Magyar Egyház, 1959 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1959-05-01 / 5. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ John Calvin and the "Magyar Faith" John Calvin originally studied law and became a minister in Geneva against his will but constrained by his conscience. He sought to do everything for the glory of God. As a matter of fact, his teaching could be summed up in this one sentence: The entire life of a Christian must be a worship for the glory of God. Calvin was not a politician or an economist. Yet his influence changed—we may safely say and that without exaggeration—the political and economical face of the world. For he made people realize that Christianity must not be considered a private affair but a daily business, the attitude of a person all the time. Calvin’s thoughts had a particularly great influence upon so many Hungarians. The Hungarian character is basicly practical and realistic. Hungarians therefore readily received the idea that the Christian’s duty is to know the will of God and to shape and direct everything according to it: education, economy, politics, everyday life. And all this here and now. God wants to be Lord in our time. God offers a solution to human problems always “here” and “for us”. In the XVI. century, after the Turkish destruction, Hungary was like a cemetery. It would have never risen to new life had it not been for the faith and enthusiasm of the Reformed people. They accepted the nation’s disaster as God’s punishment for its sins; therefore, after sincere penitence they tried to find out God’s will for them and do it. And so it is ever since. Lamentation and complaining is not a Hungarian characteristic, and especially not of Reformed Hungarians. We know God always shows the way for us, and gives us the strength of His Holy Spirit to walk in that Way. After every national disaster — and, o, how many we had — our Reformed people were the first ones and the most willing ones to work on the nation’s reconstruction. The ultimate trust in God’s sovereignty—another basic testimony of Calvin—makes our love for freedom unquenchable. Oppression neither bends nor breaks us but prompts us to fight. It wasn’t just coincidence that so many of our prominent fighters for freedom—like István Bocskay, Gábor Bethlen, Lajos Kossuth—were Protestants. From the very beginning Reformed faith has often been called “magyar faith”. Not as if it were different from the Reformed faith of people from other nations, nor do we claim to be better Reformed Christians than those of other national origins; but because we feel, ancf sincerely believe that it is the Reformed faith as interpreted by John Calvin and adapted by our Hungarian Reformed forefathers that fits best our Hungarian national character. It is therefore that the Hungarian Reformed Church in America as long as it is faithful to its calvinistic heritage will be a true ambassador of the Hungarian spirit. D.T. TRANSYLVANIA The delegates of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Transylvania visited their brother church in Hungary. The Transylvanians were represented by Bishop Aladár Arday of Nagyvárad, Sándor Buthi, chief clerk of the diocese, and Kálmán Benedek, organist, professor of music at the Theological Academy of Kolozsvár. The latter gave organ recitals at several churches in Budapest and throughout the country. News From Hungary Bishop Elemér Gy dry has been elected as presiding minister of the general convent of the Hungarian Reformed Church, succeeding Bishop Albert Bereczky, who has retired. Hungarian State Controls Church Appointments (Budapest)—A state decree issued in early April stiffens a procedure for controlling appointments in the churches in Hungary. The regulations still require approval of all church appointments by the state but now also provide that government authorities may fill vacant posts if these are not filled by the church concerned. The state may take action to fill vacant positions after either sixty or ninety days, depending on the type of post. All clergy are required to take an oath of allegiance to the people’s republic. EPS, Geneva 6,000 VICTIMS The International League for the Rights of Man informed the Secretary General of the United Nations that from the 21,000 refugees who returned to Hungary with a letter of amnesty 6,000 have been imprisoned, put into internment camp, deported to the Soviet Union or executed. Bishop in the Red Parliament Dr. Tibor Bartha, the new bishop at Debrecen, writes in the “Reformátusok Lapja” with enthusiasm of his new experiences as a Member of the Parliament. The words of Prime Minister Miinnich concerning “kilogramms, tons and percentages” gladdened him, for “behind these kilogramms, tons and percentages is more human life for peoples, families and for the nation”,— he writes. In Hungary, the government undertook a special speeding up of collectivization in agriculture, which means that the state demands the last bit of privately owned land and forces the owners into cooperatives. There is a great deal of sorrow and distress among the farmers, hightened by the government’s demand, that they must give up ‘voluntarily’ their land, and with it the last basis of any independence they had. Behind the “kilogramms, tons and percentages” are unmeasurable sorrow, distress, flow of tears and inhuman oppression. For the Reformed congregations, whose members are mainly farmers, the complete collectivization may bring very grave consequences. Especially grave ones, when the state-appointed church leaders side with the government and not with the people. P-p. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC PROPERTY In Hungary, as in all countries under Communist government, the misappropriation of ‘Socialist property’ causes headaches to the authorities. In his report, the Attorney General said that in 1957 36.1% of the criminal accusations were against those who violated public property (i.e. by theft of or by damage done to it). This rose in 1958 to 41.8% and the Hungarian papers bitterly complain that this crime became fashionable. “A wrong kind of solidarity has developed in some plants. It is thought ‘smart’ to pilfer”,—wrote trade union paper Népakarat.
