The History of Unitarianism in Transylvania
(King John Finds a Way)

On his twenty-first birthday --- in the year 1561--- John Sigismund became the King of Transylvania, the Land beyond the Forest. He had waited many years for this day. His father, King John Zapolya, had died when the Prince was only a baby. Up to that day no one had known if John would every really become king. The surrounding countries in Eastern Europe had fought to take over Transylvania. And John had been a frail and sickly child.

But now that John had the throne, he was determined to put an end to the fighting going on inside his country and around it. In these wars, people were fighting about religion as much as about who had control of the land. In Transylvania, Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists were fighting each other. Each group believed that is was right and wanted to destroy the other religions.

Another religious group in Transylvania had a new idea for what to do about this. This group believed that people should be free to worship as they chose. These were the Unitarians. And everybody else was against them! King John wanted peace in his country. But how could he bring that about?

King John decided that the best way to resolve the conflict among religious groups in Transylvania was to have a debate. So in January 1568, in the city of Torda, he called representatives of each religion to debate. The debate lasted for ten days, beginning each morning at five o’clock. Francis David argued for the Unitarians. His beliefs were that “faith is the gift of God” and cannot be forced by power or fear. By all accounts David’s argument was the most convincing.

When the debate was over, the Unitarians were declared the victor. But instead of special treatment for their own people, they asked for religious freedom for everyone. King John became a Unitarian, the only Unitarian king in history! Both he and Francis David believed that conflict over ideas and values could never be resolved by violence but only by free and open discussion.

At the end of the debate King John issued the following law,” . . . in every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel, each according to his (sic) understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well; if not, no one shall compel them . . . but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none . . . shall annoy or abuse the preachers on account of their religion . . . or allow any to be imprisoned or punished . . . on account of his (sic) teaching, for faith is the gift of God.”

This Edict of Toleration, the first of its kind in history, said that each religious group had to tolerate the others. All over Europe people were fighting each other about religious differences. But in Transylvania the Unitarian king claimed no special privileges for his own religion and guaranteed equal rights for all.

King John died in an accident in 1571 when he was only 31 years old. Those who ruled after him did not believe as he did. They made Catholicism the official religion of the country. But Unitarianism had spread quickly through the land while John was king and had gained enough strength to survive. In fact, Unitarianism is still an important religion in the Transylvania region of Romania to this day.