Non serviam
Non serviam ( Latin for 'I will not serve') is a phrase that is generallyattributed to Lucifer , but is also passed down from Greco-Roman antiquity . That former angel is said to have popularly spoken these words to express his dislike of serving under God's guidance. They represent his reluctance and the proud desire to rule himself according to his own ideas. Those words are the reason why he wasbanishedfrom heaven and from there fell into hell to reignas Satan from there on.
Today the term non serviam is used by some political, cultural and religious groups to express their criticism of or opposition to certain structures and views in society and politics.
origin
These words are not mentioned in traditional stories about the fall of Lucifer.
In the Vulgate , the Latin translation of the Bible, however, the biblical prophet Jeremiah mourns that the Israeli people speak the words non serviam in spite of God's grace in order to show their rejection of only one God and to be able to continue to worship other gods. He warns that this sin will be punished.
These words were later used as a general expression of rejection towards God and were associated with the fall of Lucifer. It was believed that anyone who sins against God also acts according to these words.
The Roman philosopher Seneca mentions (Epistulae morales 77,14) a Spartan (“Lacon Zonen”) who was captured with the saying “non serviam” and, forced to empty a chamber pot as a slave servant, committed suicide. From the words of Seneca that the Spartan said “sua Dorica lingua”, that is, in his Doric dialect, one can infer an older Greek version of this anecdote. With this story Seneca points to the inner freedom of the stoic and his independence from the vicissitudes of fate.
The phrase non serviam was picked up not only by religious groups, but also by representatives of the modern age , in order to illustrate their radical , sometimes also revolutionary attitude towards conformity .
The motto in modern literature
- Non serviam - I will not serve is spoken by the protagonist Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man after his decision to embark on the path of an artist.
- Non serviam is the title of a book and poem that was written in 1945 by the Swedish poet Gunnar Ekelöf .
- In Robert Anton Wilson's and Robert Shea's trilogy Illuminatus! the term non serviam is used by the character Hagbard Celine to express his aversion to paying taxes and many other things.
- Non serviam is the title of a poem by Carlos de la Cruz .
- The Lucifer Ritual or non serviam is the title of a book by the author Frater Sursum ad lucem that deals with controlled obsession and invocation of satanic energies.
- Non Serviam is the fictional book by the fictional scientist Arthur Dobb, which Stanislaw Lem discusses in his book The Perfect Emptiness .
The motto in modern music
- Title of the second album of the Greek Metal - band Rotting Christ .
- Name of a Viennese metal band that was founded in 1991 and has released several sound carriers with mostly political texts in German and English.
- Name of a Swedish black / death metal band founded in 1995 .
- Title of a song released in 1999 by the band "Lullaby for the Working Class", a band from Nebraska that has already broken up.
- Title of a 2001 song by German rapper Phillie MC from the album Brave New World .
- Title of a song published in 2007 by the German black metal band "Unlight".
- Name of the Spanish hardcore punk band "Non Servium" as a typo.
- Title of a song published in 2017 by the German melodic death metal band "Obscurity".
The motto in modern film
- In Martin Scorsese's film The Departed , Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello sums up his theories about independence and leadership with the words non serviam .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jeremiah 2:20, Biblia Sacra Vulgate. In German Bibles Jeremiah 2:20.
- ↑ cfeg A. Olson, Exile and Literary Modernism Initiation, in: A. Eysteinsson et al., Modernism Vol. 2, Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2007.