Stephan Pilarick

Stephan (Stephanus) Pilarick, Sen. (* 1615 in Otschowa, Kingdom of Hungary, today Očová in Slovakia, † February 8, 1693 in Neu-Salza near Spremberg / Oberlausitz ) was a philosopher , Protestant theologian, pastor and exile . He was the first pastor of the exile town of Neu-Salza, today Neusalza-Spremberg (1674–1693).

Stephan Pilarick after Adam Batlowsky , 1698

Live and act

Spiritual career in Hungary

Stephan Pilarick Senior is one of the most important historical figures in the city of Neusalza-Spremberg and Upper Lusatia . His life and work fell during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and the Counter Reformation ( re-Catholicization ), which shook Central Europe at the time. Pilarick's father was a Protestant clergyman in Otschowa and was called Stephan, his mother Anna. When he was four years old, he received his first lessons. He was musically gifted, learned to play the organ and Latin, and later distinguished himself through sparkling rhetoric .

At the age of 15 he was already employed as an organist in the city of Bartfeld . According to Pilarick's notes, it was considered to be the first city in Hungary "that accepted Lutheran teaching". At the age of 18 (1633) he gave his first sermon at Wigleß Castle . At the age of 20 (1635) Pilarick was appointed cantor in Illau an der Waag . It was there that he met his future wife Siena, whom he married in 1637. With her he fathered eleven children, seven boys and four girls, five of whom died in infancy. Afterwards, he worked as a preacher in other Protestant communities in Upper Hungary, today's Slovakia, such as Strehova, Teplitz, St. Andreas and Beckaw.

Around 1650/51 he was employed as court preacher with Countess Eva zu Trenčin , which he held until around 1660. At that time, the Catholic Jesuit order managed to expand its influence in Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary. He became the main organizer of the Counter Reformation and caused the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Evangelical Christians from these countries. They went down in history as "exiles". The Hungarian representative of the Jesuits, Count Nádasdy , led a regular campaign against the Evangelicals in the country in 1660 and also had Pilarick and his family persecuted.

Escape and capture

When Pilarick wanted to take up his new pastorate in Senitz on September 3, 1663 , he was captured by Turks who had invaded Hungary. The family dispersed. Pilarick was played badly in captivity and he was eventually sold as a slave. The Turkish councilor Constantine, probably an Orthodox Christian, made it possible for him to escape from the Wallachian prison camp. Then Pilarick made his way on the Danube via Raab to Pressburg . He received news that his wife Siena and the children had found refuge there.

In the winter of 1663/64 the army of the Hungarian king and later Habsburg emperor Leopold I finally defeated the Turks. The subsequent peace treaty of Eisenburg in 1664 prevented (for the time being) further Turkish invasions. The evangelical pastor family Pilarick returned to their home parish Senitz.

Under the protection of the Elector of Saxony

In 1670 Pilarick, who spoke three languages ​​and also preached in them, faced new calamities. At that time troops of the arch-Catholic emperor Leopold I visited Hungary in order to forcibly drive out the Protestants. The Jesuits offered a price of 100 ducats for the capture of Pilarick . Now he knew that he and his family are only safe in a Protestant country. Again he went on the run with the family from Senitz. Via Skalitz and the Moravian Olomouc , in which Pilarick was almost recognized, they fled to the Silesian Breslau , from there to the Protestant Saxony, which was ruled by Elector Johann Georg II .

In the course of 1673 Pilarick and other Hungarian brothers and sisters arrived in the Upper Lusatian town of Zittau . At the time, the city was a "reception center" for exiles from Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary. Pilarick's wife and the now grown-up children followed later. Pilarick's reputation as an unshakable evangelical champion had preceded him to Upper Lusatia. He received invitations to Bautzen and the exile town of Neu-Salza, founded in 1670.

First Evangelical Lutheran preacher in Neu-Salza

Anna Catharina von Salza († 1682), who was the landlord and judge at the time and thus also the church patroness of Neu-Salza, was looking for an evangelical clergyman who spoke their language for the immigrant exiles from Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary, despite the lack of a church. Pilarick accepted and was appointed by her on April 6th (14th) 1674 as pastor in Neu-Salza “for the Hungarian, Bohemian, Silesian and Moravian people who use the Bohemian (Czech) language ...”. The electoral confirmation of this took place on October 14, 1674 in the context of the decree of the “Neusalza Church Recess”, which the city's founder, Christoph Friedrich von Salza († 1673), had prepared. Pilarick's odyssey of flight and expulsion came to an end in the city of Neu-Salza, his last place of life and work. In addition to his preaching office, the indefatigable pastor dedicated himself to the construction of the exile church " Zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit " in the young city, which was built by the church builder Hans Sarn between 1675 and 1678. Pilarick Sr. led the cross-border parish for nineteen years until his death. He died in 1693 at the age of 78.

Family and offspring

The famous children of pastor Stephan Pilarick and his wife Siena (died 1st Advent 1675 in Neu-Salza) are:

1. Son Stephan Pilarick Junior (* 1637; † around 1700 in Klein-Röhrsdorf near Pirna). He was also a Protestant clergyman.
2. Son Gabriel Pilarick. Narrated as a chamber musician for the Prince of Gotha .
3. Son of Jeremias Pilarick. Passed on as a teacher at the Wittenberg Council School . His son was Johann Gottfried Pilarik , hymn poet and superintendent in Grossenhain .
4. Daughter Anna Pilarick. Mother of Anna Maria, married Batlowsky.
5. Daughter Juditha Pilarick. She died early in Pressburg (around 1664).
6. Daughter Magdalena Pilarick. Married to the Hungarian preacher Johannes Hadikius, who came to Dresden as an exile .

Little data can be found on Stephan Pilarick's children. The grave monument of Pastor Pilarick Sen. has not yet been found. An anonymous tombstone in the Neusalza church could well be the epitaph of this clergyman. In the anteroom of the church, however, there is a large-format oil painting, which shows Pilarick in life-size and in spiritual Hungarian costume. The picture was created by the Dresden painter Adam Batlowsky in 1698, who was married to Pilarick's granddaughter Anna Maria and was married by him in 1689. The year 1698, handed down by J. Chr. Hasche (1787, p. 367f) for the creation of the oil painting, is incorrect or has been confused because Stephan Pilarick had died in 1693. Adam Batlowsky surely created the picture shortly after his marriage in 1689 as a reminiscence for the grandfather of his wife and clergyman.

Works

• Currus Jehovae mirabilis, That is / A miracle wagon of the Most High: On which He / as from the beginning ... his saints and believers ... in this terrible world / He finally bit them on Eliae heavenly chariot through a blissful death has ushered into eternal rest . Wittenberg: Henckel, 1678 online digitization
• Turcico-Tartarica Crudelitas, That is: Derer Türcken and Tartarn cruelty / In which Anno 1663. September 3rd. ... in addition to a large number of pious [...] / Stephanus Pilarick the oldest / past pastor and senior at Senitz in Hungary ... Anitzo but after the most sad fourth exile / the newly established church and church game to Neu-Saltza in Meissen / both nations / mostly exiles Pastor ... brought together again and promoted to print ... Anno 1684. Richter, Budissin 1684 online digitization
• Jozef Minárik (ed.): Štefan Pilárik: (1615–1693); výber z diela (selection from the work). Bratislava: Vyd. Slovenskej Akad. Vied, 1958

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Christian Hasche : Magazine of Saxon History . Fourth part, 1787, p. 367–368 ( digitized in the Google book search).

literature

• Carl Gottlob Hohlfeld: 100 years of the city of Neu-Salza. Historical report. Neu-Salza 1768. ("Hohlfeld-Chronik"). Transferred and edited by Siegfried Seifert . Lawalde 2002.
• Isidora Marie von Koenneritz : How someone from Hungary came to Neusalza-Spremberg. In: Saxon supplement to the neighbor. Volume 49, February 1938 edition, pp. 9–16.
• Gunther Leupolt : Stephan Pilarick - first pastor in Neusalza. Reproduction of the above text with an introduction. In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg. Volume 2, Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg e. V. 2002, pp. 21-39.
• Lutz Mohr : Spremberg about 340 years ago - historical personalities of the local history: Stephan (Stephanus) Pilarick, Sen. (1615-1693) . In: Official journal of the administrative association for the city of Neusalza-Spremberg with the district Friedersdorf and the communities Dürrhennersdorf and Schönbach, 17/2012/6, pp. 9-10.
• Felix von Schroeder : The Slovak-German preacher family Pilarik . In: Südostdeutsches Archiv 9, 1966, pp. 65–125.
• Felix von Schroeder: Again the Pilarik family of preachers . In: Südostdeutsches Archiv 21, 1978, pp. 162–164.