Fraternity-Testvériség, 1959 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1959-01-01 / 1. szám
FRATERNITY 9 so, moreover, under three separate counts. Firstly, it appeared under the guise of Unitarianism. The Unitarians were those who, in the name of the human intellect, sought to “simplify” the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity; moreover, this intellectual approach to theology was usually coupled with a stress on ethical values. Christ became for the Unitarian not the Saviour, but the great Example of the good life. Secondly, there were the Anabaptists and “Sabbatarians”. The chief emphasis of the former in the matter of biblical exegesis was not on Grace but rather on Law. They looked upon the New Testament as the book of the Law of God. The latter, on the other hand, considered themselves as being only under the Law of the Old Testament. An extreme religious subjectivism was the third aspect of this movement. Its exponents laid great stress on the inner light, on visions, dreams, and private and personal experience of the Holy Spirit. Some of them imagined that the end of the world was at hand, others looked for an immediate Second Coming, and consequently felt themselves free of all moral restraints and social ties. The movement began in Transylvania when an Italian called Blandrata sought to induce the whole Reformed Church to take “a step forward”, as he called it, and embrace Antitrinitarianism. He succeeded in persuading the outstandingly fine and capable and much loved bishop Francis David to adopt this point of view. In 1564 Blandrata reported back to his Italian Unitarian brethren that the Unitarian movement had made great strides in Transylvania. Public disputations began to be held in the cities. At these disputations it was found that Blandrata had the powerful backing of the prince of the land, John Sigismund. The result was that the Reformed faith lost favor at the court, so that the leaders of the Helvetic section of the Protestant Church had to leave Kolozsvár (Cluj), the capital city, and settle in the country.
