Magyar Egyház, 1968 (47. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1968-05-01 / 5. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ who sacrificed himself. The duty of the servants of God is not to offer sacrifices hut to teach and administer the sacraments. 11. Whom does the New Testament call “priests”? The New Testament calls priests all the believers in that sense that they should consecrate themselves to God. However, this does not make the office of the servants of God unnecessary. (Will be continued) Stephen Kovács From A Letter From Yiet-Nam Dear Pastor: . . . I would like to thank you very much for remembering me in the church. Also for the prayer book. I keep it it with me and read it whenever I get some time. ... Being over here in the war I do a lot more praying than I ever did before. There are a lot of times when I feel all alone. That is when I need someone to help me. The good Lord hears my prayers because I could have never made it through some of these things... . .. When a person has to do without the ones or things you love you really learn to appreciate them. I ask the Lord forgiveness for all the times I abused them. My arm is feeling fine and I am back in the action... We all suffer but I guess that’s the price of war. I am thankful I am alive. With faith and a little luck Til make it home to my loved ones... . . . May the good Lord watch over everyone at home as He does here. Thank you again for remembering me at a time when it helps very much to know you are remembered... CHURCHES IN EAST GERMANY DENIED STATUS AS PUBLIC CORPORATIONS Under the new penal code which takes effect in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany; on August 1, Christian churches lose a large part of the legal protection they have enjoyed since 1871 as public corporations. The new law gives them the status of a private enterprise. Affronts to the church and the disturbance of worship services, public blasphemy and misuse of the pulpit will no longer be punished by law. In future property damage will be treated as an offense against “personal and private property”. YUGOSLAV ECUMENICAL COUNCIL NAMES EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The newly formed Ecumenical Council of Churches in Yugoslavia elected an Executive Committee at its meeting March 14 and charged it to formulate statutes for the new body. Officers of the council are as follows: President—Bishop Stefan of Dalmatia (Serbian Orthodox) ; Secretary—Senior Árpád Boksa (Reformed Church). Other members of the Executive Committee are Bishop Juraj Struharik of the Slovakian Lutheran Church, Bishop István Csete of the Reformed Church, Superintendent Krumem Kalajlijev of the Methodist Church and Prof. Stojan Gosvic of the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The move to establish this national ecumenical body in Yugoslavia was given impetus by the visit to Belgrade of a delegation from the World Council of Churches during the first part of March. {EPS, Geneva) NEWS FROM THE CONGREGATIONS AKRON, OHIO One of the most wonderful and most hopeful seasons in the Church year is Easter. We experienced this especially during the past Easter holidays. On our Hungarian and English worship services on Easterday we had more than 300 people in our church. 261 participated in Holy Communion. This was the biggest number we ever had in our church. Income during the holiday passed the $1,100 mark. We are very thankful to God for his Easter miracle. On April 29th our local youth group was the host of the youth meeting of the Western Classis. The topic of the day was the “third commandment” on which Mr. Charles Boehme made a very interesting speech. The attendance was over 40. The merger with the United Church of Christ is in its final stage. Our new councilmen from tbe United Church of Christ are: Charles Boehme, Alex Dezső, Steve Gyökér, Allan Laite, Alex Patonai, Erest Sala, Mrs. Ernest Sala and Steve Seech. Our Building Committee had its first meeting on April 29. The problems of the building of a new social hall were discussed. Mrs. Kenneth Keck is our new choir director. The vice president of the Fellowship Circle is Ernest Ladich. secretary is Mrs. Edward Var go. Burial: Mrs. Paul Nagy, on April 16th in the Randolph Cemetery. She was 76 years old and was a member of the First Hungarian United Church of Christ. BETHLEHEM, PA. Confirmation was on May 26th for Nancy Chomos, Roberta Csizma, Virginia Domyan, András Gondocz, Frank Greczy, David Kuronya, and Pamela Nemeth. We celebrated Mother’s Day with the participation of our youth. All ladies present received flowers from the Sunday School. Mrs. Stephen Szalai celebrated her 80th birthday on May 1st. A dinner was held on April 21st to honor the members of the new Men’s Society.
