From A HISTORY OF UNITARIANISM, SOCINIANISM etc., 1945 by Earl Morse Wilbur

During this vigorous period in its history the Minor Church was well organized and efficiently administered by faithful ministers and devoted lay leaders. In the essentials of polity it adhered closely to that of the Reformed Church from which it had sprung in 1565, though in time modifications were naturally made as experience suggested. The principles and practices of the church organization were, however, not formally codified until considerably later in the Ecclesiastical Polity of Per Morzkowski (Morscovius�not to be confused with the previously mentioned Moskorzowski, Moscorovius).²⁴ This work, which represents the usages and ideals of the Socinian congregations at the middle of the seventeenth century, is in three books, covering 1) the general principles of church law, 2) the duties of the church officers, and 3) the church discipline. The matter is set forth in a series of 'aphorisms,' or concise statements of principles, which are then expanded as fully as necessary, and illustrated by reference to New Testament usage or to the writings of the Fathers as authority. Especial emphasis is laid on the office of the ministry, its sacred character and duties ; and interesting detailed suggestions are offered as to the preparation and delivery of sermons. [Etc.]

The administration of the affairs of the Minor Church was directed by its synod, an annual assembly of all the pastors, elders and deacons of the whole body to provide in general for the welfare of the church.²⁵ There appears to have been in theory one general Synod inclusive of all congregations in both Poland and Lithuania ; but in actual practice the Lithuanian churches, widely separated from those in Poland, not only in space but also in their doctrinal and social tendencies, seem in their provincial or local synods more or less to have gone their own way, though when important issues were in question delegates from Poland would sometimes be sent to the synod meetings in Lithuania or vice versa. The earlier synods met at widely scattered points, though most often at Lublin and Chmielnik ; but beginning with 1611 all synods with the exception of three at Lublin were held at Raków until its destruction in 1638, and after that generally in more remote places in the southeast.²⁶

      ²⁴ Peter Morscovius, Politia Ecclesiastica, etc. (Francofurti et Lipsiae, 1746). The Synod of Dazwa in 1646 appointed Morzkowski, the minister at Czarków, and formerly the pupil and amanuensis of Johannes Crellius, to prepare a digest of the rules and usages that the ministers and churches had from time to time adopted, or that seemed to be indicated or desirable. The manuscripts of the work was duly presented to the Synod for approval, and was then submitted to others for additions and final revision before printing. The country was in confusion from various wars, and the work dragged, so that before it could be published the Socinians were [in 1660] banished from Poland. The manuscript was jealously preserved in the hope that it might yet prove useful for congregations dispersed abroad, and it thus came at length into the possession of the famous Socinian scholar, Samuel Crellius, from whom it passed in turn through two more hands into those of a Lutheran scholar, Georg Ludwig Oeder, whose ecclesiastical superior asked him to edit it for publication. He published the work in full, supplying it with copious notes, in which he seized every opportunity to carp at Socinianism [etc].   cf. pp. 333-340 of the work itself; also Bock, Antitrinitar., i, 501-506.
      ²⁵ cf. Morscovius, op. cit., p. 312.
      ²⁶ cf. Szczotka, Synody, for an account of all the synods in the history of the Minor Church.

pp. 427-29.

* * *

... Undeterred by all [the prosecution] that was happening, the Socinians, after three years' intermission during the wars, again held their synods in 1658 and 1659. The attendants must have been only a handful, and the meetings held in secrecy ; but they continued to make plans, and even ordered the publication of two works by Crellius, and voted that Morzkowski's long delayed work on Ecclesiastical Polity be revised and prepared for the press.³¹
(p. 478)

      ³¹ cf. Szczotka, Synody, p. 96.

p. 478.

 

A HISTORY OF UNITARIANISM, SOCINIANISM AND ITS ANTECEDENTS.
Harvard 1945.