Dávid Ferenc and the
Problem of Toleration
1. Dávid Ferenc, the Radical
Reformer.
The
history of religious toleration inTransylvania started with Dávid Ferenc. He
was born around 1520 at Kolozsvár to a lower middle-class family. The century
in which he líved is a historically remarkable age, that of feudal oppression,
absolute monarchy, and struggle against Ottoman and Habsburg conquerors. But
at the same time it was a time of the birth of a new spirit fron great
economic, social and religious changes. In his student years his father, Hertel
Dávid, latinized his name after his own fist name into Franciscus Davidis.
Later the son adopted the Hungarian name of Dávid Ferenc. He studied ín the
best schools, first in Transylvania, later in Germany at the most prestigious
cultural center of Protestant Europe of that time. The landmarks of his life
include: being a teacher at Beszterce, minister at Petres, a teacher and later
a minister at Kolozsvár, superintendent of Transylvania and the preacher at the
court of the Prince. He was a theologian of humanist education and a reformer
who fascinated the masses. A contemporary scholar, Bogán Fazakas Miklós, named
hím an "incomparable theologiian." He dedicated his life of sacrífice
to work for the kingdom of God and for human spiritual progress until his martyr-death
in 1579. As he called himself, he was the "servant of the crucified
Christ."
All
his life Dávid Ferenc had been one struggling for knowledge of God and for
renewal of the Christian faith. The teachings of the Catholic Church had not
satisfied hím. Neither the Swiss reformation nor that of Luther gave
satisfactory answers. What was dein itely
important for hím, he discovered in Holy Scripture as the authentic source and
measurement of the Christian life and its teachings. From this point on, he
taught that „we don’t have to believe in, act or be ordered by anything else
than the Gospel of God." This became the fundamental principle
of his reformation. His firm conviction was that „All Christians are given
enough spirit to understand from the Bible what they need for their
salvation." One just must not despise Scripture which is the promise of
the true Christ: "Seek and you will fand, knock and it will be opened unto
you." Besides the understanding of Holy Scripture, plus an inner
inspiration and reason, he considered God's spirit andispensable, which
"shows the true meaning of Scripture even to an illiterate, poor
peasant:" In order to understand God's truth, we have to differentiate
between the Old and the New Testaments; we have to separate the letter from the
spiritual meaning, the shadow from the body, darkness from light. Dávid
considered preaching recognized truth and continuing the reformation as a
divine mission. He appeared before the public on January 20. 1566 at Kolozsvár
and in the spirit of semper reformanda preached that the Christian religion
must return to its source, to God's pure Word as the Bible has preserved it. He
evaluated Christian teachings in the spirit of Scripture and accepted only
those notions which originate in the Gospels and are logical. Based on thís, he
taught that the dogma of the Trinity is a creation of theologians and synods.
Christians must depend on and remain in Jesus and in his teachings. Instead of
the Trinitarian dogma he taught the principle of evangelical unity of God
because there is no clearer and more obvious science in the Scripture than that
of only one God. The scripture speaks about one God and not trinity, one Christ
and not duality, one faith, one baptism and one Lord's Supper. It says nothing
about being dual."
Negation of the dogma of Trinity and preaching the
oneness of God have become the central teaching of Dávid Ferenc's reformatíon;
from this originates the liter name of Unitarianism.
Dávid Ferenc considered reformation as a slow,
step-by step, accomplishing process in which God purifies his Church from all
deviations. The history of reformation tries to illustrate this. Just as God
sent Moses in old times, he raised Martin Luther, and after him Melanchthon,
Bucer, Oecolampadius, Musculus, Petrus Marlyr, Calvin, Ochino, Viretus and
others. God, who doesn't tolerate imperfection, sent newer and newer prophets
for reformation of religion. His answer to the question, „Why the reformation
didn't happen at once?" was "Is the blind man able to bear the light
if his eyes open suddenly to see?" If we had been in great darkness and
the whole light of the Gospel would have
flamed at once, this abundance of light might have taken our sight away from
us. Therefore it was God's will to progress step by step, to reach the whole
truth slowly just like the baby is first nurtured with milk and only later is
given solid food.
The time had been made ready for the radical reformation.
Dávid Ferenc's teachings found fertile soul. The declaration of Dávid Ferenc's
reformation and foundation of the Unitarian church in 1568 as a recognized
religion was a in al result of the
struggle between the churches of the Reformation and the radical reformation.
In this act Transylvania took precedence over any other European country.
The Unitarian reformation was a logical consequence
of the reform movement. It was not satisüed with the refornation of Christian
theology. But through experiencing and living the truth of the Gospel, ít has
established profoundly humanistic principles. One such consequence was
religious toleration and freedom of conscience.
2. The problem of
religious toleration in the 16th century.
The 16th century constitutes a landmark in the
history of Europe. This is the time when the spirit of an autonomous
value-system and a new spirit of respecting the índividual was being liberated
from the patronage of the church. Among ardent problems of society were
religious toleration and reformation of the church.
Religious toleration is a part of that process
which, in our opinion, led to the principle of human freedom. It was not a
narrow theological principle that was raised: the question which rose far above
the times was „what is more important for a religious person faith or dogma,
the ethos or the Logos, humanity or theology?" The heroes of this process
are not only landmarks of that period but guides for progress as well.
a. The Catholic Church in the 16th century kept
continuing the medieval intolerance of the church. In order to assure
religious uniformity and exclusivity, the church sanctioned use of force against
heterodoxies.
b. The Renaissance and humanism theoretically
related in a positive way to the ideal of religious toleration. Humanists
recognized the truth of toleration, and they discovered an effective means to
achieve a religious peace. But they did not dare to take an open positíon
toward it.
c. The reformation started in the spirit of freedom.
It aimed to assure the rights of all Christians that every person could
choose what to believe and how to live. The reformation at the beginning
preached religious toleration for another reason; that is, to develop its
teachings and reform the church freely. But after its teachings became a
"church" and it had won the support of secular power, it changed its
position. It rejected the principle of toleration. Intolerance had not only
been anti-papal and antisectarian, but being influenced by social and
political events it became mutually intolerant and ended in religious war. In
most European countries, toleration was considered as indifference toward
religion and the church; persecution of devotants from the dominating religion,
of the "heretics," was meritorious and a socially beneficial act.
d.
The execution of the antitrinitarian Serveto Michael in 1553 put spotlight on
the problem of toleration, provoking a passionate argument about persecution
and punishment of heretics. Castellio Sebastian was the first to defend
toleration and freedom of conscience. He denounced intolerance as an unworthy
attitude for Christians, and he struggled for freedom of religion and
conscience. He declared that "to
seek for justíce and speak out for it according to our conscience, can never be
a sin. Nobody can be forced to any conviction because conviction is free [...],
those dogmas which prompt Christians to excommunicate and kill each other,
basically, are quite indifferent and they do not improve people. Judging
spiritual things is not a human's domain, but only the domain of God."
e.
The idea of religious toleration in Europe was promoted by the radical
reformation. Its theological position resulted in toleration as a fundamental
human right. In this struggle, the Transyivanian reformation lead by Dávid
Ferenc had quite a role.
3. Theological basis of
Dávid Ferenc's theory of toleration.
The
basic principle of Dávid Ferenc's theological system is the indivisibility of
God. This is the foundation, and any other precept is based on this
superstructure. So is religious toleration. He learned from the scripture that
we heve only one God, the almighty Father. Jesus himself taught about one God.
The evangelists and the apostles didn't write a word about trinity. And yet,
the church persecuted those who do not believe "in the essence, person,
nature, embodiment," Dávid Ferenc stated. "But if all these ere
necessary for salvation, a poor Christian peasant will never be saved as they
won't be able to learn these. In his conception, God is an indivisible Spirit
who is almighty, wise, good and just. He is the creator of the universe, he is
the source and preserver of all beings. Dávid emphasized God's love for humanity
and the world through „God's fatherhood." They err who respect God not as
gracious Father but rather as a severe judge because he, in whose name we are
baptized, calls himself a Father. He is a personification of patience, love
itself, `who rises his sun equally for the evil and good, and gives rain for
the just and unjust." He provides freedom for people but he is ready to
forgive the repentant. Through his mercy he gives salvation and eternal life.
God
can be the only subject of our prayer. Jesus also taught that nobody else can
be prayed to for help but the Father and that the real worship can only be one
which is dedicated in spirit and truth to the Father.
Dávid
taught that the holy spirit is God's spirit, power, the cause of life in us. It
is true, that the Bible attributes will, examination of inner thoughts,
teaching, and comforting to it. This is not because it would be a personal God,
but to illustrate the different ways of God's action. This spirit is a teaching
power, guiding to good. It does not only revitalize the human but it also
renews our nature, gifts us with wisdom, makes us courageous, joyful and strong
in confession of justice. We can become God's children through it and we can
grow into God's church. At the same time it gives us confidence to be able to
call fearlessly „Our Father."
God's
spirit reaches every human being. This is why the Scripture teaches that we
live, we move, we are in God's spirit. This is the first way of conveying God's
spirit with us. The second is to give us wisdom and knowledge for making life more beautiful, like the philosophers,
scientists and poets. The third way is creating the human being anew for
eternal life.
Dávid
Ferenc preached Jesus' humanity. He confessed: "I love my Christ, because
he shed his blood, he suffered and died, and he prompts us by his spirit to
commend our spirits into his hand and to be sure that he preserves and gives
eternal life." He considered Jesus our master in teaching and our guide
toward God's kingdom. He saw in Jesus the greatest representative of faith,
reason and freedom. He referred to Jesus in his Bible explanation: "...the
life and spirit of the Holy Scripture is Christ and after one has gotten to
know it and its true meaning, one can go
freely in explaining of the whole Bible." The human Jesus doesn't teach about the essence or person,
about the Son preexisting eternally, neither about the dual Christ, but only
about one God the Father. We Christians must follow him, who teaches us that we
can in d happiness and eternal life only
in knowledge of only God the Father and Jesus. Dávid leads his
people to life, justice and perfection through Jesus' gospel. His teachings hadn't been written on stone
tablets like Moses' laws were given to the Jewish people, but into our
heart. They don’t show the bondage of slavery and fear, but the spirit of life
and goodness. We can become Jesus' disciples by self-abnegation and lifting our
own cross. Our mission is to follow Jesus. This is the only worthy way to
express our respect.
Belief
in humanity is Dávid's foundational thesis. The human being is the center,
everything is for humanity's sake; religion also serves the human. God created the whole
of humanity from one blood; this is the natural foundation of our brotherhood
and sisterhood. God created human beings good and capable to become perfect.
This is the source of a human's high vocation; God set up ideals for humans to
be attracted to the divine; God planted wishes and intentions into the human
heart to prompt it. To be a human is not a state but a hard task yet to be
accomplished. Jesus also urged us to be perfect and to strive to perfection ourselves through
accomplishing God's will, to be God's children, to grow into true humanness in
service of God's kingdom.
Dávid
linked the knowledge of God and Jesus together with a moral life of becoming human.
One who affirms verbally God's knowledge and living by Jesus' teachings, but
denies it by one's actions, does not live in light and the way of the gospel.
The members of God's kingdom can be recognízed if they love each other, if they
are merciful, meek, peaceful, generous, are ready to practice forgiveness, work
in the spirit of the gospel, if they compete in practicing good deeds and are
first in service. God requires from us that humanness and love must be visible
in all our actions.
Our
most personal cause is faith. Dávid taught with Paul the apostle that
"faith is God's gift" (Ephesians 2:8) , which we can accept but also can
refuse. It is a reality outside of us. independent from external authority
which we form and express according to our talents. The fact that faith is a
gift is beyond question. If faith was given in our nature and if it wasn't a
gift from God, then all of us would
believe equally and we would assure a place to the Gospel in our life.
Faith,
in its content, is trust in God, living with him together. It is God's work in us,
entering our life, connecting with us, which speaks to us by faith and we answer
him. Faith is the beginning of our becoming perfect . We liberate from fear,
loneliness and bondage. We dedicate our life to the service of God and human
beings.
The
wholeness of faith is illustrated by Jesus' life. This is why Dávid
calls the
gospel "the most shining mirror of faith." Its knowledge strengthens
and makes our faith more conscious. We are justified by faith when it
becomes expressed in actions. For this reason faith and action are
inseparable. We demonstrate our faith before God by clear thoughts,
zealous
prayer and concern for spiritual matters. We demonstrate our faith
before human
beings by actions of justice and love.
From
the relationship between God and human beings results a faith which is
self-governing and presumes freedom. It contradicts any kind of forte or bondage by its essence. God
expects from us to assure a total freedom for his gift. One who violates
freedom of faith, offends not only against humanity but also against God.
Conscience
and reason are the assurance for freedom of faith; they protect it against degenerating into anarchism. Dávid
Ferenc summarized his theology in this way: "Let
people argue by their will,
to seek for the hidden essence of God or deal with the multitude of the person [persona)
and to turn around the wisdom of reason, but eternal life is to know your
only God who sent Jesus Christ. Who belíeves in
this, will be saved. And if
anybody preached another gospel, or would stick something to it , bears God's
judgment." He still adds to this that, as he had been the lover of
justice, he wants to remain in the future and to follow the true gospel of
God according to his capability. "If I was wrong in
something, I would give thanks to those who show more
that is true from God's gospel and I will follow it ."
4. Dávid Ferenc and
Religious Toleration.
Dávid
Ferenc's theology is associated with religious toleration and freedom of
conscience. Toleration was not indifference or humanistic philosophy, weakness,
incertitude, neither lack of conviction or obligation for him, but an
expression of his religious principles, way of life and attitude, openness
toward justice, respect and love for neighbor, resulting from his religion.
Through
it David recognized the human right that one is allowed to believe and teach
freely what one considers correct. Toleration excludes fear, incertitude,
force, oppression, fanaticism. But at the same time it assures a free exchange
of ideas, experiences, and approaches of different religíous views in order
that people respect each other and live in peace. This basically means love for
human beings is manifested in freedom. God, the Lord of peace, gives his gifts,
like faith, that they may be the means of peace, understanding and respect.
Nowhere
in the Scripture we can read, David says, that the gospel should be spread with
fire and sword. Christ's people and their sacrifice are spontaneous, cannot be
forced to acceptance of the gospel by threat of arms. „There is no greater mindlessness and absurdity than to force conscience
and the spirit with external power, when only their creator has authority for
them." Jesus himself gave the good example of mercy and compassionate
love, declaring that his kíngdom is not on this world, that the tares must not
be torn up so that the wheat will not suffer, but they should be left together
to live until the harvest. Neither had apostle Paul advised that people be
persecuted who confess a different faith from ours, but just to avoid them. And
he even flatly forbad us to condemn somebody to death because of one's faith.
We cannot be either more severe than Jesus and Paul had been, Dávid Ferenc
established. Respect for other persons does not mean, naturally, making allowances for others' moral errors; There is
no room for indulgence toward moral evil.
Amidst
religious debates, religious changes and struggles David remained faithful to
toleration and fought for it to prevail. His adversaries used the weapons of
sarcasm and depreciation, accused him with heresy and threatened him with sword
and with burning him alive. And yet, he never turned to intolerance of his
enemies. He preached according to his theological conception that in matters
of faith violence must be excluded; one must fight not with the weapons of
secular power but „with truth of the gospel and love of spirit." He left
revenge to God who took defense of his own cause.
Dávid
Ferenc demanded toleration even toward sinful people because God also wants the
fallen ones to convert and to live. A good mother doesn't throw away her son
who has fallen into sin, but she cares for him and tries to save him with every
means. The theologians and the servants of the church, having been given similar roles toward their
audience, are obliged by their office and according to order of the Scripture
to do the same.
Dávid
Ferenc asked for John Sigismund, instead of punishment, to accord all the
respect and reward to the loser, which should be allowed to write and teach: to
be given full freedom for everything they do in favor of their cause.
David
studied the problem of toleration and freedom of the conscience in detail. He
recognized the theat of evil must be punished according to God's order, but the
meaning of the Scripture on this topic is so different, that more than a
thousand years later the argument is
going on without any conclusion. And therefore, the earth had been covered by
blood of the innocent. No matter how we think that we know everything and are
never wrong, we still have to be careful, David warns, that among the justly crucified
thieves we should not crucify the innocent Jesus as well. Concerning this he
answers Major that in spite of his unjustified accusations, they [Dávid's party]
will suffer patiently and will pray to the heavenly Father to forgive all those
who slander them and persecute them.
Even
our moral sense argues for toleration, David says. How many sinful people live
because of indulgence of the law and authorities. If we tolerate the cursing,
haughty, envy, stingy, spoiled people among us and we live with them, we should
at least allow also merely life and thinking to those who have other conceptions
about Jesus. They don’t harm anybody and they would rather die than to speak or
act differently than the truth.
Only
toleration can liberate Christians from impatience and its consequences. Let us
tolerate each other and respect each other's faith, because all of us are God's
creatures, and brothers and sisters to each other.
5. The Diet of Torda in 1568
and religious toleration
The
theory of toleration of Dávid Ferenc hasn't remained isolated among theologians
and inner circles of the relígious debates, but it became a matter of common
knowledge. The king and the majority of the leaders of the country took a
position regarding it. Religious toleration and the cause of Davíd's
reformation had a turning point at the Diet held at Torda on January 6-13,1568.
Accepting the prince's proposition, the diet declared the decision as follows: "...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 did not do anything else but confirmed the real religious situation and
accepted the opinion of the majority when it sanctioned the principle of
tolerance and freedom of conscience. This edict meant recognition of Dávid
Ferenc's theory of toleration. The religious decree at Torda constituted an
important victory for the radical reformation and for progress, a unique
phenomenon in the 16th century. Implimentation of the law was imposed as a
religious obligation by Prince John Sigismund. The chancellor, Csáki Mihály, in
his closing speech at the second religious debate held at Fehérvár on March
8-18 emphasized that the prince will allow in the future for both sides to
discuss, "having the will that in his country a total religious freedom
will prevail." At the debate held on October 20-25 at Várad, the prince
himself declared that "in our kingdom, as we have sanction of it, we want
there to be freedom, because we know that faith is God's gift and the
conscience cannot be led by any force." Execution of the edict of the Diet
has been proven the best preservation of Unitarianism. The Transylvanian
principality was the only one in Europe in the 16th century to recognize the
Unitarian reformation and assured existence of its church.
The
religious edict fromTorda in 1568 assured toleration, freedom of andividual and
common conscience. "It is regrettable that because of the feudal social
system, the counter-reformation and autocracy of kings, the enactment of 1568
did not mean complete liberty and equality for all the coexsting religions.
Transylvania in the 16th century had been depending politically on the Ottoman
empire and the privileged classes who yielded power in the principality did not
acknowledge the Rumanians as a privileged nation of Transylvania though they
formed the majority of its population. So the church of the Rumanians, the
Orthodox church, was only a tolerated denomination. In this system the free
religious practice applied to the churches represented in the Diet."
The
edict of the diet from Torda, within the social and national limits of the age,
was a progressive act. It meant a positive
step forward on the way to a total, unconditioned religious freedom and freedom
of conscience.
Whoever
forgets the past must live through it agaín. But those who remember the past find
in it directions for the present and the future and can revive tradition in all
its richness. We have learned from the past that a long time and much
experience is needed until one can get to the realization: that no dogma is
worth opposing by harming humanity or love.
