HUTTERIȚII TRANSILVĂNENI ÎNTRE DREPTUL LA TOLERANȚĂ ȘI VIOLENȚA RELIGIOASĂ
Transylvanian Hutterites between the Right to Tolerance and Religious Violence

Summary/Abstract: Transylvania, because of the idea of religious freedom practiced in the Principality, was a safe place for Anabaptists from Moravia and Upper Hungary. Driven out by Catholics and Protestants alike, they found refuge in Vințu de Jos in Alba County, thanks to Prince Gabriel Bethlen and Princess Susana Károlyi. Inviting and sheltering them for more than a century between 1621 and 1768 also meant the colony’s contribution to the flourishing of the Transylvanian economy, especially in the second part of the 17th century. The violence of the wars, the misunderstanding of religious otherness and the often violent confrontation with the precepts of state ordened counter-reformation led to the fortuitous extinction of the community in the second part of the 18th century. Part of it embarked on a pilgrimage, starting in Wallachia, then Russia, and finally ending up in the United States and Canada. The history of the Anabaptist community of Vințu is both an example of religious tolerance and respect for the right to one’s own confession, and an example of confronting the violence caused by war and radical counter-reformation, causing suffering and persecution. Today, the history of a specific community in the USA and Canada cannot be understood without the historical moment and the contribution of the Principality of Transylvania, and his local communities, namely village of Vințu de Jos in Alba County, Romania.

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