By HH Mohrmen
We are witnessing the rise of religious intolerance almost everywhere, but prejudice towards any single religion is not of recent origin; it has been there for long. In India we are fortunate that religious tolerance was part of the system since time immemorial as this is not only the birth place of several world religions but it embraces new religions too. But that was not the case in Europe. Religious intolerance took place even during the Reformation period and as GN Marshall said, even religions which began as reformation movements against orthodox institutions in turn became new orthodoxies.
If orthodoxy in Catholicism led to the rise of Protestant Reformation, then it is the orthodoxy in Protestantism which gave birth to Unitarianism – a liberal and free Christian Church. It is also true that the Reformation did not end with protestant reformation per se. The left wing of Protestant Reformation continues to innovate and it reached its crescendo in a small country in Transylvania. It was in this country that the Parliament (Diet) led by the king allowed religious freedom to his subjects.
Last year the Protestant Churches celebrated the 500th anniversary of the event when Martin Luther pinned the 95 thesis on the door of All Saints’ Church at Wittenberg which also marked the beginning of Protestant Reformation, while the Unitarians this year celebrate the 450th year of the Edict of Torda. Half a century after the beginning of the Reformation when Europe was in turmoil and religious intolerance was at its peak, John II Sigismund Zapolya proclaimed that any of his subjects can follow whichever religion they choose to and any priest can preach the gospel as one is given to understand it.
At the time when the Church initiated its counter reformation move to overcome the attacks of Reformation, the kings and rulers in their respective kingdom insisted that their subject should only follow the religion of the King. John II Sigismund Zapolya issued a decree in 1568 which proclaimed that in his country no one should be persecuted in the name of religion because ‘Faith is the Gift of God.’
Unitarian movement has its beginning in the Protestant Reformation itself. It started with Michael Servetus a Spaniard who was also trained in medicine and law. He was perhaps influenced by the incident which happened three hundred years after Jesus and the debate which culminated at the Council which was called by Emperor Constantine at Nicaea in 325 C.E. The debate came to its logical conclusion only in the Second Council which was convened by Emperor Theodosius. One side of the debate was led by a man name Arius who questioned the divinity of Christ. It was only after the Second Council in 381 C.E which also added the Holy Spirit to complete the doctrine. The Arians as the followers of the Bishop Arius was called then, were considered as heretics and banished from the empire.
Michael Servetus (1511-1553) who read the Bible found no convincing scriptural evidence to substantiate Trinity and made public his opinion. It made him unpopular and the Spanish Inquisition was on his trail. He had to go into hiding and was forced to change his profession and had to flee from one country to another. In spite of all odds, in 1531 Michael Servetus published his book ‘De Trinitatis Erroribus’ or ‘The Errors of Trinity.’ The next year he published another work, ‘Dialogues on the Trinity’ which he supplemented by another book named ‘Justice of Christ’s Reign. In 1553 he published another religious work along the lines of his first book; the title of the book is ‘The Restoration of Christianity.’ This particular book rejected predestination or the idea that God condemned souls to Hell irrespective of a person’s worth or merit.
In Poland too Faustus Socinus or Fausto Paolo Sozzini (1539-1604) had to flee from Italy to Switzerland and then to Poland where he started an anti-Trinitarian movement which was also known as the Polish Brethrens. In the late 1500s and early 1600s, Poland enjoyed a degree of religious pluralism and toleration that the country had never experienced before. Many hundred members of Protestant reformed church adopted the Unitarian belief but in 1658 under the influence of Counter Reformation, the Parliament took a u-turn and targeted the non-trinitarian groups and persecuted them. Some Polish Socinians fled to Transylvania and many stayed back until they gradually they reduced in numbers.
To better understand the significance of the Edict of Torda and the religious climate in Europe it would perhaps be prudent to also note that a particular instance of April 24 1523. The Diet (Parliament) of Hungary issued a decree that ordered the persecution and execution of Luther’s followers in the entire Kingdom.
John II Sigismund Zapolya whose father’s died when he was a baby was raised by his mother who was appointed the regent of the Kingdom and took the reign after his mother died in 1559. A Catholic himself he was very interested in religious discourses and organised debates involving the representatives of protestant theologies. He had an open mind and converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism in 1562 and then from Lutheranism to Calvinism in 1564. He also hads Giorgio Biandrata a physician from Italy who served in his court and Ference or Francis David again a Franciscan Bishop who had converted from Catholicism to Lutheran, were both influenced by Michael Servetus works. Under the influence of the two great personalities he not only allowed public discussion on the dogma of Trinity but he ultimately accepted Unitarian views in 1567. But more importantly he was able to influence the Diet to adopt the edict which prohibited the persecution of individuals on the basis of their religious affiliation.
The text of the Edict of Torda reads thus: His majesty, our Lord, in what manner he – together with his realm – legislated in the matter of religion at the previous Diets, in the same matter now, in this Diet, reaffirms that in every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, according to the previous statutes, and it is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God.
But as fate would have it, John II Sigismund Zapolya died in 1571 and he was succeeded by a Roman Catholic Istvan Bathory who shifted his policy towards religious persecution of the members of the new religion. In 1572 the Diet prohibited the changing of religion and Ference David was sentenced to life imprisonment in Deva for refusing to invoke the name of Jesus. He died in 1579. David will also be remembered for his famous saying, ‘We don’t have to think alike to love alike’.
In the case of Michael Servetus, he went to Geneva to meet Calvin to press his argument with the reformer, but he was instead captured, tried, and because he refused to recant his teaching, he was burned at the stake as a heretic in Geneva in October 27, 1553. Near the site where Servetus died the memorial stone carries an inscription, ‘A great wrong was committed in the case of Servetus; the gospel can only be preached authentically where freedom of conscience is respected’.
Counter reformation made progress even in the place where Unitarians were in dominance in Poland. In 1598 while Socinus was sick in bed, a mob invaded his apartment, dragged him out, made bonfire of his book and papers and threatened to burn him too if he would not recant his heresies. When he refused they were about to throw him into the river when he was rescued.
This year the celebration of the 131st Anniversary of the founding of Unitarianism in Meghalaya and Karbi Anglong on September 18 is important because it coincides with the 450th Anniversary of the Edict of Torda. It is also important because the first event marked the beginning of Unitarianism in the region in 1887, while the latter was the celebration of the edict which is the first act of religious freedom in the Western World.