Magyar Egyház, 1997 (76. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1997 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11. oldal REV. GABOR DOKUS, SR. A PIONEER OF HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCHES IN AMERICA This year a conference will be held in memory of Rev. Gabor Dokus, Sr. in Northern Hungary, in Fony, where he was the village schoolmaster. The local Reformed church and its pastor István Bojtor are the organizers of the conference being planned for May 23-25. Our church members and leaders are encouraged to join this event. Further informations may be secured from Rev. Dr. Theodore S. Horvath, a grandson of Rev. Dokus, at 1353 Valley Forge Road, Wayne, PA 19087. In addition the conference will focus on the reciprocal relationship between our Reformed churches in Hungary and in America. On the closing day a concert of Hungarian music will be held, following by a service in memory of Rev. Dokus, Sr. and the dedication of his memorial and the opening of the Dokus exhibition. In 1994, we celebrated the first hundred years of the Hungarian Reformed Church of Trenton. This occasion brought the first Thanksgiving that started our churches’ centennials. Last year the leaders of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America joined together with us to celebrate their first hundred years of helping and supporting our local churches. We know that without their existence our congregations could not build so many churches, schools and auditoriums for the glory of God. This year let us remember Rev. Gabor Dokus Sr. who when our Lord called him more than hundred years ago, he came here to serve his fellow Hungarians in a strange country called United States of America. The Reverend Gabor Dokus Sr. was born in Kovácsvágás Hungary on September 4, 1861, the son of Andrew (András) and Elizabeth (Erzsébet) Dokus. He was a graduate of the College Sárospatak and became the village schoolmaster in Fony. In Fony he married Barbara (Borbala) Kvancz on January 23, 1888. While in Fony three sons were born to the Dokus family: Gabriel Jr. (ifj. Gabor), Stephen (István) and Julius (Gyula) In 1893 Rev. Dokus was called to be the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in South Norwalk, Connecticut in the United States of America. Three more children were born to the Dokus family in South Norwalk: Bertha (Boriska), Alexander (Sándor ) and Elizabeth (Erzsébet). Two of the sons Gabriel Jr. and Alexander became Hungarian Reformed ministers. Stephen became City Comptroller of the City of Norwalk, Connecticut and Julius served as a legal investigator in New York City. The two daughters both married Hungarian Reformed ministers: Bertha married the Rev. Samuel Horvath, who came to the United States from Tarcal, Hungary in 1903, and Elizabeth married the Rev. Charles (Karoly) Bogár, who came from Ujfeherto, Hungary to the United States in 1922. All four sons and the two daughters and their spouses are now deceased. When Rev. Dokus arrived in the United States in 1893 to begin his pastorate of the South Norwalk Church, he was asked at the same time to serve as pastor of the First Hungarian Reformed Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, until a full-time pastor was secured for that church two years later. He was also asked to render assistance to Hungarian Reformed communities, ranging from Trenton, New Jersey to Sydney, Nova Scotia, in Canada, a distance of 1,000 miles, in their efforts to establish Hungarian Reformed Churches. Within the first 15 years after his arrival 12 Hungarian Reformed Churches were established in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Rev. Dokus was also one of the founders of the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America (Amerikai Magyar Református Egyesület) in 1896. Rev. Gabriel Dokus, Sr. served the South Norwalk Hungarian Reformed Church with great distinction for 39 years until his retirement in 1932. Mrs. Dokus died on March 16, 1932, and Rev. Dokus died on June 6, 1936. THE HUNGARIAN VERSION OF THE STUTTGART ANNOTATED BIBLE HAS BEEN PUBLISHED. At the commission of the Hungarian Bible Society, the annotated Bible was published by the Kálvin Janos Publishing House of the Reformed Church of Hungary. Since the Vizsoly Bible of Gaspar Karoli this has been the first annotated Protestant Bible in Hungary. The press conference and introduction held on November 28 in the auditorium of the publishing house was attended by Dr. Sigfried Meurer, minister, secretary general of the German Bible Society as well as by Wim van Galen, deputy secretary general of the Dutch Bible Society. Said Kalman Tarr, Reformed minister, secretary general of the Hungarian Bible Society: “The translating works of the Hungarian version started in May, 1993, with the cpntributions of fifteen translators, and they were completed in December 31, 1994. After supervising and editing the text was forwarded to the printer in the autumn of 1995. The annotated Bible was published on 1600 pages complemented with maps and explanations, at 2,500 forints a volume.
