Magyar Egyház, 1966 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1966-01-01 / 1. szám

8

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

Louis Nagy:

ECUMENICAL UNITY AMONG HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA

The Reformed Church in Hungary is the only Reformed Church in the world which has remained united for 400 years. It did not fall apart, and there were no new churches born from it as happened with its Calvinist brethren in other lands. The storms of history had gone over it several times in these 400 years, there were times when these storms tore the land into many parts, sometimes into three or even six sections, however the church’s spiritual unity remained constant. This spiritual unity was so strong and indivisible for three and one quarter of a century, that its governing body, the symbol of this unity, the Convent or Synod, was not formed until the late 1880’s Today this Reformed Church lives in five countries as a result of the “peace” treaties in Middle Europe, and though they call themselves the Reformed Church of Hungary, of Rumania, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Austria, in spite of the often impenetrable borders, they are still one, because these trees have grown from roots which live from the waters in the deep, the 400 year old Hungarian Reformed piety and historical tradition. You can divide countries but there is no outside power which can break up spiritual unity.

In the 90’s of the last century the children of this church came to America in great numbers. In the old country they lived in a unified church, but after 8 years of existence here, they began to divide. Our Hungarian Reformed church life in America is 75 years old. This Hungarian Reformed Church life in America has not been united for the last 67 years. It would take too long to tell all about the reasons for this division of the Hungarian Reformed life in America. There are acceptable reasons, there are unacceptable ones, there are forgivable and unforgivable ones. There are causes that are from without and thre are those that are from within. There are human causes, the results of our own sins, there are reasons that can be traced back to the fact that we have not listened to the Lord of the Church, but wanted our own will rather than the will of God. To simplify the many causes: our Hungarian Reformed life in America fell apart because we are an altogether mortal sinful people, who. even though we might know what is right to do, do not do it.

If we would sit in the seat of judgement and accuse the 67 years of the past of falling apart it would be a great mistake because we are not any different than our forefathers were. Those who went before us at least

believed that they had chosen the path which could be traveled the best, but today we are not even looking for the path. We are people of comfort and ease, we don’t care to risk anything, and we want to keep up the “status quo” under any circumstances. “No problems, please” is our slogan; and in the meantime opportunities pass us by and the chasm is becoming wider and wider.

!n Five Denominations

The offspring of the Hungarian Reformed Church, homogenous in the past, are divided into 5 denominations in America: The United Church of Christ, The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, The Presbyterian Church, U. S., The Reformed Church in America, The Hungarian Reformed Church in America.

The congregations in the Hungarian Reformed Church in America established an independent church-body, denomination, and therefore are not under the supervision of

other American Protestant churches. This Church is the continuation of the Hungarian Calvinism, brought from Hungary to American soil. It is identical with the Reformed Church of Hungary in its dogmatics, organization, tradition, and piety, but it is different from it at the same time, because the American way of life and ideology has changed it. Its very existence is living proof that the Hungarian Reformed faith can live on independently far from its ancient roots. The reason that we are independent, and selfsustaining, and decide our own fate with the help of the Holy Spirit, is not through any merit of our own but because of the elective love of God. We believe that God has a plan for our independent existnce and by the bare fact that we exist our brethren who live in other American denominations have benefitted, especially our brethren in the Calvin Synod. Some of their leaders have admitted this. On the other hand, if we would boast about this service of ours we would sin against our Lord, to Whom alone we can be thankful that He has used us as a means to help and revitalize the brethren outside of our own denomination.

One Hundred Hungarian Reformed Congregations

In this year of our Lord 1966 his first servant of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America bows before the Lord with thanksgiving because there are still about one hundred Hungarian congregations here in the United States. We admit that most of the pastors serving these congregations have just as good and as faithful hearts as the pastors of the Hungraian Reformed Church in America. Their dreams and prayers are the same as the prayers and dreams of the pastors of our Church. We also have to admit that our Hungarian speaking people, no matter to which denomination they belong, have never confessed themselves to be anything else but Hungarian Reformed Christians and they never will, until death. We thank God from the bottom of our hearts for those in other denominations that in most places they still carry the Hungarian Reformed name. We admit that our brethren who visit the Hungarian services are inseparable in spite of the dividing walls of different denominations, and they remain forever the same, even though they recite the Apostles’ Creed in a different place in their liturgy. Our faith is one and the same, so is our baptism and our communion, but above all our Lord is the One and the same Lord. Our language is the same, our Bible is the same, our Hymnal is the same, and our piety brought from our homeland is the same, our Hungarian Reformed faith is the same and our inheritance remains forever the same.

It is only when the snow falls upon this magic fairy garden of the East, the Hungarian Language, when the Hungarian lark ceases to sing when autumn comes, that we will find out really how we fell apart and how divided we were. The passing years will make the chasm wider, and there won’t be any golden bridge built by faithful Hungarian hearts to keep the contact between brothers. Then it could be well that we could become different from each other.

The Hungarian Reformed church member in America has had two great sorrows for which he can find no consolation, and his tears have been falling because of these for the last half century. He has been mourning for his native country and his soul has been crying for his brethren who have been swept by this fast American way of life into other spiritual homes.

The most devout men of the Hungarian Reformed life in America were those who were weeping because the unity of Hungarian hearts had somehow been broken and