Gethsemane Church
Encyclopedia
Gethsemane Church is one out of four church buildings of the Evangelical
Northern Prenzlauer Berg Congregaton , a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
.
Gethsemane Church is the best known church
in the locality of Prenzlauer Berg
, in Berlin's borough of Pankow
. The church was named after the Garden of Gethsemane
(Old Aramaic
גת שמנא, transliterated Gath Šmānê, , translit. Gath Šmānîm, lit. "oil press", transliteration in Gethsēmani) at the foot of the Mount of Olives
in Jerusalem. Christians revere the place for the Twelve Apostles and Jesus of Nazareth having prayed there the night before his crucifixion
. Church and congregation played a crucial role before and during the Wende (peaceful revolution
) in the former German Democratic Republic
(GDR) in autumn 1989. From 1891 to 1893 the building was erected following the plans of Baurat August Orth
.
Congregation on March 15 (comprising the northerly part of the parish), and the Elijah Church Congregation on March 16 (comprising the southerly part of the parish), both building their own churches in 1910.
Today's congregation emerged from the merger of four congregations (those of Elijah, Paul Gerhardt, Gethsemane and Church of the Blessing) in March 2001. Each congregation contributed – among other things – its church building, to wit Church of the Blessing , Gethsemane Church, Paul Gerhardt Church, and Elijah Church . In the former three and the Elijah Domed Hall the congregation provides services of worship. Its parish comprises the northeastern part of the Suburb towards Rosenthal , which was divided among Berlin's three former boroughs of Wedding, Mitte
and Prenzlauer Berg
, following the formation of Greater Berlin by the Prussian Greater Berlin Act
in 1920. The population in the parish of the Northern Prenzlauer Berg Congregaton underwent a change after 1990, with many young people and families moving in.
Gethsemane Church is located at the crossroads of Stargarder Straße with Greifenhagener Straße about 100 meters eastwards from Schönhauser Allee
close to the homonymous combined S-Bahn and Underground station
. The church building is oriented
and its western tower forms a decorative façade towards the crossroads. Gethsemanestraße surrounds the quire
at the eastern side of the building and its northern side, forming with the two other street a kind of a square around the church.
Stargarder Straße shows a slight curve at the crossroads so that Gethsemane Church forms a landmark to be seen from both ends of the street. The northern suburbs of Berlin comprise only few prestigious buildings, thus the school and Evangelical church buildings make up most of the sights of architectural interest.
Caroline Griebenow, a big real estate proprietor in the area, donated the site for the construction of a church. The site was first refused, because it lay in an area not yet built up. Finally on March 20, 1891 the cornerstone
was laid. In 1866–1873 the architect, August Orth, had also built Zion's Church, then serving the parishioners as place of worship. The Evangelical Association for the Construction of Churches , a charitable organisation then headed by Queen Augusta Victoria
, financed the constructions. The Prussian King William II
attended the inauguration of Gethsemane Church in his then function as summus episcopus (Supreme Governor of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces) and proclaimed the building to be named Gethsemane Church.
Gethsemane Church, like Zion's Church, harmonically combines the outside impression of a longish shape, as typical for traditional (Roman Catholic) churches, due to their long inside nave
and the centralised auditory hall, as typical for genuine Protestant church buildings. Inside the crossing
is extended to a wide octagon, including the side naves, allowing the congregants a good view and listening. The pulpit originally stood in the centre of the octagon. Due to the high number of congregants at the time of its construction lofts hang around the octagonal prayer hall except of its eastern side, which is open to the quire
. On the western side of the octagon the lofts are even double storied with an additional upper organ loft. The building weathered the Second World War intact. In 1961 the interior was renovated. On this occasion the altar
was drawn from the apsis
into the prayer hall.
According to the style, Orth oscillates between forms of Romanesque Revivalism
with round arch windows and neo-Brick Gothic with traceries and rib vault
s. The eastern quire is formed like a polygonal apsis
, illuminated by three coloured windows of stained glass (as of 1893) and surrounded by an ambulatory
, which houses the sacristy
and other rooms for purposes of the congregation.
The western tower of a square ground plan, topped by a steep copper-roofed spire
of 62 m height, comprises a vaulted entrance hall. The outside façades are built from red bricks and structured by buttress
es and pinnacle
s.
The lofts are confined by stone parapet
s of little Romanesque columns and glased terracotta. The organ is a modern instrument by the company Sauer from Frankfurt upon Oder
. The relocated altar is decked by a crucifix
and candlestick by Fritz Kühn (as of 1961). In the southern transept
there is the expressionist wooden sculpture Praying Christ by Wilhelm Groß (as of 1923). The sculpture commemorates Jesus of Nazareth in the garden of Gethsemane, praying before his arrestment: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Gospel of Matthew
). The sculpture displays this moment, when Jesus begged for his life, in a touching way. The sculpture was donated in honour of the parishioners, who died in the battlefields of First World War.
The statue of the Benedictive Christ, rescued from the Church of Reconciliation , before it was exploded in 1985 by the GDR government in order to clear more space along the Berlin Wall
, now (since 1993) stands outside in front of the western portal of Gethsemane Church. A bronze statue of the Benedictive Christ (after Bertel Thorvaldsen
) originally shown at the western entrance is now presented on the cemetery of the congregation in Berlin-Nordend.
Since 1994 a copy of the expressionist statue of the Geistkämpfer (spiritual fighter) by Ernst Barlach
(original of 1928, created for the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Kiel
) stands in front of the southern façade in order to commemorate the activists fighting for democracy in the GDR.
In the churchyard directed to Stargarder Straße a plate commemorates the resistants against the Nazi government
by Karl Biedermann. The GDR government denied it to be displayed on its provided site, for lacking heroic symbols of the fight, and was thus erected on church ground on October 3, 1990.
In the 1980s the Gethsemane Church Congregation, like many other congregations, turned into meeting points of opponents of the GDR regime (see also Monday demonstrations in East Germany
) and the independent peace movement
. This was because congregations, though infiltrated by agents, were the only non-streamlined organisations in the GDR, where opponents could meet. So people, attending rogation prayers for arrested opponents, peace prayers or public discussions, were not necessarily parishioners or even congregants. In 1987 the congregation participated in the Protestant Church Convention
, attracting people from all over East Germany. The opposition intensified after on January 17, 1988 demonstrators, showing banners with Rosa Luxemburg
's quotation "Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently" , were arrested during the annual, communist-party organised memorial march in honour of Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
. Opponents unveiled the electoral fraud
during the municipal elections in the GDR on May 7, 1988 and more people joined after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
started.
From October 2, 1989 on, on the eve the 4oth anniversary of the foundation of the GDR, Gethsemane Church opened its gates day and night true to the motto Be vigilant and Pray ' onMouseout='HidePop("54657")' href="/topics/Gospel_of_Matthew">Gospel of Matthew
). Thousands attended public discussions and illuminated candles on the esplanade of the church. On October 7, the national day of the GDR, the police of the GDR
and secret Stasi units
violently crackdowned on demonstrators in Schönhauser Allee, some of whom managed to flee into Gethsemane Church. However, 500 persons were arrested and kept in captivity for several weeks.
On October 9, Gottfried Forck, then presiding the eastern section of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, called for democratisation and lawfulness of the GDR government in a speech held in Gethsemane Church.
After the resignation of the old GDR regime Gethsemane Church became a centre of the civil rights movement
. In March 1990 representatives of the first, freely elected Volkskammer
attended a service in Gethsemane Church on the occasion of their first session.
in 1991 regular peace prayers are held in the church. During the Roman Catholic and Protestant Ecumenical Church Convention in 2003 Gethsemane Church took centre stage. As announced earlier and then explicitly forbidden by Pope John Paul II
, the Roman Catholic priest Gotthold Hasenhüttl from Austria administered the Eucharist
in Gethsemane Church, knowingly that Protestants were among the communicants. Thousands wanted to communicate and lined up outside in the street. In the course of the same ecumenical convention the Catholic priest Bernhard Kroll participated in the Lord's Supper the Protestant way. Both priests were suspended or had to resign.
Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...
Northern Prenzlauer Berg Congregaton , a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area....
.
Gethsemane Church is the best known church
Church Building
The Church Building is located at the corner of Main and Market Streets in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, just across Market Street from the Dutchess County Court House, and north of the Bardavon Theater...
in the locality of Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, in the borough of Pankow.Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a borough of Berlin; in that year it was included in the borough of Pankow....
, in Berlin's borough of Pankow
Pankow
Pankow is the third borough of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow.- Overview :...
. The church was named after the Garden of Gethsemane
Gethsemane
Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem most famous as the place where, according to Biblical texts, Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before Jesus' crucifixion.- Etymology :...
(Old Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
גת שמנא, transliterated Gath Šmānê, , translit. Gath Šmānîm, lit. "oil press", transliteration in Gethsēmani) at the foot of the Mount of Olives
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...
in Jerusalem. Christians revere the place for the Twelve Apostles and Jesus of Nazareth having prayed there the night before his crucifixion
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
. Church and congregation played a crucial role before and during the Wende (peaceful revolution
Peaceful revolution
The Peaceful Revolution was a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian regime of the German Democratic Republic of East Germany. The protests, which included an emigration movement as well as street demonstrations, were a case of nonviolent resistance, also often called...
) in the former German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR) in autumn 1989. From 1891 to 1893 the building was erected following the plans of Baurat August Orth
August Orth
August Friedrich Wilhelm Orth was a German architect. He was employed by the Strousberg family to provide architectural service for their private accommodation and business ventures...
.
Congregation
The Zion's Church Congregation commissioned Orth to build a new parish church for a congregation of its own to be territorially disentangled from that of the Zion's Church. Due to the high number of new parishioners moving in at the end of the 19th c. Zion's Church grew too small for the congregants. On February 26, 1893 Gethsemane Church was inaugurated and on March 15 the same year the Gethsemane Church Congregation was constituted with its parish comprising the formerly northern part of the parish of the Zion's Church Congregation. In 1907 again, the parish of the Gethsemane Church Congregation was divided to form the Paul GerhardtPaul Gerhardt
Paul Gerhardt was a German hymn writer.-Biography:Gerhardt was born into a middle-class family at Gräfenhainichen, a small town between Halle and Wittenberg. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Fürstenschule in Grimma. The school was known for its pious atmosphere and stern discipline...
Congregation on March 15 (comprising the northerly part of the parish), and the Elijah Church Congregation on March 16 (comprising the southerly part of the parish), both building their own churches in 1910.
Today's congregation emerged from the merger of four congregations (those of Elijah, Paul Gerhardt, Gethsemane and Church of the Blessing) in March 2001. Each congregation contributed – among other things – its church building, to wit Church of the Blessing , Gethsemane Church, Paul Gerhardt Church, and Elijah Church . In the former three and the Elijah Domed Hall the congregation provides services of worship. Its parish comprises the northeastern part of the Suburb towards Rosenthal , which was divided among Berlin's three former boroughs of Wedding, Mitte
Mitte
Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...
and Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, in the borough of Pankow.Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a borough of Berlin; in that year it was included in the borough of Pankow....
, following the formation of Greater Berlin by the Prussian Greater Berlin Act
Greater Berlin Act
The Greater Berlin Act , in full the Law Regarding the Reconstruction of the New Local Authority of Berlin , was a law passed by the Prussian government in 1920 that greatly expanded the size of the German capital of Berlin.-History:...
in 1920. The population in the parish of the Northern Prenzlauer Berg Congregaton underwent a change after 1990, with many young people and families moving in.
Church
Schönhauser Allee
Schönhauser Allee in Berlin is one of the most important streets of the Prenzlauer Berg district.Schönhauser Allee reaches from Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in the south to Pankow in the north...
close to the homonymous combined S-Bahn and Underground station
Schönhauser Allee (Berlin U-Bahn)
Berlin Schönhauser Allee is a railway station in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. It is located on the Berlin U-Bahn line and also on the Ringbahn ....
. The church building is oriented
Orientation of Churches
The orientation of churches is the architectural feature of facing churches towards the east .The Jewish custom of fixing the direction of prayer and orienting synagogues influenced Christianity during its formative years. In early Christianity, it was customary to pray facing toward the Holy Land...
and its western tower forms a decorative façade towards the crossroads. Gethsemanestraße surrounds the quire
Quire (architecture)
Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...
at the eastern side of the building and its northern side, forming with the two other street a kind of a square around the church.
Stargarder Straße shows a slight curve at the crossroads so that Gethsemane Church forms a landmark to be seen from both ends of the street. The northern suburbs of Berlin comprise only few prestigious buildings, thus the school and Evangelical church buildings make up most of the sights of architectural interest.
Caroline Griebenow, a big real estate proprietor in the area, donated the site for the construction of a church. The site was first refused, because it lay in an area not yet built up. Finally on March 20, 1891 the cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid. In 1866–1873 the architect, August Orth, had also built Zion's Church, then serving the parishioners as place of worship. The Evangelical Association for the Construction of Churches , a charitable organisation then headed by Queen Augusta Victoria
Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia. Her full German name was Auguste Victoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.She was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess...
, financed the constructions. The Prussian King William II
William II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...
attended the inauguration of Gethsemane Church in his then function as summus episcopus (Supreme Governor of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces) and proclaimed the building to be named Gethsemane Church.
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and the centralised auditory hall, as typical for genuine Protestant church buildings. Inside the crossing
Crossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
is extended to a wide octagon, including the side naves, allowing the congregants a good view and listening. The pulpit originally stood in the centre of the octagon. Due to the high number of congregants at the time of its construction lofts hang around the octagonal prayer hall except of its eastern side, which is open to the quire
Quire (architecture)
Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...
. On the western side of the octagon the lofts are even double storied with an additional upper organ loft. The building weathered the Second World War intact. In 1961 the interior was renovated. On this occasion the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
was drawn from the apsis
Apsis
An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...
into the prayer hall.
According to the style, Orth oscillates between forms of Romanesque Revivalism
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
with round arch windows and neo-Brick Gothic with traceries and rib vault
Rib vault
The intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction...
s. The eastern quire is formed like a polygonal apsis
Apsis
An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...
, illuminated by three coloured windows of stained glass (as of 1893) and surrounded by an ambulatory
Ambulatory
The ambulatory is the covered passage around a cloister. The term is sometimes applied to the procession way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar....
, which houses the sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
and other rooms for purposes of the congregation.
The western tower of a square ground plan, topped by a steep copper-roofed spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
of 62 m height, comprises a vaulted entrance hall. The outside façades are built from red bricks and structured by buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es and pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s.
Furnishings
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
s of little Romanesque columns and glased terracotta. The organ is a modern instrument by the company Sauer from Frankfurt upon Oder
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
. The relocated altar is decked by a crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
and candlestick by Fritz Kühn (as of 1961). In the southern transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
there is the expressionist wooden sculpture Praying Christ by Wilhelm Groß (as of 1923). The sculpture commemorates Jesus of Nazareth in the garden of Gethsemane, praying before his arrestment: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
). The sculpture displays this moment, when Jesus begged for his life, in a touching way. The sculpture was donated in honour of the parishioners, who died in the battlefields of First World War.
The statue of the Benedictive Christ, rescued from the Church of Reconciliation , before it was exploded in 1985 by the GDR government in order to clear more space along the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, now (since 1993) stands outside in front of the western portal of Gethsemane Church. A bronze statue of the Benedictive Christ (after Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...
) originally shown at the western entrance is now presented on the cemetery of the congregation in Berlin-Nordend.
Since 1994 a copy of the expressionist statue of the Geistkämpfer (spiritual fighter) by Ernst Barlach
Ernst Barlach
Ernst Barlach was a German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him change his position, and he is mostly known for his sculptures protesting against the war...
(original of 1928, created for the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
) stands in front of the southern façade in order to commemorate the activists fighting for democracy in the GDR.
In the churchyard directed to Stargarder Straße a plate commemorates the resistants against the Nazi government
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
by Karl Biedermann. The GDR government denied it to be displayed on its provided site, for lacking heroic symbols of the fight, and was thus erected on church ground on October 3, 1990.
Autumn 1989
Monday demonstrations in East Germany
The Monday demonstrations in East Germany in 1989 and 1990 were a series of peaceful political protests against the authoritarian communist government of the German Democratic Republic that took place every Monday evening.- Overview :...
) and the independent peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
. This was because congregations, though infiltrated by agents, were the only non-streamlined organisations in the GDR, where opponents could meet. So people, attending rogation prayers for arrested opponents, peace prayers or public discussions, were not necessarily parishioners or even congregants. In 1987 the congregation participated in the Protestant Church Convention
Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag
The Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag is a movement of lay members of the Evangelical Church in Germany...
, attracting people from all over East Germany. The opposition intensified after on January 17, 1988 demonstrators, showing banners with Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
's quotation "Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently" , were arrested during the annual, communist-party organised memorial march in honour of Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
. Opponents unveiled the electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
during the municipal elections in the GDR on May 7, 1988 and more people joined after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
started.
From October 2, 1989 on, on the eve the 4oth anniversary of the foundation of the GDR, Gethsemane Church opened its gates day and night true to the motto Be vigilant and Pray ' onMouseout='HidePop("54657")' href="/topics/Gospel_of_Matthew">Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
). Thousands attended public discussions and illuminated candles on the esplanade of the church. On October 7, the national day of the GDR, the police of the GDR
Volkspolizei
The Volkspolizei , or VP, were the national police of the German Democratic Republic . The Volkspolizei were responsible for most law enforcement in East Germany, but its organisation and structure were such that it could be considered a paramilitary force as well...
and secret Stasi units
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
violently crackdowned on demonstrators in Schönhauser Allee, some of whom managed to flee into Gethsemane Church. However, 500 persons were arrested and kept in captivity for several weeks.
On October 9, Gottfried Forck, then presiding the eastern section of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, called for democratisation and lawfulness of the GDR government in a speech held in Gethsemane Church.
After the resignation of the old GDR regime Gethsemane Church became a centre of the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. In March 1990 representatives of the first, freely elected Volkskammer
Volkskammer
The People's Chamber was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic . From its founding in 1949 until the first free elections on 18 March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected on a slate controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , called the National Front...
attended a service in Gethsemane Church on the occasion of their first session.
Gethsemane Church after 1990
There are still activists of the peace movement among the congregants. Starting with the Second Gulf WarGulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
in 1991 regular peace prayers are held in the church. During the Roman Catholic and Protestant Ecumenical Church Convention in 2003 Gethsemane Church took centre stage. As announced earlier and then explicitly forbidden by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, the Roman Catholic priest Gotthold Hasenhüttl from Austria administered the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
in Gethsemane Church, knowingly that Protestants were among the communicants. Thousands wanted to communicate and lined up outside in the street. In the course of the same ecumenical convention the Catholic priest Bernhard Kroll participated in the Lord's Supper the Protestant way. Both priests were suspended or had to resign.