Sabbatarians (Transylvania)
The Sabbatharians (also Sabbatharians ) were a Sabbath-keeping movement that arose in the second half of the 16th century under the influence of Franz David in the vicinity of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania . Like the Transylvanian Unitarians, the Sabbatarians were also predominantly Hungarian .
From around 1570, debates about nonadorantism dominated the Unitarian churches in Poland-Lithuania and Hungary-Transylvania. In 1578, the Unitarian reformer Franz David finally published his Four Theses on the non-worship of Jesus . Both in Hungary and in Transylvania, nonadorantist-oriented groups gathered, some of which were referred to as Davidists. After David's death, the Unitarian nonadorantists in Transylvania eventually became the Sabbatars. Andreas Eössi , Johannes Gerendi and, in the early 17th century, Simon Péchi played a decisive role in this . Theologically, the movement clearly understood itself in the first few years as a Christian-Unitarian denomination. In addition to Nonadorantism, it was characterized by the celebration of the Sabbath instead of Sunday, observance of the Jewish holidays and food laws , but not circumcision . It was not until the 17th century under Simon Péchi that the Sabbatars began to increasingly approach Judaism . The Jewish / Sabbatarian prayer book published by Péchi in Hungarian , which was compiled on the basis of the Hebrew prayer books Siddur , Machzor and Selichot , was of decisive importance . Here, however, Péchi left out mystical and cabalistic elements as well as pieces related to the sacrificial cult.
While the Unitarian Nonadorantists, who were still living in Hungary under the leadership of Paul Karádi, were completely re-Catholicized in the course of the Counter-Reformation in the course of the 17th century , the Sabbathers in Transylvania were able to survive in some cases into the 20th century.
Unlike the Unitarians, the Sabbatarians in Transylvania were not formally recognized as a separate denomination. The Landtag of Weißenburg in 1595 passed a first resolution against the Sabbatarians. As a result, there were confiscations of Sabbatarian writings and, in some cases, individual expulsions. However, the Sabbatars were still tolerated at the local level and were able to spread further. Often they were still organized within the Unitarian Church. Although they could not openly appear as a denomination, they were represented in all social groups up to the civil service.
It was not until the Reformed Prince Georg I. Rákóczi that sabbatarianism was formally outlawed in the Deesch state parliament in 1638. In the same year there were massive arrests of Sabbatarian workers. To avoid a possible death penalty, they had to break away from sabbatarianism and join one of the existing recognized denominations. The Sabbatarian landowners were also threatened with confiscation of their possessions. A large number then joined the Reformed Church . Even Simon Péchi moved to the Reformed Church in 1638, where he was re-baptized in February 1639 . Another wave of persecution began after the Habsburgs came to power in 1711. So there were arrests and confiscations again between 1717 and 1722. Confiscated goods often came into the possession of the Catholic Church . Many Sabbatarians emigrated to Turkey during this time. Nevertheless, the small Sabbatarian community was able to stay in the background, even if the Sabbatars were apparently cryptosabbatars as members of the Catholic, Reformed or Unitarian Church.
It was only with the state recognition of the Jewish faith in 1867 that it became possible for the Sabbatarians to openly profess their religion again. In the meantime, increasingly Judaized, the Israelite proselyte community was founded in Neudorf / Bözödújfalu . Despite their state recognition, their membership decreased sharply in the following years. During the time of National Socialism , the remaining Sabbatarians in Szeklerkreuz and Neudorf were finally killed in the course of the crimes against Jews committed by the National Socialists in Auschwitz. One of their centers, the place Neudorf / Bözödújfalu, was destroyed in 1988 during the construction of a reservoir under the Romanian communists.
literature
- Ladislaus Martin Pákozdy: The Transylvanian Sabbatism , Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-17-001314-9 .
- Ioan-Gheorghe Rotaru: Specific ways of organizing the sabbatarian cult in Transylvania (16th - 20th centuries) , day before the Human And Social Sciences at the Common Conference 2013 ( here as pdf )
Individual evidence
- ^ Birgitta Gabriela Hannover Moser: Transylvania: Around Kronstadt, Schäßburg and Hermannstadt . Trescher, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-89794-314-8 , pp. 47 .