Bethlen Almanac 1998 (Ligonier)

Halottaink - In memoriam

Lennoxville, Canada (1976), McGill University of Montreal (1977-1989), and Duquesne University of Pittsburgh (1983-1998).

Reverend Komjáthy was a humble man, yet at the same time a man of immense knowledge. He was rightfully proud of his book A kitántorgott egyház [The Uprooted Church], but his pride never turned into a scholarly arrogance — as is customary with many authors. In point of fact, as he often stated, he always felt better among the members of his congregation than among learned university scholars, and even learned clergymen.

Reverend Komjáthy really loved Pittsburgh and his Hungarian Reformed congregation, which he rightfully viewed as the birthplace of Hungarian Calvinism in America. This was particularly true because of the late nineteenth-century activities of Reverend Ferenc Ferency (1857-1898). True Gustáv Jurányi (Cleveland 1891) and János Kovács (Pittsburgh 1891) has preceded Ferency by two years, but Komjáthy always regarded them as transitional figures and viewed Ferency as the true founding father of Hungarian-American Calvinism. No wonder, therefore, that soon upon his arrival in Pittsburgh, he declared that he wants to be buried in Homewood Cemetery, immediately next to Reverend Ferency.

That is exactly what happened a century after Ferency’s tragic suicide. And here it is important to point out a strange and unusual parallel between these two men: Ferency came to Pittsburgh in 1893, while Komjáthy arrived in 1993. Ferency died in 1898, while Komjáthy died in 1998. In other words, Komjáthy assumed Ferency’s mantel exactly a century later, and he left his congregation and his earthly existence exactly hundred years later. One wonders what sort of unknown spiritual forces may have guided the lives of these two soul brothers precisely a century apart.

Next to the members of his much beloved congregation, Reverend Komjáthy left behind his wife and six children — four of them by his first wife, whom he married in Holland. His American-born Hungarian wife — Ilona Molnár Komjáthy — was always a supportive and a learned partner of Reverend Komjáthy. She continues in the Christian ministry work as the designated pastor of the Pittsburgh Hungarian Reformed Church.

Steven Béla Váirdy

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