Calvin Synod Herald, 1986 (86. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1986-06-01 / 3. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 4 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA PASTOR HONORED The Calvin Reformed Church of Lynwood honored its pastor of more than 17 years, the Rev. Victor G. Orth, upon his 50th anniversary as an ordained minister of the Reformed Church, with a special service, followed by a dinner, on June 8. A special thanksgiving service was held in Orth’s honor at 5 p.m. Dinner followed at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Calvin Reformed Church is located at 2895 Glenwood-Lansing Road in Lynwood. Orth was born in Hungary in 1912 in the region of Transylvania, which is part of Rumania today. His father being a high school teacher, and his mother an elementary teacher, he was almost destined to become a teacher of the people as an ordained minister. He received his theological diploma from the University of Kolozsvár in Hungary and later continued his studies in practical theology in Basel, Switzerland. There, it was his good fortune to study under Professor E. Thumeyssen who was at that time one ol the three most famous theologians, the others being professors Barth and Brunner. HE WAS ORDAINED June 6, 1936, in Nagyvarad, Hungary. The previous year, while still in Switzerland, he took as his bride Jolán Langer, whom he had known since childhood. They were married in Zurich on July 11, 1935. The education of his wife had been sponsored by the Rev. Gantenbein, pastor of Teute Canton Appenzell, and Juvenile Judge Spoendlen. In 1937, Orth was appointed to missionary duties and traveled from congregation to congregation for a period of seven years, organizing Sunday schools, doing youth work, and organizing Women’s Guilds throughout the synod’s 181 churches in Hungary. During this period he also edited a church publication, “Református Jövő (The Future of the Reformed Faith), and published an anthology of religious hymns, “Istenes Énekek” (Godly Hymns). In 1943 Orth also organize a Reformed Diaspora Church in the village where the famous Hungarian folk hero, Miklós Toldi, once lived. During World War II, in the fall of 1944, Orth and his family migrated to the western part of Europe, where he was appointed to serve at several Hungarian Army hospitals that became displaced person’s camp. In 1947, he was appointed chaplain for the Protestant Hungarians in the British Zone. He traveled by train and by bicycle (donated by the Lutheran World Federation). Finally, with the help of Dr. Kalman Toth, Orth and his family were able to enter the Free World. They arrived in Canada on Dec. 31, 1948. HIS FIRST TASK was organizing the Southern Alberta Presbyterian Mission Church near Calgary. About three years later, on Nov. 10,1951 the family moved to Kipling, Saskatchewan, where Rev. Orth accepted a call to the Alrgest Hungarian Church in Canada, Bekevar Presbyterian Church. While in Kipling he introduced the English language to the Sunday school and started English services for the older members. After leaving the church in Kipling, while they still had no pastor, Orth served the congregation during his summer vacations, assisted them in building a new and larger church, and supplied them with tapes of his sermons to be used during the regular worship services. During his pastorate in Kipling, Queen Elizabeth 11 appointed him a second lieutenant in the Canadian Army Reserves. The Orth family moved to the United States on March 1, 1959, when Orth accepted the pastorate of the Niles South Side United Presbyterian Church in Niles, Ohio. Three years later, on Aug. 5, 1961, he became the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he served more than four years. During the years between 1965 and 1968 Orth served as pastor of the Hungaian Reformed Church in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. In November 1968 the congregation of the Calvin Reformed Church, located in the Roseland area on Chicago’s south side, chose him as their new pastor. He was installed there on April 20, 1969, by the Very Rev. Dr. John Butosi of the Calvin Synod conference of the U nited Church of Christ. DURING HIS 17yearsaspastorofthe Calvin Reformed Church, many events and innovations changed the life and format of the congregation’s existence. The greatest undertaking during these years was that of moving from the Roseland area and building a new senctuary, the church’s third in less than 60 years, in the Village of Lynwood. It was a traumatic and dramatic move, financially, geographically and socially. However, with seeming miracuolous interventions, the new sanctuary was completed in the summer of 1976. Even though the building was not quite ready for use, the first church service was held on July 4 of that year. Because the occasion coincided with the Bicentennial of our country, the service was even more memorable and moving. Among the innovations introduced by Rev. and Mrs. Orth, some of the most noteworthly are the “Church by Mail” service to members too elderly, disabled or too far away (this church has members in about 70 communities) to attend church; for six years Hungarian sermons were broadcast on a ‘‘Church by Radio” program that included poems and songs: under the leadership on one of its members, the church again took responsibility for decorating the Hungarian tree and the Museum of Science and Industry’s Christmas-Around-the-World celebration; for seven summers (1979 to 1985), one of the members, in conjunction with Orth, introduced and maintained a Vacation Bible School; Easter and Christmas Pageants presented by the Sunday School and followed by a congregational Love Feast have become annual events; and the tradidional Grape Festival was received, complete with Hungarian music, dancing, costumes, a kolbász dinner, and oldcountry ceremonies. FOR DECADES Orth was a columnist for the Calvin Synod’s monthly publication, “Reformátusok Lapja” (Calvin Herald) and he is still one of the Hungarian translators for the Hungarian version of the “Upper Room,” a monthly church publication. The family of Rev. and Mrs. Orth consists of five living children, 15 grandchildren, and four great-grand children, their first-born, a son, Gyozo, died in Hungary at the age of 51 years. The living children include: Martha (Mrs. Nicholas Novak), of Roosevelt, Calif.; Ildikó (Mrs. Leonard Ludes), of Washington, D.C.; Lee (wife, Mary Jane), of Missouri; Mary (Mrs. James Vise), of Kentucky; and Victor J. (wife, Jeanne), of Sauk Village. (The Daily Calumet) Rev. and Mrs. Victor G. Orth
