Calvin Synod Herald, 2005 (106. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-03-01 / 3-4. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HER AI, D 5 Funeral Sermon Remembering the Rt. Rev. Dr. Francis Vitéz, Bishop Emeritus, Calvin Synod, United Church of Christ “From a Far Country to Our Eternal Flome” by Rev. Dr. August J. Molnár January 1, 2005 at John Calvin Magyar Reformed Church Perth Amboy, New Jersey A week ago, Christmas eve, when I visited my dear friend, Feri, in the hospital and held his hand to pray together, I sought to pray the prayer and affirmations ascribed to Jeremiah, the prophet, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, as recorded in the third chapter beginning with the 22nd verse: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion, ” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him. ” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Jeremiah, it is written, that by nature he was shy and sensi-Bishop Francis Vitéz Eulogy (Cont’d) could doubt the role of his beloved Sárospatak - Muddy Creek University - in development of a mature theology. And no one could doubt his love for the church members he served, with due sense of his responsibility for their salvation. He always felt that the complete ministry was marked by service to the local church and also service to all the churches, not as a minister of a church but of the whole church. So we saw that he immediately became involved in organizations of the Hungarian Reformed churches. He was a President of the Hungarian Reformed Ministerial Association, Dean of the Eastern Classis several times, on the Church and Ministry Committee and the Secretary of Calvin Synod, and its Auxiliary Bishop. The pinnacle of respect for his capable lifelong ministry was his election to two terms of office as the Bishop of Calvin Synod. To his beloved Vilma, our brother Francis promised her he would love and cherish her until death would them part. As his children know, they are together again - the journey is over - he is home. five, gentle and loving, with a beautiful poetic imagination, keen moral insight and profound religious devotion. He was a unique personality even in his youth. Thus, I saw in Bishop Francis Vitéz that character of Jeremiah, whom God called to the ministry of the Lord and consecrated him in the great spiritual experience, which gave him a consciousness of his mission as a prophet, preacher, leader and compassionate friend. In spite of all the hardships, bitterness, affliction and leaving his native land for a new land in America, like Jeremiah, Bishop Vitéz served the Lord and exclaimed and pointed to God’s great love and faithfulness. He could talk about God’s compassion that was new every morning. My friendship with Bishop Vitéz began in the 1950’s when he served as assistant pastor of my home church, the First Hungarian Reformed Church in Cleveland. At that time, I was teaching at Elmhurst College. Then later we were graduate students at Columbia University studying Hungarian language, literature and history together. I keep hoping that the results of his Columbia Unitersity master’s thesis and its expanded version will be published. Our Foundation has been ready and is ready to publish his “Annotated Bibliography of Hungarian Reformed Church Literature and Writings in America.” His historical research is a singularly important archival work that presents for us the record of more than 100 years of Hungarian Reformed church life, authors and writing in America. Like Jeremiah, Bishop Vitéz also had a message to carry to his people, and it was also the message of the apostle Paul, which Bishop Vitéz wove and wrote into his book of prayers entitled “From a Far Country,” Messzeföldről. Four years ago he published this collection of prayers, which he began writing in 1955-1956, as he says in the book, during a period of great personal spiritual strife. In his loneliness in 1955, he turned to Jesus Christ for strength to overcome these difficulties. Thus began his book of prayers written for various stations in life. There are prayers for each day, morning and evening, prayers for holidays, prayers for family occasions, new stations in life, marriage, birth of children, prayers by parents for children that are ill, prayers for national holidays and prayers for the hope of eternal life. These prayers reflect his pathway in life. He repeats again and again, in the prayers that the pathway leads him always from the far country to our eternal home. When I prayed with him a week ago in the hospital, I did not believe that he was so near to reaching his eternal home in the embrace of his Master and in the companionship of his dear, loving Vilma. Bishop Vitéz dedicated his life, as he dedicated his book of prayers, to the Lord and to the Church. May it be that we also continue in that dedication on the pathway that leads from the far country toward our eternal home. Amen. 1 January AD 2005 □□□
