Sárospataki Füzetek 21. (2017)

2017 / 2. szám - ARTICLES-STUDIEN - INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE SINCE THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION-INTERKULTURELLER DIALOG SEIT DER REFORMATION - Nagy Károly Zsolt: Leaving a Mark: The calvinist landscapes of remembrance

Károly Zsolt Nagy

Chair of Lajos Kossuth in the Calvinist Great Church of Debrecen, which was set up in a central position within the church, next to the Lord’s table, for decades, and which was regarded by the homepage of the congregation for a long time as one of the most important relics of the church.* 2 Through its placement — the Lord’s table is the liturgical center of the Calvinist church, in this case also separated by a bar, which accentuates the sacral nature of the space - and, via its associations, the terms used for referencing it, it is clearly indicated that this object is in some way the location of the transcendent’s manifestation. On the other hand, the method of the manifestation is revealed by the common remembrance; after all, this is the chair, in which Kossuth, “the Moses of the Hungarians” leading the Hungarian nations towards the “promised land” of freedom and independence, was sitting at the time of announcing the dethronement of the House of Habsburg. I have already discussed the Calvinist church as a sacral place of remembrance3 elsewhere; now I strive to shortly present how, according to my hypothesis, some peculiarities of the utilization of space in the Calvinist church may be fit into such an interpretative framework.

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness.

It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed Gods favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: ‘“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?” (Acts 7:44-50)4

This quoted text is in the Bible, more specifically in the book of the New Testament written on the Acts of the Apostles. Its narrower context is that it is the final speech of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, which he presented to the so called Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious (and political) leaders, in his own defense. Stephen was put to trial for blasphemy. The (false) witnesses said “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. [...] against this holy place and

and Nora (Pierre Nora: Emlékezet és történelem között: A helyek problematikája, Múlt és jövő, 2003/4, 2-16.) use it.

2 At the moment the armchair is located in one of the exhibition spaces set up within the church, and the new version of the website avoids this wording.

3 Károly Zsolt Nagy: „Mely igen szerelmetesek a te hajlékaid...”, A református templom, mint a felekezeti azonosságtudat reprezentációja, Ethno-Lore: a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Néprajzi Kutatóintézetének Évkönyve 32,2015,293-330.

4 Resource for the translation of Bible quotations: New International Version. Biblica, 2011. BibleGateway.com, www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-lnternational-Version-NIV-Bi- ble/#booklist.

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