Magyar Egyház, 1966 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1966-10-01 / 10. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH The Tenth Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution A Declaration of the Hungarian Reformed Church In America This month we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1956. Ten years ago the Hungarian nation arose and united in one flaming purpose: to try the seemingly impossible, to win national independence. The sixteen points declaration of that October’s youth — though they contained demands consistent with the political situation of the era — included all that the Hungarian nation wanted to attain as a foundation and as a symbol of aspirations a century old. The revolutionary declarations, statements, demands, proclamations and programs that came later, were actually the detailed expressions of these fundamental aspirations. The demands of the revolution can be summarized in three essential points: 1. withdrawal of the Soviet Army of Occupation; reestablishment of national independence and sovreignty; 2. guarantee of human rights, the development of a parliamentary system based on free elections; 3. the building of a social and economic system based on social justice. The sixteen points of that October’s youth, in spite of divergent historical differences, show a striking resemblance to the twelve points of the youth of March, 1848. Both demanded national independence, the end of foreign occupation, freedom, fraternity and equal rights. And the two historical dates join earlier movements, the freedom fights of Bocskay, Bethlen and Rákóczi, when, too, the Hungarian nation took to arms in the interest of intellectual, spiritual and religious freedom. This fact points out a tragic phenomen as well as one that is heartening. It is tragic that the Hungarian nation having lost its national independence four hundred years ago had to shed its blood over and over again in revolutions and freedom fights, often under hopeless historical circumstances. It is heartening, on the other hand, that tyranny, terror, chicanery and enticements are all unable to make slavery acceptable to the Hungarian nation, or to make the nation forget that in the life of man as created in God’s image the most cherished value is placed on liberty. Ten year ago, this unquenchable thirst for liberty broke with the system, which had been built with calculative, meticulous care and which has been forced upon the Hungarian people mercilessly for a decade. The Hungarian Reformed Church in America gives thanks to God that Hungarian Calvinism was an or-This proclamation was printed In the Hungarian section of the September issue of the Magyar Egyház. At the request of many, here we give its English translation by Barna Szabó. ganic part of this rebellion for human rights and dignity. The ideal of Hungarian independence leads back directly to the political aspirations of the seventeenth century, one of whose essential parts was the winning of Protestant religious freedom from Vienna. In an absorbed form, Hungarian Calvinism is present in that literary tradition and in that concept formed of the author’s role, without which the rebellion of the Hungarian authors preparatory to the revolution of ten years ago would be unimaginable and inconceivable. Moreover, in its mentality and spirit, Calvinistic tradition was present in the behavior of that October’s youth. Partly, it was the spirit of the Hungarian Reformed Church, the spirit of the biblereading, psalm singing, prayerful fathers, grandfathers and ancestors that enabled them to self-forgettingly sacrifice their young lives in the battles against the foreign oppressor. There lived in them the love of justice and the courage of the confessing, galley-slave ancestors. Through the soul’s secret ways, these had influence on them even though they had been keeping themselves aloof from the stumbling, earthly church which had frequently lost its direction; or even though, that in their own seeking of a direction for the church, they had temporarily fallen in as members of church suppressing organizations. But Calvinism had a part and a role in the revolution in a more direct manner as well. Even in the darkest years of stalinism, the Hungarian Reformed Church tenaciously preserved its eternal mission: the preaching of the Gospel in an unfalsified and undiluted manner, and the leading of man's soul to faith and salvation. This real, this “invisible” church of believers had been living in the hearts and minds of a substantial number of pastors and laymen. This made them become confessors and martyrs. Owning up to their faith, they exposed themselves to the persecution of a worldly power which conducted its suppressing work frequently through the medium of the official church government. In spite of this, subsequent to 1953 and with the easing of the terror, the confessing strength of the church became ever more apparent. And in the spring of 1956 — entirely independently from the political rebellion of the Hungarian authors and intellectuals — the movement grew to the point where it published a declaration, titled “The Confessing Church in Hungary.” This movement of the confessing faith — the same as the revolution — was organized by no one. But a greater cohesive force and a solidarity greater than that obtainable from organization emanated from the common faith, the common mission, and the common struggle which inspired pastors, elders and church members to take their stand based on the Gospel and on the reformed theology built on the Gospel against the theology and practice of the ruling church government. The declaration of the confessing movement exposes in four points the anti-Gospel substance of the “new
