Edict of Torda

Today's cath. Tordas Church was the meeting place of the Landtag in 1568

Annunciation of the Edict of Torda, painting by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch

The Edict of Torda (also: Edikt von Thorenburg , Edikt von Turda ) is an edict of tolerance that was issued on January 13, 1568 by the Transylvanian state parliament under King Johann Sigismund . It is named after the Transylvanian city of Torda (German: Thorenburg , Romanian: Turda ), where the state parliament met in January 1568. The edict was created under the decisive influence of the reformer Franz David . It is an early testimony to religious freedom in denominationally divided Europe in the 16th century.

With the edict, Transylvania gave itself for the first time a multi-confessional constitution. The Lutheran , Reformed , Catholic and Unitarian denominations were expressly named as recognized religion (recepta religio) .

According to the edict, the preachers should be allowed to preach and proclaim the gospel in all places, each according to his understanding . Even religious disorders were banned. The edict is of particular importance, as it also established theological freedom of religion, which was formulated for the first time in general. Faith is understood as a gift from God , which, based on the letter to the Romans ( Rom 10,17 EU ), arises through hearing the word of God.

The original document is now kept in the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu . In the Catholic Church of Torda, where the Transylvanian Parliament met in 1568, there is a plaque commemorating the edict in Romanian, Hungarian and English.

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim Bahlcke , Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch (eds.): Religious places of remembrance in East Central Europe: Constitution and competition across nations and epochs . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005658-6 , pp. 876 .
↑ Joachim Bahlcke, Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch (eds.): Religious places of remembrance in East Central Europe: Constitution and competition across nations and epochs . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005658-6 , pp. 879 .

literature

Harald Roth, Ulrich A. Wien (ed.): Radical Reformation - The Unitarians in Transylvania. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-21073-1 .

Web link

Gabriella Berekméri: In Turda, the 450 years of Transylvanian religious freedom was celebrated. Erdélyi Református Egyházkerület, accessed February 7, 2018 (Hungarian).

[1] Joachim Bahlcke , Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch (eds.): Religious places of remembrance in East Central Europe: Constitution and competition across nations and epochs . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005658-6 , pp. 876 .

[2] Joachim Bahlcke, Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch (eds.): Religious places of remembrance in East Central Europe: Constitution and competition across nations and epochs . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005658-6 , pp. 879 .