Hungarian Church Press, 1949 (1. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)

1949-10-16 / 13. szám

- 11 -The expansion of Protestant faith in Hungary was facil&ted by civil ■wars and later also by the turmoil caused by "the Turkish wars . Souires were won by the teachings of Luther and Calvin, which rendered the secularisation of church estates possible. The feudal lords seized the estates of the high clergy and the gentries -ot hold of the lands of the village pa rishes . In the course of the 16.'century Hungarian gentry folk, very nearly as a whole became Frotestants. At that time the'serfs were compelled to follow the religion of their masters, /"He who owns the land, owns the religion as well"/, otherwise they were expelled from the estate. Consequently along with the gentries all their serfs embraced the new religion.

Reformators expected their adherents to read the Bible daily. But the people did not understand the Bible in Latin, moreover, at most places they could not even read at all. Therefore Protestant preachers established many schools and taught the people to write and read. And as the simple folk did not understand Latin the Bible was translated for them. Soon the first Bible translations were accomplished in our country. The New Testament appeared for the first time in the Hungarian language in 1541. Many Protestant teachers acquired some hand prints to get religious books and first of all the Bible printed for their adherents. It is due bo the activities of the Protestant preachers that the number of printingpresses increased in Hungary.

But the Roman Catholic Church has not been idly watching while the inhabitants of most European countries so numerously joined Protestantism. The fight against Protestants began. The fight of the Catholic Church d gainst the Reformation is ca Hod counter-Reformation. This fight was headed by the newly formed Jesuitical order.

Kings and noblemen in all European countries made a point of having the whole people of one faith. Only the la w of the Transylvanian /South Eastern Hungary/ Principality secured freedom for the Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed and Unitarian religions. But this did not yet mean absolute religious freedom. To-day in Hungary everybody is at liberty to follow whatever religion. In the independent Transylvanian principality the choice was confined to the four acknowledged denominations. Tö-day everybody is free to decide upon the denomination he wants to follow, while in the Transylvanian Principality it was either the squire or the city which decided1" in that question. But in the other European countries even such religious freedom did not exist."

In connection with the counter-Reformation we can read the following:

"All those noblemen who returned to the Catholic faith were rewarded with distinctions and estates by the court of Vienna, whereby,no doubt, the endeavour of the Jesuits,, who headed the mission, was greatly promoted, The return of the big land owners to the Catholic faith meant practically that the whole country beca me Catholic. Therefore the Jesuits

i!0 IH. Hungarian Church Press