Under the Sway of Orthodoxy and the Reformation: Romanian-Saxon Confessional Relations in Transylvania between 1688 and 1848
Under the Sway of Orthodoxy and the Reformation: Romanian-Saxon Confessional Relations in Transylvania between 1688 and 1848

Summary/Abstract: The anniversary of five centuries since the beginning of the Reformation in 1517 provides a good opportunity for some reflections on the history of the reformist movement and of its relations with the Orthodox Church in Central and Southeast Europe. In Transylvania, during the second half of the 16th century, we see the coexistence, in a spirit of tolerance, of five Christian churches and denominations: Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian (Anti-Trinitarian). The present study is devoted to the confessional relations between the Orthodox Romanians and the Lutheran Saxons in Transylvania, from the conquest of the principality by the Habsburg Empire until the Revolution of 1848. These ethnic and confessional relations were influenced by a number of political factors as well as by the social, national, cultural, and conceptual transformations brought about by the Modern Era. Therefore, the investigated period has been divided into two: from the conquest of Transylvania by the Habsburgs until the reforms of Emperor Joseph II (1688–1781), and from Joseph II to the Revolution of 1848.

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