Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-01-01 / 1. szám
8 TESTVÉRISÉG accepted the teaching of the Gospel. Following the national catastrophe at Mohács in 1526 when the forces of Sultan Suleiman II crushed the Hungarian army, such a thirst for the living God broke forth from the suffering Hungarian soul that nothing could quench it but the pure preaching of the Word of God. The Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism were accepted as the standard of doctrine and norm of faith. It was mainly through these confessions that the Swiss reformation cast its spell over the Hungarian soul and shaped it through the centuries. The faith produced martyrs, galley slaves during the time of persecution; created national heroes such as Bocskai and Bethlen. Together with the Evangelical Lutheran brethren it brought forth prominent writers as Arany, Petőfi, Jókai and Ady; statesmen as Kossuth and Tisza; scientists as Bolyai; musicians as Bartók and Kodály. The most famous Hungarian preacher, Bishop László Ravasz, is well known among the world’s Protestant leaders. Hungarian Calvinists were instrumental in translating the Bible into the Roumanian language, thus carrying the light of the Gospel further east in Europe. They aided in the reconstruction of the Church of the Czech brethren in Bohemia and Moravia when the Edict of Tolerance was promulgated by Joseph II of Austria in 1781. More than 70 young Hungarian ministers who lacked knowledge of the Czech language, went to Bohemia and Moravia to revive Protestantism which had almost been annihilated there during 160 years of severe persecution. In the Reformed Church in Hungary the congregations form the fundamental basis of the Church’s life and constitution. Members of the congregation elect Elders to the Council or Session. The congregation elects the minister. According to their geographic location several congregations form a Classis or Presbytery. Its dean or moderator is elected by the congregations for a ten-year term. Several classes form a Synod or Diocese headed by a Bishop who is elected by the congregations to a life term of office. In the local congregation the minister and chief-elder, in the classis the dean and the chief-elder of the classis, in the Synod or Diocese the Bishop and chief- elder of the Synod, serving as co-chairmen, alternately preside at meetings in true democratic fashion. Before the First World War the Reformed Church in Hungary was made up of five Synods. These Synods formed the General Synod or Assembly, with representatives elected by local church councils. The Conventus or General Council, a permanent body made up of the bishops, ministers and laymen elected by the Synod, served as the executive branch of the General Synod. The General Council represents the Church in its relations with other denominations and the government. Following the dismemberment of Hungary in 1920 when 72% of the 1000- year-old country was lost, a large section of Hungarian Calvinists was cut off from the mother church. In the years between the Two World Wars this section formed three synods in Czechoslovakia into the Hungarian Reformed Church in Czechoslovakia, two synods in Transylvania, called the Hungarian Reformed Church in Roumania, and one synod in Jugoslavia. Four synods remain in Hungary proper. At the present time there are 127 Hungarian Calvinist or Reformed churches in the United States — 52 congregations are in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, 28 in the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. and 25 in the Free Magyar Reformed Church in America. Three are members of the Reformed Church in America and others are independent congregations. Hungarian Calvinists are well known for their love of singing. Their Hymnal contains all 150 Psalms as the first 150 hymns. The oldest colleges and seminaries at Sárospatak, Papa and Debrecen were founded about 1531. These three million Hungarian Calvinists are fully conscious of their mission and strive to carry out the Lord’s commandment: “Hold fast to what you have so that no one may seize your crown.” Published by the American Hungarian Presbyters’ Ass’n. Compiled by the Rev. László Harangi, Pittsburgh, Pa.
