Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
Dénes Dienes: THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY - The humanist Reformed college 1577-1599
16 THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY ch*Aj-w* ■Hiten w ff 7Cf.v~%±-., 3 9 u * «W»' * + f t---■ <**»■,/r,«J.t, ~.y* 5,i v#i .-/■•■ / . -< ■ ■ ----* y j j 6f }p uf*y ■'"li'frjftr mM rtrt f'ijnnmttf ry, hirK^trt. Irfttu'r' tLjMi'i, iamr* bititfril» wk iff JtTXfm Tton ^[renn-KÁi Ki* Math prr< Vt+cr* V.'/r*«-*- *U.*H*. oU n>h t ?uf,iZÍ'f,‘ZU ■ «* * 'rrtj.Afatu H ift*.. !J»k t*«. t fnrry»r* *4 otu< « fntr >j>*j jtt* Am q^ </ *w*4 ejatjerujtwi fxtriivbrl •MrlUtf «ynW 1**4r » falikjtMt*, hrLyu f'Vi x- ir/itlif et- (rrUjuf , f-rtj-}*, •litruyu JiKor*tv urkxrpknu +<*imitiuf, Vr Jtxj««*» Vefttv-kr* Au«? feMttu kw ** i'jv-pnl, eff*ri*it tu tnu*,' ftrvkk , ?+ «n/ phfYt'tmA-iu tvrb**M Mkki *4 frritytW. jjuttl ,iuf-s4r*h< <4 ti'l'**/ tjLytvr, ^uii Cc> jtvunfnuf. /fav ww riiUf'jint-tt« ■** tuft **' k**forn v-jw. Ttrt>[e* iU. 'ífMctí <J{m km< a./f>tr i.tt* ' ' ' ' ' (y r*Íu( **» (*** ____^_.J j *rr%4 ,r* f** «</w -fUj 7>« 4t tmp-nmi pt'M.tHrr. ***Lkf< jj-iiii *,-*«« *íí, y<Jurr<ii*i*<* tui-tjuinv fa*»** « K**f4-r* U- <*f-*4 irrt* farait c h • 1+- T*+4**m fle*4 ■),. rrl^-y. ant stations of his studies abroad during the last ten years: Wittenberg, Basel, Heidelberg, Frankfurt am Main, Krakow, Geneva, Zürich, Strasburg, Paris and Padua. According to his peers, Paksi spoke six languages and must have been a worthy successor of Szikszai, but regrettably, he left Patak in 1579 after only a shorter stay. From 1577, Paksi’s teaching assistant was György Császár Kassai, who was promoted to be the position of rector after Paksi’s departure. This position he held until the end of 1583, when he became the senior pastor in Patak. Mátyás Thoraconymus became the lector in 1579 and then rector in 1583. He was an active teacher in Sárospatak until his death in 1586. He was of Slovakian background (Matej Kabát) but he spoke German and Hungarian flawlessly. He studied at the University of Wittenerg, but like many other Hungarian students there, he leaned towards the Reformed teachings of the Helvetian orientation. Hence, his situation became increasingly tenuous in the Upper-Hungarian Lutheran environment where he had accepted teaching positions (Késmárk, Kassa). In Patak, however, he was able to work freely and he considered teaching to be his vocation. There is direct proof from him as source regarding the school already priding itself in having an independent department of theological disciplines. He writes in the foreword recommendation of his work pertaining to a Christolog- ical topic - Tractatulus de hypostatica unione duarum naturarum in Christo - that its contents “were just presented and explained to my students”. The plague, which took him from the living in 1586 - together with György Császár Kassai - disrupted the course of a flourishing and very promising era in the life of the college. The eminent Transylvanian Saxon humanist, Georg Deidrich, visited Sárospatak, also, at this time during his travels to Upper-Hungary. Very well informed, he described the school with the customary humanist exaggerations, yet with not undeserved praises: r 7 3 ■f ?"***■ "••Hr-'"J" -1 er' el Mir Vvm-h JHuxie ^ _ When Császár, Thóraconym resided in you, (Peer society shining of both) I remember, with your proud head, among other towns You reach up alone to the skies happily. Yet claiming, your name was raised to the same extent By Pilcius, Ajon’s rare singer of the lute, In the wake of whose strings, till the strings resound, Gazing, the foam of the Bodrog stops, declining to flee. Meditatio passionis Christi - Leonard Stöckels lectures were recorded on paper mainly by Thoraconymus When Deidrich was here, the rector was already Gáspár Pilcius, a humanist with German ancestry from the Szepesség, who, similarly to Thoraconymus, was a crypto-Calvinist. His appearance in Patak clearly shows that the humanist spirit may still have been strong within the walls of the school. Pilcius’ lector was Izsák Fegyverneki, the second teacher who was a former student in Patak. Furthermore, it is not immaterial that he had also studied in Heidelberg. (The period during which the University of Wittenberg provided teachers for Sárospatak gradually ended.) Fegyverneki wrote and published his theological dictionary (Enchiridion) during his studies at university, it becoming so popular that it was re-issued fourteen times in the following three decades. Its author was more a theologian than a humanist. One of his unidentified students described him as
