Reformátusok Lapja, 1970 (70. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-04-01 / 4. szám
10 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA and you no longer feel the meaning of life, what is meat and bread what it is to love, to desire with wide-open arms, thus the slave himself forges and bears his own shackles; when you eat you nourish it, you beget your child for it; where there’s tyranny everyone is a link in the chain: it stinks and pours out of you, you are tyranny yourself; like moles in the sunshine, we walk in the dark, we fidget in our chamber as if it were the Sahara; because where there’s tyranny all is in vain, even the song, however faithful, whatever the work you achieve, for it stands in advance at your grave and it tells you who you have been, even your dust serves tyranny. Translated by Prof. Paul Tábori CALVIN SYNOD MEETING Ligonier, Pa. April 27-29, 1970 THE BISHOP The bishop is elected for life by the kirk-sessions of the church district from among the ordinary ministers and professors of theology, of the church district. We find the bishop’s office in our church life from the times of the Reformation in all church districts, except the Cis-Tibiscan district where seniors were governing until 1735. The bishops employed other names for their office. Because Hierarchical tendencies were found quite often during the course of our church history, this title was used very cautiously in our church. This may be the reason why, for a long time, following the example of the German Lutherans, our bishops, with the exception of Transylvania, were called superintendents. In the reform of the Hungarian Upper House in 1885, there were appointed permanently three bishops and three chief lay curators, the oldest in their offices as members of the Upper House. Since this time the name “bishop” has been used officially by civil authorities also. But our bishops do not represent any higher ecclesiastical order and they have nothing to do with the doctrine of apostolic succession. This can be proved best by the simple fact that every elected bishop must have his own congregation under the very same circumstances as any other minister of the church district. And in the event of a professor of theology being elected to the bishop’s office, he must leave his chair, but he must be elected as ordinary minister in a congregation. This ministerial service can never be separated from the bishop’s office; so much so that if he should happen to accept a call as minister in another church district, he cannot hold his bishop’s office any more, according to our church laws. So the bishops of the Hungarian Reformed Church are simply “primi inter pares.” Another proof of that is that we have no special bishop’s sees. There was more than one case when ministers of smaller congregations were elected as bishops and in such cases the bishop’s “see” was not a city, but, perhaps a little vilage or country town. The election of the bishop is confirmed by the assembly of the church district and the elected bishop is installed into his office by all the seniors of the district taking a solemn oath. The rights and duties of the bishop are as follows: he summons the assembly of the church district together with the chief lay curator. He is the chairman, but always together with the chief lay curator, both at the assembly and in the sittings of the district church courts. He and the curator are the two chief representatives of the district in the Synod and the General Conventus and also before the civil authorities. He sends out to ministerial service young candidates after their first ministerial examination. He ordains, together with all the seniors of his district, the newly elected ministers, catechists, schoolmasters with ministerial character, at least every second year. He superintends all the church officials, congregations, seniorates, all the schools of the district, the archives, the treasury of the district and, if circumstances allow, his duty is to visit the congregations and the schools of, at least, one of the seniorates of the district. He has to submit a full report of the conditions of the congregations and schools of the church district to every year’s assembly. The deputy of the bishop, if he is prevented in his work by ill-health or if he is away from his district for a longer time, or in the case of vacancy, is the chief notary (generalis nótárius) in his administrative work, but in the duties of president his deputy is the senior eldest in his office. The chief lay curator is elected, in a very similar way as the bishop, by all the kirk-sessions of the district and for life. He is confirmed also in his office by the district assembly and he takes his office with a solemn oath before the assembly. The chief lay curator as the chief lay representative of the church district conducts the affairs of the church district in harmony and cooperation with the bishop. If he is prevented in his office, his deputy is the eldest-in-office lay curator of the seniorate. (pp. 92- 94). Révész-Kováts-Ravasz: Hungarian Protestantism, Bethlen Gábor Lit. Co., Budapest, 1927.
