The Foundation of the
Transylvanian Unitarian Church
The
first Unitarian Church in
Europe was founded 402 years ago. The historic occasion of its origin was
the Diet of Torda, held from 6 to 13 January, 1568, when Sigismund
II., King of Hungary, accepted the Unitarian faith taught by Francis David
and proclaimed the Edict of Torda promising toleration to Lutherans,
Zwinglians, Calvinists and Unitarians.
Four
hundred years later, in August,
1968, the Transylvanian Unitarian Church convened a solemn Synod to ordaín new
ministers and to celebrate the quatercentenary of its foundation.
There is a smalle rsection of the Church in Hungary, in and around
Budapest; but the great majority of its members live and worship
in Transylvania, which has been part of Rumania since the Treaty
of Trianon (1920). The celebrations were held at the Church's original
religious centre at Kolozsvár(C1uj), at Déva, the mountain-top castle, where Francis
David died in prison, and at Torda, scene of the decisive Diet
in 1568.
As
a central part of the Synod's proceedings,
Dr. John Erdő, professor of Theology, Kolozsvár, delivered this paper
in the Unitarian Church at Torda on Sunday 18 Augusty 1968.
The
translation is by Dudley Richards, who acknowledges the assistance of the English version was issued
durring the meetings of the Synod.
(This
essay was orginally published in Faith and Freedam Journal of Progressive Religion (Vol. 23
no. 68, pp. 61-70) and is included
here with special permission from
Prof. John Erdö)
THE UNITARIAN CHURCH is
celebrating the 400th anniversary of its foundation. Even by the scale of
history, four hundred years is a long period. Why ara we looking back so
far into the dim past? Our answer is clear and simple: we ara inquiring into
the source of the Unitarian reformation and the organization of the Unitarian
church; and we want to recall the witness of our forefathers and, through their
faith, to revive our own
Our
celebration draws its importance from the present as well as the past. On the
one hand it is a mark of our good relations with the socialist state, a
demonstration on the part of all, lay folk and ministers, of their loyalty to
their country, actively expressed by their part in the building of new life and
in the defense of peace. On the other hand, it draws attention to the history
and significance of the reformation achieved through Francis David.
The
Unitarian church was born in the sixteenth century, as a natural and logical
development of the Reformation of Christianity. The location of its emergence
was the principality of Transylvania to which Providence assigned a leading
role in the history of reformation. It was a time of storm and desolation for
other countries of Europe only Transyivania could there be a free development
of the reformation and particularly of its radical direction in the Unitarian
reformation.
I
n Transylvania the ideas of the reformation quickly took root. Their
penetration and rapid extension were assisted by the economic, social and
political conditions of the principality and by the general dissatisfaction
with the Catholic church. Attempts towards a reformation of religion found a
home in the first place among the bourgeoisie and the masses in the towns..
From the towns the revival spread among the peasants and the serfs who were
ready for a reformation of religion
The
reformation, in its Lutheran form, developed first in the Saxon towns. Between
1542 and 1545 the whole of the Saxon population became followers of Luther and
set about their own andependent reorganization From 1544 onwards the citizens
of Kolozsvár, Nagyenyed, Torda and Dés, and the inhabitants of the Székely
towns, became Lutheran. The Lutheran reformation was followed by that of Calvin
and Bullinger with its more thoroughgoing reforms, particularly in the
Hungarian speaking towns.
At
first the new movement was threatened with annihilation by the state: later, it
was the support of the prince and the government that made possible new phases
of development. The Diet held at Torda ín 1557 and 1564 gave official
recognition to Lutheranism and Calvinism alongside Catholicism. From then on,
under Prince John Sigismund, official policy took a new direction. Roman
Catholicism was no longer the established faith, and recognition was accorded
to the reforming movements. However, the new order had its limitation; the
faith of the Orthodox Rumanians, who formed the majority of the populatíon of
Transylvania, was excluded from recognition and toleration.
FRANCIS DAVID AND THE UNITARIAN REFORMATION
The
Lutheran and Calvinist movements were immediately followed in the sixties of
the sixteenth century by the Unitarian reformation.
Unitarianism
was not only radical in its theology, but also progressive in its social
tendencies. Its reformer and organizer was Francis David. He was born at
Kolozsvár about 1514, his father, David Hertel, was a Saxon shoemaker and his
mother a Hungarian. He grew up in Kolozsvár, a town with mixed population, and
was educated in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Julia), a centre of humanism, where he
became a priest, and adopted the name Francis David. From the beginning he
showed a lively interest in the Reformation. In 1545, with the support of
Francis Medgyesi and Gáspár Pesthi, canons of humanist leanings, he went to
Wittenberg, the centre of Lutheranism, to continue his studies. After his return
home he worked first as a teacher at Beszterce (Bistrita), and then, in 1552,
as a minister at Péterfalva, in both cases showing reforming tendencies. At the
end of 1552 we fand him at Kolozsvár, as the dírector of the school of the old
town. In 1555 he became the superintendent, first of the Hungarian Lutherans in
1556, and then of the Calvinists in 1564.
From
1551 until his death in 1579, the life and work of Francis David were bound up
with the Transylvanian reformation.
Francis
David was a great humanist theologian. According to Fazekas Mihály Bogáti he
was a theologian without a peer, a prophetic personality, and one of the
greatest figures of his age. In a great man there is always some new
manifestation. It may be a frech theoretical insight, or practical idea; it may
be a new historical conception or power, organically linked with the past and
at the same time pushing on into the future. It arouses the thoughts and will
of his contemporaries, their faith, their enthusiasm, the very pace of their
life, and causes them to take new directions. Through a great man breaks the
dawn of a new world. Such a man was Francis David. He towered above his age. He
saw the direction in which Christianity must further evolve; and this insight
made him the radical reformer of his time. He represents the most radical
reforming tendencies in opposition to feudalism. Emancipated from the passion
which characterized his epoch, he became a unique hero of humanity, and of
freedom of spirit and conscience, in the Europe of the sixteenth century.
Francis
David saw in the Reformation a God-given direction for those who were looking
for a new heaven and a new earth. He believed himself to be called by God to
serve those ends with sound learning, profound humanism and prophetic enthusiasm.
The
motive and deciding forte of his reforming activity was the deep experience of
God which emerged from his study of the Bible, and especially of the New
Testament. In the Bible he found the law and revelation of God, far the
understanding of which one needed the help both of one's reason and of the Holy
Spirit. In the Bible, agaín, he was convinced that he had found the way to a
right knowledge of God and of Jesus, the basis of eternal life, and the chief
authority in all matters of religion. `In our quest for the way to salvation',
he said, `all we need is the writing of the prophets, evangelists and agostles.
The gospel is a sweet and heavenly food in the heart of the behever, a ford
which turns to pofison if anythíng else is added to it '
Like
the other reformer, he saw only one possible means of purifying Christianity:
to go back to Holy Scripture and on that bacis to restore Christianity in its
original gospel form. In his opinion the work of reformation had been only
partially accomplished. The reforms of Luther and Calvin had been conin ed to a few minor changes in theology and
organization, and they set bounds to the freedom of man's andividual experience
and to his further religious development. With the attainment of some
restricted reforms, the work of renovation was regarded as campleted, and as a
simple fact of history.
Against
this view Francis David regarded it as an eternal principle that the work of
reformation must be continued and extended. The purpose of that eternal work of
reformation was not only the restoration of gospel Christianity by the renewing
of life for all mankind .
One of Francís David's
reforming aims was `to give back to our
Father God the dignity which had been obscured and diminished by the antichrist
of Rome'. He regarded this task as a mission from God whích must be
accomplished `with love for God's holy son, Jesus Christ, and his church, and with
a good and upright conscience'. He could not conceal the truth of God's word,
but must speak in season and out of season. One he had recognized, with the
help of revelation, the errors which were perverting religíon, he could not
keep silent with a good conscíence. To hide the truth would have been a sin
against God and against Jesus. `Those who have been enlightened by God's
spirít', he said, `must not cease to speak nor can they suppress the truth.
Such in the power of the spirit, that the mand of man, putting aside every
false artifice, strives only to add to the glory of God, let the whole world
rage and oppose it '.
The
radical reformation inaugurated by Francis David involved a re-examination and
re-appraisal of the Christian religion and the Chrisrian church. With the aid
of Holy Scripture, he examined every tenet of religion and accepted and
maintained only those which had an assured foundation in the gospel and
commended themselves to reason. He replaced scholastic forms of doctríne with
the simple intelligible words of the Bible. `We ought not', he taught, `to
believe, to do, or to command, anything except the word of God'.
The
dogma of the Trinity emerged as the central point of Francis David's reforming
work. That dogma was more a subject of debate than any other. Its acceptance
was a duty which meant salvation; its denial brought the death penalty.
Francis
David devoted a detailed study to this dogma and came to the following
conclusions:
1. The dogma was framed by
theologians and by the general councils with the aid of Greek philosophy.
2. In its scholastic
expression it was an abstract, theological speculation which the believer could
not understand `We are judged to be heretics because we can no longer believe
in essence, person, nature, incarnation, as they want us to believe. If these
things are necessary for salvation, it is certain that no poor peasant
Christian is savad, because he could never understand them in all his life.'
In
place of the dogma of the Trinity, Francis David taught the doctrine of the indivisible
unity of God, that is, that God is indivisible
in his essence and in his person. Thereby
he desired to restore the Biblical teaching about the one God in its original
purity. On the basis of scripture he taught that God was the creator and lawgiver
of all, the omnipotent Father, whose inin
ite mercy saves us through the man Jesus Christ, and by a new birth
through the Holy Spirit. His original teaching about Jesus was that he was
God's son, who was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, but
was inferior to the Father, He was the only mediator, the judge of the living
and the dead, and the head of the church. In the later phases of his
reformation, he taught that Jesus was a man to whom one must not pray nor call
for help. The Holy Spirit was God's own sanctifying spirit and energy; it was
not God and consequently not to be prayed to nor asked for help. The Holy
Spirit was given to believers through Jesus Christ.
The
rejection of the dogma of the Trinity, and the affirmation of the oneness of
God, were the central teachings of Francis David's reformation. Through them
the evangelical element in Christianity was freed from the prison of the
authority of the medieval church and entered the service of the Reformation.
As
an active participant in the struggle for reform, and as one who was well
acquainted with human nature and human society, Francis David was aware that
the programme of the Reformation could not be carried through overnight, and
that progress must be gradual. Knowing
the difficulties, he moved slowly and steadily towards the goal of the victory
of truth. `I t was God's will' he said `that we should move step by step, and
come gradually to the fullness of the truth, just as at first we feed infants
with milk and only later give them more solid food'.
The
slow progress of reform cannot discourage a man. The renovation of Christianity
is God's cause also, and he is concerned for it and assure it eventual success.
The history of the
Reformation supports Francis David, and justifies the idea of a slow evolution
and maturing of reform. In Luther, Zwingli and Calvin we see the gradual
unfolding and extending of the Reformation. On the basis of the results already
achieved, the new movement of reform also advances gradually towards the goal
of a radical reformation of Christianity. This new movement inspired by Francis
David, is known to scholarship as the Unitarian reformation, from its doctrine
of the unity of God
THE ORIGIN OF THE UNITARIAN
REFORMATION
We
must deal with the much discussed problem of the origin of the ideas of the
Unitarian reformation. In the past four hundred years many people have inquired
into the source of these ideas and discussed the originality of Francis David's
theology. But a solution of the problem was handered by a defective
acquaintance with the Transylvanian reformation and by the prevalence of
sectarian attitude.
According
to the notion widespread in the sixteen century, the origin of Francis David's
teaching and of the reforming movement which he initiated is to be found in
such early antitrinitarian heretics as Arius, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, and
Plotinus, and in their modern successors, including Servetus, Socinus and
Blandrata. This assertion, which is without any scholarly basis, represents the
standpoint of Francis David's theological opponents who wanted to discredit the
reformer and his movement. Nineteenth and twentieth century students of the
origins of Unitarianism repeat this sixteenth century allegation. And Unitarian
historical literature was not much concerned with Unitarian origins.
The
results of later investigations ars now available and they permit us to arrive
at a different interpretation.
Antitrinitarian
opinions are found in early Christianity, that is, in the period of discussions
about the Trinity. The historical materials concerning the development of this
dogma and the controversies that surrounded it were, of course, available to
theologians and investigators. Later
on, antitrinitarian ideas and teachings appeared time after
time within the Christian church. But because of persecution by the church and
the state there could be no development of an organized antitrinitarian
movement or institution. In these circumstances the movement towards
antitrinitarianism remained limited and isolated, without any popular support.
Its adherents, faced with constant persecution, avoided all pozitive theological
declarations, and their attitude, as manifested in both the spoken and written
word, is characterized by negativism and by only abstract comments on the dogma
of the Trinity.
A
trained theologian like Francis David was well acquainted with the literature
and history of the dogma of the Trinity and of antitrinítarianism. In his Works
he makes frequent reference to the most notable and representative writers on
antitrinitarianism. He made use of their most valuable theological Works, in
the form of a compilation, as material for his controversial writings on
religion. But his instinct for reform, his opera and positive standpoint, the
clear-cut Unitarianism of his affirmation of the humanity of Jesus, and in ally his appeal to ordinary people and his
organization of a church, all established his andependence and originality.
Nor
can his teachings be regarded as the fruits of philosophic meditation His was a
deeply religious spirit. His rationalism, like that of his fellow-reformers,
took the form of as faithful an interpretation as possible of the will of God.
For this his examination and collation of the text of the Bible were his main
tools.
The
sources of Unitarianísm are to be found in scripture and particularly in the gospels;
its dein itive form came from Francis
David's relígious experience. His views are abundantly clear in those Works in
which he replies to the attacks of hís opponents. The following is an examplw:
`My
God is my witness that the things which I have learnt, which I have
taught and which I still teach, came not from the Koran, or the Talmud, or
Servetus, but from the Word of the living God. I am sure that I am on the way
of truth, and guided by the laws of truth I rest all my explanations on what is
contained in scripture.'
THE BEGINNING OF THE UNITARIAN REFORMATION
In
the absence of reliable information `it is impossible to determine when the
fundamental notion of Unitaríanism, his idea of one God, was borra in the mand
of Francis David: So states Elek Jakab the historian. We therefore think it
worth noting that from a sermon published in 1569 it can be concluded that for
Francis David, Unitarianism was already a living issue round about 1560.
As
to the date of origin of the Transylvanian reformation, the results of modern
investigations are available to help us. We mention two points in particular.
1. By a resolution of 10
December 1565, a Council held at Kolozsvár forbade the expression of any
opinion which contradicted the Bible. It permitted new teachings only if one
could demonstrate the truth of one's fandings by reference to Holy Scripture.
The council warned priest and preacher not to preach against each other, and
not to speak offensively about each other from the pulpit; but they might, if
they wished, have private discussions in their own homes. All this clearly has
referense to Francís David and kis teaching.
2. Péter Filstich, a
contemporary chronicler of Kolozsvár, makes the following observation: `On 20
January 1566, Francis David began to reject the dogma of the Trinity, and spoke
against it.'
Accordingly,
we can place the beginnings of the Unitarian reformation between 1565 and 1566.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNITARIAN CHURCH
The
flowering of Unitarianism and its organization into a church took place in the
years 1565 to 1568.
The
Reformation afforded Christianity a chance of revitalizing itself such as it
had not had in all its previous history. The Unitarian reformation offered the
possibility of a wider and deeper advance. The words of Francis David found a
ready response, for they gave expression to ideas which had long preoccupied
the Christian world. Success was assured by the fact that the time was ripe for
reform, but no less by Francis Davids personality. He had those qualities of
spirit, character and will which are andispensable in a reformer. He became a
reformer through experience, and in particular through religious experience.
The
Unitarian reformation proved strong hostility on the part of the existing
denomination which regarded Unitarianism as heresy and urged the secular power
to exterminate this new and radical movement. The opposing forces were strikingly
contrasted: respect for authority was matched against an impatient decire for f
reedom; the f ear of eyes which longed f or darkness opposed the resolute
courage of a craving for light; a rigid attachment to tradition confronted an
enthusiastic questing for new life.
The
work of reform was not conin ed to
Francis David.
Around him, with Kolozsvár as
the centre of the movement, there gathered a vigorous group of preachers and
theologians who spread the new teachings, in both Hungarian and Latín, through
treatises and potemical writings, in church, in School and in public debate.
They too deserve to be remembered.
Francis
David did not want to disrupt Transylvanian Protestantism. As he looked across
the centuries, he envisaged a restoration of the church to its own perfection
He imagined that he could carry through the work of radical reformation without
endangering church unity. But the outlook of the radical reformation was
fundamentally different from those of Luther and Calvin: and as they became
aware of this, the Lutherans and Calvinists rigidly opposed any further changes
and openly strove for the destruction of Unitarianism. This unbending attitude
of hostility compelled Francis David and his companions to fight for further
reforms and for the establishment and recognition of the Unitarian movement.
Thus inevitably Unitarianism became a radical reforming organization separated
from the rest of the Protestant church.
As
regards the word `Unitarian', it came into current use in the seventeenth
century. We meet it for the first time in a resolution of the camp Diet held at
Lécfalva in 1600, from 25 October to 4 November. The-word expresses the
convictíon of the indivisible unity of
God, and it was first officially adopted and used by our church at the
settlement known as the Complanatio Deésiana of 1638.
THE RESOLUTION OF THE DIET OF TORDA IN 1568
The
following is a characteristic extract, bearing on the struggles of the years
1565-8, from the contemporary chronicle of the Székely Sebestyén Borsos:
"There
appeared one Francis David by name, a learned man. The Calvinist ministers and
preachers were lively in their opposition to him both in debate and ín writing
but they could not get the better of him. Most people were unfavourable to the
priest, who consequently retired into the background to see what would happen
The king, to whom each party was recommending its own brand of faith, listened
now to the new ideas of Francis David, and now to the learning of Calvin; and
he began to favour the former. He was supported by many of the gentry. If a
parish was unwilling to adopt his faith he did not remove its priest as long as
he kept his head in the upheaval. At that time, throughout Transylvanía, even
amongst ordinary folk, in town and village, at meal times, over drinks, morning
and evening, day and night, in the course of conversation or in a sermon, you
might have arguments between the
adherents of the two faiths, and even some intemperate and profane language.
Calvinist and Arían were so vigorous in advertising their religious opinions
that the ignorant did not know what to think. But when the king adopted the
Arían viewpoint, almost the whole country inclined the same way.'
The
Diet of Torda settled the quarrel about religion The radical reformation which
was Unitarianism, under the direction of Francis David, had been accorded legal
recognition Lutheranism and Calvinism, though in a weakened condition, stayed
within the limits of the reforms of Wittenberg and Geneva. But the religious
organic unity of Transylvania Protestantism was destroyed: after 1568 the
Protestant denominations set out on their separate paths.
The
Diet met at Torda on 6 January 1568. It opened its deliberations with a
discussion of matters of religion. On the motion of the prince, along the lines
laid down by Francis David, the Diet declared Unitarianism to be a recognized
religion of the principality by the following Resolution:
`Preachers
everywhere are to preach the gospel according to their understanding of it; if
the parish willingly receíves it, good: but if not, let there be no compulsion
on it to do so, since that would not ease any man's soul; but let each parish
keep a minister whose teaching is acceptable to it. Let no superintendent or
anyone else act violently or abusively to a preacher. No one may threaten
another, on account of his teaching, with imprisonment or deprivation of
office: for faith is a gift of God; it comes from listening, and listening is
through God's word'.
The
Diet of Torda sanctioned the existing state of affairs in religion, and the
popular attítude became law. It was a sígnal victory for the progressive
forces, and it marked the establishment of the Unitarian church. That is why
our church regards the resolution of 1568 as its foundation document.
Like
the Catholic Church the reformers, Luther, Zwingli and Calvin were prepared to
make use of any means to compel the consciences of their opponents. By contrast
the very essence of Unitarianism was religious toleration and a consistently
firm attitude is support of liberty of conscience. It was not because of
religious andifferense or as a product of philosophical specutation that
Francis David did battle for freedom of religion and conscience, but out of a
profound faith in the Fatherhood of God, in the divíne sonship, and the
brotherhood of man, and in the universal power of love. Therefore he constantly
emphasized that religion must be free, that in questions of faith there is no
place for compulsion, and that the spreading of the gospel requires no weapons or violence,
because faith is a gift of God. In other words Unitarianism is inseparably
bound up wíth freedom of conscience and faith.
It
is regrettable that the enactment of 1568 did not mean complete liberty as we
understand it. The privileged classes who wielded power in the principality did
not acknowledge the Rumanians as a constituent nationality of Transylvania though
they formed the majority of its population. So the church of the Rumanians, the
Orthodox church, had an inferior status in terms both of nationality and
religion, and the religious liberty decreed at Torda was only for the churches
represented there. But it can at least be said that the freedom before the law
which was there accorded to the four faiths involved paved the way for the full
religious liberty of today.
THE LESSON OF HISTORY
In
1968, our great anniversary year, we remember the past. Whoever forgets the past must live through it agaín. But those who
remember the past fand in it directions for the present and the future and can
revive tradition in all its richness. It is the duty of each generation to
study history, church history included, so that in the light of the past it may
see clearly what is its own special tank. It is our duty too, on this
anniversary occasion.
From
the past history of our church we know for certain that it was in our country
that the radical reforming movement known as Unitarianism began and went
forward. The Unitarian reformation was ideologically the most important
religious event in sixteenth century Europe, for it did not content itself with
the denial of the Trinity, but erected profoundly democratic principles on the
basis of truth of the gospel. We celebrate four hundred years of service to
humanity. For this cause our forefathers in the faith laboured, suffered and
died. Let us thank God for this reformation, for Francis David, for the four
centuries of the story of our church, and for the devout servants of humanity,
layfolk and ministers, teachers and benefactors who unremittingly did the will
of our Father in heaven.
The
man who does not look forward cannot comprehend the profundity of the gospel
and of religion. We believe in the Lord of history, that is, we believe in the
Lord of the future. We have to keep in mand our children and our witness are
making a truly creative contribution to the shaping of the f uture, and whether
we can, through our work, offer genuine help not only to the men of today but
also to the men of tomorrow. The shape of the future depends on the fulfilment
of the task before us.
Our
church has existed for four hundred years. It is its duty to share in the
defence of world peace and to support the efforts of the whole nation for the
welfare and prosperity of our country. Our church can only fulfil this duty if
it goes forward in the spirit and tradition of ceaseless reformation, thus
riddings itself of imperfections, and fanding its rightful place in society.
That place is the service of man and of progress. That is our church's proper
sphere of activity. The mission of our church in contemporary society is
nothing other than to proclaim fully and faithfully the gospel of the kingdom
of God and meanwhile to live a life of loving service to society in all its
aspects.
On
the threshold of the fifth century of the existence of our church, secure in
our Unitarian heritage, and trusting in God, we look forward to the future.
With our pulpit ministrations, pastoral care and public-spirited activities we
promote the welfare of our country and at the same time contribute to the
building of a perfect future for mankind .
