Calvin Synod Herald, 2000 (101. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-01-01 / 1-2. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD A Short History of the Reformed Church in Hungary (Continued from our previous issue) The first presbytery in Hungary was organised at Pápa in 1617. János Kanizsai Pálfy was a minister trained at Heidelberg, and he felt that it would be important to introduce thePresbyterian system (that is, the Calvinist type of congregation) into the Reformed church. Whether consciously or unconsciously, this step proved to be a lifesaving act for the Reformed Church in the western part of the country. The exponents of the Counter-Reformation thought mainly in terms of the clergy. They were of the opinion that, if the clerics, that is, the ministers, could be eliminated from the life of a church, then the congregations could be turned by peremptory orders in whatever direction they pleased. But the elected presbyters formed a “second front” to defend the life of congregations bereft of their pastors for 30 or even 70 years. They were also able to practice their devotions without a minister. In the village of Szentgyörgy there was no Reformed minister from 1721 to 1781. However the Catholic priest stationed there complained that, although he offered his services for Reformed burials, no use was made of them. The Reformed community even sent him a message saying that if he dared to disturb their ceremonies, they could not guarantee his safety. The priest described how the Reformed presbyters themselves buried their dead by singing psalms and saying the Lord’s Prayer and their Confessions. This is how a liturgy without a minister was born to uphold the Refomred faith for three or more generations. In 1630, the Synod of Körmend ordered all Transdanubian congregations to elect their Church Session. In 1646, however, the Synod of Szatmárnémeti (in Transtibiscan part of the country), guided by the anti-Puritan, anti-Presbyterian mentality of the elder Prince György Rákóczi of Transylvania, refused to establish any presbyteries. In 1686, the Diet of Sopron relegated decisions in ecclesiastical matters to the absolute authority of the King, whereby the legal entity of the Reformed Church was annulled. From that time on only lay patrons were in a position to raise their voices for the Reformed Church, and all administartion was conducted by them until the Edict of Tolerance. In 1791, after that Edict, the ministerial and lay representatives of the five Church Districts were convened by the Synod of Buda, where attempts to put an end to the hegemony of laymen were punctuated by outbursts such as this: “Let the ministers be glad that they are admitted at all to our assembly.” It was after such extreme statements that the principle of parity was adopted, according to which ministers and laymen should be represented in equal numbers in Church government, and matters should be conducted by a double (ministerial and lay) presidency at all levels. The territorial divison of the Church Districts has, from the 18th century onwards, followed by the military system which relied upon catchment areas. Today, the Reformed Church in Hungary has four districts: the Danubian, the Transdanubian, the Cistibiscan, and the Transtibiscan. The emergence of the National Church in the 19th Century The desire to live in a unified national church was, from the very beginning, present in the minds of the Reformed believers, and it was only strengthened by the centuries’ long struggle for survival. However, for a long time this desire could not be realised. Finally, the Debrecen Synod, which commenced its sessions, after four years of preparations, on October 31,1881, was able to lay the foundations for the constitution of a national church, to be further developed by subsequent national synods. These foundations were a majority system, corporate government, and parity. Central organs were also established: the Synod, consisting of 116 members and assembling every tenth year for church legislature, as well as the General Convent, with 38 members, to represent the national church between the sessions of the Synod. The greatest achievement of the Debrecen Synod of 1881 was the organisation of a unified Hungarian Reformed Church, consisting of several autnomous Church Districts. Further Struggles for Religious Freedom The accomplishment of the equality of religions required a long and strenuous process. The dominant Roman Catholic Church used all administrative means to make more difficult the lives of Protestants. Act XX of 1848 finally declared that there was no dominant religion in Hungary, and that there was equality and mutuality (reciprocity) amongst the established (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, and Unitarian) denominations, whose administrative and educational expenditures were to be subsidised by the state. This Act could, however, not be enforced, because after the defeat in the War of Independece, in 1849-49, the Austrian authorities disposed of church authorities in Letters Patent. The legal situation of the Protestant churches and Jewish communities became settled again only after the abrogation of these Letters Patent. During the War of Independece, the Protestant churches unequivocally supported the revolution. The Danubian Reformed Church District called on its ministers to take part in the fighting. The Declaration of Independence was annnounced by the Lutheran Lajos Kossuth before MP’s in session in the Great Church of Debrecen on 14 April, 1849. The Reformed Bishop of Debrecen welcomed the dethroning of the House of Hapsburg in a circular, but in September of the same year he was compelled by the Austrians to order the congregation of his Church District to pay homage in thendivine services to Emperor Franz Joseph. In the years of retribution for the War of Independece, the Protestant churches suffered most, because the state regarded them as one of the props of rebellion. In the struggle against the Letters Patent of unhappy memory, our Church fought not only for her own, but also for the nation’s freedom. (To be continued in our next issue)
