A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 3. (Szeged, 2000)

ORBÁN Imre: A nazarénus gyülekezet megjelenése és térhódítása Makón

time when Nazaristic conversions spread to the Great Plains. This shifting of the centre went hand in hand with the transformation of the social composition of the members. From the '50s, the followers were mainly made up of peasants, although their organisers and unifiers remained the industrialists, but of the countryside, and on more than one occasion they emerged from the more prominent entrepreneurial class. During the first period, the Nazaristic thoughts did not reach Makó and its region. The followers of the new faith appear in Makó in 1864. Their members were mostly Presbyterians from the town. At the beginning, there were many conflicts between the denomination and the Nazarites concerning issues of burials, baptisms and the establishment of religious institutions. Despite this fact, the new congregation developed quickly. In 1871, they opened their own cemetery, and in 1875, they opened their congregation house, which was constructed from new, burnt clay. From 1869, they began to keep their own register of births, marriages and deaths, and had their own seal. The congregation reached its height at the turn of the century, at which time it had several hundred members, and their significance was much greater than these numbers show. They maintained extensive, influential ties. The Nazaristic community of Makó was one of the most important Nazaristic communities in Hungary. Their decline began in the years of World War I.