Magyar Egyház, 1965 (44. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1965-04-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH BE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH! Acceptance Speech of Chief Elder Sándor Kiss at the General Assembly, McKeesport, February 15 ST. JOHN THE APOSTLE conveys Christ’s seven letters to the seven churches in his Revelations. The second letter is addressed to the church in Smyrna, which is the smallest, the poorest of the seven, and Christ’s message is the following: “1 know thy works, and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich) and / know the blasphemy of them which say they are jews, and are not, but are the synagougue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” As I express gratitude to all the church councils of the Hungaian Reformed Church in America for placing their confidence in electing me as chief elder of the Church. 1 feel that Christ is calling all of us to be faithful, and this faithfulness has a threefold meaning for our denomination and its watchmen. THE FIRST MEANING of this message demands loyalty to our faith. I believe and confess that the miracle of redemption by the death of our Lord — which is the message of the Christian churches forever toward mortal, sinful mankind — is clearly intermediated by the Protestant tradition, and that furthermore Calvinists intermediate it in the clearest, most complete and modern way. I believe that Calvin, besides his true faith and rich intellectual world, gave us the treasure of puttting redemption and sanctification into the center of our religious life, and we must present, we must make this inheritance live for the American Hungarian Reformed people. But I believe also that the Reformed heritage received several new characteristics, it became richer in the Hungarian Reformed Church, and this became our weapon, a valuable weapon in the battle fo the salvation of the technically civilized, but more and more lonely and isolated man of today. Our over 400 year old Hungarian Calvinism will become living and a sustaining power for us only if we will take better advantage of its contents in our evangelism, in our work, and in our entire Church life. THE SECOND EMPHASIS of the message is on the loyalty to the Hungarian nation. We cannot desert the conception of the founders of this church who were not willing to break the ties of our heritage, and who considered our church the youngest offspring of the Reformed Church in Hungary-The Fifth Commandment received a communal sense in our church. Faithfulness to the “Mother” church, to our forefathers, the galley-slaves, the confessors; devotion to our Hungarian nation, which God placed in the valley of the Danube, sent through never ending hardships and afflictions, and laid his mission down there. I know that we live in a period of transition when our congregations become gradually churches of the second and third generation. But it is our belief that the awareness of our origins, and the Reformed heritage is enough for us to continue our struggle, battle, and prryer for the liberty of the Hungarian nation. THE THIRD MEANING of Christ’s message speaks for faithfulness to America: devotion to this great nation, which provided not only a new country for the homeless Hungarians, but gave freedom also. In the American Constitution the dreams of our ancestors came true. This Constitution, according to many American historians, would not have been made possible without the influence of Calvinism. In the whole world, the freedom of religion was first codified in Hungary 400 years ago. In the synodalpresbyterian organization of the Reformed Church the same profound democratic principles were realized as in the American Constitution. The Hungarian nation was prevented by a harsh fate, by oppressors, by casualties, to achieve the same level of independence and freedom as the American nation achieved. We must be faithful and loyal to the great American nation which, as we believe, has been predestined by serving God to protect and to expand the freedom of man and humanity in the whole world. I ADMIT THAT IT IS difficult to take over the banner from predecessors who carried it with such great devotion. love, anxiety, and unselfishness. But we must not forget that the Hungarian Reformed Church has an unwritten rule. One can only join but never resign from it! Therefore the former leaders are not resigning either. In another post, or in honored retirement, they will still be faithful to the truth with which our Lord bequeathed them. Bishop Beky, and our former chief-elders Janos Darnay, and Ferenc Szalay will remain with us just as they are present today. Our independent church never was independent from its Lord, Jesus Christ, from his calling, but it was and it is independent from every human bondage and selfish disobedience.
