Cyril Lucaris and the “Unfinished” Reformation of Romanians in Transylvania

Abstract

The occurrence of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century in Western Europe caused a real earthquake inside the Roman Catholic Church, also causing extremely interesting reverberations in the Eastern Christian world. This short essay intends to show the impact that the reformation has had on the Orthodox Romanians in Transylvania, who, although a numerical majority, were not recognized as a nation though their faith enjoyed certain tolerance. The episode that we will examine here takes place in the early part of the XVII century during the time of Prince Gabriel Bethlen. Under the pretext of the so-called religious, cultural, and even national emancipation of the Romanians, he proposed their conversion to Calvinism. In this regard, he asked for help from the ecumenical Patriarch Cyril Lucaris, an unusual hierarch for his time, flexible and firm at the same time, who was open to dialogue with other Christian denominations. With good knowledge of the political and religious realities in Transylvania, Patriarch Cyril replied to him in the most possible ecumenical way, defending the right of the Orthodox Romanians to keep their faith, language and customs they hold in common with their brethren beyond the Carpathian Mountains, Moldova and Wallachia.