Unitárius papok magatartása Kornis Borbála perében
Th e Attitude of the Unitarian Ministers in the Legal Case against Borbála Kornis

Summary/Abstract: It is a well-known fact in the history of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church that the diet of Beszterce in the year 1638 cited the Sabbatarians before court. The authorities brought a lawsuit against Borbála Kornis too. She was related to Simon Péchi (1575–1642), who was the second man (chancellor) of Transylvania until his fall (1621). Some ecclesiastical figures from the Unitarian Church were also involved in Borbála Kornis’s case. In his monograph, Róbert Dán (1936– 1986) assigned the task to us to examine the attitude of the Unitarian ministers during this legal process. This paper includes a biography of these ministers: two of them were rural deans, while one of them was probably a Sabbatarian churchman. It is very important that disobedience is a returning motive in their life. Borbála Kornis’ lawsuit was concluded in July, when the higher authority asked a question from the synod of the Unitarian Church. In the historians’ opinion this question was whether Borbála Kornis had been Christian or not. It is, however, founded on an error. In the Protocollum [minutes] we read that the question was actually whether a Sabbatarian converted to Christianity, who did not receive the sacrament of baptism, can be considered Christian or not. So it is a misconception that the Unitarian Church betrayed Borbála Kornis. Only the sources from Prince George Rákóczi I (1593–1648) suggest this.

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