Reformátusok Lapja, 1969 (69. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-08-01 / 8-9. szám
12 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Our Background: Reformed Cliurcli in Hungary In the Trianon Peace Treaty of June 4, 1920, the thousand year old Hungary was dismembered. Hungary was originally 125,600 square miles, hut it was reduced to 35,654 square miles, and out of 20 million inhabitants only 7^ million remained. Presently the population of Hungary is about 10 million, but close to 3 million Hungarians live outside the border of Hungary, more than one million live in eastern Transylvania, and another million are dispersed throughout the world. About 21% of the Hungarians belong to the Reformed Church. ☆ Before World War 1 according to the data of the general census of 1910, amongst the whole population of 18,264,533 there were 9,010,305 (51%) Roman Catholics, 2,603,381 Reformed, 1,306,384 Lutherans, 74,275 Unitarians and 17,066 belonging to the smaller Protestant Churches and sects. The whole of the Protestant inhabitants was 4,001,106. The 2,603,381 “souls” — members and adherents — of the Reformed Church were distributed over 1,997 “mother” and 76 missionary congregations, a total of 2,073. There were moreover 94 united, 282 “daughter” congregations, (filiae) ; 333 preaching stations and 4,408 diasporas. There were 2,354 church buildings, 58 meeting places; the number of fulltime and missionary ministers was 2,060; there was 48 substitute ministers, 32 minister teachers, 358 assistants, and 121 organists (not counting those who were teachers in the meantime). There were 5 theological seminaries, with 60 professors and lecturers, 213 students. We had in Debrecen an Arts College with 9 professors and lecturers and 27 students (now the Faculty of Arts in the University of Debrecen) ; 4 colleges of law with 36 professors and lecturers and 308 students; 3 teachers’ colleges for men with 41 members of the staffs and 355 pupils, and 4 colleges for ladies (the fifth in Kecskemét was opened in 1918) with 60 members of the staffs and 519 pupils; one training school for nursery school teachers; 28 secondary schools (gymnasia) with 578 staff members and 9,215 pupils; 4 city schools (polgári) for girls with 17 teachers and 428 pupils (some others were opened during World War I). There was a small vocational school for women in Marosvásárhely, Transylvania, with 9 pupils and lastly a charity school in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, with 69 pupils. The whole number of pupils was 11,915 — 4,124 out of these not being Reformed. A total of 1,986 were staying in boarding schools and 2,962 were taking the common meals (con- victus). There were elementary schools in 1,665 congregations with 2,866 regular teachers, and the number of pupils in the day schools was 194,041 and 52,303 in the continuation schools. Besides the pupils of the Reformed Church there were 16,171 pupils belonging to other denominations. The Reformed Church of Hungary, which according to the census of 1920 had 1,670,144 members and adherents, had 1,012 “mother” congregations. On January 1, 1927, there were 1,134 organized ministerial posts out of which 1,026 were actually filled with full-time ministers; besides, there were 36 religious instructors and 32 ministers employed in various institutions, and organists; 40 posts were vacant. During the 1925-26 school year in the 4 theological seminaries there were 22 chairs for regular professors and 287 students. In the academy of law there were 8 chairs, but only 6 acting professors and 540 students enrolled. In the 18 gymnasia there were 376 staff members and 7,443 pupils, 4,611 out of which were Reformed; in the 3 ladies’ gymnasia there were 70 staff members and 1,342 pupils, 780 out of which were Reformed. In the two teachers’ colleges for men and three colleges for women there were 76 members of the staffs and 607 pupils out of which 545 were Reformed. In the 12 city schools, both for boys and girls, there were 118 teachers and 2,245 pupils out of which 1,179 were Reformed. The number of elementary schools with one teacher was 593, with two teachers 260, with three teachers 103, with four teachers 59, with five teachers 22, with six teachers 11, and with more teachers 123. Altogether in these schools were 2,374 full-time teachers and 97,068 pupils in the day- schools, and 35,427 in the continuation schools.” (Révész: Hungarian Protestanism.) ☆ After World II, the Reformed Church in Hungary lost all her schools except the Debrecen gymnasium, üf her five Seminaries the Pápa and Sárospatak Seminaries were closed, the Seminaries in Debrecen and Budapest still exist, and the Kolozsvár Seminary now is located in Romania. Church at Vizsoly where the first complete Hungarian Bible was printed in 1590.
