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
the invitation to teach in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca at present), several of his students from Patak joined him. After two years of teaching in Kolozsvár, he returned to Sárospatak where he stayed until his death. Students here had the possibility of studying a wide array of disciplines under his guidance: grammar, Greek, physics, geometry, geography, astronomy, poetics, history, ethics, rhetoric, dialectics, music, economics, politics, theology and ecclesiastical law. In essence, the entire domain of science existent in the 16th century could be sampled in Sárospatak at the time. However, we need to point to the fact that it was not possible for any one student to pursue studies in all of these different disciplines. It was only within the given framework typical throughout the country at the time that students had the chance to select the discipline they wished to study and the information they wished to acquire. For instance, those wishing careers as members of the clergy studied theology and ecclesiastical law. János Vitus Balsaráti left Sárospatak in 1550 to pursue studies in Wittenberg. In 1560 he returned home and became the doctor in Gábor Perényi’s court. He obtained a master’s degree in Wittenberg in 1554. Not having obtained Melanchthon’s recommendation to pursue studies to become a clergyman, he opted to study medicine, also in Wittenberg. He later studied in Padua and in Bologna, it being in the latter place that he was accorded a doctorate. He became an in-law of Szikszai when his younger sister married the teacher from Patak. It was at the occasion of his funeral, in April 1575, that Szikszai gave a graveside memorial speech in which he emphasized how much Balsaráti had done for the school in Patak. Mentioned was that, on the one hand, he had persuaded Gábor Perényi to be a generous supporter of the school, and, on the other hand, he visited the school on a daily basis, providing the students with school equipment and books, and also attended to those who were ill. It would appear that he also served as instructor of the natural sciences here, Szikszai himself having professed to be have been a student of his in these disciplines. (There is no exaggeration to be seen in this, given that Luther himself also attended Melanchthon’s Greek classes in Wittenberg at the time.) Szikszai compiled a Latin-Hungarian school dictionary for his students, which spread in manuscript copies and was only published in print fifteen years after the death of its author (Nomenclatura seu dictionarium Latino-Ungaricum). The extremely rich natural science content of this dictionary surely was prepared with the cooperation of Balsaráti, which in itself can be taken as proof of his activity as an instructor. Szikszai received a teaching assistant (lector) in 1575 in the person of Péter Lőrinc Beregszászi. From that time on, the institution had two teachers on staff with university qualifications while the lower classes were still taught by “collaborators” selected from among the senior students. Gábor Perényi passed away in 1567 and his wife, Ilona Országh, passed away two years later, so Sárospatak became a property of the royal court for a short period of time. It was in this period that, on 29 October 1569, the sovereign, Maximilian I. issued a charter which, to some extent, has allowed a glimpse into the inner life of the school. It 13 János Balsaráti Vitus’s note in the presentation volume of the famous natural scientist Konrád Gessner in Zurich (1556). Balsaráti quoted Melanchthon’s epigram as written in Luke 24,29.: Vespera iam venit nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lu-cem ne patiare tuam (Ah, remain with us, Lord Jesus Christ, because evening approaches now, Your divine Word, the bright light, let it not be extinguished among us.) Lukács Szikszai who accompanied Balsaráti wrote a motto in Hungarian: Jesus Christ is Redeemer, Intercessor and Savior
