Voidovius Andrew

Voidovius Andrew , (Polon. Woydowski,) was by birth a Pole, and either the son or the brother of John Voidovius, Pastor of Chmieln, who is mentioned in the Manuscript Acts, as having attended the forty-fifth Synod of Racow, in 1580. John Peltius, in the Dedication to his "Harmonia Remonstrantium et Socinianorum," incorrectly calls him Vajodivus, unless the name Voidovius in Dutch requires this transposition.

He flourished, according to Sandius, as early as the year 1583, but was then a young man. In the correspondence of Faust Socin, there is a letter of advice addressed to him by that eminent reformer, on the 18th of March in that year, admonishing him not to spend too much of his time in the study of polite literature, to which he was then much devoted ; and not to make it the main pursuit of his life, but to choose some of the higher branches of study. We learn from the same letter, that he had been educated from his infancy in true piety, and was then engaged in tuition; and Zeltner conjectures, that his pupils were the sons either of Paulicovius, or of Buccella, the benefactor of Socin.

It appears, from the fragment of another letter, addressed to him by Socin, April 25th, 1590, that he was then at Wittenberg. It was there that he first became known to Valentine Smalcius, who, in the year following, contracted a close intimacy with him at the University of Strasburg, and made a confirmed Socinian of him. During his residence at Strasburg he held the office of private tutor to Zachariah Krokier, probably some relation of Paul Krokier, who was Rector of the Gymnasium at Racow, from 1613 to 1616. (Vide Art. 178).

In 1595, some time after he had returned to Poland, he was meditating another tour into Germany: for on the 9th of August in that year Socin thus writes to him. "I quite approve of your intention of making some stay in Germany, provided only you are sure that it will not be necessary for you, when there, either to conceal or dissemble your opinions, beyond what your allegiance to God demands. For I see, that, in other respects, you will be more useful to the Church of God there, than in Poland. This subject might be brought forward at the meeting at Luclavice, where I hope to be present."

In 1597, he took some young Polish gentlemen to Leyden, who were desirous of prosecuting their studies in the University of that city ; and went to visit them the next year, in company with Christopher Ostorod. During this visit, some books which they had with them were seized, and ordered to be publicly burnt ; and they were commanded forthwith to leave the Dutch territory. (Vide Art. 125.) About this time, Voidovius became intimate with Ernest Sohner, whom he calls "ornatissimus Dnus. Ernestus Sonerus, artium et philosophiae Magister, studiosus pietatis, amicus honorandus;" and in whose conversion to Unitarianism, it has been said that he was mainly instrumental. George Hornius, after mentioning the journey of Ostorod and Voidovius into Holland, says, that books inculcating Socinianism began, from that time, to be secretly imported, and put into circulation by Conrad Vorstius, James Arminius, and others ; and he adds, in a note, that Arminius, in the course of a conversation with Ostorod and Voidovius, praised the acumen and erudition which they displayed, and said that they afforded much matter for attentive consideration. Nor can it be doubted, that a spirit of inquiry was thus excited, which led to a very extensive adoption of the Socinian doctrines among the leaders of the Remonstrant party. It was not more than twenty years after the expulsion of Ostorod and Voidovius from the Low Countries, that the Deputies, from Guelderland to the Synod of Dort, proposed to prohibit the importation of the books of Arians and Samosatenians.

Voidovius, during his journeys into foreign lands, displayed great anxiety to make converts; and particularly among the youths, who were studying at the Universities. This proselyting spirit sometimes exposed him to great personal hazard. The students in the Jesuitical College at Cracow, on one occasion, caught and beat him; then plunged him into a river, and stripped him of all his clothes. This, happening on the 20th of January, 1611, in the very depth of winter, nearly occasioned his death. Zeltner, however, remarks, that practices of this kind were very frequent at Cracow ; and that other "Dissidents," as they were called, besides Antitrinitarians, were made the victims at such times. Socin, in a letter to Voidovius, written Oct. 7th, 1594, mentions an instance of an indignity offered to himself in the streets of Cracow, when his face was smeared, and his mouth filled with mud, by order of a Polish Knight, named Wiernik, who charged him with being an Arian, and with having undermined the religious principles of his father.

Voidovius was a Pastor, first at Lublin, and afterwards at Racow. That he was married at the time of his journey into Holland appears from the correspondence of Socin. His wife, who was the daughter of Matthew Radecius, died on the 15th of Sept., 1621. We collect, from the Second Century of Ruarus's Epistles, that Voidovius was living in 1619 ; and from the manner in which Smalcius notices the death of his wife, it may be presumed that Voidovius survived her. It seems probable, indeed, from a Dissertation on the Apocalyptic Visions, which Sandius attributes to Voidovius, and which was published at Clausenburg, under the feigned name of Robert Janson, of Campen, in 1625, that he was living in that year. He wrote

1. His Opinion concerning God and Christ, and some other Matters pertaining to the Christian Religion, at the request of a certain friend in Holland, which is referred to in the Apology to the States of the United Netherlands, drawn up by Ostorod and himself in 1599; and

2. Notes on Peter Hyperphrogenus's History of the Death of Michael Servet. Both these remained in manuscript.

3. 4. He was also concerned with Ostorod in the composition of two works, of which an account has already been given in the preceding Article, under Nos. 3 and 7.

5. That he was the author of the little work referred to above, and entitled, "A Short Dissertation on the Visions described in the 13th and 17th Chapters of the Apocalypse, by Robert Janson, of Campen," 8vo., has been affirmed by Sandius (B. A. p. 92) ; and Bock observes, that in his own copy of this work, a former possessor of it, whom he supposes to have been Michael Gittichius, had made a similar remark in the title-page.

6. But the composition, on which Voidovius appears to have bestowed most labour, bore the title, " Elenchus Locorum Scripturae S. Vet. et N. T. quae pro asserenda SS. Trinitate et aeterna Filii Dei Deitate adferuntur, per contrarias Patrum et Doctorum tam Romanae, quam Augustanae et Reformatae Ecclesiae Interpretationes." Sandius supposes this to have been the same work as the one, entitled, "Andreae Voidovii Triadomachia, in qua ex variis Auctoribus Trinitariorum, et eorum Interpretationibus Locorum S. Scripturae in Speciem huic Errori faventium, verum Sensum et Interpretationem collegit." He is further of opinion, that it was the same with that, which is elsewhere called, "Sylloge Locorum de Trinitate." These conjectures of Sandius approve themselves to Bock, who further suggests, whether this may not also have been the work, to which the adversaries of the Socinians gave the title, "Tormentum Throno deturbans," &c.; and which they said was in the press, when the Socinians were expelled from Racow. Nor is it improbable, that this title was prefixed to the book, which they after-wards called "Triadomachia," a title which frequently occurs in the Manuscript Acts of the Polish Unitarian Church. They seem, however, at a subsequent period, to have softened down this title ; and in the place of "Triadomachia," mention is made of Voidovius's " Elenchus," " Sylloge," and " Syntagma," in the completion of which many assisted, (vide Art. 195, ad calcem; Art. 238, No. 9,) and which, in process of time, seems either wholly, or in part, to have disappeared. Hence, in the year 1654, at the Assembly of Czarcow, Ruarus was requested to make diligent inquiry, where Voidovius's book lay concealed, and, when found, to get it printed. In 1655, at the Assembly of Racow, Ruarus and Crellius were enjoined to search after this writing in Holland, among the heirs of Conrad Vorstius. It seems also to have turned up somewhere ; for in the Assembly of Kreutzburg, A. D. 1668, Stanislaus Lubieniecius, the younger, was invited to carry on to a state of completion, the "Syntagma Locorum S. Scripturae de Trinitate," begun by Andrew Voidovius.