page_title: History of Christianity in Romania
section_title: Reformation
hierarchical_section_title: History of Christianity in Romania / Middle Ages / Reformation
caption_attribution_description: English: John II Sigismund
context_page_description: The history of Christianity in Romania began within the Roman province of Lower Moesia, where many Christians were martyred at the end of the 3rd century. Evidence of Christian communities has been found in the territory of modern Romania at over a hundred archaeological sites from the 3rd and 4th centuries. However, sources from the 7th and 10th centuries are so scarce that Christianity seems to have diminished during this period.
  The vast majority of Romanians are adherent to the Orthodox Church, while most other populations that speak Romance languages follow the Catholic Church. The basic Christian terminology in Romanian is of Latin origin, though the Romanians, referred to as Vlachs in medieval sources, borrowed numerous South Slavic terms due to the adoption of the liturgy officiated in Old Church Slavonic. The earliest Romanian translations of religious texts appeared in the 15th century, and the first complete translation of the Bible was published in 1688.
  The oldest proof that an Orthodox church hierarchy existed among the Romanians north of the river Danube is a papal bull of 1234.
context_section_description: First the Hussite movement for religious reform began in Transylvania in the 1430s. Many of the Hussites moved to Moldavia, the only state in Europe outside Bohemia where they remained free of persecution.
  The earliest evidence that Lutheran teachings "were known and followed" in Transylvania is a royal letter written to the town council of Sibiu in 1524. The Transylvanian Saxons' assembly decreed the adoption of the Lutheran creed by all the Saxon towns in 1544. Municipal authorities also tried to influence the ritual of the Orthodox services. A Romanian Catechism was published in 1543, and a Romanian translation of the four Gospels in 1560.
  Calvinist preachers first became active in Oradea in the early 1550s. The Diet recognized the existence of two distinct Protestant churches in 1564 after the Saxon and Hungarian clergy had failed to agree on the contested points of theology, such as the nature of communion services. The government also exerted pressure on the Romanians in order to change their faith. The Diet of 1566 decreed that a Romanian Calvinist bishop be their sole religious leader.
  A faction of Hungarian preachers raised doubts over the doctrine of the Trinity in the 1560s. In a decade Cluj became the center of the Unitarian movement. The four "received religions" was recognized in 1568 by the Diet of Turda which also gave ministers the right to teach according to their own understanding of Christianity. Although a ban on further religious innovation was enacted in 1572, many Székelys turned to Sabbatarianism in the 1580s.
  The process of giving up pre-Reformation traditions was extremely slow in Transylvania. Although all or some of the images were eliminated in the churches, sacred vessels were kept. Protestant denominations also kept the strict observance of holidays and fasting periods.
caption: John II Sigismund, the first prince of Transylvania (1570–1571)
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