Magyar Egyház, 1989 (63. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1989-11-01 / 6. szám
12. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ It does not matter if the churches are pulled down, for it is not the stones that matter but the service held there. To the senior he said, word for word: “Senior, even though the Reformed church of Arad is pulled down, people could pray in meeting houses in the outskirts. Thus, we should not mind it.” When I preach, I always try to find a connection between the present situation and the Scripture, in particular in the extremely difficult position we live in. The passage for Palm Sunday I took from the epistle to the Philippians, which refers to the present conditions, at least between the lines. When I spoke of the entrance of Christ to Jerusalem, as a contrast, I pointed out in my sermon that the world expects and considers the kings in a very different way. Both the Bible and history gives a lot of examples for it that power turns the heads of kings and monarchs. I quoted the example of Nabukodnezar, from the Old Testament, and from modern history, Napoleon and Hitler, who climbed up from a low position, and in this case power is even more dangerous and corrupting. In the ministers’ meeting early September, I proposed that every minister in every congregation should pray for our villages and congregations, with a view to the village destruction plan. But it was more important that my colleague, János Molnár, who is now unfortunately in Hungary, made a written proposal that the church administration should not look on with folded arms the events around village destruction called “systematization,” but they should contact the other Churches, Caholic, Orthodox and others; to coordinate their stands, to make it clear what the village destruction scheme means for the Churches, how many congregations are affected, what the Churches can expect. In this question, there is a perfect silence. It appears as though we were not at all concerned about it what happens to hundreds of congregations, to our churches, — most of them several hundred of years old, — what about our cemeteries, where our people will be taken, what the future holds to the Churches and its members. We summarized in a few points what the episcopates — that of Kolozsvár and Nagyvárad — should keep in mind in the course of the negotiations with the state. There were such questions, or rather points: the Church should suffer no loss in consequence of the urbanization scheme. Or, the loss should be reduced to the minimum, and even if losses are unavoidable, it should be made good, thus if e.g. a village is vanished, and the congregation members resettled, indemnity should be given somewhere, in some form. In one word, what we wanted to say was that the Church cannot just sit and watch what is happening. First of all, they should get information of what is planned, for the whole matter is wrapped in mistery, only general phrases are uttered. On the other hand, it is their task to take action, and to protect the fundamental rights of the Church. I feel, it was our duty in conscience to express this, since everybody in the first place, the hierarchy, is wrapped in silence. This question is burning my fellowministers, and congregations, too, but they don’t dare to speak. We thought, therefore, to bring it up in a meeting. Where we are more people together, it is easier to take heart, so we organized this action in the whole Reformed Church in Roumania, in every diocese, thirteen of them. There was everywhere someone who took upon himself to bring up this issue in the meeting of the diocese. It is sadly typical that there was only one diocese out of the thirteen, where people took the courage to speak up, this rate: thirteen to one, clearly shows how fear binds even the ministers hand and foot, though, they are affected in their very existence, why, it is they, who will lose their congregations, and they, too, will have to leave the place they live in. Village destruction, country planning, will not take place in the romantic way as outsiders imagine it, namely, that ten bulldozers come up and raze the village from one end to the other. This is a much more complex, sophisticated business. They are to create the conditions for the villages to vanish, they have to get accommodation for the inhabitants of the villages doomed to death. All the more so, as the wave of international protest has probably made them alter the original plans. We cannot exactly tell now, how it was meant to be, for before it had been actually launched, the world raised a word of protest, so much so that it is impossible to tell how it was to start, and what has been changed in the meantime. The other question is, how it is to continue, for it appears, and most probably it is true, that the scheme has not been abandoned. This is not a policy that would give up such a plan upon international protest. No, they have not given it up, only the methods have been changed, they try to conceal by the policy of wait and see, manoeuvering, and eye-wash that they still want to materialize it. Some months before, they started with merging villages. Normally, two, three or four villages belong to a community. Now they go on with merging. Still more villages are attached to the community, thus making them lose their importance. These are generally the villages assigned for liquidation. Now, they send out party officials and state leaders to each county — like formerly, when they wanted to push collectivization. They convene a meeting of the inhabitants or party meetings there, where they dish up the question in a way that the people themselves ask for the liquidation of their village, for the conditions of life are no more given. I know of villages, where people were made to sign an application to be resettled in the blockhouses to be built. Thus, instead of a spectacular village destruction, they apply the policy of atrophy hardly to be traced. So, for instance, the doctor of a village is removed, its school with a small number of pupils is closed. This compels the children to go to the school of another, larger community. It compels the patients to go to see the doctor in the neighboring village. Very often they cease the supply of electricity and other utilities, they cut the supply of the shops. So the position of the inhabitants becomes more and more hopeless. OCTOBER 23 — HUNGARY'S NATIONAL HOLIDAY With tears of remembrance and of hope hundredthousands bade farewell to communist rule on October 23 when following the noon bells Mátyás Szűrős interim state president declared from the balcony of the parliament building that the form of government and the name shall be the Republic of Hungary. October 23 will be declared a national holiday by a referendum at a later date the Hungarian people consider it already as such, a day of peacemaking and reconciliation.
