Jan Seklucjan

Jan Seklucjan (born either in 1498 or around 1510, died 1578) (also known as Jan from Siekluki, Seclucian, Seclucianus) was a Polish Lutheran theologian, an activist in the Protestant Reformation in Poland and Ducal Prussia (a Polish fief), translator, writer, publisher and printer.

Little is known about his early life. According to his name he was born or came from the village of Siekluki in Mazovia, near Radom. Originally Seklucjan was a Dominican. After studying at Leipzig he moved in around 1543 to Poznań, where he served as a Lutheran preacher. Threatened by the local bishop with a charge of heresy, in 1544 he moved to Königsberg (Królewiec, today Kaliningrad) in Ducal Prussia, at the time a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. There he lived under the protection of Duke Albert of Prussia and began publishing and printing Lutheran literature in the Polish language. He was encouraged in his endeavors by Duke Albert, who wanted to have the Bible and catechism translated into the vernacular language of his many Polish subjects. He was in charge of the parish of the church in Steindamm (part of Königsberg), which served as a local center for Lutheran Poles. In many of his works he cooperated with the Polish Lutheran theologian Andrzej Samuel.

Seklucjan focused mostly on translations into Polish. In 1544 or 1545 he published a Polish language catechism, entitled Wyznanie wiary chrześcijańskiej (Profession of the Christian Faith), most likely based on Martin Luther's Small Catechism, a second edition of which was printed in 1547. Also in 1547 he published a hymnal, Pieśni duchowne a nabożne ("Holy and divine hymns"), which included 35 religious hymns, including eight written by Luther.

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