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Andrzej Towiański

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Andrzej Towiański

Andrzej Tomasz Towiański (Polish pronunciation: [anˈdʐej tɔˈvʲaɲskʲi]; January 1, 1799 – May 13, 1878) was a Polish philosopher and messianic religious leader.

Life

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Towiański

Towiański was born in Antoszwińce, a village near Vilnius, which after Partitions of Poland belonged to the Russian Empire. He was the charismatic leader of the Towiańskiite sect, known also as Koło Sprawy Bożej [pl] (the Circle of God's Cause). In 1839 he experienced a vision in which the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary urged him to act as a messenger of the Apocalypse.[1] The Poles, the French—particularly Napoleon—and Jews were to play leading roles.[1] Among those influenced by his thinking were the Polish Romantic poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, and Seweryn Goszczyński.[2]

Graves of members of Koło Sprawy Bożej and their leader Andrzej Towiański

His extraordinary influence on Mickiewicz, a leader of the Polish emigre community, was divisive, and some members of the community accused him of being a Russian agent.[3]

He died in Zurich.

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b Eugen Weber (2000). Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs Through the Ages. Harvard University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-674-00395-8.
  2. ^ "Adam Mickiewicz: His Life and Work". University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
  3. ^ Stephen A. Kippur (1981). Jules Michelet, a study of mind and sensibility. SUNY Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-87395-430-3.
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