Magyar News, 1991. szeptember-1992. augusztus (2. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1991-09-01 / 1. szám

Rev. Dr. Alexander Havadtoy

MEETING MY LISTENERS I HAD NEVER KNOWN

For the past twenty-five years, at least once a month, I would sit behind the microphone at the New Y ork studio of Radio Free Europe and broadcast a sermon or a lecture. There was no one else in the room, except the voice engineer behind the glass wall separating the studio. I would often wonder: Who is going to listen to my voice ? Will there be people who want to hear a church service or listen to a lecture? From time to time, I would be told by officials who financed the Radio that I had one million listeners. It was almost unbelievable to me. When I looked at my small Hungarian congregation, it was difficult to imagine one million people listening to my voice.

And now, after forty-three years, I had the privilege of returning to Hungary and Transylvania this summer. Almost everybody I met informed me that they had listened to me faithfully on the radio. Many people would even quote a certain sermon or story which I had delivered. Yes, the officials of Radio Free Europe were right. Not only one but several million people were listening to the broadcasts. It was therefore not surprising that so many people wanted to see the “voice” which they had heard throughout the years.

They even said many heartwarming things, such as: “If it were not for your stand and courageous sermons, many more clergymen would have been incarcerated, and many more churches would have been closed. The Communists sensed that America stands behind your words.” Such expressions were extremely humbling. I knew that it wasn’t my word that made the impact I was a mere instrument in the hand of God.

This explains the huge crowds that came out to the II World Reformed Conference. From Transylvania alone over 30,000 people came to the gatherings. Even from Carpatho-Ukraine, occupied by Russia, over 1,347 people were in attendance. I had the privilege to preach the Word of God at the Budapest stadium to about 40,000 people. What a contrast to the situation that existed during the Communist era. In those days my name was taboo. It could not appear in print, it could not be mentioned on'radio or television. Now, I was seated next to the President of the Hungarian Republic, and the Primate of the Roman Catholic church, who also honored us with his presence.

Our visit to Transylvania was no less memorable. Even more people knew me there, since I was born in that part of the country. When we stepped over the border between Hungary and Romania, the Romanian Radio announced my arrival, not once, but several times. This filled us with a certain uneasiness which proved to be unfounded. The reception was extremely cordial. The officials at the border let us pass through without even looking at our luggage. We visited seven cities, among them Kolozsvár, Marosvasarhely, Sepsiszentgyorgy, Kovaszna, Gyergyoszentmiklos. Again I was asked to conduct services and give lectures in everyone of them. Whether the service was held on a Sunday or a weekday, in the morning or in the evening, the churches were always filled to capacity. We sensed the intensive spiritual life of the people. There we could see also the importance of the churches not only in the spiritual but also in the national context.

One of our most memorable visits was to my home town, Kovaszna. I was invited to preach there one Sunday morning. It was a rainy day. It poured all night, and with the breaking of the day the rain would even intensify. We were convinced that if 20 people would show up on such a rainy day, we would have a crowd. To our great surprise, by the time we got to the service, the

2,000 seating capacity church was filled. There was standing room only under the balconies. It was a wonderful feeling to conduct the service from the very pulpit from where my father preached the Word for more than 47 years. And the people still remembered me, and called me by my childhood nickname. For many of them, I was still my father’s little boy.

While the economy is in shambles, the churches are flourishing in Transylvania. It is not unusual to see confirmation classes with 200 young people, dressed in the colorful folk costumes of their area. Their most burning issue remains the fate of the church schools. The Romanian authorities still refuse to return the church schools and colleges that were built with the pennies of the parishioners already during the XVI Century Reformation. They are also refusing to re-open the Hungarian language Bolyai University. Without the church schools, the very being of the 2.5 million Hungarian population of Transylvania is jeopardized.

In several communities Hungarian language State Schools were permitted to open last year. While I was there, the authorities ordered in many of them the opening of one strictly Romanian class this September. Once the camel’s nose enters the tent, the Hungarian State Schools are doomed. This is the reason that the churches are demanding the return of their own school buildings, for they want to be the masters of their own educational system.

In Hungary the economic climate has changed for the better. American and Western businessmen find many opportunities for investments. Budapest is filled with Western investors eager to start new enterprises in a country, where the people are hard-working, diligent and reliable, and foreign capital is heartily welcome. The agricultural sector is particularly productive. Hungary has a sizable agricultural over production which it cannot sell. It

would be very advantageous if the Western credits to help Russia purchase food would be structured, at least partly, through Hungary. Thus they could deliver to the starving Russians the Hungarian agricultural surpluses.

There is much more problem with the sheer physical and spiritual life of the nation. During the foreign occupation, 4.5 million abortions were performed, a loss that a small nation of 10 million people will not be able to remedy in the near future. In spite of the large number of Transylvanians who migrate to Hungary, the nation loses

17,000 people every single year. The childbearing mothers are simply missing, due to the abortion laws of the past45 years.

There are serious problems in the spiritual realm also. A whole generation grew up without any religious education. The stories of the Bible, the church services and traditions are completely foreign to them. Since there Christian identity is shaky, so is also their national identity, Our true literature, history, folk culture remain unknown to the majority of the people. Their willingness to assume responsibility for the future well-being of the nation remains therefore scanty.

However, when we looked at the large number of children who fill the church pews and schools, when we looked at the beautiful young faces who entered the newly re-opened Church High Schools and Colleges, our confidence in the nation’s future was restored. By the grace of the Almighty, we can and will become once again a strong and healthy people in the heart of Europe.

ST. EMERY IN WARSAW

And what a scene it was. You entered the Warsaw Park in Ansonia seeing the hundreds of cars parked leftand right in the vast fields, the air was filled with the sound of music and the maze of voices of chit-chat and singing. Everybody seemed to have a magnificent time. Huge tents scattered around the grounds were offering mouth watering foods. Up on the hill a huge building housed a dance floor, stage, facilities, tables and seating to accommodate 800.

I arrived a bit late for lunch so I headed straight for the tents. It was a confusions, that is in my mind, because the selection of good Hungarian cooking was so big that I had to make decisions. The capacity of a person is limited and you can’t eat everything in sight. Another confusion was during the time finding a table to sit down to. I didn ’ t get far because friends from near and far stopped me for a short hello. And there was Father Németh. As usual he walks through the barricades of tables and chairs to greet everybody. I’m sure he doesn’t miss anybody. Shaking the hands and patting the shoulders he looks like a politician running for office. Well if he would, he would be my candidate.

If you missed this event, you better sharpen your pencil to mark it down on your next year’s calendar.