Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY - The Puritan debate arena - breach and renewal in 1638 - 1649
37 senior pastor in Patak charged with representing György Rákóczi who himself was living in Transylvania at the time) and the dean of Zemplén church county, István Miskolci Csulyák, criticized them openly and displayed unconcealed hostility. These churchmen tried to persuade the prince to wield his power and squelch the Puritan teachers and their reforms. Those who were student leaders in 1641 had very favourable opinions concerning their teachers. Nonetheless, the inner peace of the school was disrupted in the following year and the tension apparently existing beneath the surface finally erupted. One of the main reasons was János Tolnai Dáli himself who was highly educated but most impatient. From a pedagogical point of view, his rude and exaggerated criticism was just as harmful as his detrimental leadership style. He tendered his views on grace to his students, but unsurprisingly, not all of his students made as rapid and as intense a commitment as he had expected; he was thus very impatient with these students and he openly insulted them often; those who were not part of the Puritans’ circle he called Satanic souls, bastards, unreasoning animals, cattle, dogs and pigs; he declared that dogs and pigs could have grown more in faith and grace than these students during this time. His actions were divisive and the students grouped into two factions: the pietists and the non-pietists; he was exceptionally friendly with the first group. The situation degenerated so much that he tried to expel students from the school who were opposed to his views or methods. It seems that his goal was to try to create a Puritan island in Patak. But he was unable to gain the support of the majority of the students for this. When elections were held for new student leaders, he disregarded the votes for the opposing faction and favored his own students, even if they were in the minority. In this acrimonious situation the curriculum reform began to stall and the offended youths started to question the reform itself. The Puritan breakthrough attempt failed in Sárospatak. János Tolnai had to give up his teaching position in 1642, along with Dániel Kolosi. Erdőbényei had already left by this time. The struggle to achieve a variety of practical objectives continued in church circles and lasted for many years. Although illustrious patrons like Zsuzsanna Lorántffy sided with the Puritan initiative, it failed to implement the desired goals in the short run. The failure had its own reasons at the receiving end as well. The Reformed Church model which Tolnai hoped to advance had evolved within the framework of civil society in Western Europe and could not be implemented into Hungary’s feudal society without similar transition. It is to be noted that Puritanism did not rise to dominance within the walls of the Dutch universities either, Calvinist orthodoxy having maintained its strong position there, also. Thus a clear, easy-to-follow template was not available for the use of the members of the Puritain movement. It was only with great difficulty that the College was able to surmount this period of dissension. For a long time there was no third teacher invited. The tension among the students continued to mount. During a brief period, István Szilágyi Benjámin, a committed anti-Puritan as well as the first to introduce Comenius’ textbooks in Hungary, was a teacher here György Rákóczi I. died in 1648. His widow and younger son, Prince Zsig- mond, became the patrons of the school. They gave János Tolnai a second chance János Tolnai Dáli’s letter to István Miskolci Csulyak
