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

1989-01-01 / 1. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal 450 YEAR CELEBRATIONS OF THE REFORMED COLLEGE OF DEBRECEN Fourhundredfifty year of uninterrupted service to church, people and nation marked the history of the Re­­formed College of Debrecen. On November 11 and 12 a series of services of thanksgiving, academic sessions, greet­ings by church and state dignitaries from Hungary and from abroad, a concert of sacred music and a festive recep­tion were parts of the commemorative celebration. Bishop Dr. Elemér Kocsis preached at the service of thanksgiving emphasizing that the search for truth has been the guiding light of the life of the College among the vicissitudes of history. Professor Dr. László MakkaVs brief presentation of the history of the College stressed the active student partici­pation in the academic as well as the administrative gov­ernment of the College which stimulated independent think­ing and developed the unique Hungarian Reformed ethos. From the series of greetings by church and state rep­resentatives let us first quote from the words of Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Church, Dr. Károly Tóth: “A church is not possible without a school and a school is not possible without a church... This is particularly rele­vant today when we have a great need in the life of our nation for the message. . . that human existence is more than the total of social, economic and political factors.” State Minister Imre Pozsgay conveyed the greetings of the Hungarian government. He said that today when the various faiths and views in Hungary are getting wide pub­licity it is intsructive that the Debrecen College is “among our institutions which teach us autonomy, independent think­ing and the nurture of the independence of ideals.” The College sets an example of the truth that humanity can be reached through national feeling. Magda Szabó, renowned author and Senior Elder of the Transtibiscan Church District called the College “the pride of our nation and confession.... It was able in the difficult times to defend the nation, national consciousness, the Hungarian language and pure academic scholarship.” Honorary doctorates were conferred on 14 outstanding scholars and churchmen from the Netherlands, from East and West Germany, from Switzerland, from Scotland, from South Africa, form the United States as well as from Hun­gary and Transylvania. Well known in the United States are Thomas W. Gillespie, President of Princeton Theolog­ical Seminary, Arthur Schneier, Chief Rabbi in New York, Thomas F. Torrance, Professor of theology from Edinburgh and Alan Boesak, President of the World Alliance of Re­formed Churches (he was unable to come because of ill­ness). The two Hungarian recipients were Lutheran Bishop Dr. Gyula Nagy and Professor Dr. Kálmán Űjszászy. The third Hungarian was Professor Dr. Zoltán Gá'fy, Profes­sor from Kolozsvár, Transylvania; he was unable to be present. The new honorary doctors were greeted by Bishop László Kürti who expressed his hope that this distinctive honor would deepen the relationship of the churches within the ecumenical community. An academic session was held on the second day of the celebrations when ten historians gave papers on The development of Protestant schooling in greater Hungary in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among the speakers at the festive reception and banquet was Dr. Andrew Harsanyi, Bishop of the Hungarian Re­formed Church in America who conveyed greetings on behalf of his Church and of all Hungarian church people living abroad. (Full text of his greetings can be found in the Hungarian section of this issue.) A comprehensive 840 page History of the Reformed College of Debrecen has been published for the 450th an­niversary. The Hungarian postal authorities issued a com­memorative postage stamp. ROUSING THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD Massive protest against the cultural oppression and the various genocidal actions of the Romanian government af­fecting ethnic Hungarians and other minorities in Tran­sylvania continues world wide by churches, governments as well as by religious and secular press organs. In the fol­lowing we are giving a cross section of them. The Executive Committee of the 166 member World Alliance of Reformed Churches at its last full meeting in Belfast, Ireland said it was anxious to continue to receive information, “to express solidarity, to clarify misunderstand­ings and to discern ways the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (briefly WARC) may act to help the church and the people of Romania as they endure ever increasing hard­ships in their country .... At the same time . .. the WARC must continue its public efforts to address the issue of human rights violations in Romania.” The cautiously drafted statement continues to say that it “urges WARC member churches which have close ties with the Reformed Church in Romania to continue visits and exchanges of information with that member church, provide pastoral care to its mem­bers and to keep the WARC offices informed of the situa­tion as well as can be.” *1* Strong words were used at the Central Committee meeting of the 307 member World Council of Churches last August in Hanover, West Germany. In his sermon at the worship service commemorating the 40th anniversary of the World Council of Churches (briefly WCC) General Sec­retary Emilio Castro declared: “The WCC cannot be content to make speeches about persecuted churches or situations of oppression; it has learned to practice committed solidarity and be present with those who suffer and are oppressed.” Last July in a joint message by WCC General Secretary Emilio Castro and Jean Fischer, Secretary of the Conference of European Churches, asked four Romanian church leaders, Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, Lutheran Bishops Al­bert Klein (Transylvanian Saxon) and Paul Szedressy (Hungarian) and Transylvanian Hungarian Reformed Bishop Gyula Nagy about Romanian government plans to demolish about 7,000 villages and replace them with agro-industrial centers. In October it was announced that the Romanian church leaders had responded to this request for informa­tion. Castro and Fischer said they would share information received from Romania. The texts of the replies have, as far as we know, not been made public. Dr. Károly Tóth, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Church of Hungary who is a member of the WCC Central Committee made this statement in the course of discussions on the Transylvanian situation:

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