Zionites (Ronsdorf)

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The zionites even Ellerianische sect , Elle Generic rotting , Ronsdorfer sect or Philadelphian firm , were in the 18th century by Elias Eller in communion with his second wife Anna Catharina from Büchel and the Reformed preacher Daniel Schleyermacher in Elberfeld founded and later to Ronsdorf extended effusive and radical pietist Christian sect .

Beginnings

The residents of Elberfeld (today Wuppertal-Elberfeld) were almost all members of the Reformed Church until the early 18th century . There were only six Catholic families there in 1658. The population was largely excluded from politics, as the Catholic government of the Duchy of Jülich-Berg did not employ Protestant officials. The learned class was represented only by preachers and teachers from the Latin school. The bourgeoisie essentially followed two different directions in religious terms:

The radical pietism came at that time under the influence of Inspired , who lived one ecstatic visionary religiosity. So was Anna Catharina from Büchel since about 1722 trances and visions . Since 1726 she held regular pietistic edification hours in Elberfeld, which were initially tolerated by the Reformed Church. Von Büchel soon appeared regularly as a prophet in the Elberfeld partnership and was quickly able to gather a solid group of supporters. She was employed as a maid in the house of the Bolckhaus family, where she probably first met her future husband Elias Eller .

Eller, works foreman in the foil tape factory of his first wife Katharina Bolckhaus, had a strong spiritual authority among his like-minded people thanks to his imaginative interpretations of the Bible during the hours of edification. Initially, his followers decided to fertilize the spiritual and religious life within the Philadelphic Society , which Eller helped support, as a Pietistic Society or conventicle , similar to Jane Leade in England before .

Eller is said to have explained the Bible passage Rev 21,1–2 LUT from the Büchel in private lessons  , which says that at the Apocalypse , the Last Judgment and the final battle between God and the Devil , God will ultimately emerge victorious from this battle . Thereupon the earth and heaven will be renewed and a city will descend from heaven: the new Jerusalem . Büchel was particularly inspired by this.

In the first year of its prophecy, fifty households were already counted in the movement. The Büchels revelations were recorded by Eller in a book called Ronsdorfer Hirtentasche (compare: Jalkut ). The trailers were put in a register and labeled as Sealed . This directory was part of the shepherd's bag and was preserved that way. Anna vom Büchel was called Mother Zion by her followers , Elias Eller Father Zion . In addition, she had other honors such as God's tent with the people , Mother Jerusalem or the Ark of the Testament .

Outstanding supporters of Eller and von Büchel were Reformed theologians such as Pastor Daniel Schleyermacher , grandfather of the later theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher , and Peter Wülffing (1701–1776) from Solingen .

Move to Ronsdorf

Von Büchel continuously urged people to move out of Elberfeld, which she equated with Babel . From 1726 at the latest, she prophesied, among other things, that she and Elias Eller would build up the new Zion , and that she was called to beget a son with Eller who would rule the world as the new Savior and Messiah (see also Rev 12,5  LUT ) . At the age of 36, she married Elias Eller on January 26, 1734, after he separated from his first wife Katharina Bolckhaus in 1727 and divorced in 1733. As early as 1727 Eller had announced that he wanted to marry von Büchel. The first son Benjamin was born on July 4, 1734, but died unexpectedly on November 21, 1735. In July 1736, von Büchel gave birth to their daughter Anna, who died in August of the same year. 1738 Sarah († 1770) was born on January 1st and Rahel a year later on December 6th.

With his special interpretation of the Reformed election doctrine ( predestination ) Eller came into conflict with the Elberfeld Reformed communities. In order to evade the pressure, he bought part of his former family farm Ronsdorf (first mentioned in 1494) across the border from Elberfeld in 1737, and in the same year the first Zionites from Elberfeld moved to the new settlement called Ronsdorf , which was the supporters of the Philadelphian Society viewed as the Heavenly Jerusalem . Vom Büchel had foreseen that the exodus from Elberfeld to Ronsdorf would be carried out under her and Eller's guidance, both had descended from the tribe of Judah , the family of David , and both would now bring about the millennium .

All houses in the settlement were modeled on the biblical camp of the Israelites on the " tabernacle ", i.e. H. the parish hall and residential buildings designed by Eller and Schleyermacher. Elias Eller was elected mayor of Ronsdorf. At the same time he was church master in his community . In fact, Eller was the defining figure in the new community alongside Pastor Schleyermacher. Ronsdorf was already in 1745 the town charter , thanks to the many contacts Ellers up to the Prussian King Frederick II.

Decline

Opponents of Eller accused him of promiscuity within his sect with the ancestral mother Anna, an increasing trend towards sensuality “with gross debauchery” (special interpretations of love feasts ) within the leadership of the sect.

In the following years, Schleyermacher, a larger group doubting the authenticity of the revelations, split off from the community, and Schleyermacher was subsequently excluded from the community. In 1745 Pastor Peter Wülffing from Solingen, a supporter of Eller, was elected as preacher. After Eller's death in 1750, his stepson Johannes Bolckhaus took over the leadership of the Zionites alone, and Eller's daughter Sarah, who had previously appeared as a prophet, tried to strengthen Bolckhaus and Wülffing in her divine debates in the fight against Schleyermacher and the doubters. An investigation into blasphemy , witchcraft and crimes of majesty was ordered through defamation and bribery, during which on April 24, 1750 a command of 160 soldiers was sent to Elberfeld to arrest Schleyermacher. However, he was able to flee to his sister who was married in Arnhem / Holland .

After Ronsdorf left the synod in 1754 , the decline of the religious community increased. Wülffing fell out with Bolckhaus and was suspended by the Düsseldorf government at his instigation. On May 31, 1768, with the election of a new preacher named Herminghaus, the congregation was accepted back into the Reformed Church.

literature

  • Claus Bernet :  BÜCHEL, Anna Catharina from. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 156-160.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Claus D. Bernet: The New Jerusalem in the Rhineland. An investigation into the motives for the founding of the city of Ronsdorf near Wuppertal. In: Monthly Issues for Evangelical Church History of the Rhineland 56 (2006), pp. 129–147.
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein: Thousand Years of Church in Elberfeld. In: Geschichte im Wuppertal 19 (2010), pp. 16–31.
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein: From Luther to Napoleon. In: Sylvia Engels, Hermann-Peter Eberlein (ed.): The thousand-year history of the old reformed church. Prism of the town and church history of Elberfeld. Kamen 2009, pp. 31-42.
  • Klaus Goebel (ed.): From Eller to Dürselen. New contributions to the church and town history of Wuppertal-Ronsdorf. Cologne 1981 (SVRKG 64), ISBN 3-7927-0622-9 .
  • Max Goebel: History of Christian Life in the Rhenish-Westphalian Evangelical Church, Vol. 3. Koblenz 1860.
  • Johann Werner Knevels: Secret of the wickedness of the Ellerian sect to Ronsdorff in the Duchy of Berg. Marburg 1751.
  • Krug: History of enthusiasm etc. in the Grand Duchy of Berg. Elberfeld 1851.
  • Günter Twardella (ed.): 1735: The time of franking has arrived . A new source on Elberfeld and Ronsdorf history. Titz-Rödingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-931395-21-6 .
  • Theodor Wotschke: From the death of Zion's mother Anna Eller in 1743 in Ronsdorf. In: Monthly Issues for Rhenish Church History 27, 1933, p. 28.
  • Petrus Wülffing: The spiritual shepherd's crook. Düsseldorf 1735.
  • Petrus Wülffing: Ronsdorf catechism, for the service of the youth there. Düsseldorf 1756.
  • Petrus Wülffing: Silver Trumpets. Düsseldorf 1761.
  • Petrus Wülffing: The jubilant Ronsdorff. 1761.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Spectacular insight into the history of the founding of the town of Ronsdorf. ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. sonntagsblatt-online.de, March 6, 2009, accessed March 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sonntagsblatt-online.de
  2. ^ A forgotten sensation from the Ronsdorf church history Westdeutsche Zeitung, March 3, 2009, accessed on July 6, 2017
  3. ^ Ronsdorfer Bürgererverein: As town and community founder “Mr. Ronsdorf ”.
  4. ↑ Ellerian sect. In: Brockhaus' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon , 1911.
  5. ↑ Zionites. In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , 1905.