Calvin Synod Herald, 1984 (84. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1984-08-01 / 4. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

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REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

TESTIMONY

of the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Butosi before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on June 12,1984 on the Protection and promotion of religious rights in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union,focusing on the religious rights situation for Hungarian minority in Romania and Hungarian believers in Hungary.

Mr. Chairman, my name is John Butosi, pastor of the United Church of Christ, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and bishop of the Calvin Synod Conference of the United Church of Christ, a denomination comprised of 1.7 million people in the United States. I am also representing the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, an ecumenical body with 153 member denominations all around the world as member of its Caribbean and North American Area Council.

Let me commend you, Mr. Chairman, for having this hearing. I consider this opportunity as a great honor and privilege for one who is convinced that true religious faith plays a much more significant role in the affairs of mankind than it is generally assumed. Moreover, I believe that the Government of the United States of America can advance the true cause of peace with righteousness in Eastern Europe more effectively than many religious leaders of the world. So I feel quite at home here, and proceed with trust and hope to meet my assignment. After a brief general background, I wish to share with you my perception on the religious situation in Romania, particularly the Hungarian minority nation in Transylvania, and touching on the religious rights situation for Hungarian believers in Hungary, I intend to offer some suggestions for the effective work of this Committee.

My presentation is based on personal knowledge, living in Eastern Europe for 27 years and keeping contact with my friends ever since by visits, correspondance, and joint projects. I know personally not only the present church officials, but also representatives of church members, clergy, and various segments of society. In addition, I try to be informed on both the theological issues and the pragmatic problems of the religious situation in Eastern Europe. I do not consider myself an “expert” on all issues, but what I am going to present is factual, can be documented and springs from a desire to love God and my fellow human beings.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Transylvania — this D-shaped, distinct geographical region of 21,297 square miles, bordered on the north and east by the Carpathians, on the south by their continuation, the Transylvanian Alps, and on the west by the Bihar Mountains, populated by about seven million people — has been an integral part of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than a millenium. At times, during history, Transylvania was an autonomous principality, nevertheless its Princes emphasized the role of the province as being a part of the legal continuity of the Hungarian State. By the Treaty of Trianon (1920), which was never ratified by the United States of America, Transylvania was awarded to Romania, a State which came into being with little regard for the wishes of the peoples inhabiting the area. This unjust Treaty was re-imposed on the area after World War II. which, coupled with Communism and Romanian nationalism, created an ever harder burden on all national minorities including 2.5 million Hungarians (the largest national minority in Europe), 400,000 Saxons, 100,000 Jews, as well as others. Hungarians in Transylvania consider themselves not as a minority in an alien environment, but as an oppressed nation on the land of their ancestors.

It is important to know that in Romania, nationality denotes religion and vica versa. The Romanians are almost all Romanian Orthodox. Hungarians in Transylvania are either Reformed or Roman Catholic, although Unitarians are also present in their ranks. Saxons (Germans) are mostly Lutherans, but in the Banat the Schwabians are Roman Catholic. (The Baptists and Pentecostalists made spectacular growth in recent years in all nationalities.) Thus, the treatment of and policies toward a particular religious denomination are closely tied to the treatment of and

policies toward a nationality, and vica versa. The Hungarian believers in Romania bear, a fourfold cross: they are non-Communists in a Communist society, non-Romanians in a Romanian State, non-orthodox in an Orthodox environment (Romanian Orthodox Church, estimated 16 million, is one of the three largest Orthodox communions in the world), and Evangelical Christian in a State-controlled Church.

Another important fact in Eastern Europe is the cleavage between the theory and the practice of law. E.g. Article 22 of the 1965 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Romania states: “In the Socialist Republic of Romania the co-inhabiting nationalities are assured the free utilization of their native language as well as books, papers, magazines, theaters and education at all levels in their own language.” But the reality is that every word of this law was violated manifold by the Romanian State as it has been proved by other witnesses before the Senate Committee on Finance from year to year . . .

RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN ROMANIA

According to Article 30 of the Romanian Constitution “freedom of conscience shall be guaranteed to all citizens of the Socialist Republic of Romania” and “anybody shall be free to share or not to share a religious faith.” In reality, however,- all religions are under the tight and cruel control of the Communist Government as exercised mainly through the Department of Cults which is the laison between the government and the 14 recognized religious denominations. Prior to World War II, there were 60 religious groups in Romania, but under the Communist rule 46 were either forced to merge as in the case of the Uniate Church into the Orthodox Church, or were outlawed by the State. Participation in any unofficial religious denomination is punishable by law.

While the Romanian Constitution “guarantees” religious freedom for the 14 “cults”, even these officially recognized denominations are in servile dependence to the State. The Department of Cults has authority to set quotas for theological training, to license clergy, to approve religious leaders, to control contact with co-religionists abroad, to issue permits for constructing or organizing new churches or expanding the existing ones. (Fe~ permits are issued, and often there is a “price” for it.) It is r. secret that the Communist Party’s philosophy is atheism, and therefore the Department of Cults seeks to discourage religious activity and when this is impossible, to restrict it. Churches and religious leaders receive financial support from the State, but the purpose is clearly to make them even more subservient to the State.

A recent illustration of this policy of total interference in ecclesiastical matters is the case of the Rev. László Tokes. This 32 year old Reformed minister whose father, Dr. István Tokes was illegally forced to retire as theological professor and general secretary of the Cluj-Kolozsvar bishopric as of November 1,1983, serves in Des, Transylvania. As a dynamic youth leader in church and society, he conducted a survey among the ministers in his presbytery on the situation of the distribution of hymn books and wall calendars. He sent the complete report of the results to the respective church authorities with the intent of accurately informing them on the actual situation. As an “acknowledgment” of his work, the Bishop initiated disciplinary action against him. (Evidently because he had to discipline this young minister who dared to associate himself with an underground publication, Ellenpontok (Counterpoints) which, in October of 1982, published a memorandum proposing a course of action for the participants of the Madrid Conference reviewing compliance with the Helsinki Final Act.) The charges were dismissed by the respective board