Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1961-03-01 / 3. szám

Now, not all Reformed ministers were happy about the canons promulgated by this Synod of 1791. Thus when the King put his signature to the findings of the 1821-1822 Conventus, which included the carrying into effect of certain of these same canons, the result was that friction arose in certain areas of the country where other procedure than that laid down in the canons was still customarily followed. To meet the situation the King called together a General Conventus, composed of representatives from the four Church Districts. Then this General Conventus in its turn ratified the canons of 1791, leaving out those which it saw were now no longer capable of being put into execution.

During this period before 1848 there were other tensions as well within the life of the Reformed Church of Hungary, resulting from the manner in which the 1791 canons were framed. We find that in some places the local landlord, for example, would seize control of a Kirk Session for his own ends. Or again, with the rise of the new class of small landed-proprietors, we discover the latter in turn jockeying for office in church courts; and then the peasantry itself was finding that it was at a disadvantage in comparison with the new middle-class in the cities, who, by 1840, were entering the Kirk Session by popular vote. Of course, the 1848 revolution gave such a movement towards democratic church government still greater directives.

Proiestant Junior College at Rimaszombal

(To be continued)