Diversity within Unity

This winter, the Sighisoara Church of the Nazarene is spending a few weeks looking at our identity as Nazarenes. As part of this series, I shared on Sunday about why there are so many denominations. To make it more interesting, I walked around town a few days ago and took photos of (almost) all the churches in town that I shared on Sunday morning.

So, here is a look at the churches in Sighisoara, from a historical-theological-cultural perspective.

Here in Romania, churches are generally divided into two categories: traditional churches and Neo-Protestant churches. Let me start with traditional churches.

I. The Traditional Churches

In America, a "traditional church" may refer to worship style, but here in Romania, it refers to the historical churches, which were linked with one's ethnicity. Until the 20th century, one's religious affiliation would most often be the result of one's ethnicity, not one's personal choice. 

Romanians would generally be either Romanian Orthodox or Greek Catholic; German Saxons would be Lutheran; and the Hungarians would be either Roman Catholic, Reformed, or Unitarian. 

Romanian Orthodox Church
85% of the population of Romania is considered to be Romanian Orthodox. Of all the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Orthodox Church is the second largest in size, after the Russian Orthodox Church, and it is the only Orthodox Church which uses a Romance language. Many Orthodox believers will say that the Apostle Andrew himself brought the gospel to what is now Romania, but the Romanian Orthodox Church was not officially recognized as such until the end of the nineteenth century.

Here are pictures of 2 of the Orthodox churches in Sighișoara:

Greek Catholic Church (sometimes called the Byzantine Catholic or Uniate Church)
Often in history, religious change takes place due to political changes. This is the case with the Greek Catholic church in Romania.

In the 17th century, the Western European (and therefore Roman Catholic) rulers of Transylvania declared that the Romanian Orthodox churches of Transylvania should become Catholic. The churches were allowed to retain many Orthodox customs, as long as they accepted certain key Catholic theological points (including the pope as the head of the church and the filioque addition to the Nicene Creed). Those that followed this edict are known as Greek Catholic churches.

In 1948, the Communist regime in Romania declared the Greek Catholic church to be illegal. Its members were declared members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and its buildings were either given to the Romanian Orthodox Church or were confiscated by the state. Since the fall of communism in 1989, the Greek Catholic Church in Romania has been trying to get its property back.

The building which serves the Greek Catholic Church in Sighisoara was formerly a German "Saxon" Lutheran Church, built in 1575. It is known as the "Lepers' Church" because it had an outdoor pulpit where lepers could listen to the sermon. (They were not allowed in the church.)

Greek Catholic Church in Sighisoara

Lutheran Church

In the 12th century, the Hungarian rulers of Transylvania invited German "Saxons" to settle in southern Transylvania. These Western Europeans brought their religion (Roman Catholicism) with them.

At the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the princes in Germany and those under their rule converted to Lutheranism. Although hundreds of miles away, the German Saxons maintained ties with the motherland and also converted to Lutheranism.

The Lutheran Church in Sighisoara is known colloquially as the "Monastery Church" because, prior to the Protestant Reformation and the conversion of the Transylvania Saxons to Lutheranism, it was the Roman Catholic Church attached to a Dominican Monastery. Interestingly, the first document proving the existence of this church is dated from 1298; the document gives permission for the sale of indulgences.)

The Monastery Church

Roman Catholic Church
For nearly 1000 years (until 1918), Transylvania was part of Hungary. Hungarians are traditionally Roman Catholic. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Hungarians were not as uniform in their conversion as were the Germans to Lutheranism. Many of the Hungarians remained Roman Catholic.

Reformed Church
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, the teachings of John Calvin came to Hungary. Many of the Hungarian population converted from Roman Catholicism to the Calvinistic branch of Protestant Christianity.

Today, if you walk into the Reformed Church in Sighisoara, it will be filled with ethnic Hungarians (not Romanians).

Reformed Church in Sighisoara

Unitarian Church
Unitarian Church originated with Transylvanian Hungarians in 1556 before spreading to other parts of the world. Unitarians emphasize the unity of God and reject the Trinitarian nature of God and the divinity of Christ. They also emphasize reason and tolerance.

Sighisoara's Unitarian Church

II. Neo-Protestant Churches
So, those are the traditional, or historical, churches in Sighisoara. What follows are the New Protestant groups which have entered Romania in the past 150 years or so. Unlike the traditional churches with centuries-old historical church buildings, the Neo-Protestant churches meet in a variety of different styles of buildings.

The largest and most well-established Neo-Protestant churches are the Baptists, Pentecostals, Brethren, and Seventh-Day Adventists.

Baptist Church in Sighisoara

Pentecostal Church in Sighisoara

Brethren Church in Sighisoara

Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Smaller Neo-Protestant churches in Sighisoara include:

The charismatic evangelical "Manna" Church

New Apostolic Church

Church of the Nazarene in Sighisoara

The Church of the Nazarene is not to be confused with the "Nazarene Church," a denomination which was founded in 1840 in Hungary (also known as the Apostolic Christian Church), which is popular in western Romania near the Hungarian border. 



Credit where credit is due: Matt Price shared my Facebook album of those photos with the title "Diversity within Unity." Since he shared my photos, I'm using his title for my blog post. Thanks, Matt!