In 1979, we commemorated the 400th anniversary of Ferenc David's death in the dungeon of the castle ofDeva. He was the radical reformer ofTransyl-vania, a « theologus incomparabilis »1 of his time, « the servant of the crucified Jesus Christ »,2 as he usually called himself.
1. Ferenc David's identity and his Reformation were shaped by the Bible.
We have no evidence about the circumstances and the time of his discovery of the Holy Book of Christianity. However, there is no doubt that both the grammar schools of Gyulafehervar and Brass6 and the universities of Wit-tenberg and Frankfurt-on-the-Oder contributed a great deal to his knowledge of the Scripture. He was very concerned about the religious unrest of his age and its longing for a deeper Christian life. To his existential questi on, « What must I do to inherit eternal life »? he undoubtedly found a clear answer in the Bible: «This is eternal life, to know thee, who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent» (John 17: 3). lt is worth noting that this is the biblical quotation most frequently used by Ferenc David 1 From this time on, the Bible became the moving force of his life. In it, he found the law and revelation of God, the source of true knowledge about God and Jesus Christ, as well as the principal authority in all matters of religion. «In our quest for the way of salvation », he wrote, «all we need are the wri tings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles. The gospel is a sweet and heavenly food in the heart of the believer; a food which turns to poison if anything else is added to it ».a
One must take the Scripture into account in order to understand Ferenc David and his Reformation. His biblicism differed fundamentally from dogmatic Protestant biblicism, which, based on dogmas and creeds, became a worship of the exact words and letters of the Bible. David's biblicism,
1 J6zsef PoKOLY, Bogathi mag<ir6l es David Ferenczr6l (BogO.thi on himself an Ferenc DO.vid), in cKereszteny MagveUl&, 37 (1902), p. 265.
2 Ferenc David usually signed the preface of his works es • the servant of the crucified Jesus Chrish See, e.g. his following books: Rövid Magyarazat (Short Explana-tion); Az egy 6magat6l val6 felseges Istenr6l (About the One, by Himself Majestica God); Els6 resze az szent ir<isnak külön külön reszeibol vött predik<icwknak (First part of Sermons taken from different parts of the Holy Scripture) etc.
3 Rönid Magyarazat, Alba Julia, 1567. Facsimile edition at Kolozsv8.r in 1910, p. 18.
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shaped by bis faith and his humanity, was free, open, comprehensive, em-bracing all of Christianity; it stood for the people and for the principle of
« semper reformanda ».
Like the other Reformers, he also set out with the idea of going back to the Scripture and, on that basis, restoring Christianity to something more like early Christianity, or rat her, to what he imagined early Christianity to have been. He was firmly convinced that the Reformation of the Christian Church had been only partially accomplished. He held that the Reformation must be continued and deepened, for its goal was not only the restoration of Christianity, but also sought the renewal of mankind. He regarded the con-tinuation of the Reformation as a mission ordained by God, which had to be accomplished « with the love of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Church, and with a good, true conscience». He could not conceal the truth ofthe Word of God, but had to speak it in and out of season. Once he had recognized the errors that were perverting religion, he could not keep silent with a good conscience. To hide the truth would have been a sin against God and Jesus Christ. <~ Those who bave been enlightened by God's spirit », he wrote, « must not cease to speak, nor can they suppress the truth. Such is the power of the spirit that, putting aside every false artifice, the mind of man strives only to add to the glory of God, even if the whole world rages and opposes it».4
He waa convinced that the Reformation had to proceed slowly and gradually ». lt was the will of God that we should advance step by step and gradually achieve the fullness of the truth »,5 he declared, just as at first, we feed infants milk and only later give them solid food. « Can a blind man stand the light if he suddenly regains his sight? If, after the great darkness, the light of the gospel would have been kindled all at once before our eyes, the powerful light might have deprived us of our sight ».
2. lt is known that Ferenc David had a thorough knowledge of the Bible. In a report to Claudio Aquaviva, the head ofthe Jesuit order, Stepha-nus Arator [Szant6], a contemporary Jesuit from Transylvania, observed that Ferenc David «was a sharp-minded man with a strong memory, very well acquainted with the Scriptures, so that it seemed he had the Old and New Testaments in his little finger ».6
In addition to the Septuagint and the Vulgate text, Ferenc David made use of many scholarly editions ofthe Bible, e.g. the Novum Instrumentum by Erasmus (Basel, 1516), the Biblia Hebraica by Sebastian Münster (Basel, 1534-35), theLatin Bible by Sanctus Pagninus (with Servetus' annotR.tions), and Luther's German Bible (1535). Among the Hungarian translations, he could use the New Testament by Gabor Pesti (Vienna, 1536) and by Janos
4 Ferenc David's letter to Jacobus Paleologus from November 20, 1570. See:
Elek JAKAB, David Ferencz emleke (The Memory of Feronc David), Budapest, 1879, p. 183, and Part II. p. 12.
6 Rövid Magyarazat, p. 32.
6 «Erat vir acerrimi ingenii, tenacis memoriae, in sacris literis versatissimus, ita ut videretur vetus et novum testamentUIIl ad unguem tenere t. Andreas VERESS
(collegit et edidit), Epistolae et acta jesuitarum Transylvaniae temporibus principum Bathory (1571-1613), vol. I, p. 185.
Sylvester (S&rv&r-Ujsziget, 1541), as well as the Heltai Bible (Kolozsvar, 1551-65).
At the beginning of his Reformation, Ferenc David held that the Scrip-ture is a divinely inspired book. Later, as a result of his biblical studies and the influence of humanist philology, he became more critical in his view of the verbally inspired text. Erasmus was well known to the Transylvania.n humanists. His Nwum Testamentum was reprinted in 1557 in Brass6 by Valentin Wagner, a. huma.nist Lutheran minister. Ferenc David highly praised Erasmus' textual criticism and made use of his a.uthority and his findings. In one ofhis sermons, in connection with the «Comma. Johanneum&, David said: dn his New Testament exegesis, Erasmus Rotterdamus speaks a great deal about this verse, declaring that he found it only in a book brought from Spain in which this verse had been written only in the margin ».7 lt should be noted that the Catholics were the first to perceive the influence of Erasmus in Transylvania. Antonio Possevino, the ltalian Jesuit who knew Transylvania very weil, declared that one of the sources of anti-trinitarianism was tobe found in Erasmus' teachings.8
3. Ferenc David realized quite early that the e:x:isting Latin and Hungar-ian translations of the Bible were unsatisfactory and not suitable for his Reformation. Therefore, in his works he translated biblical quotations into Hungarian himself. He intended to publish Latin and Hungarian transla-tions of the Bible based on textual criticism. According to Antonio Posse-vino, the Transylvanian antitrinitarianism made arrangements for «the cor-rection of the Bible».9 Thereby, Ferenc David wanted to place a Unitarian Bible in the hands of the people. He hoped that his doctrines would be sup-ported by this new Bible, translated with the original meanings. A group of well-known antitrinitarian theologians was formed in Kolozsvar between 1567 -1578 for the purpose of translating the Scriptures.
Ferenc David's project could not be achieved because of the religious policy of the princes, Istvan and Krist6f Bathory. We have no evidence concerning whether the translation was ever completed.
4. The exegesis of the Bible had a very important role in the Protestant Reformation. Ferenc David also attributed great importance to it, but his interpretation differed radically from that of the dogmatic Protestants.
lnstead of using their allegorical and literal explanations, he interpreted the Bible with the aid of the Bible, using the clearer parts of Scripture to under-stand the obscure and difficult parts. Stephanus Arator [Szant6] gave a.
7 Els6 resze az szent irdsnak külön külön reszeib6l vött prßdikdciOknak, Fejerviire.t, 1569, p. B/ii.
8 Atheismi Lutheri, Melanchtonis, Calvini, Bezae, Ubiq_uitarrorum, Anabaptista·
rum, Picardorum, Puritanorum, Arianorum et alrorum nostri temporibus haereticorum, Vilne., 1586, pp. 74-75.
8 c Ut Biblie. corrige.t, correctionem ee.m intelligentes, qua. Vulge.te.m et a multis seculis e. Christi ecclesie. recepte.rn versionem depre.varet, e.tque e.d sue. do~te. e.pte.·
ret». Jbidem; cf. Elek JAKAB, op. cit„ p. 211; Kelemen G.AL, A kolozsvari unitariWJ kollegium törtenete (The History of the Unitarie.n College of Kolo-.svar), 1935, vol. II, p. 383; Christopher SANDIUS, Bibliotheca Antitrinitariorum. Freistadt, 1684, p. 57.
4 An titrlnitarlanlsm 49
reliable account of Ferenc David's exegesis: dt was his habit to explain Scriptures with Scriptures».1 0
He held that « if we want to understand the right meaning of the Bible, we should not be the slaves of men, and should not bind ourselves to human decrees. The meaning of the Scriptures is so obvious that even an illiterate, simple man is capable of understanding it».
A true Bible explanation requires the help of reason, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, which completes the work accom-plished by reason, is «the just teacher, the light and guide of the Bible, w hich will show the meaning of the Scriptures even to a poor, illiterate peasant to such an extent that in [his grasp of] the meaning of the truth he even surpasses the wise students».11 We can distinguish good from bad, right from false, divine from human by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of God is enough for us; it illuminates all men who are looking for the truth and teaches them through the Bible. Therefore, we must studythe Scriptures with an open mind, without prejudice, and should not read our own inter-pretation into it.
In his biblical exegesis, Ferenc David constantly emphasized that «the life and soul of the Scripture is Jesus Christ; if someone has known him, he can go freely through the whole explanation of the Bible».
5. The central tenet of Ferenc David's biblicism is the affirmation of the priority of the New Testament. He held that the books of the Scriptures are not all of equal value and that there is a profound difference between the Old and New Testaments. He expounded in detail the differences between the two parts ofthe Bible, which really reflect the difference between the Law and the Gospel. «The Law is struggle and fear», said Ferenc David, «the Gos-pel is grace, love and joy of the soul. The sons of the Old Testament were children under the instruction of children, and they had been slaves; under the Gospel men are the sons of God and the brethren of Christ».12 The soul of the New Testament glorifies Christ and his gospel, not Moses or the Law.
In the Law there was the truth of the body; the Gospel shows the truth of the soul. The Law discriminated the Jews from the pagans; the Gospel, on the other hand, unites and binds them together .13
The priority of the New Testament is reflected in the works of Ferenc David by the number of quotations from the Bible. Here are some examples.
In Rövid Magyarazat . .. (Short Explanation ... ) there are 84 quotations from the Old Testament and 321 from tbe New Testament. In Az szent lrtisnak fundamentumab6l vött Magyarazat ... (Explanation taken from the funda-mental of the Holy Scripture ... ) he quoted 108 times from the Old Testa-ment and 247 times from the New TestaTesta-ment. Elso r"8ze az szent frdsnak
10 «Mos eius erat scripturas per scripturas explicaret. See: Stephanus Arator's letter in A. VERESB, op. cit., p. 185.
11 Rövid Magyarazat, p. 84; cf. Rövid Utmutatas (Short Instruction), Alba Julia., 1567, pp. L/ij-L/iij.
12 Az egy 6magat6l val6 fel8eges 1Btenröl, Colosvarot, 1571, p. H/iij.
13 El86 resze az Bzent ird8nak külön külön reszeib6l vött predikdci6knak, Fejer-vti.rat, 1569, p. G/ii.
külön külön reszebOl vött predik<ici6knak ... (First part of sermons taken from different parts of the Holy Scripture ... ) has 528 quotations from the Old Testament and 1512 from the New Testament. In .Az egy Atya lstennek es az o aldott szent Fidnak . . . (True Confession of the one Father God and His blessed Holy Son's Divinity ... ) there are 135 quotations from the Old Testament and 398 quotations from the New Testament. In Az egy omagdt6l val6 felsegu Istenrol . .. (About the One, by Himself Majestial God ... ) there are 250 quotations from the Old Testament and 860 from the New Testament. In De Dualitate, Ferenc David quoted 6 times from the Old Testament and 71 times from the New Testament.
lt should be noted that the most frequently quoted Old Testament book is Isaiah, and from the New Testament, the gospels and the Pauline epistles.
6. Ferenc David's Reformation meant a reappraisal of the Christian reli-gion and the Church. He held that only those doctrines can be accepted which are from the Bible and are intelligible to reason. In the course ofthis reapprais-al, the dogma ofthe Trinity became more a subject of debate than any other dogma, even though it is a known fact that, in the sixteenth century, accep-tance of the Trinity was a religious and civic obligation, and its denial meant the death penalty.14 lt was acknowledged in the preliminary debates that the terms of the dogma are unknown in the Bible. According to Ferenc David, they were formulated by the Greek philosophers and the scholastic theologians, whom he called with contempt «sophists». He affirmed that
« neither the evangelists, nor the apostles wrote a word in their writings about the essence, quality, trinity, everlasting Son, etc ... »15 For this reason, he considered it unjust that «we are regarded as heretics because we just don't want to believe in the substance, person, nature, incarnation, relation - in which the Antichrist commands us to believe. But if these are necessary for salvation, then not a single poor peasant Christian would ever be saved because he can never learn all these in his life».16 Ferenc David substituted the simple, intelligible words and expressions of the Bible for the scholastic terms of the Trinity. «We ought not», he said, «to believe, to do, or to com-mand anything else except the Word of God ». This was the first positive step toward antitrinitarian ideology.
Then followed the reexamination of the Trinity itself. Ferenc David realized that the dogma of the Trinity cannot be found in the Bible. The idea of the dogma of the Trinity came from Greek philosophy, and it was for-mulated by the theologians and the Councils of the Church. In its scholastic form, the Trinity is an abstract, theological speculation which the people cannot understand. For this reason, he proclaimed that «we have to follow, not what Athanasius said, but what Jesus Christ said». <~The truth of our belief is not confirmed by the decrees of the councils or by the thoughts of
11 See «Codex Justinianuu in which those who deny the Trinity and the infant baptism are condemned to death.
16 Az egy 6magcit6l val6 felsege,s lstenrdl, pp. N-M/iij; cf. Elsd resze az szent irds-nak külön külön reszeiMl vött predikaci6kirds-nak, p. B/iii.
18 Rövid Magyardzat, pp. 12-13.
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the Church fathers, but by the obvious Word of God, which we have to fol-low».17
The unity of God became the central doctrine of Ferenc David's Refor-mation. «In the whole Bible », he affirmed, « there is no clearer and more obvious knowledge than the knowledge of one God. The Holy Scripture teaches one God and not a threefold God, one Christ and not a double Christ, one faith, one baptism, and one Lord's Supper».18 « Nowhere do we find in the Scripture that God would be a Trinity or a quaternity, or a substance, or a person, but only that He is one. Consequently, God, being one, cannot be double or threefold, neither can He consist of a substance or persons, because He is one soul».
According to the gospels, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the only-begotten Son of God, temporally only-begotten, not eternally, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He is the only mediator, the judge of the living and of the dead. He is the head of the Church. The New Testa-ment teaches that there is no equality between the Father and Jesus Christ.
Jesus is subordinated to the one God;19 since he is a man, one must not pray to him nor call upon him for help. The nonadorantism of Ferenc David is based entirely on the New Testament, which explicitly commands that we should pray only to God. But this doctrine did not exclude his reverence for Jesus Christ. « 1 love Christ», he said, «in that he really suffered, shed his blood and died. Through his soul, he causes me to give my life into his hands and to be sure that he will keep me and will give me eternal life ».
In summing up his theology, Ferenc David declared: «The whole Bible bears witness to the one God, who created us, to the Son of God, who saved us, and to the one Holy Spirit, through whom we are pledged to eternal life ».2o 7. The biblicism of Ferenc David is reflected both in the different synods and debates of the second half of the sixteenth century and in a number of plays.
In the synod held at Torda in 1558 under the leadership of Ferenc David, it was decided that the ministers should « read the Old and New Testaments and follow, not the feelings of their hearts, but the Law and the
writings of the prophets and apostles ».21
A resolution of the council of Kolozsvar of December 20, 1565 forbade the expression of any opinion that contradicted the Bible. New teachings were permitted only if one could demonstrate the truth of one's view by reference to Holy Scripture.=
17 Elso resze az szent ircisnak külön külön reszeibOl vött predikciciOknak, p. B/b;
Az szent ircisnak fundamentumcib6l vött Magyarazat (Explanation te.ken from the Funde.mental of the Holy Sripture), Fejervare.t, 1568, p. E.
18 Rövid Magyarazat, p. 14; cf. Az egy Atya Istennek es az 6 aldott szent Ficinak, az Jesus Christusnak istensegekrol igaz vallcistetel (True Confession of the one Fe.ther God e.nd of bis blessed Holy Son's Divinity), Colosve.rot, 1571, p. J/iij.
18 Brevis enarratio disputationis Albanae, Albe. Julia, 1568, p. J/iij.
zo Rövid Magyarazat, p. 64.
21 Elek JAKAB, op. cit., 35.
21 Elek JAKAB, Kolozsvar törtenete (The History of Kolozsvtir), Bude.pest, 1888, vol. II, p. 178.
At the synod held at Gyulafehervar in 1566, the opposing parties, trin-itarian and antitrintrin-itarian, agreed to reject the metaphysical terms of the Trinity because they are not from the Bible.23
At the synod held at Gyulafehervar in 1566, the opposing parties, trin-itarian and antitrintrin-itarian, agreed to reject the metaphysical terms of the Trinity because they are not from the Bible.23