Translated Sermon #19: Concio CXV by Enyedi György

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonConcioCXV.

Summary of sermon: The author of the sermon deserves as much attention as the topic.  Enyedi György was the third bishop of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church, until his death in 1597. He is called in some Hungarian language literature as the “Unitarian Plato”, because most of his writings and sermons focuses on the explanations of Bible verses.  He is noted for using everyday, mundane metaphors to teach the congregation about the meaning behind the words of Christ.  Hungarian translations of the Bible began to spread in his time, and it was important to teach churchgoers on their mother tongue about it.

The topic of the sermon could be a motto for Enyedi’s life: learning about the words of Christ, and teaching and admonishing others.  The discussion includes reasoning about why go to church, why there is so much to learn about the word of Christ, how can we learn about the words of Christ when he is no longer with us, why reading the Bible in in the native language expands its interpretations, why we ought to teach each other, what you should do when it comes to sing in church, but you can’t sing,.  In this sermon you look through a window into late XVIth century Transylvania, and hear the words of a contemporary of Shakespeare.  So, sit back, relax, allow your time machine to take you back to around 1594, and enjoy this gem of a sermon, available the first time in English.

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