ThePolish Brethren (Polish:Bracia Polscy) were members of theMinor Reformed Church of Poland, anontrinitarianProtestant church that existed inPoland from 1565 to 1658. By those on the outside, they were called "Arians" or "Socinians" (Polish:arianie,socynianie), but themselves preferred simply to be called "Brethren" or "Christians" (and, after their expulsion from Poland, "Unitarians").
TheEcclesia Minor orMinor Reformed Church of Poland, better known today as the Polish Brethren, was started on January 22, 1556, whenPiotr of Goniądz (Peter Gonesius), a Polish student, spoke out against thedoctrine of the Trinity during the general synod of the Reformed (Calvinist) churches of Poland held in the village ofSecemin.[1]
A theological debate called by the Polish kingSigismund II Augustus himself in 1565 did not succeed in bringing both Protestant factions together again. Finally, the faction that had supported Piotr of Goniądz's arguments broke all ties with the Calvinists and organised its own synod in the town ofBrzeziny on June 10, 1565.[2]
In the 1570s a split was developing between the pacifist andArian group, led byMarcin Czechowic andGrzegorz Paweł z Brzezin, and the non-pacifist andEbionite group, led by the BelarusianSymon Budny. In 1579, the Italian exileFausto Sozzini arrived in Poland and applied for admission to theEcclesia Minor, which was refused because of his rather unusual personal objection to water baptism, but they saw in the Italian an able advocate and Sozzini's capable answering of Budny, followed by his marriage to the daughter ofKrzysztof Morsztyn Sr. in 1586 cemented his place among the Polish Brethren. The calling of the group "Socinian" in England is more a result of the place given to Sozzini's writings in the publishing of his grandsonAndrzej Wiszowaty Sr. in Amsterdam a century later than any role of active leadership in Sozzini's life, especially given that without submitting to baptism, he could never formally join the church that later bore his name abroad.
Their biggest cultural centres werePińczów andRaków, site of the main Arianprinting press and the universityRacovian Academy (Gymnasium Bonarum Artium) founded in 1602 and closed in 1638, which trained over 1000 students.
The Brethren never participated in theSandomierz Agreement of 1570 between different PolishProtestants. The Minor Church in Poland was dissolved on July 20, 1658, when theSejm expelled the Socinians from Poland after a series of 17th-century wars known asthe Deluge in which ProtestantSweden invaded Poland since the Brethren (like almost all other non-Catholic Christians) were commonly seen as Swedish collaborators.
The Brethren were exiled in three directions and found asylum in the following regions:
Originally, the Minor Church followed a non-trinitarian doctrine, inspired by the writings ofMichael Servetus. Later on,Socinianism, named for the Italian theologianFausto Sozzini, became its main theological approach. They were againstcapital punishment and did not believe in the traditional Christian doctrines ofHell or theTrinity.
They advocated theseparation of church and state and taught the equality and brotherhood of all people. They opposed social privileges based on religious affiliation, and their adherents refused military service (they were known for carrying wooden swords, instead of the real almost obligatoryszablas), and they declined to serve in political office.
Although never numerous, they had a significant impact on political thought in Poland. After being expelled from Poland, they emigrated toEngland,East Prussia and theNetherlands, where their works were widely published and influenced much of the thinking of later philosophers such asJohn Locke andPierre Bayle.
Their main ideologues werePiotr z Goniądza ("Gonesius"),Grzegorz Paweł z Brzezin,Marcin Czechowic, althoughJohannes Crellius (from Germany), andJohann Ludwig von Wolzogen (who came to Poland from Austria) were far better known outside Poland. Among the best known adherents of this fellowship areMikołaj Sienicki,Jan Niemojewski, and writers and poetsZbigniew Morsztyn,Olbrycht Karmanowski andWacław Potocki.
This expulsion is sometimes taken as the beginning of decline of famous Polishreligious freedom, although the decline started earlier and ended later: the last non-Catholic deputy was removed from parliament in the beginning of the 18th century. Most of Polish Brethren moved to theNetherlands, where they greatly influenced European opinion, becoming precursors toEnlightenment.[citation needed]
John Locke was preceded by a few decades bySamuel Przypkowski on tolerance and byAndrzej Wiszowaty on 'rational religion'.Isaac Newton had metSamuel Crell, son ofJohannes Crellius, of the Spinowski family. Newton was well informed about the developments in Poland and collected many books from theRacovian Academy.[3]
The EnglishmanJohn Biddle had translated two works by Przypkowski, as well as theRacovian Catechism and a work byJoachim Stegmann, a "Polish Brother" from Germany. Biddle's followers had very close relations with the Polish Socinian family of Crellius (aka Spinowski).
Subsequently, theUnitarian strain of Christianity was continued by, most notably,Joseph Priestley, who had emigrated to the United States and was a friend of bothJames Madison andThomas Jefferson, the latter of whom sometimes attended services at Priestley's congregation in Philadelphia. Notably, Priestley was very well informed on the earlier developments in Poland, especially by his mentions ofSocinus andSzymon Budny (translator of Bible, author of many pamphlets against the Trinity).
During theSecond Polish Republic, the priestKarol Grycz-Śmiałowski recreated what he considered was a revival of the Church of Polish Brethren inKraków in 1937. During thePeople's Republic of Poland, it was registered in 1967 as the Unity of Polish Brethren (Jednota Braci Polskich).
Modern groups that look to the Polish Brethren include theChristadelphians andChurch of God General Conference. Although Christadelphians had since their origins in the 1840s always looked for historical precedents, the group was unaware of closer precedents inSocinianism. That changed with a series of articles in the community magazine during the early 1970s that was subsequently published.[4][5] The Polish arm of the Christadelphians use the nameBracia w Chrystusie in a conscious echo of Socinian precedents. The Atlanta Bible College of the Church of God General Conference also publishes a Journal continuing research into the Polish Brethren and related groups.[6]
