Quo vadis?

Domine, quo vadis?
Painting by Annibale Carracci , 1602

Quo Vadis Church on the Appian Way

Quo vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "where are you going?"

The “Quo vadis?” Question in the Bible

This phrase is found in the Gospel of John 13:36:

Dicit ei Simon Petrus: "Domine, quo vadis?" Respondit Iesus: "Quo vado, non potes me modo sequi, sequeris autem postea."

According to the standard translation :

Simon Peter said to him: “Lord, where do you want to go?” Jesus answered: “You cannot follow me now where I am going. But you will follow me later. "

The "Quo vadis?" - legend of the early Christian tradition

The narrative in the Acts of Apocryphal Peter relates to this passage . According to this legend, the apostle Peter met Christ on his flight from Rome and asked him: “Domine, quo vadis?” (“Where are you going, Lord?”), And received the answer: “Romam venio iterum crucifigi” (“To Rome to have me crucified again ”). Thereupon Peter returned, was captured in Rome and crucified.

According to Ambrose of Milan and according to a manuscript from Ohrid ( North Macedonia ), which reproduces a very old line of tradition , Peter's question was " Quo venis " ("Why are you coming?").

Literary, cinematic and musical arrangements of the topic

The novel Quo Vadis by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz is based around this legend . The American film adaptation from 1951, also with the title Quo vadis? In 2001 a Polish film version was made by film director Jerzy Kawalerowicz .

In 1907 Feliks Nowowiejski set the novel to music as a scenic oratorio based on a libretto by Antonie Jüngst . In 2005 a musical of the same name was composed for the Trier Antikenfestspiele , which premiered on June 16.

The “Quo vadis?” Church in Rome

On the Via Appia in Rome, outside the Porta San Sebastiano , where the legendary event is said to have taken place, the church Domine, Quo Vadis stands today . In addition to the copy of the alleged footprints of Jesus , a bust of Sienkiewicz is shown here.

Colloquial usage

In everyday life, the phrase “Quo vadis” is often used in the sense of “Where should this lead to?” Or “How should this continue?”.

Individual evidence

^ Alfred Sellner: Latin in everyday life. VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 978-3-92-812711-0 , p. 104.
↑ Otto Zwierlein : Peter in Rome. The literary evidence. With a critical edition of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul on a new handwritten basis . de Gruyter, Berlin, 2nd, reviewed and supplemented edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-024058-0 , pp. V – VI.
↑ Ruth Scodel, Anja Bettenworth: Whither Quo Vadis? Sienkiewicz's Novel in Film and Television . Wiley, New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-405-18385-7 .
↑ Józef Baliński: Amour - tyrannie - foi, thèmes de l'opéra polonais "Quo vadis" . In: Kinga Joucaviel (Ed.): Quo vadis? Contexte historique, littéraire et artistique de l'œuvre de Henryk Sienkiewicz . Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 2005, ISBN 2-85816-766-4 , pp. 21–28, here p. 25.

[1] Alfred Sellner: Latin in everyday life. VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 978-3-92-812711-0 , p. 104.

[2] Otto Zwierlein : Peter in Rome. The literary evidence. With a critical edition of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul on a new handwritten basis . de Gruyter, Berlin, 2nd, reviewed and supplemented edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-024058-0 , pp. V – VI.

[3] Ruth Scodel, Anja Bettenworth: Whither Quo Vadis? Sienkiewicz's Novel in Film and Television . Wiley, New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-405-18385-7 .

[4] Józef Baliński: Amour - tyrannie - foi, thèmes de l'opéra polonais "Quo vadis" . In: Kinga Joucaviel (Ed.): Quo vadis? Contexte historique, littéraire et artistique de l'œuvre de Henryk Sienkiewicz . Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 2005, ISBN 2-85816-766-4 , pp. 21–28, here p. 25.