Magyar Egyház, 1954 (33. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1954-02-01 / 2. szám
10 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ ENGLISH SECTION THE GREAT SORROW AND LOSS OF THE FREE MAGYAR REFORMED CHURCH OF AMERICA Hungarian Protestants have not yet fully recovered from the tremendous shock and loss of Géza Soós, a modern disciple and apostle of the Lord and heroic leader of Hungarian youth movements, who died on the Labor Day weekend of last year. In the new year at the time of congregational meetings individuals and communities alike weigh and place on a scale their past and present in order to make fresh resolutions and newly formulated plans for the future. It was on Sunday, January 31st, 1954 when the yearly congregational meeting of the Perth Amboy Church was held, that one servant of the Lord The Rev. Dr. Charles Vincze, Archdean of The Free Magyar Reformed Church of America, in the prime of his life, after a heart attack, gave back his soul to his Creator. On December 22nd, 1898 a bright shining star appeared on the sky of the great Hungarian Plain, where he was born. From a humble, beginning where countless other heroic disciples of the Lord came before him, through the schools of his native village Dögé in the county of Szabolcs, up into the school of Kisvdrda, he always distinguished himself as an eminent student. Entering the oldest Theological Seminary of Hungary, Sárospatak, as a student of the Word of God he was a superior scholar thus the Alma Mater selected him as one of the students for post graduate work in Princeton Seminary, Princeton, N. J., U.S.A. Prior to his coming to America he was prominent with his youthful colleagues in the foundation and work of Hungarian Student Movements as Soli Deo Gloria. He excelled with Zoltán Töltéssy, Aladár Szilassy and Béla Megyercsy at that time, when the intellectual and spiritual revival of the Danubian nation was only a dream hoped and prayed for. Completing his theological postgraduate course in Princeton in 1922-23 the degree of Master of Theology was conferred upon him. But due to the post war situation of ministerial shortage in Hungarian American Churches, he was called to the pastorate of the Carteret congregation, where he served faithfully till 1928. In the same year he was called to the congregation of Perth Amboy, N. J., where office bearers and members, young and old, men and women alike loved him and appreciated the faithful service he rendered. His administrative capacity and organizing ability was acknowledged when he was elected first Dean of the Eastern Chassis and later Archdean of the Free Magyar Reformed Church of America for three terms. The strength of his energy knew no limits, he was shepherd of a large congregation with many cares as well as supervisor of other Churches. The secret of the extraordinary power behind his life was hidden in his prayerful, deeply rooted evangelical faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who enabled him to perform wonders. One of the most astonishing and ununderstandable miracles of Hungarian Reformed Church life was the formation of The Free Magyar Reformed Church of America in Duquesne, Pa. (1924), where he was instrumental. The Reformed Church of Hungary was unable to help the congregations in America, which she had previously aided, and when many churches with their leaders of lesser faith sought the union with great American denominations, Dr. Charles Vincze was one of the few adamant Christians of the belief that Hungarian Reformed Christians, too, as the Dutch, German and French and others, are equally capable to maintain their own Churches. Those who had at that time faith and courage that the Magyar Reformed Church in America can be organized were often ridiculed, dispised and neglected. But, by the grace of God this Church was etablished and stood the test of time. The Free Magyar Reformed Church of America, which Dr .Charles Vincze loved with all his heart and all his strength, entered its 30th anniversary year in 1954. He could have been a most successful man in any other held, but he remained a loyal soldier of the cross, an “oarsman” of the Church. At the noon of his life, after so many dreams for the Free Magyar Reformed Church of America, when the gates of national and international recognition of our small but militant Church were opening and new avenues of blessings and possibilities were beginning, he finished his earthly pilgrimage. People of Hungarian origin from New York to California, in Canada and in South America learned from him. He attended international conferences on the land of the great reformers John Calvin and John Knox, Switzerland and Scotland as well as on his native land Hungary. His sparkling eyes were ever ready to smile, his bright countenance, his strong stand and determinate appearance won him countless friends. But the same strong calvinistic personality brought him into unavoidable circumstances of conflicts with defeatists, modernists and many others who found a staunch defender of the faith of our fathers in him.
