Marcin Czechowic

Marcin Czechowic (German: Martin Czechowic ; * around 1532 in Zbąszyń , † 1613 in Lublin ) was a leading exponent of Polish Unitarianism .

life and work

Czechowic was born around 1532 in Zbąszyń ( Bentschen ) in Greater Poland . As a young man he studied in Poznan and Leipzig , was ordained a Catholic pastor and then worked as a Catholic pastor in Kórnik ( Kurnik ). But he came into contact with Reformation ideas early on and took on Lutheran and later Calvinist positions. In 1555 he turned to the Bohemian Brothers for a short time , who at that time also formed parishes in Poland. He later moved to Vilnius , Lithuania , where he became a teacher in the local Reformed community in 1559. At the same time, a dispute about the Trinity developed within the Reformed Church in Poland and Lithuania , which ultimately led to the breakup and formation of the Anabaptist - Antitrinitarian Church of the Polish Brothers ( Ecclesia reformata minor ). When Johannes Calvin accused Giorgio Biandrata , one of the representatives of the anti-Trinitarian side, heresy , Czechowic was asked by the Lithuanian Prince Mikołaj Radziwiłł Czarny to mediate between the two in Geneva . However, the encounter with Calvin led to Czechowic's departure from Calvinism. On the return trip to Lithuania, he came into contact with the communitarian Hutterites in Moravia and took over Anabaptist positions such as the rejection of infant baptism and armed violence. In 1564 he finally joined the Polish Brothers.

Between 1570 and 1598 he worked as a pastor of the Unitarian community in Lublin , where he worked with the theologian Jan Niemojewski . Czechowic also worked on a Polish translation of the New Testament , which he was able to publish in Krakow in 1577 . Unlike Budny, Czechowic relied solely on Greek texts. Czechowic represented them together with Petrus Gonesius and Gregor Pauli in the intra-Unitarian conflict over the legitimacy of violence that had simmered between 1572 and 1575, which had developed within the Polish-Lithuanian brothers as a result of the Livornian War (1569–1572) radical-pacifist side, while Szymon Budny , Jacob Palaeologus and Marcin Krowicki took a more affirmative position.

Czechowic's theology was shaped by Erasmus of Rotterdam and by early Christian church fathers such as Tertullian and Lactantius . As a Unitarian and Baptist , he took pacifist positions and rejected the Trinity and the baptism of children. Within Unitarianism, however, he also turned against the Nonadoranten , who rejected any worship of Jesus. He linked his theological views with socio-political views and called for the abolition of serfdom .

literature

• George Huntston Williams : The Radical Reformation, 3rd edition , page 1056 f.
• Stefan Fleischmann: Szymon Budny. Cologne 2006.

Web links

• Entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia