star in appearance, in Central Europe, however, a maximum of two weeks in autumn.
Of the other planets, Jupiter is a shining morning star for about two months each year (i.e. it rises one to three hours before the sun). In November 2015 he formed an impressive couple with Venus, which was joined by the crescent moon on November 7th (and December 4th / 6th) .
In ancient times, the name Phosphoros was assigned to the morning star ( ancient Greek Φωσφόρος “light bearer”, “light bringer”; Latin Lucifer ) as well as the names Eosphoros ( Ἑωσφόρος “bringer of the dawn”) or Proinos ( Πρωϊνός “the early morning”). The evening star, which in turn was assigned an independent physical existence, was called Hesperos ( Ἕσπερος "evening"). Even after both identity with the planet Venus had been proven, antiquity stuck to the separation of morning and evening stars as mythological beings. In the ancient Orient the morning and evening stars were venerated as pairs of brothers, in Edessa as Monimos and Azizos and in Ugarit as Šaḥr and Šalim . For the Balts, Auseklis was the personified morning star.
Christ as the morning star
Based on the New Testament christological statements Rev 22,16 EU and 2 Petr 1,19 EU , the Christian tradition often unfolds the image of Christ as the morning star in the form of hymns . Examples are:
- O-antiphon for December 21st: O oriens - O Morgenstern
- Exsulted on Easter vigil : It [the Easter candle] shines until the morning star appears, that true morning star that will not set in eternity.
- Elisabeth Cruciger : Mr. Christ, the one God son , ... he is the morning star
- Bartholomäus Gesius : O Christe, morning stars
- Philipp Nicolai : How beautifully the morning star shines
- Daniel Rumpius : The morning star has penetrated
- Angelus Silesius : Morning star of the dark night
- Erasmus Alberus : “God's word, you are the morning star”, in: Stand up, you dear little children
- Jochen Klepper : “So now praise be sung to the bright morning star”, in: The night has advanced
- Albert Frey : “The true morning star, it has risen, the Redeemer is here. I know that Jesus lives, he is risen, and he also lives in me. ”, In: “ Morgenstern ”, FJ4,51
Morgenstern is also rarely used as a title of Mary .
Literature and Sources
- Christfried Böttrich : "O Christe, Morgensterne ..." Apk 22,16 against the background of Old Testament royal theology . In: Early Judaism and the New Testament in the Horizon of Biblical Theology . Mohr, Tübingen 2003, ISBN 3-16-148163-1 , pp. 211-250.
- Hermann Mucke : Modern astronomical phenomenology . Sternfreunde Seminar 1992/93, Austrian Astronomical Association , Vienna 1992.
- Austrian sky calendar , Vienna 2009 to 2011.
