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Fausto Paolo Sozini (1539-1604)
by bro.Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
Fausto Paolo Sozini , Lelio Sozini's nephew, was born in 1539. His uncle handed down to him all that he had acquired during his short but useful life. At the age of twenty-three, young Fausto Sozini, or Sozianus as be became popularly known., became an heir not only to Lelio's inheritance, but also to the light of Camillo and the learning of Servetus. His most precious legacy, however, was the great number of manuscripts and exegetical notes left by his uncle.
Soianus received his early education in Sienna where he was born. On coming of age, he visited Lyons and Geneva. He returned to Italy in 1565.He went to Florence and entered the service of Isebella de Medeci. H received both position and honour from her hands. After her death, he left Italy and settled in Basle. Here, the young scholar soon attracted the attention of all those who were interested in the study of theology He published a book for private circulation anonymously, as it was very dangerous to openly differ from the teaching of the Church.
His book reached the hands of Blandrata who was the court physician in Poland. At this stage, Blandrata had the courage, vision, ability, and ambition to free the minds of the common people from the stranglehold which the established church had on them. The religious toleration of the rulers of Poland had made the country an attractive place for all those who wanted to discuss their religion freely, who did not wish to follow the obtuse dogmatism of the church. Blandrata invited Socianus to Poland, and his offer was gladly accepted. In the free and congenial atmosphere that Socianus found there, he was at liberty to write in his own name without fear of persecution by the Church. Though his own person was safe, his property in Italy was confiscated. Socianus married a Polish woman and severed all connections with his native land.
The rulers of Poland did not believe in the doctrine of Trinity, but they were still groping in the dark. They did not know what steps to take produce a positive dogma. The presence of Socianus fulfilled this need and clearly gave satisfaction on the rulers and the people alike. The knowledge which his uncle had passed on to him, together with the fruits of his own study, fused together is Socianus's intellect, and his writings had a powerful impact on the established church.
In its anger, the Church had him arrested and he was condemned to be burnt alive. However, popular support for Socianus was so great that the court decided to subject him to the ordeal by cold water, in order to giver their judgement greater weight This test, along with the ordeal by fire, had been adopted by the church, and given the name of judicum dei, the judgement of God, although it had never been part of Jesus's, or even Paul's teaching. The outcome of the ordeal was said to be immediate judgement of God. In the ordeal by cold water the accused was thrown into deep water. If he drowned, he was guilty, knowing full well that Socianus could not swim, the officiating clergy threw him into the sea. He was saved from drowning , however, and lived until he died in 1604.
In 1605, his writings were collected together in a book. Since it was published it Rokow, it became popularity known as the Racovian Cathechism. Originally published in Polish language, it came to be translated into almost all the languages of Europe. In time, his teaching spread everywhere, and his school of theology became known as Socianism. Harnack, in his Outlines of the History of Dogma, ranks Socianism along with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism as the last of the final stages of Christian Dogma. It is largely due to Socianus that Unitarians became a separate entity within modern Christianity. Harnack declared that Socianism had these characteristic :
It had the courage to simplify the questions concerning the reality and contents of religion and to discard the burden of the ecclesiastical past.
It broke the contracted bond between religion and science , between Christianity and Platonism
It helped spread the idea that the religious statement of truth must be clear and apprehensible it is to have strength.
It tried to free the study of the Holy Scripture from the bondage of old dogmas which themselves were not in the Scriptures.
It was said by someone that "The ignorance of the laity is the Revenue
of the clergy". The teachings of Socianus did much to diminish both.
The Socian religion crossed Europe and spread to England. Bishop Hall of
Norwich is recorded as bewailing the fact that "the
minds of Christian men were seduced . . . . through the infernal Socian heresy
by Anti-Trinitarians and New Arians so that the final destruction of
Christianity was to be feared"1.
In 1638, brutal and organised persecution of the Socian started. Their College
at Rokow was suppressed , and the followers were deprived of all civil rights,
and many people who affirmed the Unity of God were burnt alive. Thus,
for instance, in 1639, Catherine Vogal, the wife of a Jeweller in Poland was
burnt alive at the age of Eighty, Her crime was that she believed that God was
one: that He was the Creator of the Seen and the Unseen worlds; and that
God could not be conceived of by the human intellect. This is, of course, the
pure metaphysics of Islam. Fuller writes that
"such burning of heretics started the common people .
. . because of the hideousness of the punishment ....and they were ready to entertain
good thoughts even of the opinions of the heretics who scaled them so manfully
with their blood"2. Therefore,
says Wallace, "James I
indulged his propensity for incendiarism by the more harmless practice of burning
their books"3.
In 1658, the people were given the option of either accepting Roman Catholicism or else going into exile. The unitarians dispersed throughout Europe. They spread with their teaching and continued to stay a separate entity for a long time.
In the writings contained in the Racovian Cathechism, Socianus struck at the very root of orthodox Christianity by denying the doctrine of atonement. Although he was ignorant of the fact that Jesus was neither crucified nor resurrected, and that therefore the doctrine is entirely without a foundation, Socianus was able to establish the absurdity of the doctrine on other grounds. Briefly speaking, the doctrine of atonement preaches that man is born in state of sin because of the first wrong action of Adam, and that Jesus, by his (supposed) crucifiction, atones for this state of sin and all the wrong actions of all those who take baptism and follow him. According to orthodox Christianity, the Church is a religious fellowship , a society of divine origin which was founded by Christ through his atoning work for men. Only within its communion, it says, and by its office, can sinful men find the way to God. The Church was therefore considered to be more important and prior to the individual believer. Sozini denied all this. He was sure that a man could have direct access to God without the need for an intermediaries. To attain salvation, not baptism, but "Right Reason" was needed, and it was not necessary to blindly follow the Church. By denying this doctrine, Socianus brought the whole authority of the Church and its raison d'etre into question. IT was largely because of this that both the Catholics and Protestants jointed forces with such fervour to fight Socianism. Socianus refuted the doctrine of atonement on the following grounds:
Christ could not have offered an infinite sacrifice for sin since Christ, according to the Gospel narration, suffered only for a short time. The most intense suffering for a limited period is as nothing compared with the eternal suffering to which man was liable. If it is said that the suffering is greater in so far as he who suffers it is infinite, so also the power to endure the suffering its greater. But even the suffering of an infinite being cannot take the place of eternal suffering.
If it is granted that Christ did offer infinite atonement, then it is impossible to speak of the forgiveness of God or of man's gratitude to Him for granting His forgiveness, since a man who was baptised in the name of Christ automatically acquired atonement for his sins before God could remit the penalty for them. To follow the doctrine means that God's Law is no longer binding on His servants since the penalty for all his sins has already been paid in full. Therefore, a man is at full liberty to do what he likes. Since the offering of Christ was absolute and infinite, it included all. Therefore , universal salvation must follow. In other words, God has no right to add any further conditions to what He requires of man. The whole price has been paid, present and future; and therefore, all debtors are now free. For , suppose a number of men had owed a great debt to an earthly creditor and someone had paid it all of; then what right would the creditor have to make further demands or conditions on these men who were no longer indebted to him?
The doctrine of atonement was also questioned by Socianus indirectly by his affirming that Jesus was not God, but a man . For there is no way that a man could atone for all the wrong actions of mankind. This fact in itself is enough to dispel this mythical doctrine.
Socianus asserted that Jesus was truly a mortal man. He was born of a virgin. He was separated from all other men due to the holiness of his life. He was not God, but he received inspiration from God. Thus, he had divine vision and divine power although he was not their author. He was sent by God with His supreme authority on a mission to mankind. Socianus supported these beliefs with a comprehensive citation and confident exegis of the relevant passages from the Scriptures. His subtle and able argument gave a rational meaning to the word of Christ. Jesus was not the Word made flesh. He was a man who achieved victory over wrong action in his life in the flesh. He did not exist before the world came into existence. It was permissible to invoke the help of Jesus in prayer as long as he was not worshipped as God.
Socianus affirmed that God is the supreme Lord of all. Omnipotence is not His only attribute, but rules every other attribute. There can be no question raised against God. The finite cannot be a measure of the infinite . Therefore , all human conceptions of the nature of God must be considered as inadequate grounds on which to base a critical judgement about Him. God's will is free and bound by no law that he human mind can formulate. His purpose and His will are hidden from the human mind. God's dominion comprises of a right and supreme authority to doctrine whatsoever He may choose, in respect of us all and all other things HE can read our thoughts even thought they may be hidden in the innermost recess of our hearts. He can at pleasure ordain laws and determine both reward and punishment for the purity and the lapse in a man's intentions. Thus, man is an individual who has been given the freedom of choice, but who in fact is powerless.
Since there cannot be more that one being who possesses supreme dominion over all things, asserted Socianus, to speak of thee supreme persons is to speak irrationally. The essence of God is one, not only in kind but also in number. It cannot in anyway contain a plurality of persons, since an individual person is nothing else than an individual intelligent essence. Wherever there exist there numerical persons, there must necessarily in like manner be reckoned three individual essences. It it is affirmed that there is one numerical essence, it must be held that there is one numerical person.
The doctrine of Trinity was also refuted by Socianus on the grounds that it was not possible for Jesus to have tow natures simultaneously. He said that two substances having opposite properties cannot combine into one person, and such properties are mortality and immortality; to have a beginning and to be without beginning, to be mutable and to be immutable. Again, two natures each of which is apt to constitute a separate person, cannot be huddled into one person. For, instead of one, three, of necessity, arise two persons and consequently they become two Christs, one divine and one human. The Church says that Christ is constituted of a divine and human nature as a man is of body and soul. Socianus replied that, in that case, this is widely different from the belief that the two natures in Christ are so united that Christ is thus constituted of a divine and a human body. In a man, body and soul are so conjoined that a man is neither soul nor body. For neither the soul nor the body separately constitute a person. Whereas, the divine nature by itself constitutes a person and therefore, of necessity, so must the human by itself also constitute a separate person.
Furthermore, said Socianus ,it is also repugnant to the Scriptures themselves
that Christ should have a divine nature:
Firstly, God created Jesus.
Secondly, the Scriptures say that Jesus was man.
Thirdly, whatever excellence Jesus had is testified by the Scriptures to be the
gift of God.
Fourthly, the Scriptures most clearly indicate that Jesus perpetually ascribes
all the miracles not himself or any divine nature of his own, but the Father.
Jesus himself confirmed the Divine Will.
The following excerpt from Racovian Cathechism is to be found in Reland's "Historical and Critical reflections upon Mahometanism and Socianism":
The opinion of those who attribute divinity to Jesus Christ is not only repugnant to right reason but likewise to the Holy Scriptures, and they are in gross error who believe that not only the Father, but also the Son and Holy Ghost are three persons in one deity .......The essence of God is most simple and absolutely one, and therefore it is a downright contradiction for one to generate another if they are three independent persons. And the poor little reason of our adversaries to the contrary to prove that the Father had begot a son of his own substance are ridiculous and impertinent.....Always till the times of the Nicene Council and some time later as appears by the writings of those who lived then, the Father...alone was acknowledge for the true God, and those who were of the contrary mind, such as the Sabellians and the like were accounted heretics...... The spirit of the Anti-Christ hath not introduced more dangerous errors into the Church of Christ than this doctrine which teaches that there are thee distinct persons in the most simple essence of God each of which is itself God, and that the Father....is not the only true God but that the Son and the Holy Ghost must be joined with him. There is nothing more absurd or more impossible and more repugnant to right reason ...Also Christians believe that Jesus Christ died to merit salvation for us and to satisfy the debts which we contracted by our sins yet this opinion is false, erroneous and most pernicious. 4
Socianus said that one of the causes of the acceptance of the doctrine of Trinity was the influence of pagan philosophy as this passage from Toland's "The Nazarenes " indicates :
The Socians and the other unitarians no less confidently assert that the Gentiles did likewise introduce into Christianity their former polytheism and deifying of dead men: thus retaining the name of Christianity but quite altering the thing and suiting as their interest or the necessity; of their affairs require to all the opinions and customs anywhere in vogue from that time to this 5
It is clear why the writings of Socianus achieved such a widespread acceptance. They not only took people back to a more accurate picture of who Jesus was and what he came for, but helped also to destroy much of the power which the Church had over people. The greatness of Socianus lies in the fact that he produced a theology which was at once logical and yet based on the bible. It was therefore very difficult for his opponents to dismiss his writings. For instance, when in 1680, the Reverend George Ashwell found that the books of Socianus were becoming very popular among his students, he decided to write a book on the Socian religion. His assessment of Socianus is interesting since it comes from the pen of an enemy :
So great was the author and patron of this sect in whom all the qualities, which excite the admiration and attract the regard of men, were united; so that he charmed, as it were, by a kind of fascination all with whom he conversed, and left on the mind of all a strong impression of admiration and love. He so excelled in the loftiness of his genius and the suavity of his disposition, such was the strength of his reasoning and the force of his eloquence, so signal were the virtues which he displayed in the sight of all, which he .....possessed....in an extraordinary degree ; so great were his natural endowment and so exemplary was his life that he appeared to captive the affection of mankind
After saying all this, Ashwell concluded that Socianus was the "devil great noose or snare"6. Today many Christians do not share the same contradictory feelings about Socianus as the reverend Ashwell. There is a dominant feeling of sympathy for Socianism and the brutal way it was suppressed, and there is a definite reaction against Trinitarianism. Many thinking Christians affirm the beliefs of Socianus and deny the divinity of Jesus and aall that is implies
reference
from the Book : Jesus - A prophet of Islam
Author : Muhammad Ata ur-Rahim
(ICRA)