The Cherubinic Wanderer

by Angelus Silesius

"It is the dream of every publisher to hit upon a project that will win praise for contributing to the intellectual and cultural life." John B. Breslin, Theology Today In one series, the original writings of the universally acknowledged teachers of the Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic and Native American traditions have been critically selected, translated and introduced by internationally recognized scholars and spiritual leaders. ANGELUS SILESIUS-THE CHERUBINIC WANDERER Translation and foreword by Maria Shrady Introduction and notes by Josef Schmidt Preface by E.J. Furcha "The Rose which here on earth is now perceived by me, has blossomed thus in god from all eternity." Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) Johann Scheffler was born in 1624 to Protestant parents in the Silesian capital of Breslau, seven years after the Thirty Years' War had begun unsettling Europe. At the age of 29, after graduating from the University of Padua, he converted to Catholicism and took the name Angelus. Although he pursued a career as an energetic and sometimes vitriolic apologist, it was his poetry that won him a place of importance in the mystical literature of the West. By the mid-seventeenth century the epigram had become the most widely used form for German baroque poetry. Utilizing that genre, Silesius, in Josef Schmidt's words, "molded the epigram into perfectly expressing what has been the intrinsic problem of any mystical saying the ineffable." The Cherubinic Wanderer over the decades has become an integral part of German religious folk literature. Admirers such as Friedrich Schlegel in the past century and Hans Urs von Balthasar and Umberto Eco in our own day have prized the work for its power, its immediacy, and its beauty of expression. †

Genres: Poetry, Religion, Philosophy, Christianity, Mysticism, Theology, Spirituality

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1657

About the author

Angelus Silesius is a german mystic and poet.

In 1657 Silesius published under the title Heilige Seelenlust, oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihren Jesum verliebten Psyche (1657), a collection of 205 hymns, the most beautiful of which, such as, Liebe, die du mich zum Bilde deiner Gottheit hast gemacht and Mir nach, spricht Christus, unser Held, have been adopted in the German Protestant hymnal. More remarkable, however, is his Geistreiche Sinn- und Schluss-reime (1657), afterwards called Cherubinischer Wandersmann ("The Cherubic Pilgrim") (1674). This is a collection of Reimsprüche or rhymed distichs embodying a strange mystical panentheism drawn mainly from the writings of Jakob Böhme and his followers. Silesius also delighted specially in the subtle paradoxes of mysticism. The essence of God, for instance, he held to be love; God, he said, can love nothing inferior to himself; but he cannot be an object of love to himself without going out, so to speak, of himself, without manifesting his infinity in a finite form; in other words, by becoming man. God and man are therefore essentially one.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defends Silesius from the charge of panentheism. His prose writings are orthodox; "The Cherubic Pilgrim" was published with the ecclesiastical Imprimatur, and, in his preface, the author himself explains his "paradoxes" in an orthodox sense, and repudiates any future pantheistic interpretation.

Silesius also wrote prose, notably a series of tracts against Protestantism, published under the title Ecclesiologia.

Reviews

[Danilo Scardamaglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definire Silesio "versificatore di Eckhart" è davvero riduttivo. Il Pellegrino Cherubico fa proprio non solo il grande insegnamento dell'antico maestro tedesco, ma si nutre dell'influenza e del messaggio dell'intera tradizione mistica tedesca ed in particolare renana. Tuttavia, l'opera di Silesio non è soltanto la sterile resa poetica di quest'immenso bagaglio culturale, ma è un'opera profondamente originale, grazie soprattutto allo straordinario estro poetico e immaginifico del poeta, e all'incredibile dote di cristallizzare in soli due versi (essendo la quasi totalità dei componimenti distici alessandrini) concetti tra i più complessi dell'intera mistica cristiana. L'opera si sviluppa come un viaggio (di qui il Pellegrino Cherubico) in cui Silesio educa, insegna e modella il perfetto cristiano, attraverso componimenti nei primi libri profondamente teorici e poi sempre più didattici e moralistici. Nonostante l'animo religioso, il testo è assolutamente fruibile e suggestivo anche per chi non è cristiano.

[Valentín Serrano García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silesius summarizes the great tradition of german mystics (Eckhart, Tauler, Suso...) mixing them with the mystic nordic threads and the spiritual stream of catholic baroque.
Whay is amazing is that he did that within catholic ortodoxy (although he was formerly a protestant).

The epigrams are mindbreaking and its poetical force won't let you untouched. It doesn't matter if u are jewish christian, agnostic or atheist. Great mysticism is for everyone.

[Marco Sán Sán]

Entiendo lo dificil que es acercarse a la mística en cualquier rama religiosa, debido a que no es una descripción lo que pretende el autor sino un atestiguamiento que se brota por exceso más que por intelección.

Dentro de esta abstruso texto como todo texto mistico que se respete, hay valiosa complicidad para quien sin poder comulgue con la convivencia.

[Catholicus Magus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many works of Christian poetry travail to breathe forth the spirit of gnosis, the profundity of God's mystery, and the utterly paradoxical nature of expressing that which the pagans regarded simply as " the One." Silesius however, does not share this burden in the slightest; many of his poems are Scholastic reflections on particular spiritual questions, such as how does man, who is of dust and will return to such after his death, simultaneously share the burden of being higher than the angels in unity with God? But unlike the devotional attitude of many other German mystics, Silesius does not shy away from expressing himself in language beyond the scope of Catholic mysticism: this work is replete with references to the Qabbalah, the Hermetic tradition, and the alchemical works of Cornelius Agrippa.

This book is perhaps, one of the most authoritative pieces of poetry written on the all-encompassing nature of the soul's metanoia towards God. The wisdom of the pagans, profitably employed here to turn the mind towards contemplating God beyond the question of ousia, allows the soul to sprout wings and ascend to a higher dimension of peaceability. It is thus no surprise to me why Heidegger centers in on his "Die Ros ist ohn warum" poem. The spiritual pilgrimage is one of the first steps to a higher knowledge of God.

[Jens Bøndergaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Direct pointers to the very essence.

[Евгения Сидорина]

https://s1.livelib.ru/boocover/100008...

[Saba Mosiashvili · Rating 4 out of 5]

ალბათ ასკეზა ამ ნაწარმოების, დამუშავებული, დალაგებული და კარგად გადმოცემული ვერსიაა ...

[māris šteinbergs · Rating 3 out of 5]

ar Rilki es šo gan nesalīdzinātu

tāda Annas Dagdas apsēstība ar Dievu

[Myhte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wo ist mein Aufenthalt? Wo ich und du nicht stehen.
Wo ist mein letztes End, in welches ich soll gehen?
Da, wo man keines findt. Wo soll ich denn nun hin?
Ich muß noch über Gott in eine Wüste ziehn.

Wo Gott mich über Gott nicht sollte wollen bringen,
So will ich ihn dazu mit bloßer Liebe zwingen.

Halt an, wo laufst du hin, der Himmel ist in dir;
Suchst du Gott anderswo, du fehlst ihn für und für.

Mensch, wenn du noch nach Gott Begier hast und Verlangen,
So bist du noch von ihm nicht ganz und gar umfangen.

Du sprichst, im Firmament sei eine Sonn allein;
Ich aber sage, daß viel tausend Sonnen sein.

Dafern der Teufel könnt aus seiner Seinheit gehn,
So sähest du ihn stracks in Gottes Throne stehn.

Sohn ist das liebste Wort, das Gott zu mir mag sprechen;
Spricht ers, so mag mir Welt und Gott auch selbst gebrechen.

Die Welt ist mir zu eng, der Himmel ist zu klein;
Wo wird doch noch ein Raum für meine Seele sein?

Ich selbst muß Sonne sein, ich muß mit meinen Strahlen
Das farbenlose Meer der ganzen Gottheit malen.

[Lydia ليديا Adel Hanna عادل حنا · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book as a mystical reference.

[Mz · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.hartismag.gr/hartis-75/di...

[Agris Fakingsons · Rating 2 out of 5]

..priekšvārds bija krietni iespaidīgāks par pašiem pantiem. ievilināja mani, kaut šī ir kā Bībeles alternatīva, ha! | 2,5*

[Amalfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

ήλιος πρέπει νά μαι και με τις αχτίδες μου εγώ
την άχρωμη θάλασσα όλης της θεότητας να ζωγραφίσω

[Forgoszel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Időről időre, ezt is mindíg újra kell olvasni.