Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
THE SCHOOL IN ITS “OLD NEST” AGAIN HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE BETWEEN1703 AND 1777 - János Csécsi Jr. - a unique period in the history of the College
HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE BETWEEN 1703 AND 1777 62 Röell’s teaching gave rise to much debate JÁNOS CSÉCSI JR. - A UNIGUE PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE On 20 February 1713, János Csécsi Jr. was installed and took his deceased father’s place as a member of the staff in the College of Sárospatak. He was barely twenty- three years old and had just returned from his studies in Europe, having been in the Netherlands, England, Switzerland, France and Germany. The struggle to not lose the College was still on, this being coordinated under the direction of András Füleki, professor and rector. Relations between the two began with difficulty, Füleki not having supported Csécsi’s appointment. The reasons for this are unknown; perhaps they had theological differences. Füleki signed the regulations of the Sárospatak-Gyulafehérvár College in 1695. In 1700, as a student in Leiden, it is conceivable that he studied under professor Johannes Marckius (+1731), given that the influence of Marckius’ theological orientation surfaced in everything he later taught. But there were other indications, also, which might lend support to this conjecture. Marckius, in his theological convictions, embraced and advanced the views of Gijsbert Voetius, who was firmly anchored in Reformed orthodoxy but, instead of interpreting this purely as theory, he emphasized sanctification and the consequences of such faith. Perhaps this theory was no longer sufficiently modern, much like Füleki himself when he transmitted this type of theology, but, in the situation in which the Hungarian Reformed community found itself at the time, it was precisely this rigorous and cohesive spiritual background which was needed, for mere existence and survival were at stake. János Csécsi Jr. was part of a new generation and brought a fresh spirit to Patak. During his first year he taught Jewish antiquities, Hebrew, Greek, church history, geometry and geography - having developed a new approach to the latter. János Szombathi mentions at least forty different subjects -including astronomy, experimental physics, geometry, optics and architecture - which he had taught. This was only made possible by him not giving lectures in every subject on a regular basis, these being organized in yearly rotation, something which greatly diminished their effectiveness. In teaching philosophy, he expounded on the basics of Descartes’ philosophy. Two teachers had had a great impact on him, these being Campegius Vitringa (1693-1723), an expert in Hebrew in Franeker, and Herman Alexander Röell (1653-1718), a professor of philosophy in Utrecht. The latter escorted him to the ship which he boarded when leaving Utrecht, this being indicative of the father-son relationship which had developed between the two. In the realm of philosophy, Csécsi was a Cartesian; in the domain of theology, he favoured the views of Johannes Coccejus. He tried to prove the compatibility of accepting revelation and meaningful reflection. Röell’s teachings incited small storms in the Netherlands in both academic and ecclesiastical circles and several church synods condemned them. The reaction was much the same in Hungary. Csécsi conveyed his lessons in theology in the spirit of Vitringa and Röell. He adopted a new approach to explaining the Scriptures in terms of Vitringa’s work. At the same time, he explained the Bible through the free thinking which he had learned from Röell’s philosophy. Within this context, it is understandable that when he chose a tenet originating from his renown teacher as the theme of the
