Gonesius Peter

Gonesius Peter, (Polon. Goniondzki, or Goniadzki, and the Conyza of Bock,) was probably a native of the little town of Goniondz, or Goniadz, in the province of Podlachia. He was an alumnus of the University of Cracow ; but was enabled, by the aid of his Catholic friends, and more particularly by the liberal patronage of Paul Algimont, Bishop of Wilna, to prosecute his studies in foreign Universities, and among others in that of Wittenberg. As long as he remained in Germany, he is said to have resisted the Protestant influences, to which he was exposed; but when he passed over into Switzerland, he ceased to be a Catholic, and embraced those Antitrinitarian views, which were so prevalent among the Italian exiles, who had sought refuge in that country, and which, on his return into Poland, he openly propagated and defended.

Bock thinks it probable, that Melanchthon, in an epistle to Sturmius, written in 1535, points to Gonesius, who must, as we are told, have left Wittenberg in that year. (Hist. Ant. T. II. p. 291.) He says, in another place, (T. I. p. 107,) that Gonesius, applying himself assiduously to his studies in Switzerland, chanced to meet with the books of Servet, and seems to have been first corrupted by them; adding, that Melanchthon complains of his having brought with him to Wittenberg a voluminous work, "De Communicatione (Idiomatum), nec dialectica, nec physica, ideoque prorsus nulla," and of his having disseminated there the same hypotheses, impugning the Divinity of Christ, as John Campanus had done about seven years before.

Gonesius was the first among the Polish Reformers, who ventured to attack the doctrine of the Trinity in a public assembly. Unitarianism had been before diffused principally by means of conversation, and discussions of a more private kind. But in the month of January, 1556, at a Synod of the Reformed clergy, held at Secemin, he asserted the supremacy of the Father, and contended that the Apostles' Creed ought to be received as the only Rule of Faith among Christians, at the same time describing the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds as compositions of no authority, and maintaining, that the doctrines which they taught were at variance with those taught in the Scriptures. In the course of his address, he expressed the great pleasure, which he had in meeting his brethren and friends in Christ, in so venerable an assembly of the faithful, after the difficulties and perils which he had encountered in foreign countries; and expressed his gratitude to the great Father of all, for having preserved them at home, and mercifully protected him on his journey. He alluded to the fact of his having been sent abroad, some years before, by the Catholics of Zeiden, to improve himself ; and told his audience how he was converted to the Protestant faith, and with what care he had weighed and sifted all that he heard throughout Germany and Switzerland, but more especially at "Wittenberg and Geneva. Then, after reviewing the steps, by which error first made its way into the primitive Church, and shewing how doctrines were retained among Christians, which had been the growth of later ages, he concluded in words to this effect. "As becomes an honest man, I do not conceal from you, that, in my opinion, the Father only is the true God, as Christ himself, his messenger, teaches ; that he is greater than the Son ; that the one God, the God of Israel, is the Creator of all things; that Christ received all things from him, and is indeed the Son, but also God ; especially as I still believe, that the Logos, which was in the beginning, was converted into flesh in the womb of the Virgin, and that the Word thus became flesh, and was God ; but yet truly and properly died, and always ascribed honour to the Father; was raised from the dead, and glorified by him ; and therefore rendered up to him all that he had received. I further believe, that the Trinity, Consubstantiality, Circumincession, and other things introduced into the Church from the Schools, are figments of the human brain, and therefore ought to be discarded, so that we may appeal to the Scriptures alone as the certain rule of faith. In a word, I was baptized, as we all were, into the Apostles' Creed: I abide by that, and that alone ; and firmly believe that the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds are unnecessary. All that I have said, however, I submit, together with myself, to your judgment and examination ; and I humbly pray, that God, the Father of lights, the Father of mercy, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be present, by his Holy Spirit, in this assembly, and prosper your pious undertakings."

This address is said to have produced a powerful effect ; but those who heard it were not prepared to receive, with unqualified approbation, all the propositions which Gonesius advanced. It was therefore agreed, that the subject should be reconsidered at some future meeting ; and, in the mean time, that the opinion of Melanchthon should be obtained respecting the disputed points. A letter was accordingly addressed to Melanchthon, and Gonesius was charged with its safe delivery. In that letter, it was said, that Gonesius "believed the Logos to be inferior to the Father as touching his godhead ; that the divine was converted into the human nature ; and that God properly died;"—which was what experienced Theologians would denounce, as a combination of the Arian, Eutychian, and Patripassian heresies. But no candid person will wonder, that Gonesius, in struggling to free himself from the trammels of error, should not express himself with strict theological accuracy. He found the Churches in a state of approximation only towards the pure truth ; the light of which dawned but gradually and slowly upon his own mind. The opinions, which he expressed in 1556, were happily not final ; and, as time advanced, the Polish Antitrinitarians saw their way more clearly, than when they first emerged from the shades of Popish darkness.

The opinion concerning the supremacy of the Father made no small progress during the next three years ; and on the 15th of December, 1558, Gonesius again stood forward at the Synod of Brzesc, and openly professed that opinion. On the same occasion, he produced a paper, which he had drawn up against Infant Baptism ; and in which he endeavoured to shew, that this rite is accordant neither with Scripture, primitive antiquity, nor sound reason. This paper being publicly read, gave offence to the greater part of the assembly. The only person present, who defended the opinions advanced by Gonesius, was Jerome Piekarski (vide Art. 107); and although he was enjoined to keep silence on pain of excommunication, he made a long and able speech, in which he recapitulated what Gonesius had said concerning the Unity of God, and entered into a powerful defence of his friend's views on the subject of Baptism. The Synod, in order to avoid a schism among the Reformed party, imposed silence on Gonesius, but without effect ; for he not only continued to broach his opinions, but found many, who were ready to second him, in asserting and maintaining them. His most active patron was John Kiszka, General of Lithuania, and Starost of Samogitia, who appointed him Minister of Wengrow ; and was instrumental in establishing other Churches on Unitarian principles.

Gonesius maintained, that it is unlawful for a Christian to exercise the office of a Magistrate, or to bear arms ; and by way of practically asserting the latter of these opinions, which Budzinius says that he derived from the Moravian Brethren, he wore a wooden sword, when he returned to his own country. Many afterwards embraced the same opinions, and strenuously defended them. It is further said of him, on the authority of Budzinius, that he wrote against the Racovians, who denied that the Son of God existed before his mother. His favourite author was Irenaeus, whom he preferred to all later controversial writers.

One of the earliest works of Gonesius, probably the very first that he composed, was entitled, "De Communicatione (Idiomatum) nec dialectica, nec physica, ideoque prorsus nulla." The object of this work was to shew, as the title indicates, that the "communication of forms or properties," said to arise from the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ, is "neither a logical nor a physical one, and therefore no communication at all." This is described as a work of great magnitude ; and the author is said to have taken it with him to Wittenberg, during the life of Melanchthon. Arminius contended that "such communication was not real, (as though some things which are proper to the divine nature were effused into the human nature,) but verbal: yet" that "it rested on the truth of this union, and intimated the closest conjunction of both the natures." (The Works of James Arminius, D. D., translated by James Nichols, Vol. II. p. 380.) To such trifling and unintelligible distinctions are the wisest men driven, when tied down to the use of scholastic phraseology !

Gonesius attacked Paedobaptism, and defended his own views on the subject, in two works, published in the years 1558 and 1562. The former was publicly read at the Synod of Brzesc ; and the latter was addressed to Laurence Criscovius. He also wrote a Latin treatise against the Divinity of the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit ; and another entitled, "The pure and clear Doctrine on the Principal Points of the Christian Religion, against the impious and perplexed Sophisms of the Sabellians, Ebionites, Nestorians and other Heretics, collected from the pure Word of God;" published about the year 1562. Jerome Zanchius, in his reply to this, calls Gonesius a Tritheist and Eutychian ; charges him with teaching, that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three Gods, yet so that the Father alone is the true God, to the exclusion of the Son and the Holy Spirit ; and represents him as confounding, with Eutyches, the two natures of Christ. The following are the titles of three other of Gonesius's works, all of them published in the year 1570, in 8vo., and in the Polish language.

1. On the Son of God ; intended to prove, in opposition to the opinions of the Ebionites, that he existed before the creation of the world, and that all things were made by him:

2. On Christian Baptism, as opposed to modern Baptism :—and

3. On the Three, that is, God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit, against the Trinity of the Sabellians.

 (Vidend. Sandii B. A. pp. 40—42. Bock, Hist. Ant. T. I. pp. 106 —110; T. II. p. 291. StoiniiEpitome, pp. 183—185. And. Wissowatii Narratio Compend. p. 211. Lubieniecii Hist. Ref. Polon L. ii. C. vi. viii. Krasinski's Hist. Sketch of the Ref. in Poland, Vol. I. Pt. ii. Chap. viii. pp. 346—348.)

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