Martin Czechowic

Martin Czechowic (or Marcin Czechowic) (c.1532–1613) was a Polish Socinian (Unitarian) minister, theologian and writer.

Born in Zbąszyń on the German border, Czechowic received a humanistic education in Poznań and at the University of Leipzig (1554).

He lived at a time when religious unrest was prevalent in Poland. Numerous religious sects arose, varying from the old Catholicism and the new Reformation to sects which rejected the Trinity and denied the divinity of Jesus. The members of the sect which professed disbelief in the Trinity were called Unitarians, and the most radical among them were called by their opponents "Half Jews" or "semi-judaizers". The religious dissension and constant disputes which arose in consequence led to a number of Jews taking part in these disputations.

Like many of his era, Martin Czechowic's religious life was marked by gradual rather than sudden changes in his religious views. He was originally a Roman Catholic priest in Kórnik until 1555, when he became a member of the Moravian Brethren in Vilna where he had gone to Lithuania to work for the Radziwiłł family. Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł sent him on a fruitless mission to Geneva to convert Calvin and the Reformers but it was Czechowic who adopted Lutheranism and eventually, Calvinism, himself. Later he would support anabaptist and unitarian views.

Twenty years later Czechowic had moved from the Calvinist Ecclesia Major to the Unitarian Ecclesia Minor, or Polish Brethren. In doing so he adopted what was later to be known as the "Socinian" position, between Arianism, which taught the pre-existence of Christ and full Unitarianism which denied the virgin birth. Czechowic believed that Jesus was human, but because he was born without sin, it was right to worship him.

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