Zacharias Steinel

Zacharias Steinel (born March 2, 1657 in Schneeberg ; † September 6, 1710 in Spremberg near Neusalza ) was an evangelical clergyman, multiple master's degree and twelfth pastor of the mother community of today's city of Neusalza-Spremberg , Spremberg.

Life and study

He came from a Christian family and was raised accordingly. His further life took him to Freiberg and Güstrow , to attend the local high schools. He then completed studies in philosophy and theology at the Universities of Rostock and Leipzig . After successfully graduating and later acquiring several academic degrees (Tit. Tot. = Titulo toto = with all titles), he began his ministry in Spremberg in 1685 , which he held until his death in 1710. Magister Steinel thus became an official colleague and contemporary of the pastors of the neighboring parish of the exile town of Neu-Salza: Stephan Pilarick (1674–1693), Nikolaus Künzel (1694–1701) and Wenceslaus Niederwerffer (1701–1731).

Evangelical work across borders

During his tenure, which was politically and ecclesiastically shaped by counter-reformation efforts ( re-Catholicization ) in the Upper Lusatian border region with Bohemia , in 1696 he vehemently promoted the Protestant-Lutheran supporters in the neighboring Bohemian-Catholic community of Fugau . Because of his committed work for the Protestant fellow believers, he was even threatened with arrest there. As an adversary of the influential Bohemian Count Philipp Sigismund von Dietrichstein (1651–1716), landlord of Schluckenau and Fugau, and the local Catholic clergyman Falk, he made the visit of the Protestant Fugau to the services in the Spremberg village church through and after their expulsion the admission in Spremberg.

Tit. Dead. Zacharias Steinel was married four times and had eleven children. The deserving parish priest died at the age of 53. He is considered the twelfth preacher of the Evangelical Lutheran parish Spremberg. His epitaph is on the outer wall of the apse of the Spremberg church.

family

Pastor Steinel's four marriages:

• 1. Mrs. Anna Rosina, b. Günther, daughter of the Schneeberg forester Günther. After one year of marriage, she died at the age of 24 in Spremberg in 1686.
• 2. Mrs. Sophia Elisabeth, b. Marche, daughter of the pastor in Crostau Jeremias Marche. After five and a half years of marriage, she died on May 21, 1693, also at the age of 24 in Spremberg.
• 3. Mrs. Johanna Dorothea, geb. Junge, daughter of the Ebersbach pastor boy. He married Zacharias Steinel on January 29, 1695. Her death date is unknown.
• 4. Mrs. Johanna Eleonora Dorothea, geb. Grim. No further details are known about them.

While Steinel's last wife is mentioned on the aforementioned epitaph, there is another epitaph for the pastor's three spouses and four children on the outer wall of the apse of the Spremberg village church .

literature

• Walter Heinich: Spremberg. Attempt on a local history of the parish village Spremberg in the Saxon Upper Lusatia . Spremberg 1918.
• Franz Ferdinand Rietzsch: Spremberg. Contribution to the (new) Saxon church gallery . Spremberg 1910 (manuscript).
• Lutz Mohr : Neusalza-Spremberg and its monuments. About bizarre natural structures and stone witnesses to local history . In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg, Vol. 4. Ed. ed. by Günter Hensel. Kultur- und Heimatfreunde Neusalza-Spremberg eV Neusalza-Spremberg 2011, pp. 5–28.
• Lutz Mohr: The Fugau people in conflict with church and God. A reminder of an inglorious chapter in local history . In: History and stories from Neusalza-Spremberg. ibid 2011, pp. 51-58.
• Lutz Mohr: Historical personalities of the local history: Zacharias Steinel (1657 to 1710) . In: Official journal of the administrative association for the city of Neusalza-Spremberg with the district Friedersdorf and the communities Dürrhennersdorf and Schönbach. 17/2012/7, p. 6

Web links

• Work: The rise of the Divine Mercy Sun ...