Egyházi-világi hatalmi harc Zsarnay Lajos szemével

Abstract

The Debates of Clerics and Laymen in the Church-governance Through the Eyes of Lajos Zsarnay.

The situation of the Protestant churches was quite difficult in the 18th century, be-cause of the counter-reformation. This was the reason why they were not able to avoid the introduction of laymen in their everyday lives. After the diet of 1791, which partially allowed the churches to fulfil their legally granted rights, this practice caused conflicts between the laymen and clerics. The principal place of these debates was in the Transtibiscian region. The situation of the Cistibiscian Church District was quite different. Because of its unique conditions, it required the involvement of the laymen in the church-governance. Our work focuses on the question of how did Lajos Zsarnay – as the professor of the Reformed College of Sárospatak, later the chief-clerk, after that the bishop of the Church District – con-sider these conflicts. The conclusion of our work is that in the Cistibiscian Church District there were no such debates before, during and after the service of Zsarnay. In contrary, he always considered the cooperation of the clerics and laymen as a positive phenomenon.