Peace, from Geneva
Geneva has earned its place in history, bequeathing a legacy of which it can take pride. It’s something we shouldn’t take for granted, as Harold Harker discovered.
When World War I drew to its close after five years of horror, the city of Geneva, on the shore of tranquil Lake Geneva, Swizterland, was chosen to be the home of the peace organisation that was to ensure that such war never recurred. The League of Nations, as it was called, was located in a neutral land, in the French-speaking portion of western Switzerland.
The “peace” overseen by the League of Nations, which was centred in Geneva, lasted only 20 years, and that only if the Abyssinian War is forgotten, along with the annexation of areas and countries by Hitler. The great possibility of a utopian peace faded, as the whole world was plunged again into another, even greater conflagration. Nevertheless, Geneva is still closely associated with peace, despite the failure of the League. It comes from a long, related history.
With a history of settlement that that dates some 5000 years, it has seen many occupying forces. On his Gallic campaign, Julius Caesar passed through in 58 BC, fighting off the Celtic Helvetii. The coming of the Romans brought new life to the city, and it continued to grow. Its situation at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, at a crossroad of Europe, greatly assisted it to grow in importance and power. A bishopric formed in 400 AD only demonstrated its importance.
Through the years since, Geneva saw the arrival of Burgundians, then the Francs, each giving opportunity for renewal. Then came the Merovingians, whose rule became part of the Carlovingian Empire. The Burgundians again held power for a short time until another type of government took power, and church bishops ruled for nearly 500 years!
In 1535 Geneva tried to make a new beginning, accepting the Reformation. The following year John Calvin arrived, en route to Strasbourg, intending to stay overnight. He stayed for most of the rest of his years, first supporting William Farel’s call for a strict moral and behavioural reformation. However, less than two years later, they both were expelled from the city.
The situation within the city didn’t improve, so Calvin was invited back by the city fathers in 1541, and the Ecclesiastical Ordinances, a constitution for the Reformed Church, which was to be supported by the State, was agreed to. Within this code, and despite his Christianity, Calvin ruled the city as a theocracy. In fact, it became known as “Protestant Rome.” A few rash citizens, who hated Calvin’s iron-fisted rule, called him Cain and renamed their dogs Calvin!
Life was totally austere, and it was claimed that there “fun was banished to hell.” Dancing and jewellery were banished. Church attendance became mandatory. Opposition was not tolerated, as evidenced by the burning of Michael Servetus at the stake for “heretical views,” and many were excommunicated and expelled. The linking of government with the church had once again brought its own type of coercion.
While life was very regimented in Geneva, there were benefits that have endured. Calvin even made sanitary regulations, giving the city a cleanliness and neatness for which it is noted today. His schools educated many, who carried his teaching across Europe, beyond the Alps to as far away as Scotland, where Calvinism was to inspire John Knox, who built the Scottish Reformed Church.
The gift of the Waldenses to the Reformation was a Bible, published by Olivetan, in French. The Geneva Bible, as it came to be called, was printed in English in 1560. It is sometimes called the “Breeches Bible,” the first Bible in English to have numbered verses, a benefit to all Christians today.
Geneva became home to thousands of refugees from other countries of Europe, where persecution was even more severe. Following the Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day in France, in 1572, more than 2000 Huguenot families came to the city, joining another1500 Huguenot families already there. Switzerland owes its clock and watchmaking industries to these immigrants. Others came northward from Italy, again escaping persecution. These new citizens brought a cosmopolitan air to the city and it became a centre of intellectual pursuit and knowledge.
Personal liberty is enjoyed by all citizens of Geneva today, but in 1519 Philbert Berthelier lost his head after speaking out for freedom. A statue of him stands beside the old tower on the Pont de I’lle in the middle of the Rhone River, and a plaque notes this freedom. Today’s personal freedom has been gained by many who gave their lives.
In the middle of Geneva is the Wall of the Reformation. Beside huge statues of the Reformers Farel, Calvin, Beze and Knox is the motto of the city and Reformation: Post tenebras lux, “After darkness, light.” The Reformation brought the seed for a totally new beginning, but while Geneva made great strides toward the light, the search for further illumination in the pages of the Bible faltered.
Geneva has, however, left its mark on the world in secular society as well as spiritual. For example, it is the Geneva Convention that deals with how civilised nations wage war, in part the work of Henry Dunant, who, in 1864, helped establish the International Red Cross. The city was home to the esteemed educationalist Jean Jacques Rousseau, as well as Voltaire.
Geneva, home to UNESCO and WHO, the World Council of Churches and numerous other luminary institutions, was first of all home to the Reformation, built as it was upon Scripture.
n In travel brochures and film, the Jet d’Eau fountain soars some 145 metres into the air a few hundred metres off shore, in Lake Geneva. It is the recognisable symbol of the city of Geneva. But the city itself stands a symbol of more substantive, enduring aspects of modern life, liberty and peace.
We have the ability to read and study the Holy Scriptures, in part, because of the stand (and sacrifice) the citizens and city of Geneva made some 500 years ago. The question is, do we appreciate and value that, and make its principles and instruction the basis for our living?
Geneva is much more than a beautiful city with a long history and photogenic fountain; it embodies a message for every one of us.
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