Friedrich Myconius

Friedrich Myconius.

Friedrich Myconius (originally named Friedrich Mekum and also Friedrich Mykonius) (26 December 1490 – 7 April 1546) was a German Lutheran theologian. He was a colleague of Martin Luther.

He was born in Lichtenfels, Bavaria. A friend and co-worker of Martin Luther, he preached Luther's message to the people of Gotha and Leipzig. He was sent to England to discuss the details of the Augsburg Confession, and later wrote a history of the reformation.

In 1540 Luther’s great friend and assistant, Friedrich Myconius, became sick and was expected to die within a short time. On his bed he wrote a loving farewell note to Luther with a trembling hand. Luther received the letter and sent back a reply: “I command thee in the name of God to live because I still have need of thee in the work of reforming the church.… The Lord will never let me hear that thou art dead, but will permit thee to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God.”Those words are shocking to us, but they were certainly heartfelt. Although Myconius had already lost the ability to speak when Luther’s letter came, he recovered completely and lived six more years to survive Luther himself by two months.

References

• Gross, Ernie. This Day in Religion. New York:Neal-Schuman, 1990. ISBN 1-55570-045-4.