Kiszka John ,   of Czechanowiecz, was a Lithuanian Knight, and a pupil of Castalio, to whose memory he erected a monument at Basle. While he was attending the Greek lectures of Castalio in that city, Celius Secundus Curio was Professor of Eloquence and Belles-Lettres there ; and John Nicholas Stupanus, in his "Panegyrical Oration" for Curio, asks, "Quid superioribus annis Magnificum Dominum Johannem Kisckam, Palatini Vitebliensis Illustrissimi Principis filium, ex ultimis Lituaniae terris, cum magna nobilium caterva, ad nos usque proficisi compulit, quam Ccelii potissimum videndi audiendique desiderium ?" When Kiszka had finished his studies at Basle, Leo Curio, the brother of Celius, accompanied him on his return into Lithuania ; and remained in that country some years. With a knowledge of these facts, the reader will not find it difficult to account for the liberal tendencies of Kiszka.

He was the son-in-law of Constantine, Duke of Ostrog ; President General of Samogitia ; Castellan of Wilna ; and bore other high offices under the King of Poland, besides being a very extensive landed proprietor. He was Lord of seventy cities and towns, and about four hundred villages ; but dying without children, his hereditary possessions went to the already opulent Princes Radzivil. He was also the patron of several Unitarian Churches in Lithuania and Podlachia ; and in this capacity Faust Socin dedicated to him his "Disputation on the Nature or Essence of Jesus Christ the Son of God," which was written in reply to the "Hortatory Letter addressed to the Churches of Poland by Andrew Volanus." The Dedication concludes with the following words. "I offer and dedicate to you, Illustrious and Magnificent Sir, this fruit of my labours, not to solicit your patronage of what I advance, (for divine truth stands not in need of human patronage, and where I depart from it I have no wish to be supported,) but to engage and quicken your attention in reading, and studying the things here discussed: for it becomes you more ardently to search after heavenly truth, inasmuch as you surpass in wealth the other members of the Church in this Kingdom, that you may exert all your power to promote and spread it, having discovered the truth by your own investigation, and not by that of others. God grant, that, despising all other things, you may ever solely devote yourself to his glory." 

Kiszka addressed a letter to the Polish Churches, in which he invited them to hold a Synod, for the purpose of terminating the controversy concerning Magistracy, and the Use of Arms ; and on the 6th of July, 1592, when near the close of his life, he committed to writing a Confession of his Faith in the Polish language, to guard against any sinister reports concerning his religion, which might arise after his death. Both these are alluded to by Sandius ; but neither of them has ever been printed.

In a letter written by Faust Socin to John Volkelius, April 3rd, 1593, Socin mourns over the sad fate of the Church in Philipovia, after the death of Kiszka, who was Lord of that district.

This liberal Nobleman frequently printed, at his own expense, such works as he thought likely to further the interests of truth. Martin Czechovicius tells us, that a treatise of his own, in the Polish language, against Paedobaptism, was printed at the expense of John Kiszka ; and the most complete edition of Faust Socin's controversy with Francis David, on the Invocation of Christ, was published in a similar way, in 1595, Socinus, as he himself states, having requested that he would defray the expense of its publication.

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