7. Confessions from East and South Europe

After Lutheran beginnings the Hungarian Church turned in the direction of Geneva and Calvinism. At the same time (during the middle of the 16th Century) the counter-Reformation became stronger, evoking in reaction the first Hungarian confession, the Erlau Confession of 1562. It is a defence on the part of the bishop of Erlau against the accusers, drawn up by Peter Melius and Gregor Szegedy. In distinction from most other confessions it is a broadly conceived text whose concern is not to provide a binding text for the community. In its breadth it contains an unclear combination of Reformed and Melanchthonian theology, unconventional ideas and indeed the adoption of scholastic thought.

Its immaturity led its composers and other Hungarian theologians to start over again. The Hungarian Confession of 1562 follows a text of the Geneva Reformer, Theodor Bezas, but does not include statements above all about the church that were not appropriate to the Hungarian situation. With small changes the Hungarian Confession was passed by the Hungarian Synod in 1562, and by the Transylvanian in 1563. It remained in force until its replacement by the Second Helvetian Confession, which entered into force for the Hungarian Church in 1567.