Přemyšlování o dokonalosti křesťanské

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Title page of the first edition, Prague 1622. Moravian National Library Brno.

Přemyšlování o dokonalosti křesťanské (German: reflecting on Christian perfection ) is one of the so-called consolation writings by Johann Amos Comenius . The young preacher of the Brethren congregation in Fulnek explains the need for Christian humility , especially in times of severe blows of fate.

The full title of the work, which is written in Czech , is translated as follows:

“Reflecting on the Christian perfection that God shows his elect in his word; infuses into their innermost being through his spirit, and, to their unspeakable joy, kindles them and brings them to full development through many plagues. "

Emergence

The persecution of non-Catholics after the defeat in the Battle of White Mountain also hit the Bohemian Brethren badly: their congregations were dispersed, their schools closed, their preachers and administrators expelled. Comenius also had to leave his place of work in Fulnek because a mandate was issued against him as a preacher of the Brothers' Union. He initially hid in various places in Silesia , Moravia and Bohemia before he found refuge on the estates of Karl the Elder from Žerotín in Brandeis an der Adler . During this time he wrote several smaller writings to strengthen the evangelicals persecuted in their homeland in their faith and to give them hope.

Looking back on his situation, Comenius later wrote: When I was chased out of my community (right among the first, in 1621) I wrote the “Reflections on Christian Perfection”, trying to make it clear to myself and others that the All Christian perfection consists in carrying out and enduring every will of God. If in our slackness we do not seek voluntarily and do not allow ourselves to be lured by the loveliness of divine promises, it is part of Divine goodness to compel one to do so through plagues.

Comenius wrote his consolation, Reflecting on Christian Perfection , in 1621 or 1622; it was first printed in 1622 in the secret printing house of the Brothers' Union in Prague . She turns to his community, who has remained in Fulnek. In the foreword he dedicated it to his wife Magdalena Vizovská, who stayed in Fulnek. It begins with the words: My dear Mrs. Magdalena, my most precious treasure to me after the Lord God! It is not known whether his wife ever got her hands on the book; she and both children died of the plague in 1622 after Fulnek was pillaged and pillaged by the imperial mercenaries.

content

Comenius formulates the concern of his writing in the preface addressed to his wife: From this treatise you can learn that it is in vain to want to choose in this world how one would like to be guided by God, and that it is better, voluntarily, if even with tears to follow God and to gratefully receive everything, happiness and unhappiness, joy and misery, laughter and weeping from his hand. You will find much in it from which you can remember or learn from which you can comfort yourself or prepare yourself to endure further suffering; finally you will learn to piously enjoy the joy of that to which our Lord God wants to guide us after we have overcome chastisement.

In 12 chapters, Comenius explains the necessity and usefulness of Christian humility. Not only the pleasant things, but also sorrow and suffering come from God. He writes: There is certainly no chosen one whom the Lord God does not send from time to time to the school of the cross; for whom he loves he chastises, and he beats every son he adopts ( Hebrews 12 : 6  LUT )

For Comenius, humble bowing to the will of God is not only the Christian's only possible reaction to the need, it is also the path to personal perfection. It is not enough just to be reconciled with your own fate, it is also necessary to purify your heart of all useless thoughts and vanities. For Comenius, Christian perfection includes not only love for God, but also practical testing in everyday life with selfless service to one's neighbor.

literature

  • Jan Amos Komenský: Přemyšlování o dokonalosti křesťanské . In: ČSAV (ed.): Dílo Jana Amose Komenského - Johannis Amos Comenii opera omnia . tape 3 . Academia, Praha 1978, p. 185 - 233 (Czech, online ).
  • Jan Kumpera: Jan Amos Komenský, Poutník na rozhraní věků (= Johann Amos Comenius [Ed.]: Wanderer in the upheaval of times ). Amosium Servis, Ostrava 1992, ISBN 80-85498-03-0 , p. 292-293 (Czech, 372 pp.).
  • Johann Amos Comenius: The labyrinth of the world and other masterpieces . Ed .: Klaus Schaller. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-421-05256-5 (461 pages). Contains the foreword - Meine liebe Frau Magdalena , on pages 5 - 6. German translation from: Klaus Schaller: The consolation writings of Johann Amos Comenius. In: Comenius-Jahrbuch, Volume 6 (1998) , pp. 11-37.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ČSAV (ed.): Dílo Jana Amose Komenského - Johannis Amos Comenii opera omnia . tape 3 . Academia, Praha 1978, p. 187 (Czech, online ).
  2. ↑ Letter to Peter van den Berge (1661), quoted from: Jan Amos Komenský: The labyrinth of the world and other writings. Edited and translated from Czech and Latin by Ilse Seehase . Reclam, Leipzig 1984, p. 214 .
  3. ↑ a b Johann Amos Comenius: The labyrinth of the world and other masterpieces . Ed .: Klaus Schaller. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-421-05256-5 , pp. 5-6 (461 pages).
  4. ↑ ČSAV (ed.): Dílo Jana Amose Komenského - Johannis Amos Comenii opera omnia . tape 3 . Academia, Praha 1978, p. 207 (Czech, online ).

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