Calvin Synod Herald, 1992 (92. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1992-05-01 / 3. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 3 -REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

Impressions in Transylvania

by Rev. Peter P. Bodor, Flint, MI

(Continued from previous issue)

It was not their fault. How unjust! Let us not ask them to do what they already have done — hospitals, schools, deaconate centers, businesses, farms — but let’s help them get over the hump. Incidentally, we were given 18 church plans that have been awaiting construction for decades. The Ceasescu regime is gone, they have the permits, but out of hand inflation is their newest enemy.

In the so-called Kolozsvár (Cluj) District we learned that deaconate work has a different face than we are used to. In the region we saw less homeless, beggars, the elderly seemed to be cared for by the more less compact family units. No, people do not live in third world conditions. Ironically, I’d say, they live in fourth world conditions as they are hungry for spiritual rebirth and growth. Bishop Csiha in Cluj — Kolozsvár is right when he wants to reorganize the reformed health care system. The present system is not adequate and is not equally accessible by all. The establishment of a church-run hospital is justified on Christ’s foundation which is the basis for love and fairness. By the way, they do seem to have the necessary man-power. In Cluj — Kolozsvár we met with Dr. József Biró, neurosurgeon-minister, and his staff. Without knowledge, good spirit and will they could not function in the country’s secondlargest and best neuro-hospital where a 1936 Swiss-made X-ray machine is their state-of-the-art high-tech so-called cat-scan device. Lately, they had to postpone the surgery of a boy — a bullet entered his right eye and left through the back of his head — because they were lacking basic pain killers and anesthetics. By the way, the boy is

fine, lives and can function normally. They could use our thrown out medication and our 5-year-old outdated medical supplies.

Both bishops emphasized the importance of schools. This is deaconate, too, as they need to bring up a new generation which is sensitive to Christian issues. They are alone in this fight. Their old schools have not been given back. They lack labs for science, or the simplest maps or text books. Neither district is wellequipped with copiers, printing shops or even typewriters. Bishop Tőkés desperately needs a printing shop so they can publish their school text books and their even more important church papers, the spiritual food. Christ trained his disciples and then sent them out — didn’t he!? Let’s help them train their children. Incidentally, the Kolozsvár (Cluj) Reformed High School Choir will be touring the U.S. this April.

We are oceans apart in thought and action, but the gap can be bridged. It is like the seemingly widening gap between the two reformed bishops of Transylvania, Tőkés, the prophet politician, and Csiha, the quiet and humble servant. While Tőkés, sometimes risking a great deal, boldly heads into the obstacles bigotry, Csiha quietly goes around them. In a miraculous way one benefits the other as this provides a healthy plurality and an even healthier checks and balances in the case of eventual encroachments. And how ironic it seems that the prophet politician Tőkés and not the quiet servant is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Péter Pál Bodor

Flint, Michigan

The Christian Observer Family Conference JUNE 18-22

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Laszio Tokes,

Reformed Bishop of Transylvania Rev. Steve Schüssel,

Youth Speaker Mrs. Gertrude Hoeksema Dr. Paul Lindstrom ...and many, many more!

Massanetta, VA (near Harrisburg) 9400 Fairview Ave., Manassa, VA 22110 (703) 3352844

Featured speaker, László Tőkés, is Bishop of the Reformed Church in Romania. Tőkés is known and revered around the world for his fierce defense of the church against the dictator Nicolai Ceausescu. His resistance to the attempts to remove him from his pulpit in Timisoara sparked a revolt which brought down the Communists in 1989. Tőkés has been nominated for the Nobel prize.

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