Independents (from the English. Independent , independent ) - adherents of one of the movements of Protestantism in England and several other countries. Separated from the Puritans at the end of the 16th century. The founder of the independence is Robert Brown.
Independents enjoyed considerable influence during the English Revolution . Subsequently took shape as a religious community of congregationalists . They sought to create an alliance of independent communities of believers.
Those who wanted to separate from the decaying, in their opinion, Protestant churches of England were also called separatists [1] . The leader of the independents was Oliver Cromwell , which made the independents a particularly influential party during the existence of the British Commonwealth , or the English Republic. The desire to create independent communities of believers in their teachings came from the idea of “collegiality” of the church, founded and headed not by state authorities, but directly by members of the communities: separatists believed that Christians were obliged to seek each other and form churches independently. The movement for a long time remained illegal at home, so the independents joined the ranks of emigrants: in 1608, a group of believers moved from England to Holland [1] . In addition, the Independents who moved to the New World became the founders of the Plymouth Colony (now Massachusetts ), the oldest English settlement in North America along with the Virginia colony. It was there that in 1621 Thanksgiving was first celebrated.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Separatist | religion Encyclopedia Britannica. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
Literature
- Independents // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Independents // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- Soviet encyclopedic dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1982.