Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-01-01 / 1-2. szám
10 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 3fn Ülcmortam Rev. Dr. Edwin P. Elliott The Rev. Dr. Edwin Powers Elliott, Jr. was called home by his Creator October 11, 2009 in the sixty-second year of his earthly life. His daughter, Dr. Elizabeth Elliott, broke the news with the following announcement: At 5:11 this evening a great man passed from death into life. My father ’s 62 years of patient suffering have ended, and he is now beginning his real story. He left behind an enormous legacy measured in the lives of those brothers and sisters in Christ who were touched by his merciful ministry and won by his changeless devotion to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a new doorkeeper in the House of Our God tonight. (signed) In celebration, Izzi. Rev. Dr. Edwin Powers Elliott, Jr., was bom in Richmond, Virginia, attended the College of William and Mary, where he met and married fellow student Anne B. Brisebois in August 1968. They were blessed with three daughters, Laura, Rebecca, and Elizabeth. Dr. Elliott received a B.A. at William and Mary and an M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Covenanter College and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Elliott was Publisher and Editor of the Christian Observer, and Founder, Publisher, and long-time Editor of Presbyterians Week. Dr. Elliott was pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Manassas, Virginia since 1978. An active congregation, it is multicultural and trans-generational, and very involved in missions, both in the local community and in a special mission to the needy in partnership with the First Presbyterian Church in Water Valley, Mississippi. His relationship to the Hungarian Reformed church community began in the 1980’s, when he was involved in organizing the Transylvania Reformed Assistance Committee (TRAC) to provide support to the widows and orphans of Hungarian Reformed ministers who served during communist era. TRAC provides financial support and sends ministry students to visit the homes of the widows and orphans, to provide whatever assistance needed. Dr. Elliott traveled extensively in Transylvania and Hungary, and often featured Reformed Church communities on the cover of the Christian Observer. He regularly featured articles on Hungarian Reformed history, and was involved in the publication of books and articles on this theme. Dr. Elliott became affiliated with Calvin Synod in 1996, when he came to our Annual Meeting in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. He “found” Calvin Synod following his trips to Hungary and Transylvania, research our Church, and he liked what he saw. His affinity to Calvin Synod had to do with our confessions, and the fact that we had not changed them or diluted them over the years; they were staunchly Reformed and Calvinistic, as was he. He recognized that in spite of years of difficulties and persecutions, the Hungarian Reformed faith had not “buckled under” to political and cultural changes. Our Hungarian Reformed faith reminded him of his own Scottish Reformed and French Huguenot Reformed heritage. On more than one occasion he stated that “our church body kept the purest form of Calvinism, we had not acculturated, ” and he valued this very much. He also liked our ministers, most of whom had their theological training in Europe, originally in one of the Reformed seminaries in Hungary (or the territories granted to Czechoslovakia or Romania following the First World War), and found individuals he could speak with about theology on a “higher level”. Dr. Elliott joined us in our meetings, shared excellent insight on many occasions, and in 2000 asked to be granted “Standing” in our Synod. Up until this time this had not been done, granting “Standing” to a person who did not accept a “Call” from a Calvin Synod congregation. Even more exceptional was the fact that he was not fluent in Hungarian - in the 1990’s our ministers were still required to be fully bi-lingual. He was granted “Standing” on May 25, 2000 by the Delegates to the Annual Meeting. Dr. Elliott studied the Hungarian language, and was proud to have a working vocabulary. He was soon elected to and became a valuable member of the “Church and Ministry” committee, and was still serving at the time of his death. In 2004 he was elected English language Editor of the Calvin Synod Herald. His work was exceptional and much appreciated. During his time he led us into the Internet age, and oversaw the development of a fullyfunctioning web site, monthly bulletin inserts, “instant” news releases, discussion sites for theology, etc. Dr. Elliott felt that “A church without missions is not only dead, it is waiting for the grave diggers, ” and became involved in our Calvin Synod missions, most recently supporting the Medical Mission work of István Komjáthy MD, Medical Missionary to Beregszász in the Transcarpathia Oblast in Ukraine. The Bethlen Communities of Ligonier, Pennsylvania also had a special place in Dr. Elliott’s “mission heart”. Dr. Elliott was a person who, though very grounded in his beliefs, mirrored Christ’s life in that he never condemned those of differing views, cultures, feelings, even those who made serious errors, but worked to lead others to Christ in a loving way. Dr. Elliot’s youngest daughter wrote the following tribute to her father: My father may not have had one particular favorite passage of Scripture. In fact, he so loved the Word that it became the very
