Hieronymus Moskorzowski

Hieronymus Moskorzowski (Latinized: Moscorovius ; * 1560 ; † 1625 ) was a Polish politician and leading exponent of Polish unitarianism and co-author of the Rakau Catechism .

life and work

Hieronymus Moskorzowski came from the Polish nobility and was an early friend and confidante of Fausto Sozzini , who was one of the founders of Socinianism . Moskorzowski began university studies in Leipzig in 1575 and moved to the University of Wittenberg a year later. He later stayed in Geneva for study purposes. In 1593 he married Regina Dudith, the daughter of the humanist Andreas Dudith . In 1594 Moskorzowski joined the Unitarian Church in Poland-Lithuania ( Polish Brothers , also Ecclesia Minor ) and became one of its greatest supporters. As a representative of the Polish nobility, he was a member of the Polish Parliament ( Sejm ) several times and was also able to represent the interests of the radical Reformation Unitarians in Poland on a political level . In 1595, for example, he published a defensive pamphlet for the pre-Socinian Unitarian Church, addressed to the King and Senate . He was the founder and patron of the Unitarian congregation in Upper Silesia Czarków (Zharkov) . He also journalistically supported the anti-Trinitarian idea. Together with Valentin Schmalz and Johann Völkel, he was one of the co-authors of the Rakau Catechism, first published in 1605, and wrote its Latin edition in 1608, which he dedicated to King Jacob I of England . He wrote several prefaces to published by Fausto Sozzini writings, including a dedication ( dedication ) to the Hessian Landgrave Philip I. He also got into several controversies with the Jesuit Skarga apart and Smiglez. In the dispute between Skarga and Valentin Schmalz, he wrote a defense for Schmalz in 1618. Moskorzowski died in 1625.

Its importance consists among other things in the co-authoring of the Rakau catechisimus . In addition, Moskorzowski is an example of how Unitarianism was anchored in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility.

literature

• Kęstutis Daugirdas: The Beginnings of Socinianism - Genesis and Penetration of the Historical-Ethical Model of Religion in the University Discourse of Evangelicals in Europe , Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-525-10142-1 , pp. 217-239
• Martin Schmeisser: Socinian Confessions: The Rakow Catechism of Valentin Schmalz (1608) and the so-called Soner Catechism. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-05-005200-7 .
• Olaf Reese: Lutheran metaphysics in dispute. Reports of Calov's anti-Socinian campaigns. Dissertation, Göttingen 2008, p. 147.
• Otto Fock: Socinianism according to its position in the overall development of the Christian spirit, according to its historical course and according to its doctrinal concept. Scientia Verlag, Aalen 1847.