Sabbatariernas långa historia och tragiska öde

Författare

• Laszlo Hámori Stockholm

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.69367

Nyckelord:

Jews -- Hungary, Unitarians and Unitarianism, Sabbatarians, Violence, Conversion, Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), Jewish sects

Abstract

In 1663, a refugee from Italy, Giorgio Blandrata, was appointed physician in ordinary by the Prince of Transylvania. Dr. Blandrata belonged to the Unitarian (anti-trinitarian) sect, and soon commenced to disseminate his faith in the principality, where Protestantism was strongly entrenched. Five years later, the Diet recognized Unitarianism as a denomination with the same rights as the Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist Churches. However, the Unitarian church eventually broke up&&a minority held that Jesus only was a prophet among other prophets, and did not have the right to abrogate the laws of God. Therefore, it was necessary to return to the teaching of the Old Testament. A learned and wealthy man, Simon Péchi, chancellor to the Prince, was the apostle and head of the new, Sabbatarian sect. He translated Jewish prayers and psalms into Hungarian, and introduced Jewish liturgy. The Sabbatarian sect grew rapidly, and in the first decades in the 17th century, it counted 20,000 followers among the just over half a million inhabitants of the principality. In 1621, however, Péchi was overthrown and imprisoned, and his property was confiscated. At the same time, the persecutions of the followers of the sect began. Between 1621 and 1780 several large trials were held against the “heretics”. Some of the persecuted returned to Christianity, some fled abroad, but a small group escaped to a remote mountain village, where they were able to practice their religion. In 1869 the Sabbatarians formally converted to Judaism, and formed a Jewish proselyte congregation in the village. In 1944, the descendants of the Sabbatarians were deported to Auschwitz, and today only memories remain of the “Jewish Hungarians”.