Die Pforte des Mönchs von Heisterbach - Kloster Heisterbach, Königswinter, NRW, Germany - Weird Story Locations on Waymarking.com

By the southern wall of the abbey Heisterbach some steps lead to a small gate which leads to a narrow footpath on the outside of the property.
The old door is made out of wood and has wrought iron fittings and an old-fashioned lock. In the middle of the door there is an inscription: "Gott ist erhaben über Ort und Zeit. Ich weiß, Ihm ist ein Tag wie tausend Jahre und tausend Jahre sind ihm wie ein Tag."
(God is elated over space and time. I know, to Him one day is like thousand years and thousand years are to him like one day.)

The inscription refers to the medieval legend of "The monk of Heisterbach". After the legend the disbelieving monk had left the abbey through this gate.

The legend tells:
In the abbey of Heisterbach lived a monk who was famous because of his great learning. The monk often thought about the passage in the Bible which says that for God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.
When he was deeply in thoughts about this verse once again and could not understand how time could melt to nothing, he heard a bird's voice he had never heard before. He followed the sound, passed the small gate and went out into the woods.
The monk followed the bird on and on, deeper and deeper into the woods and forgot about space and time. Finally, he was so tired that he could not go on any more. He sat down and fell asleep. When he woke up again, he hurried back to the abbey not to miss the Evensong.

But when he arrived and entered the small gate, the area of the abbey had changed and the brothers were all strangers to him and they also did not know him.
The monk mentioned his name and the name of his abbot. The other monks were very surprised and a long silence followed his words. To one of the monks it occurred that he had read in old writings of a brother who had disappeared without a trace in the woods very long ago. The writings proved that since then 300 years had passed.
Finally the monk understood: "Thousand years are to him like one day". A happy smile appeared on his face, he sank to the ground and died.

Type: Local Legend or Lore Referenced in (list books, websites and other media): http://www.kombu.de/heisterb.htm http://www.rheindrache.de/moench_heisterbach.html http://virtuellesbrueckenhofmuseum.de/vmuseum/historie/zeige_objekt.php?auswahl=1006&suche=m%C3%B6nch%20von&reihe= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjfQAZGWWs0&list=UUSwIEyih-NxmWNUlWoRAM8w&index=23&feature=plcp Website Reference: [Web Link] Additional Coordinates: Not Listed

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