Magyar Egyház, 1989 (63. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1989-01-01 / 1. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

11. oldal

The synod of the small Free Presbyterian Church has suspended one of its ministers for three months because he asked a Roman Catholic priest to pray at a meeting of the working party on religious education of the Highlands Regional Council. (EPS)

STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN THE HUNGARIAN THEOLOGICAL ACADEMIES

In the 1988/89 academic year the two Theological Academies show the following student enrollment:

Budapest. Total enrollment 120 including 4 Hungarians from abroad and 6 non-Hungarians. 100 additional students take correspondence courses.

Debrecen. Total enrollment 138 full time students, 13 still in the military and 72 participating in the correspondence courses, making a total of 223. This is the 451st academic year.

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The Evangelical (Lutheran) Theological Academy in Budapest has 80 students in this academic year (58 men and 22 women). Out of the 21 first-year students 12 doing military service. 3 of the students are studying abroad (Pozsony, Jena and Greifswald) while one undergraduate from Slovakia and three from the German Democratic Republic, also a minister from Finland, are enrolled in the Budapest Academy.

HUNGARIAN BIBLES TO THE TRANSCARPATHIA

With the approval of authorities of both Hungary and the Soviet Union a Hungarian delegation of the Free Church Council led by János Viczián, President of the Hungarian Baptist Church and Chairman of the Free Church Council,

2,000 Hungarian language bibles were delivered to Churches in the Transcarpathian region of the Ukraine.

1,000 copies were given to the Baptist Church in the area, 500 to the Reformed and 500 to the Adventist Churches. The Bibles were given with the request that each family was to receive one copy only.

Thanks for the Bibles were expressed by Reformed Bishop Pál Forgon, Baptist Superintendent Ivan Andrashko and Adventist Superintendent Ilya Pirchak. There are approximately 150,000 ethnic Hungarians living in the area. A fairly recent report states the number of Reformed at round 70,000 and 81 congregations. The number of Baptists and Adventist was not available to Magyar Egyház at this time. Total number of Adventists in the Soviet Union (according to a Swiss statistical report) was 30,000, apparently not all in Transcarpathia.

Transcarpathia used to be a part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the Trianon dismemberment of the country in 1920. Then it was given to Czechoslovakia; in 1939 it was returned to Hungary for a few years to be swallowed up by the Soviet Union-Ukraine after World War II. The region in question is, called in Hungarian Kárpátalja; close to the border is the region of Tiszahát, purely Hungarian in ethnic character. The Northern part of the region — up to the Carpathians — is inhabited by the Ruthenians, a branch of Ukrainians.

FROM THE BISHOP'S NOTEBOOK

Here is another set of quips and quotations from my notebook.

On the Solomon Islands the spreading of Christianity is thus explained: Like the waves of the ocean carry the coconut from island to island so the Gospel goes. This could be called coconut theology.

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At the opening of a meeting we often pray “Be with us, O Lord.” I don’t feel this to be quite correct. God is present always and everywhere. So it would be better to pray: “We want to be conscious of Thy presence with us.”

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Degradation of religion: I read in the “market place” section of a prominent daily: “Need a minister for your wedding? All faiths, any location, personalized service.

One can overhear baffling “theological” remarks in department stores. Here is a recent one I heard. A woman stepping out from the fitting-room asked her husband who, judging from the clerical collar, was apparently a clergyman: “Honey, do you think God would like this dress?”

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The daily bread we are praying for is not only material. It is spiritual, too: how do we acquire it? how do we eat it? do we share what we receive? (I think it was Berdjajew who analysed this.)

Andrew Harsanyi

TWO NEW HUNGARIAN BISHOPS

One of them is the spiritual leader of Hungarian Reformed people outside the present Hungary. He is Jenő Mikó who was ordained bishop of the Christian Reformed Church in Slovakia December 15, 1988 in the church of Komárom. He will oversee round 200 congregations in Slovakia (part of Hungary prior to the Treaty of Trianon in 1920). The Church has half a dozen Slovak speaking congregations.

Bishop Miké is pastor of the Reformed congregation in Pozsony (Slovak name: Bratislava). Chief Elder is Zoltán Takács, the official publication is Kálvinista Szemle.

In his inaugural sermon Bishop Mikó emphasized that Reformed people living in Slovakia accept their minority status and wish to be God’s blessed instruments with their service wherever they live.

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The Synod of the Unitarian Church in Hungary elected the Rev. János Huszti, as their new bishop succeeding Bishop Dr. József Ferencz who has retired. Béla Bartók Jr. was re-elected Senior Chief Elder.