Itt-Ott, 1992 (25. évfolyam, 1/119-3/121. szám)
1992 / 1. (119.) szám
Akadémia A. Sándor Unghváry (Buena Vista, CO): Francis David: The Apostle of Unitarianism In the religious history of East Central Europe, two Church founders come to mind. One is John Huss (1369-1415), the Czech reformer, and the other is Francis Dávid (15107-1579), the Unitarian theologian of Hungary. Their roles were similar on many points, and the lives of both reformers ended in martyrdom. John Huss John Huss originally wanted to bring about a religious reform for his people such as had been accomplished in England by John Wycliffe (1328-1384). However, Huss’ reform activity challenged the predominant political and religious supremacy of the ruling German stratum of society. This made the church renovator both the adversary of the Germans and a Czech national hero (Kaminsky 1967, 59). Thus, very early on, as spokesman in the ethnic and linguistic antagonism that divided Slavs and Germans, he became, among others, the creator of nationalism based on language, a significant historical phenomenon appearing in East Central Europe, where Poles and Hungarians were defending themselves against germanization, as had happened in Czech territory. Hussitism, emerging from ethnic and linguistic consciousness, became a religious movement which had a profound influence on the life of neighboring peoples with similar problems in similar settings. This religious development and the ensuing socio-political one that grew out of it absorbed the strength of the Czech people for centuries and ended with negative results. Hussitism broke up into factions, became radical, and a religious communism took over which was completely destroyed by the Habsburg rulers. Many Czech historians have condemned the extremist Hussite movement, and among those who thus evaluate its historical significance is Rudolf Rican, who wrote: “Zizka and the Taborites as fanatical warriors took delight in the shedding of blood. It was through them that the Czech nation suffered heavy damage and was torn into two parts, which bled in fratricide... For two hundred years the majority of the people were seduced into heresy (Rican , 59).” Joseph Pekar, on the other hand, judged the events differently and stressed that the continuous war isolated the nation from its South European culture. When the nation became involved in the Thirty Paper presented at the Conference on Religious Freedom and Human Rights — Unitarians and Transylvania, University of Toledo, Ohio, October 3—6, 1990. Professor Unghváry is living in retirement in Buena Vista, Colorado. Years’ War, it entirely sapped its strength (Rican , 60). He searched for a deeper cause of Hussitism and found it in the Slavic-German conflicts of interest: “One is in the habit of saying that the Hussite movement and especially their wars can be seen as proof of Czech force against German elements in Bohemia and against their German neighbors (Rican , 62).” Ernest Denis summarized: “The historians of that age agree that the fanatic sectarians inflicted deadly wounds on their own people. The Hussites overestimated their power and fought a vain battle which exhausted the strength of the nation (Rican , 124).” Although the depleted popular church of the Czechs comforted itself with the thought that through suffering the primitive church of the first century could be recreated, their church almost disappeared from the pages of history, and it was only during the Enlightenment that it was reorganized and, with the help of the neighboring Hungarian Reformed churches, rebuilt (Prazek 1962). Thus, John Huss, as a politico-religious martyr, contributed indirectly to the social and religious development of East Central Europe. Francis Dávid Francis Dávid, the second founder, labored along with the reformers of the sixteenth century on the renewal of the Church in Hungary. Unlike Huss, he was interested only in theological questions, and in the course of his activity as a reformer he founded the Unitarian Church. 1 In his struggle for religious change he, acting like a furor theologicus, burned out his whole life in order to destroy the old dogmas and to replace them with his new ones. In the meantime he almost argued to death the spiritual, cultural, and political forces of his country. He was doing this when the country itself was engaged in a life and death struggle against the attacks of the Islamic Turks. Those who have appraised Francis Dávid up until now have tended to elevate him into a transcendental world and have almost forgotten to fit him into his own age. It is necessary to relate him to the actual history of the sixteenth century in the course of surveying his life’s work. His role is very complex, and all four church denominations of his time eventually excommunicated Dávid, even though he played a leading role in each of them for a short while. To this day it is a matter open to discussion which confession will claim him as its own: Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed or Unitarian. To which one was he true himself? The historical dilemma of his day was this: How could the atomized Hungarian society survive when the Muslim Turks were set on destroying it biologically, and to what degree could the Unitarian Church fulfill the historical task that fell to it, to spiritually integrate the nation and strengthen its national consciousness? In this relation Francis Dávid is a paradox in that he did not feel responsibility for political questions. In ITT-OTT 25. évf. (1992), 1. (119.) szám 21
