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 - Laying the foundations for growth
67 increase in the number of children attending school. As a consequence, there arose a growing interest in Latin schools functioning in market towns. The schools with the most appeal were those which offered as complete an academic program as possible. The Reformed Church school in Miskolc, was a typical such example, having a philosophy-theology program functioning already in 1730 and thus able to widen educational possibilities for those who wished to orient themselves towards church-related intellectual (preacher or teacher) careers. It was this which held sway for children of market town background and for the gifted children of the peasant class. The school in Sárospatak had been functioning according to a college-type structure for quite some time now. But after having returned to the site of its original establishment and operating within the context of stabilized conditions, the time-old traditions were no longer sufficient as a basis for further development because the magnitude of the strife within effectively effaced all potential of this. As a consequence, further evolution of the school in Patak did not unfold until several decades later. Despite there being an increasing number of students at the lower secondary school level, the number of students signing the school’s regulations did not increase. Neither the program offered at the academic level nor the inner ambience of the institution had much appeal to prospective students. In essence, the principle difficulty - which, naturally enough, also had economical and financial origins - was that the number of departments at the academic level did not increase. Many expected Mihály Szathmári Paksi and Dávid Sárkány to turn things around and lay the foundations for development in Patak. Szathmári had excellent connections in the Cistabiscan region. He had studied at the College- in-exile in both Gyulafehérvár and Kassa and also when it was in Sárospatak in 1703. In 1708, he worked in Tokaj as the school’s rector. Between 1709 and 1711, he studied in Franeker and Utrecht. Upon returning home, he became a pastor in Tokaj at the end of 1711 and then, in February 1716, he took a position as a teacher in Gyulafehérvár. From here he moved to Marosvásárhely along with the school and taught theology at the College from 1718 on. He was the son-in-law of Pál Debreceni Ember, who worked in Hegyalja and also in Patak. No longer young at this stage of his life - born in 1683 -, he was well-respected and considered to be an excellent teacher and won the approval of the patrons. Dávid Sárkány, in leaving the parish in Mezőcsát for the post in Patak, technically exchanged places with Gergely Nagymihályi Szomoló who was forced to leave the school. Sárkány had been a student in Patak, having signed the regulations in 1719, but had to leave the school in 1722 because of disciplinary issues. He had been a student of Nagymihályi and had most likely participated in the disruptions of the By the 1730s it became clear that it was no longer possible to maintain the traditional corporate governing structure of the Reformed Church and that it was necessary to do something in the interests of limiting the fragmentation of church organization. After lengthy discussions, with the leadership of Pál Ráday, the church fathers finally decided to establish four uniform church districts. As a consequence, the church county deanships of the Cistibiscan region were also organized into a bishop-led church district and elected their first bishop in 1773. The new district-type church structure was affirmed by a sovereign decree and, in the wake of this, the Cisitibiscan district of the Reformed Church came into being and its first bishop inducted in 1735. At the assembly in Bodrogkeresz- tiír in November 1734, the offices of church government for lay representatives were established (chief lay officer of the county, head lay officer) and, with this, the influential members of the middle noble class were lifted into the church’s system of government.
