Calvin Synod Herald, 2000 (101. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-03-01 / 3-4. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD A Short History of the Reformed Church in Hungary (Continued from our previous issue) The Church in the Period of bourgeois civilisation in the 19th century The constitutional liberty of Hungary was restored by the Ausgleich (Compromise) of 1867, and the Reformed Church gradually regained her internal freedom. The religio-political basis of the age of dualism was Act LIII of 1868, which regulated the reciprocity of the established churches, and decreed that anybody who had completed his or her 18th year was free to move from one denomination to another. Bourgeois development was, however, accompanied by religious life becoming formalized. The social rearrangement attending industrialization demanded new forms of church life which, however, were only partially realized. The liberal trend in theology in the second half of the 19th century was unsuited for the evangelization of those people who, having lost contact with peasant communities, had migrated from villages to towns. Later, church life received a new stimulus through the Home Mission, which followed English and German models. The props of this new style of Church work were Bible classes, the pastoral care of individuals, and the institutional aid given to society’s rejected. Within the liberal laws of the ecclesiastical policy of the time, the Church, according to her mission, worked for social reconciliation. And, after the outbreak of World War I, army chaplains did not only comfort suffering soldiers, but also took part in nursing them. The Reformed Church, like the other churches, was not engaged in blessing the guns, but in giving her services to suffering men compelled to go to the front. The Church living through the changes of the 20th century According to the statistical data of 1910, the number of Reformed Hungarians was 2,620,000 (an increase of more than half a million since 1870). The numbers in each of the five Church Districts were as follows: 484,000 in the Danubian; 266.000 in the Transdanubian; 462,000 in the Transylvanian; 281.000 in the Cistibiscan; and 1,130,000 in the Transtibiscan Church District. Every Church District had a Theological Academy or Faculty. The more than two and half million members were cared for by 2062 ministers, 454 professors and teachers, as well as 2965 primary schoolmasters. By the 1920 Treaty of Trianon after World War I. Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory, and the Hungarian Reformed Church lost half of its territory, and the Hungarian Reformed Church lost half of its members. Our Church was unprepared for the shock of Trianon, which was further aggravated by a torrent of refugees from the successor states, and the economic troubles which were a consequence of the lost war, and was unprepared to heal itself by means of the consolation and encouragement provided in the Scriptures. Moreover, the propaganda disseminated by the victorious power fanned and fostered distrust in the allegedly liberalminded Reformed believers. They were accused of intellectually preparing the way for Communism, and - together with the Jews and other left-wing elements - were held to be responsible for the events which ensued. But what was the real fate of all churches - ours amongst them - at the time of the revolutions of 1918-19? In the programme of the leading party of the so-called “Revolution of Michaelmas Daisies”, in October, 1918 there were a great many anti-clerical phrases, which labelled the churches as relics of feudalism. Under the sway of the Soviet Republic (the Republic of Councils), ecclesiastical schools and lands were nationalised, religious instruction was prohibited in schools, and there were many churchmen amongst the victims of the Red Terror. However, the Commune lasted for only 133 Days. Then the Red Terror was followed by a White Terror. The politics of the government which came to power in thie country after World War I were guided by a principle of “Christian nationalism”. This policy considered political Catholicism to be its first and most important ally, as it inspired, revived, and represented the heroic virtues of a nation which dated back to the time of Árpád. Although the Reformed Church also enjoyed the support of the state, she could exert much less influence on the political direction of society than she would have been entitled to in terms of numerical proportion. Of course, she was also exposed to the temptation of nationalism. Yet, the history of the Hungarian Reformed Church between the two world wars cannot be identified with the chauvinistic trend which insisted upon the cultural superiority of our nation or race. The internal life of the Church moved forward significantly. In 1931, a unified Reformed liturgy (Agenda) was complete. In 1934 the new Statute Book of the Church came into force. Neither the national associations of ministers and presbyters, nor the youth organisations, were indifferent to the grave social problems. After World War I new trends replaced liberal theology. Under the influence of Dutch Reformed theologians, so-called historical Calvinism was the first to develop educational activities by producing a strong Reformed self-confidence and a sense of duty. The Calvinist heritage was also attested to by other trends: for example, by so-called ecclesiastical Calvinism, which concentrated on congregational activity, rather than on the work done by associations. Dialectical theology,which had effected a decisive change in European theology, was not unknown either in our Church in the inter-war period. It had especially enthusiastic adherents amongst professors of theology and scholarship holders who had studied abroad, but their influence could only be felt in the life of the Church in the generation after World War II. (To be continued in our next issue)
