Wilhelm Josef Jarius

Wilhelm Josef Jarius

Wilhelm Josef Jarius (born March 17, 1772 in Ödenburg , Kingdom of Hungary , † May 3, 1843 in Preßburg , Kingdom of Hungary) was an Evangelical Lutheran preacher.

Life

Jarius was the forty-ninth preacher in the long line of pastors of the German Evangelical Church AB in Pressburg. Coming from a German Protestant family, his decision to pursue a theological career was clear from the start. After basic training in his native city he studied from 1793 to 1796 Protestant theology at the University in Jena . In addition to his specialist field, he also acquired solid knowledge in the field of general education.

Jarius was ordained in 1802 , after which he took up his first pastor's position in Bleiberg in Upper Carinthia on October 31, 1802 . Here he experienced the dangerous time of the French occupation by Napoleon Bonaparte . The Evangelical Parish AB in Bleiberg, in which Jarius served between 1802 and 1818 (16 years), was a decidedly diaspora community. It was not easy to steer this church through the stormy times. The entire area was then shaped by Catholics who were rather hostile to the Evangelicals; At that time ecumenism was still a "foreign word". The evangelical preachers suffered from constant fear of exceeding their required limits. The parishioners themselves groaned at the dues that they had to pay twice, namely to the Catholic clergy and sacristers , as well as those who served to maintain their own preachers. Especially in the time of need (it was the time of the French occupation) the double burden on the community was unbearable.

On November 16, 1817, Jarius married Katharine Dulnigg, the daughter of a kk kit maker.

A year later he was called to Preßburg by the local German Evangelical Church Community AB. On November 8, 1818, he gave his inaugural sermon on the subject: "What a congregation must think of the office of a Protestant preacher if he is to do it with a blessing" Jarius was revered by the congregation and enjoyed the reputation of an important pulpit speaker. The wife of the Palatine Archduchess Maria Dorothea was, during her numerous visits to Pressburg, a regular visitor to his services and a grateful listener of his sermons, which she greatly appreciated. In a meeting on August 20, 1819 - on the initiative of the Archduchess - the presbytery of the Protestant parish of Pest decided to call Jarius as a preacher in Pest. However, Jarius refused this call and stayed in Pressburg.

Gravestone at the Gaistor cemetery in Pressburg

At an advanced age, Jarius suffered several ailments. He died on May 3, 1843 after 26 years of service as pastor of the parish in Pressburg. Two days later he was buried in the Gaistor cemetery . The funeral speeches were held by his brothers in office, Franz Samuel Stromsky (1792–1861) and Johann Christian Tremmel (1773–1845).

Jarius is portrayed as a man 'full of deep faith', of 'extraordinary originality' and 'humbly devoted and hopeful' in his own sufferings. Theologically, Jarius deserves attention because in the midst of the flood of theological rationalism (“belief in reason”) - which was also practiced by the majority in the Pressburg community at that time - he basically wanted to represent the ' old gospel '. Mainly because of this, he exercised not only on Maria Dorothea, whom he greatly admired, but also on many of his contemporaries a decisive theological influence.

The mysterium tremendum in the sacrament of the altar had remained completely hidden from him throughout his life.

Many of his sermons were put into print while he was still alive. An entire year appeared in Pest in 1859 under the title Sermons on all Sundays and Holidays of the year. A selection from the manuscripts left by Wilhelm Josef v. Jarius.

Sermons

• What a congregation must think of the office of an evangelical preacher if he is to do it with a blessing. An inaugural sermon, held on Trinity 24th Sunday, November 8th, 1818, in the prayer house of the Protestant parish AB in Pressburg. Pressburg, 1818.
• Speech at the funeral of Maria Rosina Rambach geb. Rackwitz, go on Oct. 2. 1829. U. ott.
• How we deserve to thank the Lord for showing himself so gloriously among us in the plague that has now ended. Sermon of thanks, on the first Sunday of Advent, November 27, 1831, given in front of the Protestant congregation AC in Pressburg. U. ott.
• Jesus Christ received from salvation. Spirit. Sermon on the third Sunday in Advent 1834. in the church of the Protestant parish a. C. to Pressburg. U. ott. (1834.)
• Sermons on all Sundays and feast days of the year. A selection from the manuscripts left behind. Ed. by Victor Hornyánszky. Pest, 1859.

literature

History of the Evangelical Church Community AB zu Preßburg, Part II, by Carl Eugen Schmidt , Samuel Markusovszky, Gustav Ebner and Friedrich Freussmuth, Preßburg 1906

Web links

Tolerated and Equal, 1783-1983; 200 years of the Protestant parish Bad Bleiberg by Bishop Oskar Sarkrausky (PDF, online: accessed on September 20, 2017)

Individual evidence

1. ^ The German Evangelical Congregation in Bratislava was founded in 1606. Their first preacher was Andreas Reuss .
2. ↑ Tolerated and Equal ... p. 38
3. ↑ Published in print by SP Weber and Son in Pressburg in 1818
4. ↑ The "Mysterium tremendum" - is the shuddering effect of the divine in religion. The theologian and philosopher Rudolf Otto , for whom the "tremendum" is a good description of the divine, has dealt with this in great detail .
5. ↑ z. B. Sermon of thanks after the end of cholera , Pressburg 1831, Jesus Christ received by the Holy Spirit, Pressburg 1834
6. ↑ History of the Protestant ..., p. 40f (see literature)