Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1961-11-01 / 11. szám
8 FRATERNITY with the teaching of Scripture. But it also declared the Church’s readiness to act as a reconciling medium between the various elements in the social structure of the Hungarian people. The Church then made clear its great respon sibility to all such as were facing unprecendentcd difficulties as a result of the great social changes then in process of application. “A revolutionary transformation of society that is so comprehensive and far-reaching” (we read in the pronouncement in question) “cannot take place without great suffering to many. The Church would he faithless to her Lord and to herself if she did not hear witness to God’s compassionate love for all those who, whether through their own fault or the fault of others, are victims of the revolutionary social changes in progress. Our duty is to share their sufferings with them, so that together we may bear the burden of the judgment of the times. If the Church can hut act the part of the Good Samaritan to all such wounded souls, she will not allow herself to he forced into a role in which the divine service of compassion is exchanged for political expediency.” In a document produced in German, written for the eyes of the Christian world outside Hungary’s borders, Bishop Albert Bereczky, the new bishop of the Danube area Church District, emphasized that all the officials of the Church feel their responsibility in this matter. “The Church is bound to express itself in word and deed, if innocent men are suffering, or if instead of the administration of justice all that obtains is revenge” (lie wrote). “There are two ways in which it is possible for the Church, in its prophetic function, to act as Watchman in the biblical sense. The one is by intervening in the situation, the other is by serving in brotherly love all those who have fallen by the way, without uttering one word of remonstrance against the power of the State.” Moreover, the Reformed Church of Hungary lias reached the view it now holds because it is profoundly conscious that, to use the words of
