The world’s only Hungarian-founded church: the Unitarian Church

The Unitarian Church was founded by preacher and theologian Ferenc Dávid (c 1520-1579). Luckily, Dávid could convert the Transylvanian Prince, John II Sigismund Zápolya, so the religion was included in the Edict of Torda (1568), authorising local communities to freely elect their preachers, an unprecedented act of religious tolerance.

The Hungarian Unitarian Church, created by the unification of the Unitarian Church of Hungary and the Unitarian Church of Transylvania in 2012, is a Nontrinitarian Christian denomination founded by Ferenc Dávid. Officially recognised by the Edict of Torda in 1568, the faith flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries, followed by Roman Catholic Habsburg and Communist and Romanian oppression in the following centuries. Interestingly, the church received refugees from the Polish Brethren, who were expelled from Poland in 1658.

In 2010, the Unitarian Church of Transylvania and the Unitarian Church of Hungary reunited to form the Hungarian Unitarian Church, with its centre in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Romania. Its liturgical language is Hungarian, with most parishes in Romania. As of the 2011 census, there were approximately 57,686 Unitarians in Romania and 6,266 in Hungary. Most faithful people live in the Eastern parts of Transylvania, in the Szeklerland.