A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 13. (Szeged, 2010)
ORBÁN Imre: „Gyülekezetünk egy rendes kis Ekléziává formáltassék".A makói evangélikus leányegyház megalakulása és működésének első évei
IMRE ORBÁN THE FORMATION AND FIRST YEARS OF THE LUTHERAN FILIAL COMMUNITY OF MAKÓ (PART 1.) Teachings of Luther spread in Makó in the 1530-1540s. A part of the local population kept its Roman Catholic faith. Lutherans of the town joined Calvinism in the synod held in 1567 in Debrecen. As a result of this conversion there were no Lutheran dwellers in the town in the 17 t h century. The new Lutheran community of Makó is now based on the Slovak Lutheran settlers migrated to the Great Plain during the 18 t h century. First records concerning this new community are found from the last two decades of the 18 t h century. The community consisted of around 40-50 people at that time. At the formation of the filial community in 1810 there were 97 Lutheran men and boys in Makó. Together with their female counterparts the Lutheran population constituted a slightly more than 1% of the total population of the town. The community joined the Slovak Lutheran Parish of Nagylak in the autumn of 1812. The first liturgy was held at 8 o'clock on 1 November 1812. The first assembly of the community was held on the afternoon of the same day and was led by Pastor János Keblovszky. Keblovszky promised to come to Makó on Holy Thursday and on the second Sunday of Advent providing the Holy Communion for the community. The language of the liturgy was Hungarian. Considering the Slovak and German speaking members of the community, the Holy Communion was provided in Slovak on Holy Thursday, respectively in German in Advent. There were more non-Hungarian members of the local Lutheran community than in other religious communities of the town. Most of the Lutherans were craftsmen. Non-noble intellectuals and poor nobles were overrepresented among the Lutherans, whereas smallholders and villains were underrepresented. As a result of migration the average age of the community was less than that of the Calvinist or Roman Catholic communities of the town. The sex ratio was 122 men to 100 women. As a result of this, mixed marriage was widespread, resulting in assimilation. Surprisingly the same sex ratio stayed for generations, probably due to genetic reasons. This stabilized male predomination in the community. 20
