History/Political Science paper by Molnár, Lehel
Hungarian Unitarian Church Archives in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Romania

Unitarians in Háromszék Seat in the 17th Century Transylvania: Between Conventional Rhetoric and Reality (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The Unitarian church historiography is going through a paradigm shift. In the light of
these changes the recent paper tries to break down the conventional rhetoric that took shape
around the topic of the forced conversion of the Unitarian congregations in the 17 th century in
Háromszék. At the beginning of the reign of Gábor Bethlen the Protestants in Háromszék seat
(Unitarians and Calvinists) were living together in a distinctive symbiosis. The congregations
were allowed to freely elect their ministers and teachers. It was not unusual that a
congregation had a Unitarian minister and a Calvinist teacher, or vice versa. The members of
these villages were living in an apparent peace. The elimination of this integrated Protestant
institution and the denominational segregation arose in 1619 during the visit of the Calvinist
bishop János Keserűi Dajka. The Unitarian church historiography held for centuries that
60–72 Unitarian congregations were converted to Calvinist confession in Háromszék seat.
The audience will see that in reality there were altogether 70–71 Protestant congregations in
Háromszék. Analyzing the minutes of the investigations ordered by Katalin Brandenburgi in
1630 it is evident from the testimonies of the witnesses that only 14 congregations had a
Unitarian past. Due to these outcomes we must reconsider the conventional rhetoric that the
notorious Calvinist bishop János Keserűi Dajka converted the Unitarian Háromszék to
Calvinism.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I am archivist at the Unitarian Headquarters in Kolozsvár. After finishing my Unitarian
theology training in 1995, I was appointed Assistant Minister at the First Unitarian Church in
Kolozsvár where I served for nearly two years. I have received subsequent formal archival
training in Debrecen (1996–97). In 1999, I was ordained a unitarian minister. Between
2018–2019 I was a Balázs Ferenc scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry in
Berkeley, California. In 2020 I defended my doctoral dissertation at the University of Szeged Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Hungary and I received the Ph.D. degree.