Der erste evangelische Superintendent in Siebenbürgen Paul Wiener (1495–1554): eine Brücke zwischen Laibach, Wien und Hermannstadt

Abstract The article is dedicated to the theologian Paul Wiener, a native of Carniola, who after his studies achieved a remarkable ecclesiastical career and turned into the most influential Church figure in Ljubljana. Under the influence of his colleague Truber, he was won over to the theological concerns of the Reformation, but was arrested by the Catholic ruler in 1546 for his Reformation stance. Under interrogation, he refused the suggested recantation and wrote instead a defense, which was considered a “complete apology of the Reformation” and referred to throughout Luther’s main Reformation writings. The trial ended with Wiener’s pardon, but he was exiled to Transylvania, where he was appointed preacher and town pastor. Elected the first superintendent of the Transylvanian Lutheran Church in 1553, he displayed a Wittenberg-oriented theology and ministry, especially in ordinations, where he placed the greatest emphasis on the Confessio Augustana. His Church leadership was, however, limited, as he died of the plague in 1554.