HIS-Press-Service, 1982 (7. évfolyam, 22-24. szám)
1982-01-01 / 22. szám
Page 6 HIS Press Service No. 22. January 1982 image and likeness and thus bear Christ within themselves. They must instead strive to be gentle, and like sheep among the wolves. To love each of our fellow men for the love of God, and to express this love through humility, poverty, and a rejection of violence - that is his good news for us, both then and now. This is the heart of our belief in which all areas of Christian life are contained. Who is unaware that half of mankind lives in hunger! Who does not know that the rich use their riches to increase military armament, and that they do this to protect their possessions - at the cost of the violent death of so many persons! Who does not realize that, because of what has already been mentioned, humanity is being threatened by a final catastrophe! Through the incarnation, however, salvation has come near to us. The disciples of the Savior of the world therefore have the duty to follow their sole Lord and Master. It is their duty to imitate the example which he has given us. Therefore, as long as they listen to his words and follow them, they cannot be something greater than their Teacher." As already mentioned, until the spring of 1976, the police instigated proceedings against the small Chruch groups. They were accused of illegal organization, and of plotting against the State or preparing to overthrow it. Stiff punishments were meted out to the members of these groups. In not even one case did the State succeed in proving the charges leveled against the members of these groups; instead, each time it became clear that these base groups were solely concerned with the practice of religion in everyday life. Instead of ending in a victory for the State, these trials resulted in a loss of prestige for the country's leadership. Achangein the State's approach to the base groups came in 1976 after the proclamation of an international agreement on civil and political rights which was set down by the United Nations and guaranteed in Hungary by Legal Regulation Nr. 8/1976. On the basis of this "tolerance edict," communal prayer in private groups was no longer considered illegal. At the same time, the State let it be known that it expected Archbishop Dr. László Lékai, who had just been appointed Primate of Hungary and was thus the person responsible for Hungary's Church, to adhere to the agreement reached in 1950 on these matters, where in it was stated that the Bishops Conference would take action "against Church persons who act in a way contrary to the legally anchored order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic or the government's advancement of socialism." The State now held the position that the Church's sphere of activity had been expanded through the recognition of the Church character of the base groups, which at the same time meant that the Chruch was now also responsible for their actions. Life, however, cannot be forced to fit perfectly into the framework of new church
