Reformátusok Lapja, 1968 (68. évfolyam, 8-12. szám)

1968-10-01 / 10. szám

REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

11

Gedeon Ács

Gedeon Ács, a minister of the Reformed Church in Hungary, joined tlie War for Hungarian Independence in 1848. under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth, elected Governor of Hungary.

The Hungarian Army fought victoriously in many battles, hut the King asked the Czar of Russia for help, and then the Hapsburg Army, strengthened by the 200,000 Russian soldiers, crushed the Hungarian forces. Kossuth left his homeland and went to Turkey, England, and to the United States, seeking help abroad to liberate his beloved homeland. He was graciously received wherever he went, and he pleaded his cause in eloquent English, but without success.

Kossuth was accompanied by many Hungarian statesmen and high ranking military officials. Later, some of these men settled in America and became famous either for their scientific skills or their bravery in the Civil War. Also in Kossuth’s company was the Rev. Gedeon Acs, a former pastor of the Lasko Hungarian Reformed Church. Acs was a young Reformed minister who had joined the Hungarian Army as a chaplain. He was captured in the War, and the Austrian

Martial Court sentenced him to death, but he escaped. He journeyed with Kossuth to Turkey and the United States. They arrived in the United States on December 5, 1851.

At that time, there was a considerable Hungarian colony already in New York. Being a minister, he saw the spiritual needs of his fellow immigrants, and through the help and encouragement of several dedicated American women, and by the New York Presbytery, he held the first Hungarian Reformed Worship Service on March 14, 1852 in New York City in the Chapel of the Old North Reformed Church, which was located on the corner of William and Fulton Streets.

His Sunday congregations, contained not only members of the Reformed Church, but included Roman Catholics and Jews, and his American patrons who helped him to maintain the Church. The local papers applauded his work and urged him on. It was at this time that Acs started preaching for the Hungarians living in Newark, New Jersey.

His congregations consisted of few regular members, and since they could not assume the financial