Jan Kilian

Priest, poet, emigrant

He was born near Bautzen on March 22, 1811: Johann Kilian, who still occupies an important place in the consciousness of the Lusatian Sorbs today. He created more than 100 chorales, some with their own melodies. Among other things, he eloquently translated the confessional writings of the Lutheran Church into his mother tongue. His collection of Sorbian hymns, published in 1846, served as a textbook for decades. Jan Kilian is the “Paul Gerhardt” among the Protestant Sorbs.

For us Lutherans in Prussian Lusatia, it is he who, as a pastor from Kotitz in Saxony, translated the writings of the Old Lutherans from Breslau for the Sorbs. He thus became the focal point of the Sorbian parish of the Evangelical Lutheran (Old Lutheran) Church, which was founded in 1843 and of which he was the first pastor from 1848-1854. During his time, the movement quickly spread across almost the whole of Prussian Lusatia. Three of “his” congregations still exist in the SELK today: Döbbrick (with Cottbus), Klitten and Weigersdorf.

The “Kilianzimmer” archive

His legacy as the “father” of the 1.2 million-member Texas District of the Missouri Synod is probably the most vivid. As the “Sorbian Moses”, Kilian led the last of the denominational emigrant trains from Prussia's hardship and lack of freedom to America in 1854. After a disastrous crossing (with 81 cholera victims), the Lutherans settled in Serbin, halfway between Houston and Austin. Through Kilian's tireless work, the Missouri Synod spread throughout Texas.

Many works have been written about him in German, English and Sorbian.