Gossner, Johann the Evangelist

Born into a catholic family. Already in his childhood games, the boy began to copy the priest. He studied at a rural school in Waldstetten , then at a secondary school in Augsburg . He graduated from universities in Dillingen (philosophy and physics) and Ingolstadt (theology), receiving the priesthood in October 1796 .

He continued his studies at the theological seminary and began the activity of chaplain in Eltz and Neuburg . Gossner was inspired by the ideas of the evangelical movement led by Johann Siler , professor of pastoral theology.

He lived and worked in Dirlewang (1804-1811) and Munich (1811-1817), but his evangelical worldview led to his dismissal. In Munich, Gossner translated the text of the Bible into German. The translation is widely known. In 1820, during a period of mystical-religious fermentation associated with the name of the Minister of Spiritual Affairs of Prince Alexander Golitsyn , he arrived in St. Petersburg . He was admitted to the board of directors of the Bible Society and was given the opportunity to preach in the Roman Catholic Church, entrusted to the Dominicans after the Jesuits , who, in Gossner's sermons, found boldness to violate the "reverence for the Blessed Virgin."

In 1823, the leaders of the "Orthodox Party" in the Holy Synod, taking advantage of the Gosner case, went on the offensive on the "mystical party." According to the testimony of Archimandrite Photius (Spassky) , "Gosner enters into the trust of the king: Mary, the Empress protects him." Gossner caused a special rejection of the zealots of Orthodoxy. His book, “The Spirit of Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, in Reflections and Observations on the Entire New Testament,” was censored in May 1823. In it, he ridiculed the rites of the Orthodox Church , declared them sinful, criticized the clergy, considering it in accordance with the Protestant teaching as an intermediary between God and man.

On April 12, 1824, Archimandrite Photius (Spassky) sent emperor Alexander I letters entitled “Password of secret societies or secret designs in the book“ An Appeal to People about Following the Inner Attraction of the Spirit of Christ ”and“ On the Revolution through Gossner Preached to All in the Rumor obviously already ”, in which he analyzed the books of Gossner and several other mystical editions of that time. Archimandrite Photius tried to prove to the tsar that the mystics and Gossner, in particular, not only take an anti-church position, but also hatched plans for a revolution that is designed to destroy the royal throne. Gossner was expelled from St. Petersburg ^[1] . The review of Gossner's book was entrusted to the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Shishkov . Nikolay Grech , the translator, censor and owner of the printing house where the book was printed, was put on trial, Gossner was sent abroad on May 11, 1824, and Alexander Golitsyn was dismissed on May 15, 1824 ^[2] .

In 1826, he officially left the Roman Catholic Church and converted to Protestantism . As a Calvinist and Lutheran, he led churches, created schools, shelters and missionary agencies in different countries.

In 1836, he established a missionary society to preach Christianity to the Gentiles. His missionaries successfully operated in India , where a colony near Calcutta is still known as the “Gossner Mission” (see United Evangelical Lutheran Church of India ).

Until the end of his life he lived in Berlin, where he died on March 20, 1858 .

• Kondakov U. The struggle in the religious sphere. The Gossner Affair (1824–1827) / Liberal and conservative trends in religious movements in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century
• Nazarenko E. Yu. “The Gossner Affair” and the End of the Mystic-Cosmopolitan Ideology / Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Golitsyn: Socio-Political Views and State Activities. - S. 207-211.
• Evangelical Christians - Pashkovites: Origins and Spiritual Education
• Gossner Mission (German)
• Literatur von und über Johannes Evangelista Goßner (German)