True Heirs of Jan Łaski: Polish Brethren Church Discipline in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and During Their Exile in Transylvania

The extant historiography on both Socinianism and Protestant church discipline has thus far not paid much attention to the subject of church discipline among the Polish Brethren. Based on the surviving sources, I argue that from the start Polish Brethren church discipline was a central feature of the church’s life and theology. This emphasis was shaped not only by the liturgical practices of Jan Łaski (preparatory services, congregational participation), but also by the theology of the Racovian Catechism. Both envision a Christian Church gathered around the Lord’s Table, a pure community with its members reconciled to one another in anticipation of receiving bread and wine. Far from being sectarian, its purpose was to consolidate the faithful theologically (especially before 1600) and to keep the members fervent in faith dedicated to the teaching of Christ and separated the believers from pretenders and sinners. In this chapter I analyze its practice before their expulsion from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1658 and then in their refugee congregation of Kolozsvár, Transylvania, almost until the end of the eighteenth century.