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A Father of Unitarian Theology
A Sermon Given
by Rev. Roger Fritts
on January 5, 2003
at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Bethesda, Maryland
Michael Servetus was born in about 1511. He was a Spanish physician and
theologian whose books such as the Errors of the Trinity and The
Restoration of Christianity, led to his condemnation as a heretic by both
Protestants and Roman Catholics, and to his execution by Calvinists in Geneva.
Historians have pieced together his life, with most of the information coming
from the transcripts of his two trials for heresy by the Catholics and the
Calvinists. No memoirs, no diaries, and only a few letters exist. However,
this week, as I read a newly published account of his life, I found myself
imagining what Servetus’ letters to his family in Spain might have sounded
like.
September 1524
Dear Mom and Dad: Well here I am in the dorm at the University of Zaragossa
trying to settle in. The food here is not very good, the rooms are cold, and I
have not yet made any friends. I am only thirteen years old and most of the
students are much older. The thing I like most about the school is the
library. I can read books in French, Greek, and Latin as well as Spanish. I
asked for a copy of the Old Testament in Hebrew to read, but one teacher told
me that Hebrew was a dangerous, subversive language and he was shocked that my
parents had let me learn it from the former Jews in our town. One the other
hand, one teacher here seems impressed that I can read all these languages,
and has told me that I am to be his personal secretary. I know this is a good
school, and I should be happy to be here. Nevertheless, home is seventy miles
away and I miss it. Please, if you can, send money. You loving Son, Michael.
September 1527
Dear Mom and Dad: I am getting settled in the Law school here at the
University of Toulouse. As a 16-year-old I am still one of the youngest
students. However, the other students are friendlier then they were at
Zaragossa or at the University of Barcelona where I was last year.
It is exciting here. Many students and professors are talking about the
German priest, Martin Luther. Do not tell anyone this, but here many of us are
secretly reading the Bible. I know the church has prohibited access to the
Bible to all but an elite. The Priests told me that at school in Spain. Still,
at Toulouse I have access to a new edition of the Bible. The words are in the
original Greek and Hebrew, and translated into Latin. I am in the unique
position because I read both Greek and Hebrew, so I can read the full Bible
text in the original languages.
The University has ten thousand students from across Europe. We Spaniards
are together and the other students look down on us because they say we are
all secretly Jews, or even worse, they think that we are Moors and that we
secretly follow the Koran. I have decided to learn Arabic so I can read the
Koran and see what all the fuss is about.
The food here is good; the French know how to cook! However, it does cost.
Please send money. Love, Michael.
February 1530
Dear Mom and Dad: I hope all goes will for all of you. I am here in
Bologna, Italy and as I promised, I want to write and give you an account of
the Coronation of Charles the V. As you know after two years of law school, I
am working as Juan de Quintana’s Secretary, and he is now a member of the
emperor’s inner circle. So I could get a very good seat to see the Coronation.
They held it here instead of in Rome, because Charles’s imperial troops had an
orgy of looting, raping, and murder in Rome three years ago, and the city has
not yet recovered. Still people say that this coronation is the largest,
grandest, most lavish affair in history. They had a huge parade while one
hundred thousand people watched. Marble statues of lions and eagles stood
along the parade route with red wine gushing from the lions’ mouths and white
wine from the eagles’ mouths. I saw the Pope wearing a triple gold crown,
carried in a golden chair.
It is all disgusting. The Pope dares not touch his feet to the earth lest
the ground defiles his holiness. He has himself borne on the shoulders of men
and adored as a God on earth. People run up to touch his robes, believing that
just by touching then they will avoid purgatory and go straight to heaven. I
know I am only eighteen, but I have to say that since the foundation of the
world, no one has ever dared try anything more wicked than this Pope acting as
though he is God.
Mom, Dad, after witnessing this spectacle I have decided to resign as
Quintana’s secretary. I am going north. I will write when I can. Love, Michael
August 1531
Dear Mom and Dad: I am here in Strasbourg I am sure you will be happy to
hear that the first printing of my first book, On the Errors of the Trinity,
sold out almost immediately! The publisher is printing more copies! Just
think, I am only nineteen years old and I have already written a best seller!
I have sent copies to Erasmus and to Luther asking them for quotations about
the book that I can include in the next printing. I have sent copies to
Catholic bishops in Spain, especially to the Bishop in your province.
Mom, Dad, I hope you will read the book itself, but just to summarize, with
detailed, careful scholarship I show how the original scriptures do not
mention of the Trinity and that Trinity was invented starting at the Council
of Nicaea in 325. I explain that the philosophical contrivances used to prove
the Trinity is the cornerstone of church corruption. I explain that the
scriptures describe a simple and compassionate Christianity. Furthermore, I
explain that anyone who holding a view different from the one I present is an
idiot.
People are discussing the book everywhere! It is so exciting to be such a
big success and think—I am only nineteen years old!
I hope all is well with all of you. Your loving Son, Michael.
August 1532 (One year later)
Dear Mom and Dad: I am sorry to hear that the Spanish Inquisition has voted
to condemn me. I guess I will not be coming home for a visit anytime soon.
Perhaps my book was a little too strident. I know the Inquisition sent brother
Juan to try to find me and lure me back to Spain. I hope Juan is not too upset
that I went into hiding rather than meet with him, but things have been
difficult for me recently. The Catholic and the Protestants are out to get me.
One minister in Strasbourg said from the pulpit that I deserved to be cut in
pieces and to have my bowels torn out of him. I think it may be time for a
career change. I am only twenty-one, and I still have time to start over. I
have decided to go back to school. Of course, for safely I will not be using
my real name and I cannot tell you where I am.
I hope this note finds you in good health. Don’t try to write me. Love,
Michael
March 1534
Dear Mom and Dad: Well things seem to have calmed down enough that I think
that writing to you is safe. I am in Paris taking classes in Mathematics at
the University.
Although most people do not know my real name, I still get drawn into
religious debates. For example, at the School of Theology there is a young man
two years older then myself who seems to dislike me. He is from a small town
north of here and is a brilliant, ambitious, and driven man. He goes by the
name John Calvin and does not seem happy. Of course, the University boards
theological students in slums, fed rotten food, beaten in class, and generally
deprived of sleep and exercise. This may explain why he is always so serious.
Also, he wrote a book called Commentary on Seneca’s Two Books on Clemency.
It came out about the same time as my On the Errors of the Trinity. I
understand Mr. Calvin had to pay for the publication himself, and the book
bombed. He still has most of the books in a closet in his lodgings.
Last week mutual friends scheduled me to debate Calvin in a room near the
Bastille, across the river from the University. I missed the appointment, and
poor Calvin was left standing there with no one to debate. I hear that he
feels that I made him look ridiculous.
This is my life as a student here in Paris. I hope all goes well for you.
Love, Michael
December 1536
Dear Mom and Dad: As you may have heard, the King cracked down on
Protestants in Paris, burning thousands to death. I moved to Lyon where, to
play it safe, I went to Mass and I avoided ecclesiastical debate. I found work
with a printer. We are publishing a book on geography, and I read and
corrected medical texts. I found medicine very interesting. So now I am back
in Paris registered at the University again, and this time as a medical
student. I realize that this is an entirely new course of study, one with
which I have no experience. Still at the age of twenty-five I have decided
that I want to be a Doctor! Love, Michael
November 1538
Dear Mom and Dad: I have started my practice as a country Doctor, here in a
French town called Vienne. I am giving people the impression that I am a
devout Catholic. I help the sick, and I have friends. After many youthful
years of difficulty my life has finally settled down. You can be proud of me.
Your loving Son, Michael
December 1548 (ten years later)
Dear Mother and Father: Another peaceful year has past here in this French
town that is my home. For ten years I have served these people as their
Doctor, and we have earned each other’s respect. I served on a commission to
direct the building of a bridge across the Rhone. It is hard to believe that I
am now thirty-seven years old. Where has the time gone?
You will be happy to know that I attend mass each week. Still, all is not
well. As a hobby I was in correspondence with that acquaintance from school
years ago, John Calvin. He is now working as a parish minister in Geneva, and
has made a name for himself as the author of a book called The
Institutes of Christian Religion. Trying to be helpful I read the book
very carefully, scribbled comments in the margins and sent it back to Calvin.
Apparently he is very sensitive about his writing, because he wrote me back
saying that I had befouled his book with my vomit.
This has stimulated my old interest in religion. I am working on a new book
that I will call The Restoration of Christianity. I am writing about
the injustice of infant baptism, and the myth that there is a Trinity. Most
important, I want to show to people that God exists in all people and in all
things. I hope to present these Ideas in a way that is more mature than I did
when twenty years ago when I wrote The Errors of the Trinity.
By the way I am including in the book an account of how blood flows through
the heart and the lungs and circulates through the human body. The old medical
books say that the liver creates blood and the blood flows to the muscle and
is used for energy, but that clearly is not correct. When I publish the book,
perhaps people will find this medical discovery helpful. Love, Michael
July 1553
Mom and Dad: I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news first.
April 4, the religious police arrested me for the crime of heresy. We had
printed a thousand copies of my new book The Restoration of Christianity
and sent five hundred to the Frankfort Book Fair. The Catholics were clearly
about to burn me to death.
The good news is that I escaped. I got permission to use the outhouse and I
disappeared into the night. I am in hiding. Love, Michael
September 1553
Dear Mother and Father: No doubt you have heard the news that I am on trial
here in Geneva. In August, I attended services at John Calvin’s church. I was
curious to see the man in action, to hear one of his sermons, and I was sure
no one would recognize me. Still, they did, and they arrested me and now here
I am in prison in Geneva. I cannot believe that they will find me guilty. I am
a reformer, just like them in search of truth. They know that the early
Christians believed that in matters of doctrine people should not be subject
to criminal prosecution.
Still my treatment has been unpleasant, and I am beginning to feel afraid.
If things do not turn out well, please forgive me for any pain I may have
caused you. Please understand that my obsession lay solely in the telling
people the truth as I understood it. Pray for me. Your loving son, Michael
* * * * * * * * *
This ends my imaginary letters. This coming October 27, will be the 450
anniversary of the death of Servetus.
Today medical historians call Servetus’ description of the circulation of
blood the single most important statement about the workings of the human body
in fifteen hundred years. Before Servetus no one had ever described the true
function of the heart. Because of Calvin, Calvin’s burning of Servetus’ book
suppressed the discovery, and it was William Harvey who launched the modern
age of medicine seventy-five years later.
For Unitarians Servetus is more then a great medical Doctor. Although
Protestants and Catholics burned most of his books, his ideas lived on in
Poland, in Transylvania, in England and the United States. Servetus is one of
our founding theologians. Over the centuries our religion had grown and
changed and evolved. Our theology today is not identical to that of Servetus.
Still, we owe him a debit. He spoke truth as he understood it. In doing so he
played a critical role in establishing the liberal religious movement, which
we are a part of today. As we face the issues of our time, it is important
that we can stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Personally I
feel more at peace knowing that I am not alone, knowing that I am part of both
the past and the future.
Primary Source: Out of the Flames by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone,
Broadway Books, New York, 2002.
Office@CedarLane.org
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