Ulfilas

Wulfila [ vʊlfila ] ( Gothic: " little wolf ", probably originally " belonging to Wolf ", Latin: Ulfilas; * by 311, † 383 ) was one of the first, possibly the first bishop of the Tervingi.

• 5.1 Literature
• 5.2 External links

Life

His Christian Cappadocian ancestors had been deported by the Goths in the 3rd century, he was either Goth or Halbgote.

The Reich Bishop of Constantinople Opel, Eusebius of Nicomedia, consecrated Ulfilas least 341 in Antioch to the " Bishop of the Christians in the rural Gothic ". Up to 348 Wulfila missio was alternately in the former territory of the Tervingi on the Lower Danube active. The onset of resistance in the peoples against the Christian missionary efforts Wulfila sales and other Gentile Christians to the Romans, who settled in the province of Moesia secunda these at Nicopolis in present-day northern Bulgaria.

In exile Wulfila developed a font for the Gothic, which was previously a largely unwritten language. Only scattered inscriptions and magical texts were previously held in runes.

Wulfila 383 died immediately after his arrival in Constantinople, Opel, where the Emperor Theodosius I. had convened a meeting of various church parties. He is also buried there.

Teaching

He likened Jesus Christ with the Germanic son - father relationship that was built on obedience, subordination and loyalty. Wulfila agreed in his Christology with the Arians do not match, for it was Christ the adorable " Lord and God ". The decision to Arianism was not only theological, but also church for political reasons.

He is referred to in the context of Synodalgeschichte well as representatives of the church homöischen parties.

Reception

Religion

In addition to the Visigoths, who converted to Christianity closed, the Ostrogoths, Vandals, Lombards, and Burgundians became Christian as a result of its activities.

Policy

Since Wulfila looked out of the Arian environment, the Gothic Christians were not under the authority of Rome, but Constantinople. This resulted in violent and protracted conflicts between the new Germanic topsheet and the local population in the emerging empires on Roman soil the Germans.

Culture

Developed by Ulfilas Gothic font was a modification of the Greek script with some Latin letters and runes. Wulfila gave the Goths not only a new font, but also new words ( neologisms, Lehnbildungen ), as many terms of the Greek language in the Gothic did not exist. Such neologisms were to transfer with the earliest form of contextualized mission, so try Christian concepts, especially as they were dictated by the biblical writings in cultures where the sort had to be foreign.

Wulfila linguistic services are to be seen in connection with his most important work: The so-called Wulfilabibel is the earliest translation of the Bible into a Germanic language. It is obtained as a copy of the so-called Codex argenteus, a northern Italian manuscript from the 6th century, which is partly with silver, partly written in golden letters on parchment, which had been impregnated with the imperial purple color. Since 1648, the precious priceless Code in Uppsala is kept.

Here the Lord's Prayer, to get an idea of ​​the language of Ulfilas. Wulfila translations of Christian literature should be influential for subsequent texts in Germanic languages:

The "Our Father" (Mt 6:9-13 EU) is to be found in the Codex argenteus on pages Ms4verso (first line) and Ms5recto (residual ). The picture above is a passage from ( Mk 3.26 to 32 EU) again, Ms16verso page.

Remembrance

The evangelical church is celebrating its Memorial on August 26.

A memorial plaque for him is in the Walhalla Donaustauf.

Swell

Our information about Wulfila come, apart from his translation of the Bible, especially from the church historian Philostorgius and the Bishop of Auxentius Dorostorum.