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

1989-09-01 / 5. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

11. oldal

FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN HUNGARY

A “working Community for the Renewal of the Reformed Church” has been recently organized. It held an open forum on June 3 in the Ráday College with about 200 participants.

In the course of this first meeting Professor Dr. Sándor Tenke, editor of the quarterly Confessio gave a paper on the past 40 years of the Reformed Church in Hungary. It came to major breaks because the points of the agreement between state and church had not been kept; peasants and the middle class suffered material, intellectual and spiritual discrimination, the reformed intellectuals turned away from the church. According to contemporary documents the church experienced 1956 as a revolution. The following years were characterized by “solemn events” but, at the same time by “crumbling congregation life.” To the question: how to go on, he quoted the last report of Bishop László Ravasz (May 11th, 1948) and drew the attention of the participants to its key concepts: “specialization, concentration and spiritualization.”

Bishop Dr. Károly Tóth expressed his hope that the spirit of the forum would serve the reconstruction of the church. He underlined: the forum walks on the right way when it does not condemn even if it criticizes and when it is not vehement even if it analyses. [HCP]

THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE WORLD ALLIANCE OF REFORMED CHURCHES SPEAKS OUT ON THE OPPRESSION OF HUNGARIANS IN ROUMANIA

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has a clear biblical and confessional mandate to address urgent issues in today’s world. “Human Rights” is not a mere slogan for the political activists; it is constitutive of the Christian missionary imperative. Through its worship and witness, every particular church is called to demonstrate solidarity with the sufferings and aspirations of the universal body of Christ. It is crucial that the whole family of Reformed Churches covenant to strengthen its commitments to each other through prayer, communication and the sharing of resources.

“Roumania” was the first among the issues to which the General Council paid special attention. The pertinent report says:

The 22nd General Council of WARC wants to express its concern about the situation in Roumania.

1. “For Christ is like a single body with its many links and organs... If one organ suffers they all suffer together. If one flourishes, they all rejoice together” (I. Cor. 12: 12, 26). Because of our relationships and out of our relationships and out of our faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord of the world and of the Church, we are compelled to speak. In doing so we refer to letters and inquiries of a number of our member churches. We regret the absence of delegates from the Reformed Church in Roumania at this 22nd General Council.

2. We are concerned because never before has information about the erosion of rights and the violation of human and civil rights been so abundant.

We are informed that educational programmes, language training and the cultivation of the historic and cultural heritage have been curtailed. Archives of congregations and church documents have been confiscated. Emigration to other countries, particularly by artists, educators and intellectuals would seem to confirm this picture. The situation of refugees, now well over 30,000, the majority of them in Hungary, is cause for great concern. There is a great deal of talk about a government plan to demolish some 7,000 out of 13,j00 villages — populated mainly by Hungarian-speaking minorities — which if carried out, would lead to a great deal of human suffering and to incalculable cultural loss.

3. We are deeply disturbed about in formation concerning political pressure on the churches' leadership and control over parish life in all its activities. We hear about and deplore the tensions and rifts between leadership and local ministries which are a consequence of all this. In particular the religious life of minorities is under pressure. We refer to the restrictions on the importation and distribution of Bibles, Hymnbooks and theological literature. We wonder why the number of students admitted for this theological training is so low and are concerned about information regarding repeated harassment of church people, especially ministers. We commend the faith and love of thousands and thousands of church members and express respect for the courageous faith of pastors and elders as they give leadership and comfort to their congregations.

4. We call upon the World Alliance of Reformed Churches

— to continue to monitor the situation in Roumania and to keep member churches informed about developments ;

— to seek the closest possible cooperation with the other Christian World Communions, including the Roman Catholic Church, the European regional ecumenical body (CEC) and the World Council of Churches;

— to keep in touch with other non-governmental organizations as appropriate;

— to inform UN bodies of further developments;

— to seek ways to express solidarity and love to our sisters and brothers in distress;

— to seek yet again an opportunity to send an official delegation with a view of meeting government representatives, church leaders, as well as local ministers and congregations for sharing information and pastoral concerns.

5. We call upon all our member churches:

— to continue their prayers of intercession;

— to express concern and solidarity by writing to our member church in Roumania, to the church leadership as well as individual parishes;

— to seek ways and means to express concern and solidarity in person by visits, either official or as tourists;

— to make inquiries and express concern to the Roumanian authorities and their representatives;

— to contact their own governments.

[The Hungarian ethnic minority of Roumania are the thousand year old, original inhabitants of Transylvania and it adjacent areas. The Editor]