Lelio Sozzini - Legacy

Legacy

No authentic portrait of him exists; alleged likenesses on medals, etc., are spurious. The news of his uncle's death reached Fausto at Lyons through Antonio Maria Besozzo. Repairing to Zürich Fausto got his uncle's few papers, comprising very little connected writing but a good many notes.

Fausto continually gave credit to his uncle for many of his ideas, in particular noting:

1. Fausto derived from Lelio in conversations (1552–1553) the germ of his theory of salvation;
2. Fausto derived many interpretations of specific Bible verses from Lelio. For example Lelio's reading (1561) of "In the Beginning" in John 1:1 as "the beginning of the gospel" was taken up in Fausto's interpretation which denied the pre-existence of Christ. Likewise Lelio's interpretation of "Before Abraham was I am" John 8:58 as relating to the resurrection of Abraham was taken up by Fausto.

The author of the 1911 Britannica Article on Lelio concluded that "The two men were of contrasted types. Lelio, impulsive and inquisitive, was in quest of the spiritual ground of religious truths; the drier mind of Fausto sought in external authority a basis for the ethical teaching of Christianity." yet this is clearly subjective and does not take into account the different circumstances of Fausto's later settled life in Poland.