The Unitarian Church of Transylvania ( hu, Erdélyi Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană din Transilvania), also known as the Hungarian Unitarian Church ( hu, Magyar Unitárius Egyház; ro, Biserica Unitariană Maghiară), is a Christian church of the
Unitarian tradition, based in the city of
Cluj,
Transylvania,
Romania. Founded in 1568 in the
Eastern Hungarian Kingdom
The Eastern Hungarian Kingdom ( hu, keleti Magyar Királyság) is a modern term coined by some historians to designate the realm of John Zápolya and his son John Sigismund Zápolya, who contested the claims of the House of Habsburg to rule the ...
, it is the oldest continuing Unitarian
denomination in the world. It has a majority-
Hungarian following, and is one of the 18
religious denominations
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...
given official recognition by the Romanian state.
The Transylvanian and Hungarian Unitarians represent the only branch of Unitarianism not to have adopted a
congregationalist polity
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...
, and remains quasi-
episcopal
Episcopal may refer to:
*Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church
*Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese
*Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name
** Episcopal Church (United State ...
; the Irish
Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church, a distinct body closely related to Unitarianism, has a
presbyterian structure.
[Paul F. Bradshaw, ''The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship'', SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd, London, 2002, p.460. ] The Unitarian Church of Transylvania is administrated by a
bishop and two Curators-General, being divided into five
Archpriest
The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...
ships.
Since 2021, its bishop is the Rev. István Kovács. The Church, which uses Hungarian as the liturgical language, also endorses and teaches a
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
.
Together with the Calvinist
Reformed Church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
and the two
Lutheran churches of Romania (the
Evangelical Lutheran Church Evangelical Lutheran Church can refer to many different Lutheran churches in the world. Among them are the following:
U.S.
* Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mainline Protestant denomination in Chicago, Illinois
* Evangelical Lutheran Chu ...
and the
Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession), the Unitarian community runs the
Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj, wherein Unitarianism is represented by a distinct section. In addition, it has two high school-level theological educational institutions.
[ Marius Vasileanu]
"Cultele din România: Biserica Unitariană"
in ''Adevărul
''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...
'', May 25, 2006 (hosted by Hotnews.ro); retrieved July 27, 2007
Demographics
According to the results of the 2002 census, there are 66,846 Romanian citizens of the Unitarian faith (0.3% of the total population). Church officials place the number of believers at 80,000-100,000.
Of the total Hungarian minority, Unitarians represent 4.55%, being the third denominational group after members of the
Reformed Church in Romania (47.10%) and
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(41.20%). Since 1700, the Unitarian Church has had 125
parishes — in 2006, there were 110 Unitarian priests and 141 places of worship in Romania.
The vast majority of church adherents live in Transylvania, mostly between
Sighişoara (''Segesvár'') and
Odorheiu Secuiesc (''Székelyudvarhely''), more or less around
Dârjiu (''Székelyderzs''). The Unitarian church is especially strong in Dârjiu,
Atid (''Etéd''),
Cristuru Secuiesc (''Székelykeresztúr''),
Feliceni (''Felsőboldogfalva''),
Inlăceni
Atid ( hu, Etéd, ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.
Component villages
The commune is composed of five villages:
History
From ancient times the area w ...
(''Énlaka''), and
Mugeni
Mugeni ( hu, Bögöz ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.
Component villages
The commune is composed of eight villages:
In 2004, the villages of Porumben ...
(''Bögöz''), where Unitarians make up a large majority of the population. All of these localities are situated in the southwestern corner of
Harghita County, except for Sighişoara which is located immediately outside of that area in the Southeastern corner of
Mureș County.
History
The Unitarian Church was first recognized by the
Edict of Torda
The Edict of Torda ( hu, tordai ediktum, ro, Edictul de la Turda, german: Edikt von Torda) was a decree that authorized local communities to freely elect their preachers in the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom of John Sigismund Zápolya. The delegates o ...
, issued by the
Transylvanian Diet under its Unitarian
Prince John II Sigismund Zápolya (January 1568),
[Earl A. Pope, "Protestantism in Romania", in Sabrina Petra Ramet (ed.), ''Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras'', Duke University Press, Durham, 1992, p.160. ] and was first led by
Ferenc Dávid (a former
Calvinist bishop, who had begun preaching the new doctrine in 1566). Early on, the Unitarian Church had notable successes: it included 425 parishes, made use of the monumental
St. Michael's Church in Cluj-Napoca,
and attracted members of the eastern Transylvanian
Székely Székely may refer to:
*Székelys, Hungarian people from the historical region of Transylvania, Romania
**Székely Land, historic and ethnographic area in Transylvania, Romania
* Székely (village), a village in northeastern Hungary
*Székely (sur ...
community in large numbers.
The Church attracted suspicion from all other established religions,
Roman Catholic as well as
Protestant, with both camps deeming it
heretical.
After Dávid's imprisonment and 1579 death in custody, the institution entered a period of decline.
The church in Transylvania received many refugees following the expulsion of the
Socinian Polish Brethren from Poland on July 20, 1658, and maintained contact with the dispersed communities of
Polish Brethren in the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Andrzej Wiszowaty Jr. Andrzej Wiszowaty Jr. (c.1690 – 1735) was a grandson of Andrzej Wiszowaty Sr. He taught at the Unitarian Gymnasium in Kolozsvár (today Cluj ) from 1726 or before.
It appears that Andrzej Jr. was born while his father Benedykt Wiszowaty was a Un ...
, great-great grandson of
Fausto Sozzini, was one of the Polish exiles who taught at the
Unitarian College in Cluj-Napoca, in the period in the 1730s when the church was reorganized and strengthened by
Mihály Lombard de Szentábrahám, author of the church's official statement of faith, the ''
Summa Universae Theologiae Christianae secundum Unitarios Summa Universae Theologiae Christianae secundum Unitarios (English ''A Digest of Christian Theology according to the Unitarians'') is a statement of faith of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania officially recognised by Joseph II in 1782.
The subt ...
''.
Following the
Union of Transylvania with Romania at the end of
World War I, Unitarian congregations were established in regions of the
Old Kingdom: the first Unitarian church in
Bucharest was founded in 1933 (its building was later demolished).
During World War II, when Hungary ruled
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...
, the church, to prove its devotion to the official state ideology, engaged in anti-Semitic activity, despite having previously accepted many converts of Jewish origin.
American and British Unitarians became aware of the survival of the Unitarian Church in Transylvania following the visit of
Alexander Farkas to Pennsylvania in 1831 and publication of his ''Account of the Unitarians of Transylvania'', which was communicated in Latin to the Secretary of the
British and Foreign Unitarian Association and published in ''The Unitarian advocate and religious miscellany'' in 1832. On 5 June 1899 the
American Unitarian Association sent a letter to Bishop Jozsef Ferencz of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church inviting the leaders of the church to the first
International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) conference in 1900. With the exception of 1920, Transylvanian Unitarian leaders have been present at all IARF congresses, and, in May 1975,
Communist authorities allowed it to welcome the IARF's executive committee in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
Árpád Szabó
Árpád Szabó (31 December 1878 – 31 July 1948) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary in 1947 and Minister of Agriculture between 1947 and 1948.
He taught in Mezőberény since 1901. He became ...
, Molnár B. Lehel, "Role of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania (Romania)", in ''Centennial Reflections: International Association for Religious Freedom, 1900–2000'', Assen, 2001, p.107-111. In 1994, the IARF European Conference was held in the same location.
The Transylvanian Unitarian Church is also a founding member of the
International Council of Unitarians and Universalists
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) was an umbrella organization founded in 1995 comprising many Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist organizations. It was disolved in 2021 along with the Unitarian ...
.
In 2016, the deputy bishop announced his support for
same-sex marriage. In 2018, the governing body of the church voted to only bless marriages recognized by the state, presently only heterosexual marriages, but did vote to allow individual members to express their own opinions on marriage.
Churches
The locality of Dârjiu is home to a 13th-century
fortified church, later reformed as Unitarian, which is on
UNESCO's
World Heritage List. Murals, dating back to the Roman Catholic period, show
King Ladislaus I of Hungary's legend:
Cumans broke into the
Kingdom of Hungary; Duke Ladislaus, along with his cousin King
Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
, rode against them and freed a girl believed to be daughter of a Hungarian nobleman from a Cuman's hands. Further murals in the region are to be found at Unitarian churches in
Mugeni
Mugeni ( hu, Bögöz ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.
Component villages
The commune is composed of eight villages:
In 2004, the villages of Porumben ...
,
Crăciunel
Ocland ( hu, Oklánd, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.
The commune is composed of three villages:
*Crăciunel / Karácsonyfalva
* ...
, and smaller ones in
Rugăneşti and
Cristuru Secuiesc.
Image:Unitarian church Brasov.JPG, The Unitarian Church in Braşov
Image:Cluj-Napoca Unitarian Church.jpg, The Unitarian Church in Cluj-Napoca
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
Image:Szekelyderzs 01.jpg, The Unitarian Church in Dârjiu
Image:Enlaka rovas inscription.jpg, Ceiling of the Unitarian Church in Inlăceni
Atid ( hu, Etéd, ) is a commune in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.
Component villages
The commune is composed of five villages:
History
From ancient times the area w ...
, with a statement rendered in Old Hungarian script
Image:Szentmiklos.jpg, The Unitarian Church in Şimoneşti
See also
*
John Sigismund Unitarian Academy
*
Unitárius Hírnök ''Unitárius Hírnök'' was a magazine for Hungarian Unitarians living in Romania. It was published between March 1933 and October 1938. Dénes Lőrincz priest and Géza Lőrincz were the editors of the newspaper, which published 400 copies for fa ...
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unitarian Church Of Transylvania
Protestantism in Romania
Unitarianism
1568 establishments in Europe
Religious organizations established in the 1560s
Nontrinitarian denominations
16th-century establishments in Romania