Simon hypocrite

Simon Heuchelin (born August 28, 1577 in Launigen , Pfalz-Neuburg , † summer 1621 in Preßburg (?), Kingdom of Hungary ) was a Lutheran theologian and preacher of the German Evangelical Church Community AB in Preßburg .

Life

Simon Heuchelin's ancestors were pretty poor. His father Lienhard Heuchelin was a baker in Launigen. Simon studied in Launigen and later in Tübingen , where he obtained his master's degree on August 15, 1599. He found his first job (presumably together with his brother Dr. Kaspar Heuchelin) as the ' preceptor ' of the two younger sons of Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig , August and Johann-Friedrich . In 1603 Simon Heuchelin became pastor in Straß near Neuburg an der Donau . At that time the religious quarrels in Germany began, and the family of Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig - a staunch Lutheran - was not spared. The eldest son of the Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm converted to Catholicism secretly and without the knowledge of the father. It was the beginning of the time in which the Federation of Protestant Estates and Princes, the Union and the Catholic League were hostile to each other. The Protestant clergy began to be expelled from individual provinces in Germany.

In Preßburg, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Lutherans began to be harassed and persecuted in the course of the Counter Reformation . The period of persecution also began in the young German Evangelical Church Community AB, which was only founded in 1606. Andreas Reuss, the first preacher of this community, was accused by the Catholic side of "lese majesty" as early as 1607, whereupon the magistrate of the city of Pressburg gave in to the pressure and on November 13th, 1607 Reuss forbade preaching, whereupon Reuss left the city and also moved to St. Georgen .

In Pressburg - compared to other places in the Kingdom of Hungary - the Reformation was implemented relatively late. At that time the Evangelical Pressburgs did not have their own house of worship, so that in the beginning the services took place in private houses (first in the so-called 'Kamper'schen Haus' and later in the 'Armpruster'schen Haus').

Because Andreas Reuss had to leave Pressburg, a new clergyman was sought. Since the hypocrite working in Straß (near Neuburg an der Donau) apparently also got into trouble, he was sent to Pressburg in 1608 at the behest of Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig as successor to Andreas Reuss. A year later (1609) the people of Pressburg sent the citizen Georg Wulterer to Neuburg to bring Heuchelin's wife and children to Pressburg as well. On this occasion, the Count Palatine was given a letter of deepest thanks from the City of Pressburg for sending Heuchelin.

Simon Heuchelin was one of the first to take part in the development of the German Evangelical Church Community AB. Next to Magister Adam Tettelbach , who came to Pressburg in 1607, Heuchelin was the third of the pastors in the Pressburg parish. In March 1610, Heuchelin was sent to the evangelical synod of Sillein together with Rudolf Maurach and Martin Rößler . There he was elected inspector (coadjutor) for the German-speaking communities of the superintendent ' Neutra '. The election of Simon Heuchelin as inspector (coadjutor) not only increased the importance of his personality, but also that of the German Evangelical Church Community AB Pressburg increased. As a representative of the superintendent, Heuchelin was in direct contact with the then state power and with its representative, the Palatinus Georg Thurzo, in church matters .

He was also involved in the formation of the Pressburg Contubernium and drafted its laws, which he then signed as a 'senior'.

Heuchelin was also co-author of the apology of the Sillein Synod, which was addressed to the Archbishop of Gran Cardinal Ferenc Forgách (* 1560, † 1615).

In 1621 a plague epidemic broke out in Pressburg , of which Heuchelin died in the summer of 1621.

He was married to Anna (?) The gem. old documents in 1624 died. The marriage had six children.

Heuchelin's nephew was Magister Johann Georg Heuchelin (* 1615, † 1654) who was also pastor of the German Evangelical Church Community AB in Pressburg between 1639 and 1654.

literature

• CE Schmidt , S. Markusovßky, G. Ebner: History of the Evangelical Church Community AB zu Preßburg , 2 Bde., Pozsony 1906
• Anton Klipp: The Habsburgs and the beginnings of the Reformation in Preßburg, in Carpathian Yearbook 2017 (vol. 68), Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-80-8175-021-2

References and comments

1. ↑ Against the will of his father, a staunch Lutheran , Wolfgang Wilhelm secretly converted to Catholicism on June 19, 1613 and married (officially as a Lutheran) Magdalene of Bavaria . The conversion to the Catholic faith enabled him to switch to the political camp of the Catholic League.
2. ↑ Andreas Reuss (*? In Querfurt in Saxony , † 1629 in St. Georgen , Kingdom of Hungary) studied theology in Wittenberg and was ordained by Polycarp von Leyser on April 1, 1579 .
3. ↑ The 'Armpruster'sche Haus' belonged to a Protestant family on Franziskanerplatz . It was torn down and the first German Evangelical Church, now the Jesuit Church, was built in its place .
4. ^ With this posting, Philipp Ludwig complied with a request from the Bratislava City Council.
5. ^ According to the 'concept book' of the city of Preßburg from March 28, 1609.
6. ↑ A "Contubernium" in the Kingdom of Hungary was an association / federation of Lutheran clergy who worked in a region (a deanery). The contubernium was usually headed by a 'senior'. The contubernium also enacted its own church laws to which the clergy had to adhere.
7. ↑ He was the son of his brother Dr. Kaspar Heuchelin.