Lodenstein, Yodokus van

Yodokus van Lodenstein was born on February 6, 1620 in Delft . He came from a noble family; his father was the burgomaster of Delft. From childhood, his religious mood manifested. He studied at the universities of Utrecht under Giesbert Voetius and Franeker under Johann Kokceyus . From Kokceyus Lodenstein borrowed a deep interest in the Holy Scriptures , from Voetia - a serious attitude to practical piety and a passion for Puritanism . Subsequently, Lodenstein retained a highly respectful and even friendly relationship with both of his famous teachers, without interfering in the theological disputes between the warriors and the Kokceusians.

Wanting to get acquainted with the teachings and practices of the English and Scottish Puritans, Lodenstein intended to travel to the UK after graduation. But his plans did not materialize: in 1644 he was called to pastoral service in Zoetermer , and in 1650 in Slays . Having established himself as a wonderful pastor and preacher, in 1653, Lodenstein was invited to Utrecht , where until the end of his life he served in the city church of St. Jacob.

Lodenstein belonged to the Nadere Reformatie movement, whose main goal was not to stop the reformation of the Church only on doctrine, but to extend the “return to the apostolic times” to all spheres of public, family and personal life of Christians. In practice, this led to "puritanization" - an ascetic-rigorous everyday life, focused on spiritual life and prayer, alien to entertainment, excessive pleasures, and even more so luxury, amusements, etc. Lodenstein was an example of such a life. He chose a celibate existence for himself, lived extremely restrained, did much good. His zeal for his pastoral ministry evoked a grateful response and the love of the parishioners. In addition to his direct church activities, he organized at his home weekly catechism meetings, the entrance to which was open to everyone. At these “Friday evenings” (almost already pietistic “collegiis pietatis”), along with reading the Holy Scriptures, a lot of time was devoted to the analysis of various issues of inner spiritual life of interest to the participants in the meetings. Lodenstein also had opponents who claimed that he was promoting an “overly puritanical” way of life, that his meetings were sheer vain because they were attended by burghers and students, men and women, and men of noble and low rank, and etc. On this occasion, pamphlets were even written that accused Lodenstein of the "new Methodism ." But in general, the respect for and respect for Lodenstein was so universal and warm that the townspeople called him nothing more than “vader” - “father”, “father”. Friendly, trusting relationships connected Lodenstein with many prominent representatives of the spiritual and intellectual elite of Utrecht: Giesbert Voetius, Anna Maria von Schurman and others.

The hot desire, which was dedicated to the whole life of Lodenstein - the internal reformation of church life - eventually began to acquire the features of hypercriticism from him. Seeing the insufficiency of church efforts for all Christians to lead an exemplary pious lifestyle, Lodenstein came to the idea of ​​refusing to perform the Sacrament of the Altar , so as not to teach Holy Communion, along with genuine Christians, unworthy of "Christian by name." He announced this decision in 1665, after having suffered a serious illness. The refusal of Lodenstein to perform the sacraments became a sensation not only in Utrecht, but in all the Netherlands. The burgomaster of Utrecht made official claims to Lodenstein, but he did not refuse his decision. Despite this, Lodenstein was not removed from office - his exceptional position as a “spiritual teacher” of the people affected here; until the end of his days he continued to be a preacher of the Utrecht church of st. Jacob.

Such a course of action by Lodenstein paved the way for church separatism , although he himself was not his supporter. When in the late 1660s. Jean de Labadi (at one time invited to the Netherlands, including Lodenstein) openly moved to separatist positions, Lodenstein did not approve of this. At the same time, he remained in good relations with Labadi and urged him not to condemn him.

In April 1672, France and England (followed by other powers) declared war on the Netherlands. On June 20, King Louis XIV entered Utrecht. In the course of hostilities, the French were subsequently forced to leave the city, imposing indemnities on it. To guarantee the payment of indemnities, the conquerors took with them as a hostage Lodenstein and placed him under arrest in the fortress of Res , where he spent several months. Returning to Utrecht, Lodenstein delivered a penitential sermon that inspired the city dwellers. And later, during the war, Lodenstein supported the Utrecht people in every possible way both spiritually and financially (for example, he gave all the silverware from his house to the city’s needs).

Lodenstein wrote a lot ^[2] ; the works that came out of his pen (treatises, sermons, prayer reflections) attracted general attention and were reprinted more than once. Lodenstein was an outstanding poet, valued in the Netherlands not only in church circles. He laid down a number of his sermons in hymns, considering it very important. Particularly popular was his poetic collection, "Rest" ("Uytspanningen", 1676), many poems from which were later translated by Gerhard Terstegen into German and were widely used ^[3] .

Lodenstein died on August 6, 1677 at the age of 57 after a brief illness and was buried with great honors in Utrecht.

Dogmatically, Lodenstein strictly adhered to the teachings of the Reformed Church . But the center of gravity of Christianity lay for him not in dogma and not in the 16th-17th centuries characteristic of Protestantism. the struggle for "the purity of doctrine", and in the direct unity of the soul with Christ and the comprehensive Christianization of life resulting from this unity - personal, family, church and public.

Nadere Reformatie

From here came the reformation aspirations of Lodenstein. He believed that "the reformation of the 16th century was half, and that the reformed church - which is actually completely deformed - needs a new reformation of each individual member" ^[4] . According to Lodenstein, as a result of excessive enthusiasm for the doctrine of justification only through the merits of Christ, believers completely stopped paying attention to the fact that this justification is assimilated by a person through the recognition of their sins, repentance in them and the pursuit of spiritual perfection. “Doctrine should only be a means of purifying and correcting life” ^[5] , he insisted (this thesis is one of the main principles of pietism). Lodenstein criticized the Protestants' excessive zeal for the eradication of many historical and church institutions; he believed that it was not at all necessary to abolish repentant discipline and confession, monasteries, all-night services, etc., but it was necessary to “cleanse them evangelically” and adapt them to genuine life in the spirit of Christ. “Reformation without the Spirit is the worst deformation”; “Reform without the Spirit is an atheist,” he wrote in his book “Contemplation of Zion” ^[6] .

Understanding the need for repentance and a change in life, Lodenstein zealously planted in his flock. However, he was thinking not only about his community and about the Reformed Church to which he belonged; with the preaching of true Christianity, one must go to both the papists and the Gentiles. Thus, Lodenstein was one of the first theologians among the reformists who insisted on the need for active missionary work (implying the mission, first of all, teaching the Christian way of life).

Mystical Theology

"Reformation of life", according to Lodenstein, is carried out not so much by the adoption of certain church and social measures, but, first of all, by the internal change of man. Therefore, the main engine of the reformation should be the spiritual, mystical renewal of the person in Christ. It is traditionally associated with the mortification of the old Adam and with a new birth from above (John 3: 3). The mystical-ascetic teachings of Lodenstein were systematized by his friends and followers ^[7] in ten points as follows:

• A Christian must know his God. To do this, he must, as often as possible, with his mind and heart, prayerfully look at Him and at His divine attributes, and thus constantly walk in the light of His face. (Here an important place is occupied by reading the Holy Scriptures. But as such, it is of little use if God does not give a person the spirit of understanding the Scriptures and the ability to apply what he says to himself. It is necessary to pray God for the sending of this spirit ^[8] .)
• Through this look at God, a Christian learns to humble himself before God and other people.
• A correct look at God is evidenced by the fact that man does not distract anything created from Him.
• From such a correct, holy looking at God in the heart of a Christian, a fiery love for Him is born, with the help of which one can only see, overcome and put to death in oneself sinful dispositions, fallen pride and carnal lusts.
• If the soul correctly contemplates God, then it acquires through it a kind of “in-seal” of the image of God in itself, just as the face of Moses shone from communion with God.
• This contemplation of the face of God engenders and strengthens in man a true faith in the merciful God, Jesus Christ, and in the fact that He will help him in all circumstances and tribulations.
• The action of this faith is that the Christian, knowing the goodness and omnipotence of God, completely surrenders himself to His will, seeks only that which is pleasing to God and becomes able to do everything that He commands, and with patience accept all that He will send.
• Through such a complete striving towards God and contemplative prayer, the Christian, already in the very depths of his being, completely turns away from sin; the motivation of his life and actions is exclusively the glorification of God.
• Then comes the unity of man with God, as far as possible for man. God and His will become the whole and sole content of the life of a Christian.
• But all of the above is not in the power of man. “To see God, it is necessary that He open and enlighten our eyes with His light. Therefore, let the soul be thrown before Him and in all humility and silence expect that He will be pleased to create with it ” ^[9] .

In the last 12 years of his life, Lodenstein has noticeably shifted from a reformational mood to mystical individualism. External pastoral efforts seemed to him less fruitful; he closed himself more and more often and repeated: “Only the path inward remains accessible” ^[10] .

With his refusal to participate in the Sacrament of the Altar with “Christians by name”, Lodenstein essentially laid the foundation for church separatism . In the case of Lodenstein, this was “soft” separatism, different from the decisive separatism of Labadi and the later radical pietists: Lodenstein emphasized that he did not separate from his church (and even continued to carry out church service), but only by some parameters he was removed from it in order to conduct a more focused, whole, inner prayer life than most of its members. Around Lodenstein formed a circle of like-minded people, who continued to exist after his death. Here is how contemporaries of the followers of Lodenstein described: “The so-called“ Lodensteinians ”are people who resist hypocrisy and bigotry, who, although imperfect, strive for perfection, who do not want to have anything to do with worldly pastime and are very saddened by the stagnation and routine of the present Christianity ... They alienate themselves from carnal and worldly people and “Christians by name” and are vilified for this from those who “go to church” but have no Spirit ” ^[11] .

The influence of the “Lodensteinian” over time spread not only to the Netherlands, but also to the lower Rhine regions of Germany. “Lodenstein separatism” found particularly favorable soil for himself in Mülheim in the person of Wilhelm Hoffmann and Gerhard Terstegen . The latter not only adopted the way of life of Lodenstein (non-communion, celibacy) - in many ways Terstegen's poetic talent was formed under the influence of the Dutch mystic.

Finally, the well-known German pietist movement “peaceful lands” (Ps. 34, 20), “ Stillen im Lande ”, usually associated with the name Terstegen (Christians who minimize everything external to the church and seek to lead a quiet life ( German: Stille ) , detachment from the spirit of this world, prayer and surrender of all himself to God), its origin owes to a large extent precisely to Lodenstein and the aforementioned community of its followers.

• Heinrich Heppe. Geschichte des Pietismus und der Mystik in der reformirten Kirche, namentlich der Niederlande (German) . - Leiden, 1879 .-- S. 185-199. - ISBN 90-6140-039-2 .
• Max Goebel. Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der rheinisch-westphälischen Kirche (German) . - Coblenz, 1852. - T. 2. - S. 160-180. - ISBN 3-7655-9280-3 .
• Geschichte des Pietismus I. Der Pietismus vom siebzehnten bis zum frühen achtzehnten Jahrhundert (German) . - Göttingen, 1993 .-- S. 83-88. - ISBN 3-525-55343-9 .