Grzegorz Paweł z Brzezin (English: Gregory Paul of

Brzeziny Brzeziny (; , ''Brezin'') is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County and has a population of 12,326 as of December 2021. It is situated on the Mrożyca River within the historic Łęcz ...

, Latin: Gregorius Paulus Brzezinensis) (1525–1591), was a

Socinian Socinianism ( ) is a Nontrinitarian Christian belief system developed and co-founded during the Protestant Reformation by the Italian Renaissance humanists and theologians Lelio Sozzini and Fausto Sozzini, uncle and nephew, respectively. I ...

( Unitarian) writer and theologian, one of the principal creators and propagators of radical wing of the Polish Brethren, and author of several of the first theological works in Polish, which helped to the development of literary Polish.

Biography

Paweł was educated at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

, where he encountered the ideas of

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. Upon his return he became rector of the school at the Catholic Collegiate Church of St. Mary Magdalene in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. But he later had to abandon the position due to profession of Calvinism. From about 1550 he began to openly promote the Reformation, and from 1552, celebrated Protestant worship for the inhabitants of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. He was named pastor in Pełsznicy church, and in 1557 was elected pastor of the church in Kraków. From this time his beliefs became more radical, and in 1562 he broke with Calvinism and became openly

nontrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ( ...

. In 1569 Paweł moved to

Raków Rakow may refer to: People *Benzion Rakow (1925–1985), rabbi in London, England *Bezalel Rakow (1927–2003), rabbi of Gateshead, England *Ed Rakow (1935–2000), American baseball player * Edward F. Rakow (1861–1942) * Mary Rakow, American no ...

, in the year the settlement was founded by castellan Jan Sienieński, and Paweł became a leader of the radical wing. Robert Wallace, ''Sketches of the lives and writings of distinguished antitrinitarians'' (1850) p. 179 He died before the founding of the

Racovian Academy The Racovian Academy (') was a Socinian school operated from 1602 to 1638 by the Polish Brethren in Raków, Kielce County, Raków, Sandomierz Voivodeship of Lesser Poland. The communitarian Arianism, Arian settlement of Raków was founded in 1569 b ...

(Polish: ''Akademia Rakowska'') in 1602 by Jakub Sienieński.

Views

He preached an early form of socialist utopianism, including community assets and common work. He claimed that the true Christians, that is the Polish Brethren, did not need a State, which was created only for evil people to control and punish them. Although he stressed the need to comply with the secular authorities, he believed that

Arians Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered h ...

should not participate in the government of the State nor resolve disputes before the courts. He was an unconditional pacifist (like

Martin Czechowic Martin Czechowic (or ''Marcin Czechowic'') (c.1532–1613) was a Polish Socinian (Unitarian) minister, Protestant reformer, theologian and writer. Life Born in Zbąszyń on the German border, Czechowic received a humanistic education in Pozna� ...

). In the religious sphere he denied the

immortality of the soul Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess " biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a conviction that gods may be phy ...

, claiming that the soul cannot exist outside the body. He also denied the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

, Jesus was only a perfect human being, miraculously born for the salvation of humanity, and after the resurrection exalted by God because of the sanctity of his life. He saw the Holy Spirit as allegorical, a personification of all that is "under God". In 1567 a split occurred among the Brethren. The majority followed the views of

Fausto Sozzini Fausto Paolo Sozzini (; ; 5 December 1539 – 4 March 1604), often known in English by his Latinized name Faustus Socinus ( ), was an Italian Renaissance humanist and theologian, and, alongside his uncle Lelio Sozzini, founder of the Nontrinit ...

, advocated by Grzegorz Paweł z Brzezin and the Silesian

Georg Schomann Georg Schomann (Polish ''Jerzy Szoman'') (Racibórz 1530 - Chmielnik 1591) was a Socinian ( Unitarian) theologian. In his youth, was distinguished by a deep Catholic religiosity. In the years 1552-1554 he studied at the Kraków Academy and then at ...

who denied the

pre-existence Pre-existence, premortal existence, beforelife, or life before birth, is the belief that each individual human soul existed before mortal conception, and at some point before birth enters or is placed into the body. Concepts of pre-existence c ...

of Christ, though they still accepted the

virgin birth of Jesus In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by his mother Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his Virgin birth (mythology), virgin bir ...

, unlike later

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

. The minority seceded, holding to the divinity of Christ and

pre-existence of Christ The pre-existence of Christ asserts the existence of Christ prior to his incarnation as Jesus. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1 () where, in the Trinitarian interpretation, Christ is identified with a pre-existent divine hypostasi ...

(

deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

). In 1568 Grzegorz Paweł z Brzezin translated into Polish the commentary on the first chapter of the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

, by

Major works

* ''Rozdział Starego Testamentu od Nowego'' (division of the Old Testament from the New) (c. 1568) * ''O prawdziwej śmierci'' (on the mortality of the soul) (c. 1568) * ''O różnicach teraźniejszych'' (of the distinctions in the present-day) (1564)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawel Z Brzezin, Grzegorz 1525 births 1591 deaths Polish Unitarian theologians Translators of the Bible into Polish Unitarian socialists European Christian socialists Christian socialist theologians