Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
Dénes Dienes: THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY - In the Spirit of Melanchthon 1558-1576
12 THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY Nomenclatura by Szikszai A poem of the son evoking such memories refers to this, alluding to the excellent teacher’s achievement: God bless you, holy ashes, my precious father’s remains, By loyalty hidden beneath the mound of the grave. Protected by tribute and glory obliged to remember, Mourns thee our homeland and blesses thee the church and the school. See, your late offspring now wailing and weeping, And because of such grief can they neither live nor die. Pál Farkas Thúri’s successor as director of the school was an individual who, apart from a short interim, spent the rest of his life in Sárospatak in this profession. It is no coincidence that during these years the school grew and developed into a college, becoming an institution, which, in addition to providing education in humanist culture, also provided philosophical and theological training and evolved to be one of the most significant citadels of Protestant pastor training in the nation. Balázs Fabricius Szikszai’s (1530-1576) study trip is of recognized relevance because all the experience which he gathered throughout this undertaking certainly influenced the evolution and direction of the Patak school. A fairly good school was operating already in Szikszó, his hometown, but he left it to go to Kassa (Kosice at present) at the end of the 1540’s, where he began to study Greek. In 1550 he began teaching in the neighbouring Nagyida where there may have been an elementary school functioning. Here he became the educator of the landlord’s sons and, as a private tutor, he accompanied the elder son, János Perényi, to enroll at the secondary school in Bártfa. Here Lénárd Stöckel, the rector, had organized and directed one of most excellent schools of the 16th century bearing the traits of strong Wittenberg influences. Szikszai must have learned German here, since he took his pupil to Bártfa primarily with this aim, but it is also possible that he had acquired facility in German already in Kassa. In 1555 he took on the position of rector in the market town of Sajószentpéter in a school with standards similar to that of the school in Szikszó. From here, at the beginning of 1558, he went to the University of Wittenberg, primarily on the advice of his pastor, György Kakas, who, after completing studies in Krakow, spent not less than nineteen years in Luther’s city. Szikszai is known to have been one of Mel- anchthon’s favorite students. Interestingly, Melanchthon never recommended that he pursue the vocation of pastor; the student Szikszai heeded the master and thus remained a teacher for the rest of his life. His works reflect a humanist literacy of indubitably high standards, as well as impeccable rhetoric skills. When Balázs Fabricius Szikszai became the rector of the school in Patak in 1562, he was not only thoroughly academically well-grounded but also possessed already several years of teaching experience in his homeland. Presumably in Kassa, but most certainly in Bártfa, he may have contemplated how the school-based pedagogical approaches and practices of Wittenberg could be transplanted within his home environment. It is simultaneously irrefutable that he was a believer and follower of the Helvetian Reformed orientation, as is readily evidenced by the role he played at the Synod of Tarcal in 1562. An indication of the quality of his personal influence as a teacher became obvious when, in 1564, he accepted
