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 - The situation in Sárospatak of those of the Reformed faith
THE SCHOOL IN ITS “OLD NEST” AGAIN HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE BETWEEN 1703 AND 1777 THE SITUATION IN SÁROSPATAK OF THOSE OF THE REFORMED FAITH “I hear that serving God is not allowed within the city; you have to go to some village called Hotyka to do that. Since I was ordered to oversee the territories on the western side of the Tisza River and I have quite sufficient ‘plenipotentia [omnipotence], God was the one who brought me here, so I leave you, I even command you that from this day on you should not go elsewhere but serve and worship God in this very place as you did before.” Pál Csicseri Orosz, Ferenc Rákóczi IPs first officer issued this declaration before the judge and town council of Sárospatak on 2 September 1703 after he had entered the town with his troops. Later, on 22 November 1704, the prince, as the lord of the land, reaffirmed the right of religious freedom for those of the Reformed faith. Thus liberated service to God was restored, but the ‘good old days’ did not return. The Calvinists had to give up the church completely and the congregation’s former sources of income were not restituted. After the War of Independence, the Reformed Church lived under pressure for decades, its every mission-type undertaking being met by the protests of the Catholics. The leader of the Jesuits regularly denounced and lodged complaint against the Reformed Church pastors and teachers of the College with the chief county authorities. A favourable turn of events set in after 1711 when Patak found itself with a new landlord. This Trautson family did not seek to alter the current denominational situation by force, in fact, they proved to be very supportive of the Calvinists. János Trautson was one mediator among others who played an important role in the inception of the royal decree issued in 1714 which proved favourable for both the College and the parish. And János Vilmos Trautson gave timber logs as a gift for the roof of the new church. Compared to previous decades, this period was much more favourable, but the trying situation in the religious sphere brought challenging decades. The unique social situation of the Reformed Church provided significant assistance in surviving these decades. In the first half of the 18th century, all the members of the town council were denominationally Reformed; in the second half of the century, the Reformed-faith community still maintained a very significant Ferenc Rákóczi II
