Szymon Budny

Szymon Budny

Title page of the Nyasvish Bible, first published in 1572

Szymon Budny (also Symon Budny ; * January 1530 in Budne , Podlasie ; † January 13, 1593 in Wiszniów ) was a Polish-Belarusian humanist , Bible translator and leading exponent of Polish-Lithuanian unitarianism .

Budny came from an Orthodox environment and studied at several universities in Italy, Switzerland and at the Cracow Academy . After completing his studies, he worked under the protection of the Protestant Prince Mikołaj Radziwiłł Czarny as a Reformed pastor in Kletsk, Belarus . In the years 1561/1562 Budny also founded a printing company in the city of Nyasvish in order to be able to print Protestant writings. His book Katichizis , written in Belarusian , was also printed here in 1562 , which was to pave the way for the written Belarusian language and its content was primarily directed against the ritualized Orthodox Church . Soon, however, he also showed an increasing interest in anti-Trinitarianism , which Budny had already come into contact with abroad. In his work O opravdanii grešnogo čeloveka pred Bogom ( Justification of sinful man before God ), also published in 1562 , the first anti-Trinitarian tendencies became apparent.

After Budny fell out with his former sponsor Radziwiłł due to his anti-Trinitarian positioning , he moved to the estates of Jan Kiszka, who had been a supporter of the Polish-Lithuanian brothers early on . Budny could now represent openly anti-Trinitarian positions. He also spoke out against child baptism and against the use of the death penalty . Budny was also active as a writer, but increasingly began to write in Polish, not least in order to be able to address a larger reading public. Theologically he came closer and closer to socinianism . At the Synod of Skrzynno in 1567 he spoke out in favor of rejecting the pre-existence of Christ .

In the following years Budny mainly worked on a new Polish translation of the Bible from the original languages, since the Brest Bible , which was translated from French and Latin in 1563 in the Reformed environment , had not been accepted by many. Budnys Bible translation was finally in 1572 as Nesvizh Bible published. In 1576 Budny published the work O przedniejszych wiary chrystyjańskiej artykulech , which summarized his theological points of view and in which Budny spoke out in favor of a strict unitarianism and against the tritheist and ditheist positions still represented within the anti-Trinitarian church in Poland-Lithuania . Budny also spoke out clearly against the Anabaptist positions on pacifism and community of goods, represented primarily by Marcin Czechowic . This clearly shows a dividing line between the anti-Trinitarians in Poland, who were more strongly influenced by the Anabaptist movement, and those in Lithuania. He received support in his anti-pacifist stance from Marcin Krowicki, among others . In addition to his theological work, Budny turned again and again to political and social issues. In 1576 he was entitled About the French Furies or frenzies a Polish translation of a pamphlet of the French Huguenot Francois Hotman about the St. Bartholomew's Day out.

literature

• Stefan Fleischmann: Szymon Budny. A theological portrait of the Polish-Belarusian humanist and Unitarian (approx. 1530–1593) . Böhlau, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-412-04306-0

Web links

Commons : Szymon Budny  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files