Hungarian Conservative

In the struggle for survival and existence of Protestants, the question of ministers’ clothing still remained an issue—the meetings of the Reformed church districts of the time continued to fight against excesses.

The second half of the 17th century was a time of great hardships for Protestants: Protestant church history calls the years between 1671 and 1681 the ‘decade of mourning’. Thanks to some illustrated works by pastors freed from galley slavery, however, we can get some idea of what the preachers wore in those days.

Although the synods, as we have seen above, have sought to act against excesses in the clothing of preachers, several sources attest that, in many cases, it was the deacons who had to discourage pastors from the temptations of fashion.