Greetings my friends. Let me introduce myself. I am Francis David. And I am a Unitarian minister from the 16th century. Though I have been dead now for almost 500 years, I could not resist the invitation from your wonderful minister, Michael McGee, to rise out of the grave of history and be with you on this special Partner Church Sunday.
I realize that with the passage of so much time, many of you may not know my name much less my role as the father of Unitarianism. And so, in as modest way as possible, I would like to tell you about my life and teachings.
First of all, I want you to know about a place and a time when the exploration and expression of religion was at its most exciting and when Unitarianism was the most vital and popular church in the land. The time was the late 16th century and you may be surprised to hear that the place was the small nation of Transylvania.
It was in my beloved country during the Protestant Reformation that the common form of entertainment and education was the highly intellectual and emotional debates that frequently took place in every city and town. My people, who many have thought of throughout history as country bumpkins, were enthralled with the inquiry of theological concepts, and they were committed to the ongoing search for truth.
Though I am not known by many outside of our Unitarian faith, it has been said, even by my enemies, that I was the most eloquent and successful of all the religious orators in that day, convincing a large number of my people of the rationality of Unitarian theology.
Before I tell you more about that astonishing time in history, let me share my own story with you. I was born in the year 1510 in the town of Kolosvar which is now the capital city in Transylvania, known by the Romanians as Cluj. I came from a meager upbringing. My father, David Hertel, was a Saxon shoemaker, and my mother was a Hungarian homemaker.
Being a deeply religious spirit, I entered the Catholic priesthood as a young man and was sent to Wittenberg for my education. Upon my return home I was given the position as director of a school in Kolosvar.
I soon became disenchanted with the blatant corruption of the Roman Church and enthralled by the dynamic spirit of Reformation that was sweeping across Europe. I saw in the Reformation a direction for those looking for a new heaven and a new earth. I believed myself called by God to serve those ends with sound rationality, profound humanism and prophetic enthusiasm.
The Reformation started with Martin Luther nailing 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517. In Transylvania the ideas of the reformation quickly took root and spread across our small country.
The Lutheran Church at that time was at the heart of the Reformation, and so I became a Lutheran minister and soon rose to the position of superintendent, helping to make it the dominant church in the nation. But as you will see, the story of my life is that my beliefs kept evolving as I studied, preached and prayed.
I soon became dissatisfied with the limitations of Lutheranism and joined the Calvinist Church where I became their superintendent. I led the Calvinists into dominance during my leadership, but as my theology continued to change I again yearned for more progress than they could provide.
The motive and deciding force of my reforming activity was the deep experience of God which emerged from my study of the Bible, and especially of the New Testament. In the Bible I found that the law and revelation of God, with the help of one's reason, led me to only one possible means of purifying Christianity: to go back and restore the church to its original form.
The reforms of Luther and Calvin had been confined to a few minor changes in theology and organization, and they set bounds to the freedom of humanity's individual experience and religious development. To my disappointment they refused to carry the work of renovation any further.
The radical reformation I led demanded a reexamination and reappraisal of the Christian religion, maintaining only those tenets which had a foundation in the gospel and commended themselves to reason. I believed that the Sermon on the Mount to be at the heart of Christianity and I urged my followers to live the ethical life Jesus had proclaimed.
I finally came to the conclusion that the Calvinists, the Lutherans, and the Catholics were all using as the foundation of their theology the erroneous belief in the trinity of God and the divinity of Christ. At that point, I left the Calvinist church and began to preach and debate eloquently for the Arians, who later became known as Unitarians. The Arians were followers of the priest, Arius, who at the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. proclaimed that Jesus was more human than divine and was thus condemned as a heretic.
The acceptance of the trinity was a Christian duty which brought salvation, and its denial brought the death penalty and damnation. Yet, after a detailed study of the Bible and the history of the Christian faith I discovered that the concept of the Trinity was not taught by Jesus, and that in fact it was framed by theologians and church councils long after his death. I proclaimed that the Trinitarian dogma is an abstract, theological speculation which cannot be understood by anyone of any age.
In the place of the dogma of the Trinity, I taught the indivisible unity of God that unites all people. I attempted to restore the Biblical teaching of the one God in its original purity. In Transylvania the name "Unitarian" was first used to describe those liberal Christians who believed that God was one and not a trio.
I vigorously preached religious toleration and freedom of conscience. These beliefs were not indifferent platitudes but an affirmation of the human spirit and the love of God. "There is no greater mindlessness and absurdity," I said, "than to force conscience and the spirit with external power, when only their creator has authority for them."
For me the work of the reformation had been only partially accomplished. What Christianity needed was an ongoing reformation that would continually challenge the religious beliefs of its followers. But that reformation could only come about if we allowed and encouraged the free exchange of ideas and opinions.
I was so convincing in my arguments that I even converted the King of Transylvania, John Sigismund, to Unitarianism, and was appointed minister to the royal court. In January of 1568 King Sigismund called for a Diet to meet at the town of Torda in Transylvania to consider whether a decree of toleration should be enacted that would protect the right of all Christian churches to co-exist in peace. I spoke eloquently in favor of the decree, convincing the majority of participants and the king himself of the necessity of freedom in matters of religious belief.
A description of those proceedings reads thus:
"There appeared one Francis David by name, a learned man. The Calvinist ministers and preachers were lively in their opposition to him both in debate and in writing but they could not get the better of him... The king, to whom each party was recommending its own brand of faith, listened now to the new ideas of Francis David, and now to the learning of Calvin; and he began to favor the former. He was supported by many of the gentry. If a parish was unwilling to adopt his faith he did not remove its priest as long as he kept his head in the upheaval..."
After much debate, King Sigismund did issue the Edict of Toleration, which was the first time in the history of Europe a sovereign had declared that all Christian churches were free to practice their religion as they wished. Unfortunately the edict did not apply to non-Christian churches, but the Edict of Toleration was truly a monumental accomplishment in achieving the right of conscience for all people. It read in part:
"... (the) preachers shall be allowed to preach the Gospel everywhere, each according to his own understanding of it. If the community wish to accept such preaching, well and good; if not they shall not be compelled... No one shall be made to suffer on account of his religion, since faith is the gift of God."
Your minister, Michael McGee, has told me that he was deeply moved when almost ten years ago he stood in that church which the king and religious leaders of the day met to debate the Edict of Toleration. The church in Torda has long since been taken away from the Unitarians and is now Catholic. But in those walls you can still hear the faint echoes of vehement speeches, passionate debates, and reasoned arguments, that did so much to give life to Unitarianism.
The Edict of Torda essentially legalized Unitarianism for the first time in history. When I returned to Kolasvar I was proclaimed a hero of the people. The story goes that I mounted a large boulder at the street corner and proclaimed the simple unity of God with such persuasive eloquence that they took me on their shoulders and bore me to the great church in the square to continue the theme, and the whole city accepted the Unitarian faith then and there.
I must confess that the story may have been somewhat exaggerated, but it was not an exaggeration that the Unitarian church grew rapidly under my leadership, soon becoming the most popular church in all of Transylvania. But when King Sigismund died in 1571 trouble began to brew for the Unitarians. The Catholic, King Stephen, took power, reaffirming the Decree of Religious Toleration but warning against any innovation of doctrine. Many were afraid that any new ideas -- especially liberal ideas -- would upset the delicate balance of power between the churches.
I however was not a man who would accept limitations upon the truth, even though my theology was going beyond the accepted Unitarian beliefs of the day. I began to preach against the invocation of Christ in prayers, which was too radical for King Stephen.
I was brought to trial and convicted of preaching new innovations and sentenced to life imprisonment. Five months later I died alone in a cold dungeon.
As I once said: "Neither the sword..., nor the cross, nor the image of death -- nothing will halt the march of truth." With my life I showed that truth will live on in spite of all attempts to kill it.
My death was a tragic blow for Unitarians. What followed was a succession of oppressive Kings who nibbled away at the power of our church, and a series of invasions by armies that forced their own religion onto the conquered Transylvanians.
Yet, in spite of four hundred years of persecution you may be surprised to hear that there are still 80,000 Unitarians in Transylvania. Many of them live in small villages and attend country churches.
As you might expect, Unitarian theology is more conservative and Christian oriented in Transylvania than it is here. But the commitment to freedom, tolerance and reason is the same.
I am immensely proud of my Unitarian friends of Transylvania. They have courageously endured many hardships as they continue to worship now as they did in the 16th century. Even a decade after the communist regime was overthrown the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process are still being threatened by the present government of Romania. Our friends in Transylvania are suffering the double persecution of being both Hungarians and Unitarians.
I would like to read you a recent email from your Partner Church in Transylvania that was passed to me by Rev. McGee:
Dear Rev. Michael McGee!
Dear Congregation!
We are sending our warmest greeting on the occasion of your celebration on March 5th. The relationship between the two Churches ensures us that in spite of the great distance we are bound together by mutual thoughts and feelings...
Our congregation started to remodel the church in 1997. They attend the Church services with a renewed spirit. The congregation has 1191 members. People are mostly of rural origin and on week-ends they often go home to their native villages to help their parents and relatives. 110 children attend the local school where they are taught religion, too. They also come to the Sunday-school and take part in various Church programs.
We hoped that after 1989 there would be more changes in our church life but unfortunately our hopes are vanished. Before 1948 churches had their own fields and forests here in Transylvania. None of these have been returned to churches and the Romanian Government doesn't offer any financial support to Protestant or Catholic churches. But thanks to our ... Unitarian faith we can survive.
The existence of our partnership is a great spiritual and financial support to us. Thank you for understanding our problems and difficulties. There are many hardships in a country which has been through two World Wars, has suffered a long period of communism, where human rights are not respected, and where democracy has just started.
We can almost feel that Frances David`s spirit is with you. May the trust in a better future be the link between Arlington and Segesvar!
With these feelings I close my letter: God bless you!
Best wishes:
Benedek Jakab
And my Congregation of Segesvar
You can tell how much your support means to the Unitarians of Transylvania. They need not only monetary support but to know that someone in the outside world is interested in what happens to them. The Unitarian Churches of Transylvania gave birth to this movement, and we have provided you with 400 years of tradition. Now I hope that your churches can help keep our faith alive and vital for at least another 400 years.
I must confess that I am somewhat shocked by the state of Unitarianism in this 21st century. For one, I had expected that it would be the dominant belief of the future, and I am disappointed that our church is so small in membership and influence. And I am astounded at the changes that have taken place in our faith. You are no longer even a Christian church!
And yet I must keep in mind that it was I who kept pushing for the onward progression of Unitarianism in my day, even to my death. I believe that we must always be changing and perfecting our beliefs no matter what the costs. So I commend you for your diversity of beliefs and your ongoing search for truth. And I urge you not only to support the Unitarians of Transylvania but to spread our faith and values across this land and this planet.
Let me end with my own words, which I was pleased to find in the back of your hymnal. I would appreciate it if you could turn to #566 and read responsively. It is called "God Is One."
"In this world there have always been many opinions about faith and salvation.
You need not think alike to love alike.
There must be knowledge in faith also.
Sanctified reason is the lantern of faith.
Religious reform can never be all at once, but gradually, step by step.
If they offer something better, I will gladly learn.
The most important spiritual function is conscience, the source of all spiritual joy and happiness.
Conscience will not be quieted by anything less than truth and justice.
We must accept God's truth in this lifetime.
Salvation must be accomplished here on earth.
God is indivisible.
Egy Az Isten.
God is one."
With my life I showed that truth will live on in spite of all attempts to kill it. With our lives let us do all that we can to keep truth alive no matter what the cost.
