«Սուրբ Աուրելիուսը Հիրսաուում» - Թեոդոր ԿԼՅՈՒՊՊԵԼ

Theodor Klüppel's article is devoted to the history of the veneration of St. Aurelius in Hirsau and to an analysis of the oldest vita of this saint, dating back to the ninth century.

Introduction and methodology. The author proceeds from the thesis that the history of faith is always concrete — it is rooted in places, people, and material relics. The starting point of the paper is a contemporary context: the "Armenian Week" organized in 1989 in Calw and Hirsau, in the course of which the relics of St. Aurelius were understood as one of the oldest symbolic bridges between Christian Armenia and Central Europe. Methodologically, the work is structured as a movement from the present toward the origins of the cult and back again — through the history of veneration to an analysis of the primary source.

The theological significance of the veneration of saints. Klüppel emphasizes that this is not a matter of magical reverence for relics, but rather a living connection between believers and those who bore witness to the teaching of Christ. This connection rests on the concept of communio sanctorum — the communion of saints, rooted in faith in the resurrection. The social function of the cult of a patron saint is noted:

protection of the "familia" — the community of venerators;
a symbolic role in military and political conflicts;
the sealing of oaths, treaties, and civic liberties in the saint's name.

Source and structure of the paper. The central material of the study is the most accurate early copy of the vita of St. Aurelius, preserved in the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart, published here for the first time by the author with a German translation and commentary. The paper's presentation is organized in three stages:

the path from present-day veneration back to the transfer of the relics from Hirsau;
the translation of the relics to the Nagold valley and the emergence of the vita;
a survey of the seven-hundred-year history of the cult, raising the question of the origins of the tradition.

Content of the vita. The published text presents Aurelius as a fourth-century Armenian bishop who fought against the Arian heresy alongside well-known defenders of the Nicene Creed. The author of the vita sets out the background of the Arian controversy, the decisions of the Council of Nicaea in 325, and the subsequent persecution of orthodox bishops, including the exile of Dionysius of Milan to Armenia. A special place is given to the description of the spiritual bond between Aurelius and Dionysius, their joint miracles, and their agreement concerning the posthumous union of their remains, as well as Aurelius's transfer of Dionysius's body by sea to Milan under Bishop Ambrose.

Conclusion. The key conclusion of the article is that this ninth-century vita is the foundational text that determined all subsequent forms of veneration of St. Aurelius — liturgical texts, iconographic tradition, and later redactions of the vita. The text thus opens up both a retrospective view toward the origins of the cult, going back to the era of the struggle for the Nicene faith on the eastern frontier of the early Christian world, and a perspective on its further influence on the medieval tradition of veneration in Hirsau.