Magyar Egyház, 1991 (70. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1991-11-01 / 6. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11. oldal ROMANIAN ORTHODOX LEADERS CALLS FOR BREAK IN RELATIONS WITH THE VATICAN The head of the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC), Patriarch Teoctist, has called on all Orthodox churches in Romania to break off relations with the Vatican ‘until Pope John Paul II shows a change of attitude towards proselytism and Uniatism’, according to a report from the UK-based Keston News Service (KNS). The report says Teoctist has been enraged by John Paul’s ‘propagation of Catholicism to the detriment of Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe’. The report says the Pope offended Romanian Orthodoxy through the comments he allegedly made in March this year while receiving Romanian Catholic Bishops in Rome. The Pope is reported to have said Romanians had been Cotholics until the Middle Ages, when they were converted to Orthodoxy by the Bulgarians. The KNS report says that Romanian historians and theologians maintain that the Romanian Church has always belonged to Eastern Christianity. The Pope is also reported to have said the conversion of some Romanians to Catholicism is their way of finding unity with their Latin roots, prompting an official of the ROC to charge that the Easern-rite Catholics are proselytising among Orthodox Romanians ‘using bribes and violence’ and that the Pope ‘is ultimately responsible’. The Romanian Eastern-rite Catholic Church was founded in 1700, when part of the Romanian Orthodox Church converted to Catholicism. The new church retained all the rites and customs of the Orthodox Church, but recognized tht Pope as the head of the church. In 1948, the Eastern-rite Catholic Church was forcibly merged with the Orthodox Church, resulting in its church buildings and other property being handed over to the Orthodox Church. Since being re-legalized, says the report, the Eastern-rite Catholic Church has regained three out of 2000 churches it owned before 1948. [KNS] III. WORLD CONGRESS OF HUNGARIANS IN 1992 The Reverend Attila Komlós, General Secretary of the Hungarian World Federation, visited several Hungarian Reformed congregations in America during the month of April. Among the visited groups was the General Assembly of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America and our Allen Park Church. In his addresses the Rev. Komlós outlined the works and plans of the newly transformed Hungarian World Federation. He directed the attention of his audience to the reason of the Federation’s existence which is now working as an independent organization for every Hungarian in the world. From Alma-Ata to Budapest, from Brassó to Detroit. With the downfall of communism the borders of the East Central European countries opened up but the real work of building up mutual relations between them and their people in the West is just beginning. The III. World Congress of Hungarians will work for this purpose. It will be held in August 1992 in Budapest after an involuntary break of 53 years. NEWS FROM OUR CONGREGATIONS — — EGYHÁZI HÍREK — WE WISH YOU ALL A BLESSED CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SEASON and a PEACEFUL, HAPPY NEW YEAR! EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: MAGYAR EGYHÁZ ÁLDOTT KARÁCSONYI ÜNNEPEKET ÉS BÉKÉS BOLDOG ÚJ ESZTENDŐT KÍVÁN OLVASÓINKNAK A LAP SZERKESZTŐSÉGE CARTERET, NJ Lelkipásztor: Nt. Tóth Péter 175 Pershing Avenue, Carteret, NJ 07008 Telefon: (201) 541-5051 A nyár második felében a gyülekezet lelkésze Magyarországra és Erdélybe látogatott. Ez időszak alatt vendéglelkészeink voltak: Pálfi József teológiai hallgató Kolozsvárról, dr. Vitéz Ferenc Perth Amboyból és dr. Harsányi András püspökünk. Mivel orgonistánk még április elején lemondott, így istentiszteleteink kántori szolgálatának ellátása nehézségeket okozott, de hála Egry Lászlóné testvérünknek, fennakadások nem voltak. Vendégorgonistáink voltak továbbá: Pálfi Józsefné Erdélyből, Borbás Linda New Brunswickról. Gyülekezetünk szeptember során képviseltette magát a ligonieri Presbiteri Konferencián, ahol főgondnokunk, az egyházunkat 30 éve szolgáló Leonard Sendelsky, a Magyar Református Világszövetség világi delegátusa feladatát kapta. Szeptemberben még két említésre méltó esemény történt. Az egyik a cartereti Nemzetiségi Fesztivál, ahol egyházunk jelen volt a magyar konyha jellegzetességeivel és a jellemző