Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - On a Roller Coaster-the institution in the 1940s
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MARGINALIZATION 220 Commemorative medal for the fourth centenary of Zsuzsanna Lorántffy’s birth The work of a student,1894 nationalization of all church-owned secondary schools. The Reformed Church was able to reach an agreement with the government: four secondary schools for boys in the four church districts (one each in Budapest, Debrecen, Pápa and Sárospatak) and two secondary schools for girls (in Budapest and in Debrecen) would remain under the leadership of the church. For a few months, it seemed that the associated primary schools could be saved from falling into the state’s hands, too, but, by October 1948, their fate was sealed. As part of the nationalization effort, not only the primary school but the viticulture school was also detached from the College. The Teacher Training School started down the path of decline when, in the given year, the school was not allowed to enroll a new, first-year class of students. The MNER retook possession of the Rákóczi castle along with all the initiatives within the castle (‘people’s college’ and museum). The decrease in size was accompanied by severe financial problems. A telling sign was that - aside from the war years - the speeches at the school’s opening and closing celebrations were not printed on paper for the first time since 1860. By this time, no one from the theological school was permitted to go abroad. Beginning in the following year, only one foreign language could be taught at the secondary school, that being Russian. The special license of the English Residential School was revoked. Teachers of religious instruction were removed from the ordinary teaching staff; religious education could no longer be part of the curriculum and teachers of religious instruction could not participate in staff meetings. In the final days of 1949, the printing press was nationalized, also, and only state prescribed textbooks were authorized for use. The increasingly difficult conditions left no one hopeful about the future but the lightning which did soon strike came from an unexpected source. In July 1951, the General Convent of the Reformed Church decided to consolidate its resources and, in order to keep at least two Theological Academies functioning, it was decided to close down the ones in Sárospatak and Pápa. Bishop Andor Enyedi and the Cistibiscan church district tried to resist this decision and were not only unsuccessful, but, by their acts of resistance, they sealed the fate of the church district. Enyedi was unwilling to collaborate with the Communist authorities and it seemed impossible to find a successor for his post (even Sándor Koncz refused the unworthy offer). As a result, not only was the Academy shut down but the territory and congregations of the church district were also divided up between and attached to the Tiszántúl (Trans-Tisza) and Dunamelléki (Duna region) church districts. Seventy-four of the theology students from Patak continued their studies in Debrecen and a dozen of them went to the Budapest. It was an uplifting gesture on behalf of the students who had gone to Debrecen to have organized an ‘exodus’ and return to Patak collectively, but this did little to change the situation. In the subsequent school year the fate of the secondary school was also sealed. As a consequence of the forced nationalization, denominationally Reformed education in Sárospatak ceased to exist after four hundred years.
