Pilgrimage to Deva

This year, on the second weekend of November, a group of thirty Unitarians from Barot went to Deva, to remember the founder of their religion. The event was organized for the seventeenth time by The High Authority Office of the Hungarian Unitarian Church and the Francis David Unitarian Youth Group

On Saturday we arrived to Deva around 1 pm. We were admiring the castle of Deva which is towering between the clouds. We began our way up the stairs with great excitement. That excitement disappeared after getting on the top of the stairs, because the remainder of the road was a muddy trail. After the easier looking walking the end of the road surprised us with some more stairs, this time wood, towering high near the walls of the castle. Not really enjoyable for those who are afraid of heights, also the view at the top of the stairs compensated us for every fatigue and fear. We didn’t see many people on our way up to the castle, but when we arrived in the castle more than a thousand Unitarians began to sing the 43^rd Unitarian song. We have arrived just for the beginning of the event. I was happy to see so many Unitarian youth, adults and elder people answering for the call of Francis David. We discovered a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, members of different youth groups and ministers. I felt like I arrived home, even though I was hundreds of miles away from my house. It was the best feeling to be Unitarian.

After singing together, four young ministers preached, Levente Lőrincz, László Major, Imola Molnár, Tímea Nagy-Mátéfi.  We were praying loud, unlike our religion. This connected us in a way that cannot be broken. The bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Chruch and other invitees greeted the pilgrims. After the speeches, the students of the Protestant Faculty of the  Unitarian Theology Institute made their presentation. After that candles and torches were burnt, while garlands, flowers and candles were placed in the former prison cell of Francis David. The pilgrimage ended with drinking hot tea in the chapel pf the Unitarian congregation of Deva.

Francis David, the founder of the Unitarian religion, was born around 1510 at Cluj Napoca, from an industrialist family. He studied in Ckuj Napoca, Alba Iulia, Brasov and Wittenberg. After returning home, as a supporter of the reformation, he was schoolmaster and preacher at Bistrita, Petres and Cluj Napoca. His purpose of life was to restore the pure Christianity of Jesus. Transylvania became a land of religious tolerance, when at Torda, uniquelly in Europe, they enacted the free exercise of religion. The main creator of the national assembly was Francis David. The enemies of religious freedom has taken Francis David to jail in 1579, until his death, in the castle of Deva for being a reformer.  He died there on the 15^th of November 1579.

Our group slept in the dorms of a middle school at Deva, from where we went to Sibiu the next morning. There we visited the renovated main square, the Liars Bridge, the Lutheran Cathedral, than the most adventurous ones climbed to the top of the Council Tower, where the view was spectacular. We got home on Sunday night, all of us tired, but with a lot of precious experiences.