Itt-Ott, 1992 (25. évfolyam, 1/119-3/121. szám)

1992 / 2. (120.) szám

the Unitarian Church has continued to exist. After Transylvania became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its Catholic dynasty backed a counterreformation that early in the 18th century took over all Unitarian properties, including their publishing house and school in Kolozsvár, and handed them over to the Catholics. To this very day, that Unitarian church building in Kolozsvár has never been returned and remains a citadel of Catholicism. For nearly a century after that seizure, Unitarians met in private houses and essentially the Unitarian religion was wiped out in the cities and thereafter stayed alive and was preserved in the Unitarian villages. In the last century, contacts between Unitarians in Great Britain and the United States were set up with Transylvania. Throughout most of this century, the church has had to exist under persecution by the Romanians, except for about 10% of the movement which exists in Hungary itself. The trials in recent decades under the Communist regime have been particularly harsh. Now Romania is in new chaos; the churches have been cut loose from state aid, so that the clergy receive no pay. Village life is threatened, inflation is out of hand, the situation is near crisis, and our Unitarian brothers and sisters subsist often near starvation.

The survival of the Unitarian cause in Transylvania is truly a remarkable story of faith, perseverance, and dedication to a free religion. We are privileged to be able to play a small part in continuing this movement through our support of our sister church in Racos, Romania. One of our members, Hillary Howarth, will be in Romania soon and will visit this church to deliver a banner to be made by members of this church and to hand carry in safety some particularly needed fiscal support. We should remember that an American dollar has in Romania a fantastic purchasing power of perhaps 25 to 1 despite the rampant inflation. The definitive historian of Unitarianism, Earl Morse Wilbur, has written:

[In Transylvania] the Unitarian religion has, in the face of cruel and almost perpetual oppressions and persecutions, maintained an unbroken and heroic existence during... four centuries.

If, of a moment, we were to be lifted up and set down amid the Unitarians of our sibling church in Racos, we would probably first be struck by the differences. We would be among a simple, agricultural, village people; the form of the service would be simple, but in Christian idiom; we might even be a bit shocked to discover that the Unitarian church has a bishop. Such surface differences might cause us to overlook more fundamental realities, such as that these people have fought for human freedom and public education undominated by religion; they have evolved in their religious ideas over the centuries; they have carried century after century a faith in human nature against doctrinaire religions which emphasize human corruption and the meaninglessness of our human effort upon this earth. From Francis David on, our co-religionists have advocated religious toleration for all groups, not just for themselves. In the deep, key, fundamental matters of a free religious faith, we would recognize in Transylvanian Unitarians the same spirit and dedication, and affirmation of life.

Francis David, well over 400 years ago, was looking to the future when he wrote:

[We] will not cry over the century’s misery... So great is the power of the soul that it will triumph, even if the whole world is in rage or opposed to it.

In this community of memory and hope we honor in memory those prophets who in the midst of persecution and oppression declared a religion of oneness; and we honor in hope all those who keep alive a religion dedicated to the affirmation of the human spirit and reverence for life. □

Meghívó a Kolozsvári Református Kollégiumba

Ha meglátogattok, a kapun lábújjhegyen lépjetek be, és némuljatok el a folyosón végig.

Itt minket is csak fogcsikorgatva tűrnek.

Ha felkerestek,

mi tiszta szívvel fogadunk,

csak egy kissé nehéz lesz leülnötök:

a mi osztályunkba raknak minden törött széket,

és velünk fizettetik a kárt.

Ha időztök egy keveset nálunk, ne maradjatok sötétedésig: ilyenkor kövek zúzzák be az ablakot, s félő, hogy eltalálnak.

Ha elkísértek

a zsúfolt buszon hazafelé a város széléről, ahova száműztek, mert a Farkas utcában túl sok a magyar szó:

a gúnyos megjegyzésekre választ ne pazaroljatok. Úgysem értenék...

Ha eljöttök velünk szállásunkig a másik városvégre, átbotladoztok a szeméthalmokon, és anélkül, hogy megvertek volna, sikerül eljutnotok a szobánkig — akkor már beszélgethetünk.

Ha majd itt lesztek, megértitek, hogy otthontalanságban hajlékot, védő várat, erős bástyát: az ősi iskolát lakatra záró gyűlölködéssel szemben védő fegyvert: zsoltárt éneklő hajthatatlanságot ezen az áron bőven ad Urunk.

Péter Miklós, tanár

38 ITT-OTT 25. évf. (1992), 2. (120.) szám