Sven Rosén was a Radical-Pietistic

Radical Pietism

Radical Pietism refers to a movement within Protestantism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid 18th century and later, which emphasized the need for a "religion of the heart" instead of the head, and was characterized by ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, asceticism, and even...

 writer and leader.

Radical-Pietism

Through his acquaintance with Christians influenced by Johann Konrad Dippel, such as Carl Michael von Strokirch and others, and by diligent studies of mystical Christian works, Rosén was brought into the Radical Pietism, where he, after some soul struggling, joined the so called Gråkoltarna ("Gray-robes"), who held mystical-apocalyptic and schismatic gatherings (forbidden by law in Sweden at that time), in the house of the widow of the Dutch artist Jan van den Aveelen

Jan van den Aveelen

Jan van den Aveele or Aveelen was a Dutch etcher and copper engraver.With compatriot Willem Swidde, he made engravings for Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna.-References:...

.

When some of the participants were arrested and imprisoned, friends of Rosén sent him to Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 (part of the Swedish Empire

Swedish Empire

The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...

), where he, as in Copenhagen at his journey home 1732, met with the Moravian Brethren movement, which for a while had a calming influence on him.

Back in Stockholm in 1735, he again joined the radicals among the Pietists, and became the leader for the first free congregation

Free church

The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...

 in Sweden, the "Philadelphian Society". Through this position he also became the accepted leader for all the Radical-Pietists in the country.

Soon the authorities started to procecute the small community-living congregation. Rosén's writings was one of the causes, in which he with great conviction pleaded for Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

. During the trial he wrote several writings to his defence, which later on was illegally printed and spread over the country, read as Christian literature by the revived followers.

As a result of the trial, the congregation was crushed, and Sven Rosén was sentenced to life-long exile. At January 28, 1741, he was put on a prisoner wagon, to be brought all the way to the southern coast of Sweden, where a ship would take him over to Denmark. At every stop during the long and cold journey, Pietists came to say farewell to their beloved leader, and he preached to them and to large gatherings of people, from the prisoner wagon, to which he was chained. Some of his dearest friends from the passed towns joined and walked beside him, so that he always had care and comfort from believers.

Exile

From Denmark, Rosén first travelled to Altona

Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...

, where he stayed for two years, occupied with translating spiritual works into Swedish, among which was a Quietistic

Quietism (Christian philosophy)

Quietism is a Christian philosophy that swept through France, Italy and Spain during the 17th century, but it had much earlier origins. The mystics known as Quietists insist, with more or less emphasis, on intellectual stillness and interior passivity as essential conditions of perfection...

 work by Jean de Bernieres Louvigni. He also met and became a friend to the German Pietist Gerhard Tersteegen

Gerhard Tersteegen

Gerhard Tersteegen , was a German Reformed religious writer, born at Moers, at that time the capital of a countship belonging to the house of Orange-Nassau , which formed a Protestant enclave in the midst of a Roman Catholic country.After being educated at the gymnasium of his native town,...

.

In 1743 he was in London to prepare sanctuary for other exiled Swedish brethren. Here he met the Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 brothers, and again came in contact with the Moravian brethren. Back in Germany 1743, he joined the Moravian Church, whose mission in Sweden now came under his direction, with the result that many radical Pietists joined the Moravians.

After having pleaded to the Swedish king for a return to Sweden in 1745, (which he was denied), he was sent to Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in North America in 1746, where he had a blessed, short time preaching and working in the surrounding areas among fellow Christian believers. He married and had some children, but sadly fell ill and died 1750.

The development of Sven Rosén was typical of the strong religious confrontational time in which he lived, and which, due to the hardness of the political conditions, wouldn't let his rich gifts and deeply religious mind work in freedom in the Swedish Church. The Nordisk familjebok

Nordisk familjebok

Nordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...

calls him "without doubt one of Swedish religiosity's noblest and finest persons".

Literature

• Emanuel Linderholm, "Sven Rosén och hans insats i frihetstidens radikala pietism", 1911.
• Emanuel Linderholm, "Sven Roséns skrifter och brev", 1910.
• Nathan Odenvik, "Sven Rosén - en trosfrihetens martyr i Sverige under 1700-talet", 1944.
• Sven Roséns dagbok. Utgiven och kommenterad av Nathan Odenvik. (1948)