Magyar Egyház, 1974 (53. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1974-04-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9 thing at all to say about things which are wrong here at home. Seven years have now passed since two honest priests confirmed by their own sacrificial example that the pure flame of the Christian faith had not been snuffed out in our land. They wrote to your predecessor, setting out for him with a wealth of detailed proof that voluntary self-enslavement, even self-destruction, to which the Russian church has been reduced. They asked that anything untrue in their letter should be pointed out to them. But none of the church leaders took it upon himself to refute them. And what answer did they receive? The simplest and the harshest. For telling the truth they were punished by being barred from celebrating at the altar. As of today the one fearless archbishop, Ermogen of Kaluga, is still exiled in his monastery-prison because he would not allow his churches to be closed or his icons and books to be burned, in a belated burst of rage, by that atheism which succeeded in destroying so much in other dioceses. Seven years have passed since all this was proclaimed, but what has changed? For every church in regular use there are 20 which have been demolished or ruined beyond repair, and a further 20 standing desolate and profaned. How many towns and villages are there which have a church at all within 100 or even 200 kilometers? The northern regions of our country, the age-long repository of the Russian spirit, are now completely without churches. The activists, people who make financial sacrifices, and others who leave money to the church, find that their every effort to restore even the smallest church is blocked by the biased legislation on the so-called separation of church and state. The Gospel is nowhere to be obtained in our country, so that copies of it have to be brought to us from abroad, as missionaries once took them to Siberia. Seven years have passed, and the whole administration of the church is still conducted secretly by the ‘Council for Religious Affairs,’ including the appointment of pastors and bishops. The church is ruled dictatorially by atheists—a sight never before seen in two millenia! The whole of the church’s property and the use of church funds—the mites contributed by pious fingers—is under their control. Five million rubles at a time are donated to outside funds with grandiloquent gestures, while beggars are thrown off the church porch on their necks and there is nothing with which to repair a leaking roof. Priests have no rights in their own parishes; only the act of worship is entrusted to them for the time being, so long as they do not go outside the church for it. They have to ask permission of the town council if they want to visit a sick person or enter the churchyard. By what reasoning is it possible to convince oneself that the planned destruction of the spirit and body of the church under the guidance of atheists is the best way of preserving it? Preserving it for whom? Certainly not for Christ. Let us not deceive ourselves that external chains have power over our souls. Things were no easier at the birth of the Christian faith; nevertheless it held out and prospered. And it showed us the way: sacrifice. Within our memory many of our priests and fellow-believers have accepted such a martyrdom, worthy of the early Christians. But in those days they were thrown to the lions, whereas today you can lose only your material well-being. In these days, as you go down on your knees before the cross, ask the Lord what other purpose but sacrifice can there be in your service to your people, who have almost lost their Christian countenance and even the spirit of the faith? TRIBUTE TO ZSOLT HARSÁNYI Special tribute was paid on January 27th in the Magyar Reformed Church of New Brunswick, N. J. to the memory of the late Zsolt Harsányi, well-known Hungarian author and poet, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death. The theme of the literary event was “Zsolt Harsányi the author and man”: (1887-1943) Dr. Andrew Harsányi, Dean of the Eastern Classis and pastor of our Carteret, N. J. congregation spoke with deepfelt emotion about his father’s life, work and many accomplishments. There were recitations from his poetry and vocal selections out of the libretto to several plays he wrote. Zsolt Harsányi was a prolific writer; many of the outstanding works of his talents have been translated into several languages. (Matthias Rex, Stargazer, the life of Galileo; Hungarian Rhapsody, the life of Franz Liszt; Love and Life, the life story of Rubens, etc., etc.. )
