Chrystologiczna doktryna Marcina Czechowica (1532-1613)

Abstract

Marcin Czechowic, the author of polemical works and Polish translator of the New Testament was beside his conteporary Gregory Paul of Brzeziny and the later F. Socyn one of the most important theologians of Polish brothers. His works centre round the teachings of Christ founded upon rejection of a dogma of one God in the Trinity. Czechowic attempted to create a conception of anthropocentric christology stressing that essentially Christ was true man. Czechowic rejected the Catholic doctrine of the so-called communicatio idiomaticum evident from the Scriptures, and of two natures in Christ. He refuted objections raised by Catholic and Calvinist theologians claiming that his view was substantiated by the Bible, which similarly to Protestant theologians he recognized as the only self-sufficient source for justification of any religious arguments. Thus he demanded that theological terms describing religious notions were literally taken from the Holy Writ. Any attempt at abstracting from the actual Biblical expressions was considered erroneous. Czechowic also claimed that Christ was God albeit utterly different from God the Father since Christ had not existed prior to being born of Mary, had no power of God from the beginning of his life but “augmented himself by the grace of God and people” and anything he did was achieved thanks to the power given Him by God the Father. Although Christ was true God, this was due solely to the fact of his being wondrously conceived in the womb of Mary, anointed by the Holy Ghost and made Lord over all things. Czechowic’s doctrine was not a original as he took many ideas from the King’s physician, G. Blandrata, most probably through Gregory Paul of Brzeziny. When interpreting the Sriptures he referred mostly to the works by Erasmus, Vatablo, Castelione and Beza. In spite of erroneous formulation Czechowic’s doctrine set the direction of Unitarian thought and was generally accepted by Polish brothers thus contributing to some modification within Protestant theology.