Polish brethren
From Wikinfo
Polish Brethren, Antitrinitians, Arians, or Socinians was the name of a Polish sect from 16th century. The movement started around 1562 and ended with expulsion of arians from Poland in 1658. Brethren never participated in agreement at Sandomierz between different Polish protestants. The Polish brethren advocated separation of church from state and taught the equality and brotherhood of all people; they opposed social privileges based on religious affiliation, and their adherents refused military service and declined from holding political office. They basically did not believe in private property. They were against capital punishment. They did not believe in the catholic doctrines of the Trinity, or Hell.
Although never numerous, they have made significant impact on political thought in Poland. After expulsion they emigrated to England and Netherlands, were their works where widely published and probably have influenced many political thoughts of later philosophers, such as John Locke and Pierre Bayle.
Their main ideologues were Piotr z Goniadza (Gonesius), Grzegorz Pawel z Brzezin. More known in Europe however were Johannes Crellius (originally from Germany), and Jan Ludwik Wolzogen (who came to Poland from Austria). Among the best known of this sect are Mikolaj Sienicki, Jerzy Niemojewski, and writers and poets Zbigniew Morsztyn and Waclaw Potocki.
They were expelled from Poland after The Deluge, since they were commonly seen as Swedish collaborators. Most of Arians moved to Netherlands, where they influenced greatly European opinion, becaming precursors of Enlightenment. Their ideas also influenced Founding Fathers of United States.
This expulsion is sometimes officially taken as the beginning of decline of Polish religious freedom, although decline started earlier and ended later: the last non-Catholic deputy was removed from parliament in the beginning of the 18th century.
Influence
John Locke was preceded by a few decades by Samuel Przypkowski on tolerance, by Andrzej Wiszowaty on 'rational religion'. Newton had met Samuel Crell of the Spinowski family (originally Krell from Germany).
Englishman John Bidle had translated two works by said Przypkowski ; also the Racovian Catechism ; and a work by J. Stegmann, a "Polish Brother" from Germany.
Bidle's followers had very close relations with the Polish Socinian family of Crellius (aka Spinowski).
Subsequently, the Unitarian branch of Christianity was continued with by, most notably, Joseph Priestley, who had emigrated to the U. S. A. and was a friend of both James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson had claimed to be a 'Unitarian' and credited Priestley with having converted him onto that faith.
You may note that Priestley was very well informed on the earlier developments in Poland, especially by his mentions of Socinius and Szymon Budny
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Polish_brethren" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_brethren, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
