Hungarian Church Press, 1950 (2. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)
1950-03-01 / 4. szám
3. / Our Church is in struggle, but not against principalities and powers but rather against wickedness that -fceaq^fc,? in its members /Eph.6./, with the armour of Gospel, remission of sins and absolution. Perhaps from the days of Heformation there has never been a time in the life of our Church in which it would have been faced so seriously by the reality of sin-and rejoice at grace with so much gratitude as now» In this position we ask more comprehension, patience, love, and trust of our Lutheran brethren who, lacking an adequate knowledge of our history and present-day conditions, frequently regard us with prejudice and judge us with bias« We ask them to feel more responsibility for us and pray more for us. They might consider if it is of any use for the Hungarian Church of Jesus Christ to give serially expression to statements which are frequently based on wrong information and do not conform to the facts but are appropriate xor aggravating our position in the world. We do not think that the part of the representative and bastion of the Western world would be in all earnest destined for the Hungarian Lutheran Church, that as such it should start a political struggle in this country. We do not think either that our Western Lutheran brethren are in earnest to mean that there is not and cannot be true Christianity in the Eastern hemisphere of the world. Such an opinion would be the negation of the omr.i<* potent power of God and the work of the Holy Ghost. 4. / We have always been grateful for the brotherly help which our Western Lutheran brethren have granted us in a concrete form also. We take this opportunity also to return thanks for this financial and material assistance which in no small degree has contributed to the reconstruction of our Church.* we do so in the name of our people. The grave war damages do not make this material help unnecessary even in the fifth postwar year although we testify with gratitude to God that the people of our Church have beyond their power partaken of and cantributed to the work of reconstruction. We shall henceforth also be grateful to our Western brethren, should they be willing to continue to accord this brotherly help to us, such as are sensible of being obliged to do so because they were spared by the war destructions and are materially strong.But Wo should like to avoid even the semblance of it that this aid would be anything but the manifestation of Christian charity and the ecumenical idea according to which the members of Christ's body take care of one another. Above all, we should like to avoid even the semblance of it as if this material aid were connected with certain conditions or positively brought our Church into some sort of dependence on the donors. We are convinced that our Western Lutheran brethren agree with us concerning this point. We have deemed necessary to write you ©11 this for the reason that we might clearly and sincerely contribute to dispelling the misunderstandings and strengthening the brotherly community which all over this world unites the members of the body of Jesus Christ and of which the Ecumene would like to bo the visible manifestation. Por our part,we should like to contribute to this ecumenical endeavour to the best of our ability. «•3«* üujig&£i&n Church Prass — With warmest brotherly greetings, Yours in Jesus Christ, Lr. Ivan Reök Zoltán Turóczy General Inspector Bishop József Szabó Dy.Lajós Vető Bishop Bishop Lajos Kemény Rev.Gyula Groó Rev.László Lezsóry Acting Bishop General Secretary Editor of the "Evangélikus Elet" Rev.László Benczúr Director of the "Luther Márton" Ins-fcitut.
