ATTACKS ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
Socinianism was an anti-Trinitarian Heresy formed in Poland in the 16th-Century by Faustus Socinus. It not only taught the rejection of The Doctrine of The Trinity, but also among other things, rejected the Full Deity of Christ and His Pre-Existence as a separate Person; One with the Father from all Eternity. It also taught that there was no Hell. The movement was first found in such Italian humanist reformers as Bernardino Ochino, Georgio Blandrata, and Laelius Socinus.
Laelius Socinus first fled to Poland after being run out of Italy and Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Michael Servetus appears to have influenced their anti-Trinitarian views. Socinianist reformers organized the Minor Reformed Church of Poland in 1556 and established Rakow as an intellectual center. Faustus went to Poland in 1579 and became the movement’s leader and principal theologian. Socinianism represented an extreme attempt to reconcile Christianity with Humanism. The Doctrine of the Trinity was rejected, the Scriptures were considered authoritative but were interpreted according to the new rationalism, and the Sacraments of Communion were viewed merely as spiritual symbols.
EARLY CHURCH RULINGS THAT DELARED IT A HERESY
Socinianism was Ruled a Heresy based on the Nicene Creed the Athanasian Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon which were completely rejected. Jesus was held to be only the human instrument of divine mercy and the Holy Spirit merely the activity of God. Under Faustus the movement became known as the Polish Brethren, and communities were formed in imitation of the early Christian church. Its members refused to hold serfs or to participate in war. Never strong, the movement dissolved (c.1638) in the face of severe Roman Catholic persecution. Some of its members settled in Holland and there played a part in liberalizing Reformed doctrine. Faustus’s teachings were compiled by disciples as the Racovian Catechism (1605).
Socinianism is sometimes called Old Unitarianism and, erroneously, Polish Arianism.
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