Polish Brethren
The Polish Brethren (Polish: Bracia Polscy) were members of the Minor Reformed Church of Poland, a
History
The Ecclesia Minor or Minor Reformed Church of Poland, better known today as the Polish Brethren, was started on January 22, 1556, when
1565: Split with the Calvinists
A theological debate called by the Polish king
In the 1570s a split was developing between the pacifist and
1602–1638: Racovian Academy
Their biggest cultural centres were Pińczów and Raków, site of the main Arian printing press and the university Racovian Academy (Gymnasium Bonarum Artium) founded in 1602 and closed in 1638, which trained over 1000 students.
1658: Expulsion
The Brethren never participated in the
The Brethren were exiled in three directions and found asylum in the following regions:
- Duchy of Prussia, where Christopher Crell and his sons founded new congregations.
- Christopher Sand published the Bibliotheca antitrinitariorum(1684).
- Cluj, Romania).
Beliefs
Theology
Originally, the Minor Church followed a non-trinitarian doctrine, inspired by the writings of Michael Servetus. Later on, Socinianism, named for the Italian theologian Fausto Sozzini, became its main theological approach. They were against capital punishment and did not believe in the traditional Christian doctrines of Hell or the Trinity.
Church and state
They advocated the separation of church and state and taught the equality and brotherhood of all people. They opposed social privileges based on religious affiliation, and their adherents refused military service (they were known for carrying wooden swords, instead of the real almost obligatory szablas), and they declined to serve in political office.
Influence
Although never numerous, they had a significant impact on political thought in Poland. After being expelled from Poland, they emigrated to England, East Prussia and the Netherlands, where their works were widely published and influenced much of the thinking of later philosophers such as John Locke and Pierre Bayle.
Their main ideologues were
This expulsion is sometimes taken as the beginning of decline of famous Polish
Influence in Britain
The Englishman John Biddle had translated two works by Przypkowski, as well as the Racovian Catechism and a work by Joachim Stegmann, a "Polish Brother" from Germany. Biddle's followers had very close relations with the Polish Socinian family of Crellius (aka Spinowski).
Influence in the United States
Subsequently, the
In the modern era
During the
Modern groups that look to the Polish Brethren include the
See also
Notes
- ^ Hewett, Racovia, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Hewett, p. 24.
- .
- ^ Eyre, Alan, The Protestors, Birmingham 1975
- ^ Eyre, Alan, Brethren in Christ, Adelaide, 1983
- ^ Journal for The Radical Reformation, archived from the original on 2010-07-02
References
- Phillip Hewett, Racovia: An Early Liberal Religious Community, Providence, Blackstone Editions, 2004.
Further reading
- Joseph Kasparek, The Constitutions of Poland and of the United States: Kinships and Genealogy, Miami, FL, American Institute of Polish Culture, 1980.
- Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism: Socinianism and Its Antecedents, Harvard University Press, 1945.
- ISBN 0-89130-343-X
External links
- Socinian.org Polish Socinians: from the Polish Socinians to the American Constitution, Marian Hillar, article from A Journal from the Radical Reformation, A Testimony to Biblical Unitarianism, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 22–57, 1994
- Alan Eyre, chapter from Brethren in Christ CSSS, Adelaide The Little Ecclesia in Poland
- Cyprian Sajna's bracia polscy.com portal (Polish)
- The Polish Brethren: The First Reformed Peace Church & Poland’s First Banned Religion