Magyar Egyház, 1957 (36. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-12-01 / 12. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 17 NEWS HUNGARY -(Budapest) — A fourth-century tomb of a Christian bishop has been unearthed in the small town of Szony, about sixty miles northwest of Budapest. The tomb of the bishop, along with several others, was discovered when a site was being excavated for a new oil refinery. Experts reported finding a silvermounted crozier and various liturgical vessels of bronze and glass in the bishop’s grave. E.P.S., Geneva k k k A Foreign Missions Committee of the Hungarian Lutheran Church, set up at the church’s General Assembly this summer, has announced that it wants to send out its own missionaries, although they would have to work in German or Finnish societies. Before World War II there was a Hungarian Lutheran Missionary Society, and a Hungarian missionary was serving with the Finnish Mission in China. In addition, several theologians were training for missionary service, but could not be sent out because of the outbreak of war. (E.P.S.) k k k More than 5,000 school children in Budapest registered to take Reformed religious instruction in this school year. In the Fall of 1956 this number was only 800. Religious instruction in public schools is available for those children whose parents express the wish that their children should take the course. In the case of older childen it is up to the youngsters themselves to decide. In any case it takes a lot of courage to do so. k k k Enough Scriptures will be produced in Hungary this year to meet the needs of the churches and new communicants, according to Mr. Olivier Béguin, general secretary of the United Bible Societies, just back from a visit to Hungary. He reported that as a result of conversations with government and church leaders, earlier arrangements to produce 100,000 Bibles were also confirmed. (E.P.S.) k k k NEW ZEALAND -(Christchurch) — The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand has authorized its committee on church union to begin work on the doctrinal section of merger proposals involving three other Protestant bodies. The Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches and the Associated Churches and the Associated Churches of Christ have all approved the plan “in principle.” (E.P.S.) * * * EAST GERMANY -The wave of attacks on Evangelical and Catholic churches has increased in political parties and newspapers. Accusations levelled at church leaders have become increasingly derogatory in the last few weeks. A publication of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) has described Christianity as “a corrosive poison in a country which has succeeded in establishing Socialism under the leadership of the working class.” Bishop Moritz Mitzenheim, of Thuringia, has been accused of “misusing the Bible outrageously and degrading it into a primer of instruction for NATO.” (E.P.S.) YUGOSLAVIA -Bishop Ágoston of the Reformed Church in Yugoslavia says the Bible casts new light on problems raised by the use of atomic weapons. He says the Church should condemn all lethal weapons, but questions whether the Bible regards the destruction of the world as deplorable. “Why should God not bring about the end of the world through Man himself?” the Bishop asks, quoting II Peter 3:10: “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Declaring that this would happen irrespective of men’s wishes or protests, Bishop Ágoston said the Church should not rest content with protests, but warn people, in the words of II Peter 3:11-14: “to be in all holy conversation and godliness” and say “we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” E.P.S., Geneva * * * No Bibles have been printed in Yugoslavia since World War II. Earlier, the British and Foreign Bible Society used to import around 50 thousand Bibles annually. Now the Communist government has refused to allow them to be imported and only some 30 Bibles a month can get in by registered mail. Recently, two treight-carloads of the Society’s Bibles were turned back at the Yugoslav frontier, and even British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd failed to persuade the Yugoslavs to let the Bibles through.---------O---------HUNGARIANS FORM YUGOSLAVIA ARRIVE IN “ANNIVERSARY” PLANE On the anniversary of the dramatic arrival in the United States of the first planeload of 60 refugees who fled tyranny and bloodshed in Hungary a year ago, another plane landed November 22 at Idlewild, New York, with a new group of 78. “During the past year they found haven in Yugoslavia,” Roland Elliott explained, “and have been waiting all this time to be reunited with family and friends.” Mr. Elliott is director of immigration services for Church World Service, which has sponsored 7,000 Hungarians in the country since the first “crash” program began. “These people, of whom CWS has the responsibility for 29, serve to remind us,” Mr. Elliott said, “that the status of Hungarian ‘parolees’ has not yet been fixed.” He recalled that the National Council of Churches’ General Board has voiced its regret that such action was not taken by the last Congress. “As things stand now,” he said, “both ‘parolees’ and their sponsors are apprehensive about the permanence of their settlement here. Since they have not been ‘admitted’ like other aliens, they are subject to investigation and deportation without notice or right of appeal.” Mr. Elliott declared he was encouraged that the churches, which are helping to provide homes and jobs for these new refugees, are now working for a liberalization of U.S. immigration laws so that the thousands of escapees left behind in Austria and Yugoslavia can also seek sanctuary in this country.
