ANTITRINITARI

ANTITRINITARIANS. - This name designates all heretics who profess some error against the mystery of the Holy Trinity, whether they affirm that there are three natures in it (tritheists), or maintain that there is only one person (monarchians), or deny the divinity of any one of the three divine persons. The history of antitrinitarianism can be divided into three periods: 1) from the beginning of Christianity until the 16th century; 2) from the 16th to the 17th century or Socinian period; 3) from the 18th to the 19th century or Unitarian or Unitarian period.

1st Period. - The Holy Trinity was denied in the 2nd century by the heresiarch Praxeas (v. MONARCHIANISM), who admitted only the person of the Father, who would have suffered and died for men; hence the name "patripassians" given to his followers. In the 3rd century Noetus (v.) and Sabellius (v.) denied the three persons, not to mention the Manicheans, who instead of the Trinity introduced dualism or the two principles of good and evil. In the same century Paul of Samosata (v.), and in the following one Arius (v.), denied the consubstantiality of the Son, and Macedonius (v.) denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. These errors and others on the Trinity were condemned at the Council of Nicaea (325), at the First Council of Constantinople (381), and in Roman synods under Pope Damasus I. The Priscillianists (v.) were also accused of being antitrinitarians, if it is true that against them the creed of the Eleventh Council of Toledo (675) was drawn up.

During the Middle Ages, not a few erroneous explanations were proposed regarding the mystery of the Trinity; in fact, at the Synod of Sens in 1140, the errors of Peter Abelard (v.) were condemned, and at the Fourth Lateran FIORE, IL (v.). Antitrinitarian errors also found support in the doctrine of extreme nominalists, according to whom the names of the three persons of the Holy Trinity are names of three individual natures or substances, while the unity of nature of the persons is a mere verbal expression. It must therefore be concluded that antitrinitarian theories, in one form or another, persisted, albeit latently, until the 16th century.

2nd Period, or Socinian Period. - The revival of antitrinitarianism in the 16th century, apart from the role that nominalist doctrine may have played, is to be attributed to the doctrine of "free examination." It is certain that Luther, Calvin, and the Anglicans remained faithful to the dogma of the Holy Trinity and indeed persecuted antitrinitarians; but, given their principle, it was natural that among its consequences antitrinitarianism should also emerge.

In the first article of the Augsburg Confession, old and new Samosatenes are condemned, who maintain that there is only one person and impiously argue that the persons are not distinct, affirming that the Word is a vocal word (verbum vocale) and the Spirit is the created impulse of things.

What Melanchthon feared in his letter unfortunately became a reality. In Germany and Switzerland, antitrinitarian doctrines were propagated by Martin Cellarius (d. 1564), W. F. Capito (d. 1542), J. Campanus (d. after 1553), L. Hetzer (d. 1529), and J. Denck (d. 1528). All suffered persecution, and Hetzer was condemned to death by the Protestant authorities in Basel. The doctrines, however, owed their greatest development and widest propagation to the Spaniard Michael Servetus (1509-53) and to some Italian heretics, whose activity Zanchi, a Protestant pastor in Chiavenna—where many of them resided—summed up in a few words: "Hispania gallinans peperit, Italia fovet ova, nos iam pipientes pullos audimus." The antitrinitarian ideas and their Italian propagandists,

rejected not only by Catholic countries but also by Protestants—who in 1566 condemned the Calabrian Giovanni Valentino Gentile to death by extreme penalty—found refuge in Poland under King Sigismund II Augustus (1543-72) and in Transylvania. Almost all the leading Italians went to one or the other of these two countries: the aforementioned Gentile, the Sienese Lelio Socinus Sozini or Sozzini (v.), who went there in 1562, and his nephew Faustus, who died in 1604; Stancaro (v.), who died in 1564; ALCEITA (v.), who died in 1565, BINA, ANDREA (v.), who died in 1588. The antitrinitarian doctrines of all these Italian heretics can be gathered from the Theses de Filio Dei et Trinitate, composed by Socinus or a Socinian, and from the colloquy held at Raków in 1601. "There is only one God and one person, the Father. Jesus Christ, a mere man, miraculously conceived but with human seed, was one with the Holy Spirit, who, however, is nothing but the power and energy of the Godhead. After His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ was so exalted in His humanity that He may be called God and worshipped, not by right, but as God’s plenipotentiary."

The heretical doctrines of the Socinians did not concern only the Holy Trinity but also other dogmas. Comparing the Protestants of that time with the Socinians, Cantù writes (Gli eretici d'Italia, II, p. 491): "The Socinians, like the followers of Luther, proclaimed themselves as restorers of primitive Christianity in taking the Holy Scriptures as the sole and unique rule of faith and norm of conduct; Luther, by eliminating from the Bible what did not seem to him fitting, preserved the dogmas of the Trinity, Original Sin, the Incarnation and Divinity of Christ, Baptism, and the Eucharist; Socinus removed them all. Lutheranism had given precedence to the divine element, Socinianism to the human; Lutherans and Reformers exaggerated the sinfulness of heresy, the Socinians did not recognize it."

In Transylvania, where Biandrata was active, one of the principal leaders of the antitrinitarians, Francis David, stubbornly opposed the idea—held by Biandrata—that Jesus Christ could be called God and worshipped. Biandrata then invited Faustus Socinus to go there; Socinus went in 1578 but could not convince David, who, imprisoned, died there. From Transylvania, Socinus went to Poland in 1579.

In Poland, antitrinitarianism had already been propagated by the aforementioned Italians. In 1570 a Polish nobleman had allowed them to found a center of study and retreat on his estate at Raków. Among them, two main parties had already formed: the Farnovian, which allowed some form of worship to Jesus Christ, and the Buda-nist, which denied Him any form of worship. Socinus was at first poorly received by neither party, but, being a shrewd man, he gradually managed to have his doctrine prevail at the Synod of Brest-Litovsk in 1588 and at that of Raków in 1603, where the different parties united. At the death of Sigismund II, the heretics partly lost their influence, but they continued to organize and propagate their doctrines. Socinus, despite some opposition, continued to work until his death in 1604. On his tomb was inscribed this epitaph: "Tota ruet Babylon (i.e., the Catholic Church), Luther pulled down its roofs, Calvin its walls, but Socinus its foundations"; and, if the prophecy proved false, the words well indicate the tendencies of the three reformers. Socinianism persisted in Poland, amid various vicissitudes, until 1638, when some fanatical students of Raków dared to break a cross exposed to public veneration. The Diet of Warsaw then ordered the closure of the Raków school, prohibited Socinian printing, and exiled its ministers.

But the final blow to the Polish Socinians was struck in 1658, when, during the Swedish invasion, it was discovered that they maintained secret intelligence with the Prince of Transylvania, Rákóczi, who had invaded Poland; whereupon they were all expelled from the kingdom. In Transylvania they continued without hindrance until 1699, even after that region was annexed to Austria, which merely deprived the Socinians of some churches while allowing them freedom of worship. Some groups of Unitarians still exist in Transylvania today, but they are more partisans of the doctrines of David, whom they regard as a martyr.

### 30 Unitary Period. — A) Unitarians in England. — Among the Anabaptists who took refuge in England in 1535, some were burned alive by English courts for denying the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ. In 1550, Joan Boucher was condemned to the same punishment, and in 1611, under James I, two other heretics were condemned to the same penalty for the same reason. These were isolated cases, but indicative of an underground current that gradually manifested itself as Socinian books, published in Raków, spread in England and some Polish Socinians, expelled from their homeland in 1638 and 1658, arrived there. During the English Civil War, Biddle (v.) openly professed antitrinitarianism; condemned to imprisonment, he owed his release to Cromwell.

Various were the causes and circumstances that favored, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the spread of antitrinitarianism. One of them is to be found in Arminianism: not in the sense that Arminius denied the dogma of the Trinity, but in the sense that the Arminians, applying the principle of free examination, maintained that everyone was free to interpret Holy Scripture and was not obliged to believe anything beyond what they understood. In any case, their principal theologian, Episcopius, professed antitrinitarianism, so much so that in the English colonies Edward called the antitrinitarians "Arminians." A second cause was rationalism, an enemy of all dogmas, which developed during the Civil War, as many English people could no longer reconcile themselves among so many Anglican, Puritan, Independent, Presbyterian doctrines, and the more recent ones of the Quakers. Deism also contributed to this, so much so that one of its founders, Locke, is considered by the antitrinitarians as one of their own. The Toleration Act of 1688, without intending to, gave a new impulse to this sect by freeing nonconformist sects (as the Baptists, Congregationalists, and English Presbyterians were called) from all control.

While the first two sects hardened in their doctrines, the English Presbyterians, much less rigid than their Scottish coreligionists, allowed their followers wide latitude; so much so that their pastors began to interpret the Bible more freely and, while remaining within Presbyterianism and maintaining great respect for the person of Jesus Christ, no longer insisted on His divinity. This led to a certain doctrinal wavering, which Priestley (1733-1804) sought to end by asserting that the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and His expiatory sacrifice were corruptions of Christianity, and that Unitarianism was the primitive doctrine. His followers thus began to be called Unitarians. Persecuted for his doctrines, Priestley went to America in 1794 and continued to spread his heresy there.

To this group of Presbyterians was added in 1770 a group of Baptists called "General," of Arminian tendency, who formed the General Unitarian Baptists. Around the middle of the 19th century, some Methodist churches also adopted antitrinitarian doctrines; so much so that it can be said that English Unitarianism was largely composed of refugees from the three aforementioned sects. The Anglican minister Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808) is credited with the first Unitarian chapel in England, with public worship and a special liturgy. Lindsey, inclined toward deism and a convinced latitudinarian, argued that Anglican ministers should not be required to subscribe to the 39 Articles of Religion, especially those containing Trinitarian doctrines (v. ARTICOLI DI RELIGIONE ANGLICANI). When his request was rejected, he left his parish in 1773 and the following year opened the first Unitarian chapel. In the 19th century, English Unitarians, like their American counterparts, could not escape the influence of the German theological school, and among them became common associations called "Free Christians," "Free Believers," etc.

Currently, there are about 300 Unitarian churches or chapels in England with 40,000 members, who engage in philanthropic works. Their center is at Essex Hall, in London.

B) Unitarians in the United States. — In the North American English colonies, antitrinitarianism arose from the Congregationalist churches, each of which was free to formulate its own creed or confession of faith.

During the 18th century, many Congregationalist churches in Massachusetts adopted antitrinitarian doctrines. The first church to publicly proclaim such doctrines was King's Chapel in Boston, under the leadership of the Anglican minister James Freeman. Those who remained Trinitarian began to call the others "Unitarians," and this name became general after 1819, on the occasion of a speech delivered in Boston by W. Ellery Channing. There were many struggles and divisions among American Unitarians. Suffice it to recall the schism of 1867, which gave rise to the "Free Religious Association," that of the Western Conference in 1885, etc. Among the "formulas of recommendation," the proposal was made that all should be called "text Christians"; "text," because they worshipped one God, the Father; "Christians," because they venerated Jesus as the greatest of the historical prophets. This proposal was not accepted. Finally, a certain agreement was reached at the Saratoga National Conference (1894), in which, reduced to a minimum, it was established that Unitarians and Christians "accept the religion of Jesus and profess, in accordance with doctrine, that the practice of religion is summed up in the love of God and the love of neighbor."

Unitarianism spread more successfully in the United States than in England. Among its adherents were great political figures such as the two Adams, Fillmore, and Jefferson, presidents of the republic; statesmen like B. Franklin; philanthropists like W. E. Channing and T. Parker; writers like Hawthorne. The spread of Unitarian doctrine was aided by the establishment of home missions and the founding of three theological schools for the training of ministers. There was a period in which Harvard Divinity School was Unitarian. The number of Unitarians in the United States is about 112,000, and their main center is in Boston. Among Unitarians, the more radical insist on absolute freedom of belief, tolerance of any religious opinion, education, philanthropic works, and the formation of Christian character; the less radical wish to profess, albeit vaguely, certain doctrines such as the unipersonality of God, the religion taught by the greatest of the prophets, Jesus Christ, to whom, however, they do not give a certain cult (distinguishing themselves in this from the Socinians), the denial of original sin, the purely natural character of the Bible, and the salvation of all, agreeing in this with the Universalists, with whom in 1899, without changing their individual organizations, they formed a joint committee.

In addition to the two major American and English groups, there are some of lesser importance in Ireland, Wales, and Transylvania, and others less numerous in Scotland, Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Iceland, India, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland. In Italy, the members of the Italian Association of Free Believers, founded in 1912 by Gaetano Conte with its main center in Florence, are Unitarians. They published *Riforma italiana, Bollettino della Associazione italiana di liberi credenti*; the title was changed in 1921 to *Progreso religioso, Rivista mensile del movimento contemporaneo*.

4. Other Unitarian Sects

Christian Scientists (Christian Science) regard as rival the book by M. Baker Eddy (v.), in which we read: “God the Father is but a principle, He is not a being”; “Life, Truth, and Love constitute the triune God or the threefold divine principle”; “God without man would be a nonentity,” etc.

Quakers, although they profess orthodox doctrines on the mystery of the Trinity, refuse to use the name itself. In the article of faith on the Trinity we find the phrase: “Of the Three who bear witness in the cycle”; and it is added that the use of terms not found in Holy Scripture must be avoided.

For the 2nd period. – Th. McClure, Histoire des progrès et de l'extinction de la Réforme en Italie au seizième siècle, Paris 1831; R. Wallace, Antitrinitarian Biography, III, London 1860; C. Cantù, Gli Eretici d'Italia, 3 vols., Milan 1865–66; P. Sbarbaro, Da Soltino a Mazzini, Rome 1886; Fr. Church, The Italian Reformers, London 1932; D. Cantimori and E. Feist, Testi raccolti per la storia degli eretici italiani del sec. XVI in Europa, Rome 1937; D. Cantimori, Gli Eretici Italiani del Cinquecento, Florence 1939.

For the 3rd period. – Besides the two Italian journals mentioned: F. R. Beard, Unitarianism Exhibited in its Actual Condition, London 1866; Ch. de Rémusat, Channing, sa vie et ses œuvres, Paris 1857; J. Freeman Clarke, Orthodoxy, its Truths and Errors, Boston 1866; W. Lloyd, The Story of the Protestant Dissent and English Unitarianism, London 1869; W. G. Tarrant, The Story and Significance of the Unitarian Movement, London 1910; I. W. Cooke, Unitarianism in America, Boston 1910; Freeman and Truth, Modern Views of Unitarian Christianity, London 1923; J. Sunderland, What do Unitarians Believe, Boston 1926; Unitarian Year-Book, Boston 1924–25, 1931.

For the other sects: M. Baker and G. Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 1068th ed., Boston 1896; Questione novem de Trinitate… ad Emmanuelen Svedenborg propositae a Thoma Hartley, cum illius responsis, New York 1904; W. Lefroy, Christian Science Contrasted with Christian Faith and with Itself, London 1906; Th. Evans, A Concise Account of the Religious Society of Friends, Philadelphia n.d.; Camillo Crivelli.