Hungarian Church Press, 1950 (2. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)
1950-04-01 / 6. szám
-B-in this world inasmuch she is renewed in repaiLt&iloo and thanksgiving and inasmuch she accepts from God’s haud-^thert grand opportunity Which He is always ready to give to a church which wants to serve and not to rule. These experiences have determined my life and my direction during the past five years. And .my path has' led, during these years, not under the ground, hut on this Hungarian soil, openly and in freedom, I have often explained, in Word and in writing, how I see the way of Hungarian Evangelical Christendom. Let me put now a special emphasis on the main points. To our spiritually and materially enfeebled church, which once lived in an unhealthy and illoyal alliance with the social system of the past, God has now given the great opportunity that she can concentrate her energies on her own specific task. The Constitution of the new Hungarian .People’s Republic "guarantees for all citizens the freedom of conscience and the right to a free exercise of religion. In order to insure the freedom of conscience, the Hungarian People's Republic separates the church from the state". We had made a long journey until August 20, 1949, when the new Constitution was promulgated. We are not disinterested in, on the contrary, we deeply appreciate the other provisions of the Constitution also: the right to work, the right to honest wage, the right to rest, recreation and medical care, to nulture, the elimination of all discrimination as regards to sex, faith and nationality, the equal rights of women, the protection of marriage and family life, the recognition of the rightful claims of youth, the furtherance of science and arts. But I single out now this provision of the Constitution which especially concerns our church. While making this confession, I re-lived those horrible times when I had the fear that the candlestick of my church will be removed. Now I am liberated from this fear. I know that what we are now undergoing is still a judgment agamst the past, but it is also grace for the future. In this world, on this earth, God has given us the permission to preach His word, to become a free church and to serve Our people with, the best that we have: with the strengthening, encouraging and comforting power of the Gospel, Now, in closing, I am going to quote a few sentences out of my last Annual Report to the Lanubian Synod, I preface my quotation by saying that there are more people now who see and there are many who see more clearly now of what I said last year that they are blind to recognize. "It is astonishing how blind still are the leaders and broad masses in pur church to recognize that tremendous change in the life of mankind which, both in its intensity and in its depth, has no parallel in the history of the human race. In these days, humanity is undergoing a radical transformation of unparalleled dimensions. It is no exaggeration1» Hungarian Church Press
