The Arian temple in Satu Nou

Address:

Satu Nou

GPS:

46° 8' 42.7308" N 25° 24' 56.4444" E

The first Catholic church in the village was founded in 1480. It was a low wooden building set on a stone foundation. We do not know exactly when and how the village converted to Aryanism, we can only believe the local legend, according to which Satu Nou was visited by an itinerant preacher of the Protestant faith, who aroused such hope in the inhabitants of the village that all of them accepted the new faith. The interior of the church was gradually turned into a much more modest, simpler inside of a Protestant church. The building was then already worn out, so after a while it was not used - but there was no question of building
a new temple. The right to the free practice of religion, which was established in Transylvania in 1568 and confirmed by the congregation in Marosvásárhely (Tirgu Mures) enabled the practice of Aryanism and the activities of pastors (if the landowners and the local officials agreed  to it), but forbade the building of new churches. This and the lack of pastors can be explained by the fact that the 1681 community of Satu Nou remained a branch of the church in Ocland. The true religious freedom and full recognition of the so-called Arians was only asserted by the Tolerance Patent issued in 1781 by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who allowed the building of new churches, unless they were to stand on important roads. The preparations to build a new church started in 1794, the actual construction was carried out under the supervision of a foreign master, and completed in 1801. Only the Renaissance stone portals were used from the old church  but interestingly,  a few solutions were retained characteristic of Catholic churches - for example, the rounded interior, a triumphal arch, and even the wall tabernacle - and yet the Arian church does not recognize or store the Holy Sacrament ! In 1806, the community sent a delegation to Cluj, which was tasked with finding an organ builder, but probably did not have much luck, since only in 1846 was the community able to buy an organ. The instrument was built by Mozes Balázs from Homoródabásfalva (today Aldea), who gave them a 15 years warranty, but the organ broke down and very easily. During the Spring of Nations - the liberation struggle in 1848-1849,  the church was damaged and looted, but it was soon repaired. Later, several storms and lightning damaged the roof of the tower, which was immediately repaired. In 1827, as part of a Public Works programme, the temple was surrounded with a thick stone wall with a circumference of 105 m and a height of 2 m. Remnants of the old wall was used for its construction.

Around the church, from time immemorial, there was a cemetery. The dead were buried at first directly by the walls of the church, but authorities later forbade this practice. Until 1839, only wooden tombstones were erected. Up to 1918, only Arians were buried here, always for free. Later, members of other faiths were able to buy graves in the cemetery after the payment of a five years’ worth of church tax. Among the ancient tombs you can see some in the shape of a sarcophagus - they are the resting places of former pastors. Today the church is surrounded by graves on all sides. Unlike Székelys Catholic cemeteries, where crosses of wood were usually put on the tombstones, here we find only Puritan style stone tombs.