Calvin Synod Herald, 1974 (74. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1974-03-01 / 3. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 3 I HAVE DEFEATED THE WORLD “Be brave! I have defeated the world.” John 16:33 How many men in the history of the world have tried to make this statement? Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Mussolini, and Hitler, just to name a few, and yet, none of them have ever accomplished their task. Many wars have been waged and many lives lost because of this quest that man has for absolute power over all, and in the end, they all met defeat. No matter how hard they tried, they never did succeed. One man, a carpenter by trade, was able to defeat the world, by himself, without endangering the lives of others, and by doing so, made possible the gift of eternal life. This one man was Jesus Christ, the son of God, who came to earth to live as man, to suffer with the struggles that life presents us with each day. And yet he never was bothered by thoughts of where his food or clothing were going to come from or how he was going to pay his taxes. Instead he spent his life trying to prove to the people that they are loved by someone who will provide for all their needs, if they only believe in Him. But because Jesus did not make war or cause any one to lose their life for HIS cause, he was refused and rejected by those whom he loved so dearly. His ideas and teachings were so resented by his peers that they finally nailed Him to the cross. And yet with His death, Jesus, at last had defeated the world and all the evils that the world has to offer. He not only defeated the world but also death and in doing so made it possible for us to directly deal with God, and to experience all the joys and rewards that believing has to offer. With His death, we no longer have to fear worldly Kings or Foreign Powers who try to conquer the material world. For the world of life and death has already been conquered by a man who loves us and who gave up his own life that we might have life everlasting. Melody Toth MRS. MARGARET BERTALAN, wife of the Rev. Imre Bertalan, was appointed to fill the vacancy in the New Brunswick City Council. The installation took place on March 6th at 10 A.M. in City Hall. Mrs. Bertalan’s family, the leaders of the city and of the Hungarian community, as well as members of the local congregation and friends were on hand to witness the installation and extend their best wishes. Our congratulations to the City of New Brunswick on selecting her. Our best wishes and congratulations to the new Council Woman. Beginnings of the Hungarian Bible Translation János Szilveszter in 1541 wrote in the introduction to his New Testament translation into Hungarian the following: “He who spoke to you in the olden days in Hebrew, Greek and Latin now finally speaks to you in Hungarian.” Let us now examine the vestiges of the Hungarian Bible translations. The search for early vestiges of the Hungarian nation lead us to many interesting discoveries — Avar- Hungarian invasion of the Carpathian Basin. Historical and linguistic research will lead us to more surprising facts in the future. Along with our historical research we study the history of our own early Christianity. Péter Bod1 and Lampe-Pál Ember of Debrecen2 state that according to their sources, the apostles Andrew, Philip and Thomas proclaimed the Gospel among the Schytians3 — “ancestors” of the Hungarians on the northern shores of the Black Sea.4 It is well known that Cyrill, the apostle of the Slavs appeared sooner among the Hungarians than among the Slavs.5 He wrote a polemic paper against the so-called “Turkish religion.” Through Bvzantine-Hungarian connections some tribal chiefs were baptized, for example, Bulcsu was baptized in Byzantium having the Emperor himself for a sponsor.6 One of the relics of the settling of the Carpathian Basin is the Bezdéd pouch engraved with a cross. Christianity, although not wide spread among the Hungarians was not unknown to them. In the early beginnings, the Hungarians were influenced by the Byzantine Church. It was King Stephen I who established Roman Christianity. The religious orders with their newly recruited Hungarian monks and nuns, set out to convert the Hungarians to Christianity but the people leaned heavily upon thenown religion. These monasteries became the nuclei of missionary zeal, beginnings of Hungarian Christian literature, as well as the birthplaces of Hungarian Bible translations. We can divide the Hungarian Bible translation into two sections. In the first section we will deal with the little known sources, while in the second section we will refer to well known literature. I. Early Vestiges For the early beginnings of the Hungarian Bible translation, we refer to the book of Jenő M. Fehér “The Inquisition in Hungary in the Middle Ages.” In the sixth chapter of this book, he writes about the Kassa Codex.7 The following points are from his book. The first Hungarian text found is the “Halotti beszéd — Funeral Sermon” (1192-95), the second is
