Magyar Egyház, 1991 (70. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1991-09-01 / 5. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7. oldal TWO GREAT DATES OF THE REFORMATION: 1517 AND 1535 October 31, 1517 is being commemorated by all branches of Protestantism as the begining of the established separation of a great number of Christians from the Roman Church and the Pope. It actually began with the act of a German Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, by preparing a set of 95 theses about the true faith and nailing them on the door of the borough-chapel in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. The theses denounced a number of abuses in the church and made a plea to the Pope to condemn and to correct them. The date was chosen so the faithful coming to church next day, November 1, the feast of All Saints should read them. Luther did not attack the Church or the Pope only the ungodly abuses rampant in the Church; he wanted them to be correced by the Pope. But who was a simple monk no matter how brilliant a theologian to tell the Pope what to do especially when the abuses were tacitly approved by an archbishop in Germany and by the Pope himself, and particularly when the abuses brought in hard currency for both? Hard measures were swiftly taken to silence Luther. First he was reasoned to retract, then ordered to recant, in succession he was threatened, persecuted, and at last excommunicated. Luther, all through, remained unshaken; his famous words before the Emperor were: ‘Here I stand, otherwise I cannot do.’ He had powerful supporters, too; among them the strongest German prince-elector, Frederick the Wise of Saxony. The final breach between the Church of Rome and Luther and his faithful followers high and low resulted in the established church of the Augustan confession. Churches professing Luther’s interpretation and teaching of the Christian faith are called Lutheran, in other languages preferably Evangelical (e.g. in German ‘Evangelisch,’ in Hungarian ‘evangélikus,’ etc.). The Churches in Northern Europe all adopted Lutheranism which also became the dominant persuasion in a number of German states; it gained ground in Hungary right after Luther’s Wittenberg proclamation but due to the ruthless Counterreformation became a minority Church. A special situation developped in Switzerland. Reformation in the German speaking cantons was the work of Ulrich Zwingli. As a minister in Zürich he attacked in his sermons such teachings of the Roman Church as Purgatory and the Invocation of Saints and in 1522 in his treatise ‘Architeles’ argued for the liberation of the faithful from the rule of bishops and of the Pope. Zwingli’s reformatory work, however, was not under the influence of Luther. The development of the Reformation in the Frenchspeaking canton of Geneva was different. Geneva was an episcopal see and politically attached to the duchy of Savoy. When the Duke of Savoy attempted to fully unite Geneva with Savoy the city with the assistance of Bern and Fribourg managed to gain its liberty and in 1531 joined the Swiss Confederation. The fight for freedom was religiously motivated. Its spiritual leader was the French-born William Farel together with co-workers Anton Fromment and Peter Viret. In 1535 Catholicism was finished off in Geneva but not before bitter disputations held between the Roman Catholic bishop’s forces and those of the “preachers.” The people, at last, stood at the side of the Reformers and William Farel was virtually carried by the people to the Cathedral of St. Pierre where he preached the first Reformed sermon. This was on August 8, 1535 and the city council ordered two days later the suspension of the Roman Mass. On a large panel in the inside wall I saw commemorated the 300th anniversary of this event “when Geneva turned to the Reformed faith by the four devoted outlanders Farel, Fromment, Viret and Calvin — and by the grace of God.” The Genevese count the beginning of the Reformation from this date. It is also stated that the whole movement had been started in 1517. John Calvin, French by birth, became at the insistence of Farel the leader of the Reformation in Geneva. Susequently on his theological interpretation of the Christian faith evolved what is called Calvinism. His monumental work “Institutes of the Christian Religion” (1536, Hungarian translation appeared in 1624) is the systematic interpretation of the biblical faith and practice. Calvin’s teachings soon gained ground in many Western and Central countries of Europe, among them also in Hungary. Although heavily suppressed by the Counterreformation the Reformed Church in Hungary (and in the succession states) is a 3.5 million minority Church of Reformed Christians. Hungarian Reformed Churches in America and Canada are not strong numerically yet faithful to their Reformed heritage. Doctrinally they strictly adhere to the Heidelberg Catechism and to the Second Helvetic Confession (the latter subscribed by the Synod of Debrecen in 1567). Our Hungarian Reformed, Church in, America is a constituent and independent member of the World A lliance of Reformed Churches which links together in fellowship 70 million Reformed Christians of the Calvinist tradition in 84 countries of this world. TO THE GLORY OF GOD! Andrew Harsanyi "IF NECESSITY IS LAID UPON US TO PREACH THAT GOD RECONCILES, THEN WE CANNOT REST CONTENT WITH OUR SCANDALOUS DIVISIONS .. . I ASK THAT WE SET ABOVE OUR DIVISION THE URGENCY OF WITNESSING . . . THAT THERE IS A GOD WHO CARES AND LOVES ALL PEOPLE." The Archbishop of Canterbury, George L. Carey, at his enthronement on April 19, 1991. The Archbishop of Canterbury is head of all the world’s Anglican-Episcopal communions. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Shouldn’t we answering this call by first getting very busy to achieve unity between our Hungarian Reformed ecclesiastical bodies in America?
