Gregor Pauli

Gregor Pauli (also: Gregorius Pauli, Polish: Grzegorz Paweł , Latinized: Gregorius Paulus Brzezinensis ; * 1525 in Brzeziny , † 1591 in Pińczów ) was a Unitarian writer and theologian in the 16th century .

life and work

From 1540 to 1547 he studied at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow . Then he moved to the Prussian Konigsberg and studied at the local university philology and theology . After his return he became rector of the school at the Catholic collegiate church in Poznan , but had to give up this position at the beginning of 1550 due to his Reformation views. In 1552 he finally publicly committed himself to the Reformation and in 1554 became pastor of the Reformed parish in Pełsznica . Three years later he moved to Cracow as a pastor. At the same time, a conflict about the Trinity developed within the Reformed Church of Poland and Lithuania , which ultimately led to the emergence of the Anabaptist - Antitrinitarian Church of the Polish Brothers ( Ecclesia reformata minor ). Influenced by Petrus Gonesius and Giorgio Biandrata , Pauli broke with Calvinism in 1562 and became one of the leading exponents of Polish-Lithuanian Unitarianism. In 1569 Pauli moved to Raków , newly founded by the Polish magnate Jan Sieniński , which soon became the center of the Polish Unitarians. Pauli himself was intensively involved in the development of the city and promoted Christian communitarian approaches. In the intra-Unitarian conflict over the legitimacy of violence that simmered between 1572 and 1575, Pauli, together with Petrus Gonesius and Marcin Czechowic, represented the radical-pacifist side, while Szymon Budny and Jacob Palaeologus took a more affirmative position. Pauli died in 1602 before the Raków Academy was founded in the same year.

Pauli represented pacifist and Anabaptist ideas within Polish unitarianism together with Czechowicz . Both also emphasized the superiority of Christianity and the claim to mission derived from it . Together with Georg Schomann , Pauli denied the pre-existence of Christ and spoke out against ditheistic views, which still saw a divine nature in Jesus Christ . Pauli, however, did not join the nonadorants around Szymon Budny and Franz Davidis , who refused to worship Jesus and were particularly well represented in Lithuania and Transylvania .

Works (selection)

• Gregor Pauli: Adversus Jacobi Palaeologi de bello sententiam Responsio . Raków 1572.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gottfried Seebaß: History of Christianity , Vol. 3: Late Middle Ages, Reformation, Confessionalization , Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-170-18780-1 , p. 283.

literature

• Olaf Reese: Lutheran metaphysics in dispute. Reports of Calov's anti-Socinian campaigns. Dissertation, Göttingen 2008.