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See Ioan-Aurel Pop, Romanians and Hungarians from the 9th to the 14th Century. The Genesis of the Transylvanian
Medieval State, Cluj-Napoca, 1996, pp. 5-11, 140-151.
province, we find today five Christian prelates of episcopal rank or higher (an Orthodox metropolitan
bishop, a Greek-Catholic bishop, a Calvinist bishop, a Lutheran bishop, and a Unitarian one), as well
as an episcopal vicar (Roman-Catholic), while the local Babe-Bolyai University (with approximately
42,000 undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral students and faculty members) has
four faculties of theology (two having Romanian as the language of instruction and two where the
teaching is done in Hungarian), according to the main historical denominations of the country.
Transylvania is the only place in Europe to have such a complex cultural and religious structure, the
only place where Romanesque and Gothic monuments stand beside Byzantine, Renaissance, Baroque
or even Secession (Modern Style, Jugendstil, Art Nouveau) ones. East of the Transylvanian border,
the Romanesque style is completely absent and the Gothic blends into the Moldavian style devised
in an old Romanian environment that spiritually vacillated between Constantinople (the New Rome)
and Moscow (the Third Rome), following the path of Byzantium after Byzantium (to quote Nicolae
Iorga) or of the Byzantine Commonwealth, as Dmitri Obolenski put it.2
During the Middle Ages, Transylvania brought together the models of Eastern (Orthodox) and
Western (Catholic) spiritual life, while the modern era further diversified the landscape by adding
Protestant, Hebrew, Neo-Protestant etc. components. For longer or shorter periods of time, all of these
models were endangered, competed with and fought one another, threatened one anothers existence,
but eventually coexisted and exercised mutual influences, shaping this unique Transylvanian world
that, for this very reason, came to be known in some circles as a world of tolerance. According to the
reality, as well as to each ones interpretation, this Transylvanian tolerance meant, in the same time,
acceptance and rejection, welcoming and exclusion, equality and segregation, giving its society a sui
generis form and functioning.
Consequently, Transylvanias character of a smaller Europe refers to its habitat, to the aspect
of the dwellings and of the architectonic styles, to its basic ethnical and linguistic groups (Romanic,
German and Slavic, plus Finno-Ugric), to its main religions and cults (Orthodox, Catholic, Hebrew,
Protestant and Neo-Protestant etc.). All these elements personalise the continent, as Europe (along
with Transylvania) reunites all these characteristics under its cupola.
Transylvania between the medieval tradition and modernity
Transylvania was also a nursery for European ideas concerning, at the same time, habitation
and cohabitation, unity and segregation, integration and disintegration, acceptance and exclusion.
This heritage and this vocation come from ancient times, when the seal of Rome was affixed two
2
Nicolae Iorga, Byzance aprs Byzance, Bucharest, 1971; Dmitri Obolensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth, Eastern
Europe 500-1453, London, 1971; I.-A. Pop, "Bisanzio dopo Bisanzio: la realt e l'eredit imperiale nell'Europa centroorientale", in Andrea Piras (editor), Imperia. Esperienze imperiali nella storia d'Europa, Rimini, 2008, pp. 29-42.
millennia ago at the Carpathians and at the Danube. At that time, the Thraco-Dacian world was
integrated into the tri-continental Roman Empire, a fact that created the premises for the birth on
that land of a Romanic people, i.e. the Romanians. Afterwards, Germanic, Turanian (Turkic and
Ural-Altaic), Slavic etc. migrants passed. The Slavic people were the most numerous and the most
powerful, strongly influencing the Romanians ancestors and leading to the establishment of
neighbouring Slavic states (Bulgaria, the Kievan Rus, Serbia, Croatia etc.). At the threshold between
the millennia, the Hungarian Finno-Ugric people and the Szeklers appeared, as well as the Germanic
guests (hospites) generically called Saxons (Saxones) invited by the Hungarian kings to come
and settle, between the 12th and 13th centuries. The main Transylvanian populations in the middle
ages were the Romanians, the Hungarians, the Saxons and the Szeklers, while the main religions were
Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The conquest and integration of Transylvania into the Kingdom of
Hungary (11th 12th centuries), that in a Catholic state, led to the full acceptance of the Transylvanian
Catholic ethnical groups (Hungarians, Saxons, Szeklers) and to the marginalization of the Byzantine
or Orthodox communities (mainly Romanians). Initially, their marginalization had not ethnical, but
confessional causes, as a result of the increasing competition between Rome and Constantinople,
based on their rivalry for the monopolizing of new followers. At a certain point, Hungary a Catholic
state, created within the Patrimonium Sancti Petri and the family of kingdoms meant to function
within the Roman-German Empire took very seriously its mission of fighting against the Pagans,
the Heretics and the Schismatics, inside and outside its borders. Or, Romanians were irremediably
placed among the Schismatics and, consequently, they were meant to be converted or removed
from power, banished or even eradicated. It was not possible for those radical plans to be implemented
as such, but the Romanians had undoubtedly led to discrimination. Despite it, the Transylvanian
civilisation was built through the common efforts of all aforementioned ethno-confessional groups.
For many specialists, modern Europe begins with the Protestant Reformation, a movement
for which Transylvania was an extremely important scene. The 16th century Reformation had
transformed the Transylvanian Catholics into Protestants: the Saxons became Lutherans
(Evangelical), the Hungarians and the Szeklers became (most of them) Calvinist and Unitarian, while
Catholics largely decreased in number (being mostly concentrated among the Szeklers). As such, a
new constitutional organisation was imposed in Transylvania by which Catholics place in the
ruling of the country was taken by the Protestants. The entire process bears the name of the tolerance
regime, meaning that the confessions newly founded through the Reformation were accepted as a
result of some fierce litigations, carried out quite peacefully, with a minimum number of casualties
through the decisions taken by the country assembly (Diet). Consequently, in a period of
approximately three decays (circa 1540-1570), along with Catholicism (completely woke and
deprived of estates and fortunes, passed all of them to the new protestant authorities), the Lutheran,
Calvinist and Unitarian denominations became official (receptae). The Romanians Eastern Christian
fate was still not recognized, similar to the Romanian community that did not have the right to
participate in the ruling of the country.
During the process of the Protestant Reformation imposition in Transylvania, some generous
ideas on freedom (which announced the new age of modernity) were affirmed. The first was that of
accepting diversity among the ancient Catholics. As such, one at a time, the Lutheranism, then, the
Calvinism and, last but not least, the Unitarianism (the Anti-Trinitarian faith) became all recognized
or officialised. At a certain point, due to the general enthusiasm and despite the obvious and quite
fierce rivalry existing between the new cults, the countrys diet actually accepted the right of each
community (be it rural or urban) to choose their confession (16th century). The fact was an absolute
novelty in the 16th century Europe. Furthermore, certain approaches to convert the Romanians to
Protestantism also began. However, the radicalism of the Reformation in Transylvania stopped there
and even regressed soon after. As such, at the beginning of the eight decade of the 16th century (15711572), any religious innovation was completely stopped (forbidden) by the diet. Moreover, the
permissive right of the free choice of ones religion at the community (parish) level was entirely
eluded and even prohibited. Catholicism, although formally maintained among the official religions,
had no more power, especially as a result of the seizure of its entire fortune, including the possessions
owned by the bishoprics of Alba Iulia (officially named The Bishopric of Transylvania) and
Oradea. The conversion of Romanians to the Reformation was seen with many doubts by Romanians
themselves, as well as by the recognized ethnic groups (called estates or nations) and confessions,
who felt their monopole over the power threatened. As a result, the initiative failed, the Romanians
remained forward faithful to their Orthodox belief, i.e. marginalized or obliged to remain away from
the exercise of the power. In fact, practically, in certain periods of the 16th and 17th centuries, both
the (Romanian) Orthodox and the (Hungarian language speaking) Catholics suffered because of the
discrimination, through serious limitations to the exercise of their cults, hierarchy, church properties,
access into cities etc. The main difference was that the Romanians/ Orthodox were excluded from the
ruling power and from the right to citizenship, though legally binding official decisions, while
Catholics were temporarily de facto discriminates, because, legally, they were recepti, i.e. accepted.
That fact was extremely important however, as after the imposing of the Austrian domination (16881699), the Catholics were de facto resettled in their position of de iure privileged people, while the
Romanians remained in the same submissive position of inferior (or second-hand) inhabitants.
Christian or the Sabbatarian one) most of them very radical enjoyed initial a huge success but
then those ideas gathered only few supporters, especially among the less wealthy Hungarian-speaking
communities of Cluj, Turda (Torda, Thorenburg) and Arie (Aranyos). Its advocates are pretending
the uniqueness of Gods person and nature, the inexistence of the Holy Trinity, the human nature of
Jesus Christ, the falsity of sacraments (sacramenti), of the church tradition, of the cult of the Virgin
Mary and of the saints etc. Denying the divinity of Jesus Christ led to two radical precepts or
principles, clearly stated: 1) He should not be worshiped (nonadoramus); 2) He should not be invoked
when in need (noninvocando). Such Unitarian ideas were rejected and criticised not only by the
Catholics, but also by the other Protestant beliefs. Still, together with the other Anti-Trinitarian
teachings, they had been embraced for a while by the noble elite, but mostly by the lower Hungarian
groups. Between 1566 and 1570, the city of Cluj became an Anti-Trinitarian city, the main centre of
this faith, the place where this denomination was founded and affirmed.
Religious leaders who played the role of bishops at the beginning of the protestant churches.
Sacrament by which it is proceeded the communion of the believers, with bread and wine, transformed both, by the
power of Holly Ghost, in the body and the blood of Lord Jesus. Martin Luther has accepted almost unchanged this
Sacrament (together with other two of the whole seven), but the Protestants have rejected, in general, the Eucharist or
have accepted (during the Eucharist) only a spiritual presence (as in Calvinism) of Jesus Christ.
4
allowed to profess and practice the religion and the faith of both Sibiu and Cluj 5. We can see
clearly now that, at the level of the country assembly, the Calvinist faith (with its several trends) was
dubbed Hungarian, and the Lutheran one Saxon (German). In the same spirit, starting with the
16th century, with the strong affirmation of the Calvinist principality, the overlapping of the Calvinist
religion with the Hungarian nation became even more obvious. As such, the Transylvanian
religions were delineated, although not very sharply, on national criteria. And since Romanians had
been synonymous to Orthodoxy for a very long time, in that same spirit, since de 16 th century, the
word Wallachian became synonymous to the word Orthodox (Eastern or Byzantine belief), so that
saying Romanian (in Transylvania) was the same as saying Orthodox and vice-versa. Step by step,
despite certain reversions, on the Transylvanian scene, Calvinism was the Hungarian religion,
Lutheranism was the German (Saxon) religion, while Orthodoxy was the Romanian religion.
Romanian faith was called sometimes Romanian law, with the meaning of Romanian way of life,
tradition or forma mentis. The ethnical pride become obvious: in 1556, after the banishment of the
short Austrian rule (1551-1556) of Transylvania, Francis David became not only the bishop of the
Hungarian Lutheran Church, but of the Saxon Lutheran Church as well; the Saxons, however,
although they lived in their own enclave well-delineated from an ethnic and confessional point of
view, felt threatened by the pro-Hungarian trend represented by David and elected a purely Saxon
bishop (Matthias Hebler)6; the some Francis David, in 1559 (when he decided to resign from the
position of Lutheran bishop, because he had become Calvinist in the meantime), proclaimed himself
Bishop of the Hungarian Churches; some exegetes believe that the Lutheran Hungarians risked to
be nationally assimilated by the Lutheran Saxons, being saved by the Helvetic orientation (or
Calvinism), which, from the very beginning, emphasized the promotion of national values and
languages7. As such, the political nations of Transylvania start to be defined according to religion,
language, origin, traditions and even territory. The land dominated by the Saxons, given to them by
the king (therefore named Fundus Regius), was more and more called the Land of the Saxons, the
land dominated by the Szeklers was called the Land of the Szeklers, while the land predominantly
inhabited by the Hungarian nobles (concentrated in the seven counties) was sometimes known as the
Hungarian Land. As such, it is not difficult to be noticed in the Transylvanian Principality of that
time a gradual strengthening of ethnicity, on the background of the ancient medieval elitist spirit,
partially converted in a modern meaning, with the help of the ideas pretending the unity of origin,
Monumenta Comitialia Regni Transylvaniae, edited by Szilgyi Sndor, vol. II (1556-1576), Budapest, 1877, p. 231232.
6
Francis Davids father was Saxon too, but the son lived mostly in a Hungarian milieu, outside the Saxon Land, in Cluj.
7
Vgh B., Disputele sinodale lutherano-calvino-unitariene n Transilvania secolului al XVI-lea. Tez de doctorat,
scientific coordinator prof. univ. dr. Dr. H.C. Thomas Ngler, Sibiu, 2009, p. 70-71.
5
language, territory and confession. In Transylvania too, as well as in other regions, the confession
became an important brand of national identity.
The country of four (five) religions, or the diversity of spiritual models in Transylvania
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Transylvania, located at the point of contact between the Eastern
Byzantine and the Western Latin civilizations, provided the example of a European country that was
home to a diversity of ethnic groups, religious denominations, cultures, and models of civilization.
During this period the political nations (estates) gradually turned into modern nations, in the ethnic
sense of the term, and the original two denominations (Orthodox and Catholic) were joined by several
new ones (Lutheran, Calvinist, Unitarian, Greek-Catholic etc.). These changes were, in the same time,
peaceful and violent, quiet and agitated, innovative and retrograde, open to modernity but preserving
much of the medieval rigidity. During the modern era, the three political nations (the Hungarian
nobles, the Saxons, and the Szeklers) turned into two distinct national groups: the Hungarians (who,
starting with the 19th century, also included the Szeklers) and the Germans. Without having been an
officially recognized medieval nation, the Romanians nevertheless turned into a modern nation, aware
of its role despite the discrimination it faced. The official religionRoman-Catholicgave birth to
the four legally accepted denominations: Roman-Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian. The
religion of the RomaniansOrthodoxwas denied official recognition both before and after the
Protestant Reformation. A largely failed attempt at granting them global recognition occurred a bit
later, involving the union with the Church of Rome and the creation of the Greek-Catholic Church
(around the year 1700).
This extremely diverse landscape saw a constant vacillation between acceptance and
exclusion, between peaceful integration (assimilation) and ethnic-religious revolt, between privileges
and the absence thereof, between tolerance and intolerance. For centuries on end, that was the normal
and natural state of affairs, in the sense that a Catholic and apostolic kingdom (as Hungary was)
had the mission and the obligation to protect and favour the Catholics and to take discriminatory
measures against the others.
Consequently, the religious tolerance has to be understood in the context set by the era, within
its limits, marked by the arsenal of a medieval heritage. Under no circumstances should tolerance be
mistaken for the full religious freedom or for the absolute equality between religions. As such, it is
easy to see the great rivalries between the new Protestant religions and the periods of domination of
one or the other, as well as the hegemony of Calvinism in the 17th century. Leaving aside the
constantly inferior status of the Orthodox Church, one has to notice the persecution of Catholicism
and its church, especially by the Unitarians (dominated between 1567 and 1571). So powerful was
the assault that the Catholic Church almost disappeared from Transylvania or was forced to manifest
itself cryptically.
In conclusion, it could be stated that, in Transylvania, the Reformation quickly changed the
landscape of the political nations, i.e. of the leading elite of the country. It transformed from Catholic
into Protestant. The power was collegially exercised by the Hungarian, the Saxons and the Szeklers,
who, from that moment on, were the followers of four denominations: Calvinist, Lutheran, Unitarian
and Catholic. The inhabitants of the different nations and confessions lived separately and together
at the same time. Under the political aspect, in Transylvania, starting with the 16th century, ruled the
regime of the three nations and four religions officially accepted. This regime represented
approximately one third of the whole population. The Romanians the most numerous inhabitants of
the country were left outside of this equation of power, as inhabitants of an inferior class, being
accepted still to live usque ad beneplacitum Principum et Regnicolarum, i.e. until the good will of
the princes and (lawful) citizens would last.
Therefore, Transylvania was a melting pot of the new modern Europe, with all its freedoms
and constraints, with its acceptance and rejection, with ideas for progress and bizarre perpetuations
of the medieval traditions. From certain points of view, the inhabitants of the Transylvanian Country
offered to Europe lessons of generosity and tolerance, which, even though not constantly and
generally applied, left in the public awareness a pattern of cohabitation that is valid until present day.
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