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Novalis, "Christendom or Europe" [Die Christenheit oder Europa] (1799)

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It must once again pour out the cornucopia of blessing over peoples. From the holy womb of a venerable European Council shall Christendom arise, and the task of awakening will be prosecuted according to a comprehensive divine plan. Then no one will protest any longer against Christian and secular compulsion, for the essence of the Church will be true freedom, and all necessary reforms will be carried out under its guidance as a peaceful and formal state process.

When and when sooner? The question is not to be asked. Patience only! It will, it must come, that sacred time of endless peace when the new Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. Until then be cheerful and courageous amid the dangers of the time. Partakers of my faith, proclaim with word and deed the divine Gospel, and to the veritable and everlasting Faith remain true unto death.



Source of English Translation: Novalis, Hymns to the Night, and Other Selected Writings, translated by Charles E. Passage. Indianapolis and New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1960, pp. 45-63.

Source of original German text: Werke, Tagebücher und Briefe Friedrich von Hardenbergs [Writings, Diaries, and Letters of Friedrich von Hardenberg] edited by Hans-Joachim Mähl and Richard Samuel. Bd. 2, Das philosophisch-theoretische Werk [Philosophical-Theoretical Work]. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978, pp. 732-50.

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