THE SABBATARIAN MONASTERY FROM EPHRATA, PENNSYLVANIA, S.U.A. Cover Image

MĂNĂSTIREA SABATARIANĂ DE LA EPHRATA, PENNSYLVANIA, S.U.A.
THE SABBATARIAN MONASTERY FROM EPHRATA, PENNSYLVANIA, S.U.A.

Author(s): Ioan-Gheorghe Rotaru
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Sabbatarian religion; Sabbatarian ideas; Sabbatarian; Protestant tradition; German language; American culture.

Summary/Abstract: The Sabbatarian Monastery from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, S.U.A. The highlights of Sabbatarian religious practice from Transylvania have reached Pennsylvania through Magister Kelpius Transsylvanus, who established the first Sabbatarian monastery and, by the agency of Conrad Beissel, he set up the second Sabbatarian monastery. The two founders of the monastic hermitage, Kelpius and Beissel, were two staple contributors, ever since the early colonialism in America, to the edifice of the American culture and thinking, as well as to the later birth, on American land, of some institutions and religious practices, such as the modern Sabbatarian Adventism. There was a strong bond between the two founders, Magister Johann Kelpius Transylvanus and Conrad Beissel din Rheinland, like one between master and disciple, as well as one between spiritual father and spiritual son. The basic common elements the two shared were the German language and the Protestant tradition. Johann Kelpius rooted the Sabatarian ideas in America and established the first Sabbatarian monastery on the Ridge Hill, Wissahickon, whereas Conrad Beissel founded the second Sabbatarian monastic house at Ephrata. The two monasteries, one in Ridge/ Philadelphia and the other in Ephrata/Lancaster, both located in Pennsylvania, are about 70 miles away from one another.

  • Issue Year: LVI/2011
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 199-210
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Romanian