Center for Philosophy and Socinian Studies
Socinians were members of the specific radical Reformation
international religious group that was formed originally in Poland and in Transylvania in
the XVIth century and went beyond the limited scope of the reform initiated by Luther or
Calvin. At the roots of their religious doctrines was the Antitrinitarianism developed by
Michael Servetus (1511-1553) and transplanted by Italian Humanists, as well as the social
ideas borrowed initially from the Anabaptists and Moravian Brethren. About the middle of
the XVIth century a variety of Antitrinitarian sects emerged. They called
themselves Christians or Brethren, hence Polish Brethren, also Minor Reformed Church.
Their opponents labeled them after the old heresies as Sabellians, Samosatinians,
Ebionites, Unitarians, and finally Arians. They were also known abroad as Socinians, after
the Italian Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) (Fausto Sozzini, nephew of Lelio Sozzini) who at
the end of the XVIth century became a prominent figure in the
Raków Unitarian
congregation for systematizing the doctrines of the Polish Brethren. Although
the spirit of religious liberty was one of the elements of the Socinian
doctrine, the persecution and
coercion they met as a result of the Counter Reformation led them to formulate
the most advanced ideas in the realm of human freedom and church-state
relations.
The intellectual ferment Socinian ideas produced in all of
Europe determined the future philosophical trends and led directly to the development of
Enlightenment. The precursor ideas of the Polish Brethren on religious freedom were later
expanded, perfected and popularized by John Locke (1632-1704) in England and Pierre Bayle
(1647-1706) in France and Holland. The ideas of John Locke were transplanted directly to
the American continent by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson who implemented them for the
first time in the American legislation.
The Polish Brethren were forerunners of the later thinkers
who developed the ideas of the Enlightenment and introduced modern humanistic ideals.
Their achievements are the highest in Europe of their times and originated all modern
trends in political, social and moral sciences, in biblical and religious studies, and in
concepts of the absolute freedom of intellectual inquiry, liberty of conscience and
complete nonantagonistic separation of church and state. They put to practice the highest
ethical ideals.
