Az emlékünnepély mint kultikus mozzanat
Commemoration as a Cultic Manifestation

The 300th Anniversary of the Unitarian Church’s Institution in Transylvania

Summary/Abstract: This study is part of a larger research of mine. My purpose is to draw up a structure of Unitarian collective identity as reflected in the periodical entitled Keresztény Magvető; being the oldest theological Journal in Transylvania, it has been published since 1861. The study deals with the 300th anniversary of the Unitarian Church in 1868, celebrated in Torda (a Unitarian „sacred place” as this was the place where the freedom of faith was declared for the first time in the world and under the influence of the first Unitarian bishop). There are three reasons for my attempting a thorough analysis of this event. First: this commemorational event was of crucial importance, being the first one that could be freely celebrated. Second: representatives of all the Hungarian Christian denominations in Transylvania, as well as those of Unitarians from abroad could take part in this important event. And last but not Least, the commemoration can be considered as one of the very few events able to consolidate the phenomenon we call collective identity-from different points of view: religious (Unitarian und Protestant, that is Christian), national (Hungarian) und regional (Transylvanian). In my research I used as primary source the articles published in the 4th volume (1868) of Keresztény Magvető.

• Details
• Contents