Hellmund, Egidius Günther

Protestant pastor

Born: 06.08.1678 in Nordhausen

died: 06.02.1749 in Wiesbaden

Hellmund studied theology in Jena and Halle from 1696, where he turned to Pietism under the influence of August Hermann Francke (1663-1727). A field preacher in southern Germany from 1700, he became parish priest in Berka/Werra in 1707, pastor in Daaden (Westerwald) in 1708 and in Wetzlar from 1711-21 (interrupted in 1713/14 by dismissal from office due to violation of the ban on conventicles, i.e. the prohibition of non-church gatherings for worship).

His appointment as pastor, court preacher and inspector in Wiesbaden in 1721 offered him the opportunity for extensive popular church activity in the Pietist sense, e.g. by establishing the orphanage with teacher training, by caring for the poor and promoting the hospital, whereby he was also guided in his decisions by divine omens ("grace beckoning"). In 1724, out of concern for the (often illegitimate) orphans, he accepted the title of Count Palatine, which enabled him to declare his marriage. The proceeds from the fulling mill he founded in 1736 were used to support the orphanage.

Hellmund's pietism and that of the Idstein and Usingen superintendent general Johann Christian Lange (1669-1756) combined mild Lutheran orthodoxy with active piety ("hearing and doing the word of God"), but also already with Enlightenment traits (subjectivity). H. also strove for a popular, pietistic image of Luther ("Das Leben des Mannes Gottes Martin Luther", 1730; "Lutherus purificatus", 1730) and for the unity of Christians of all confessions ("Der Enthusiast und Syncretist", 1720).

A street in Wiesbaden is named after Hellmund.