The Late Confessionalization of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church and the Polish Brethren

From the beginning of its existence, the Antitrinitarian Church in Transylvania implemented quite successful experiments in ecclesiastical tolerance, which was codified from 1568 in laws granting the complete freedom of preaching and the free election of preachers to all congregations. The fruitful cooperation with Polish Brethren in the first years was interrupted at the time of Ferenc Dávid’s conviction. In the three decades before 1638, the contacts between the Polish and Transylvanian Unitarians though didn’t result in theological unification but inspired both sides to new ways of expression, which should be considered in further research. When it came to the Unitarian Church in Transylvania, modest efforts to unify the church theologically and liturgically, ban nonadorantism, and put constraints on the freedom of conscience, as reflected in the Disciplina Ecclesiastica, met moderate success. Bishop Radecke’s endeavour to introduce Socinianism to the Saxon congregation led to a mass conversion of believers to Calvinism. The remaining Saxon Unitarians dissatisfied with their preacher, the Socinian Ravius, removed him from office. Ravius found an ally in the Calvinist Prince Bethlen, who was already increasing the influence of the Calvinists in Kolozsvár. The laws of the Diet of Dés banned sabbatarianism and nonadorantism from the Unitarian Church while bringing outward conformity to the Church at the cost of destruction and suffering of the dissidents.