Fraternity-Testvériség, 1958 (36. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)

1958-11-01 / 11. szám

14

FRATERNITY

of the Church were taken over and used for schools and other community purposes, so that from that year onward the old Church could no longer be said to have any hold on the people at all and was pushed completely into the background.

The Reformation Under the Turkish Occupation

Two generalizations might be made about the Reformation in the Turkish area of Hungary. Firstly, that the movement was one of the common people themselves and not just of the aristocracy; and, secondly, that the Turkish occupying power did not hinder the spread of the Reformation, but on occasions even helped it forward to its goal. We learn that on one occasion, for example, the local Pasha commanded some Franciscans to hold a debate with the Reformers in his presence. Preachers and teachers again were allowed to move about freely in the Turkish area and could preach without let or hindrance. Gal Huszár wrote to Buliinger in 1557: “. . . there is no hindrance to the spread of the Gospel under the Turks; in fact, they take a very human interest in its spread. It often happens that groups of Turks come to church to listen to the sermon, then slip quietly out before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.” However, there was no serious result of their spasmodic interest, which seems to have arisen as much from curiosity as from anything else. Only one convert from amongst them is known to have taken a training in theology and become a minister. Widespread conversions were ruled out for a people who looked with scorn upon those they had conquered as infidels. The Hungarians in their turn looked upon the Turkish occupation as a bitter burden which they found hard to bear. The common Turkish soldier often robbed and raped the peasantry, carried off the menfolk as slaves, and in general rendered life highly uncertain for the ordinary people. Moreover, the Turks allowed the Hungarians neither to build new churches or schools, nor to repair the old, except after long and vexatious delays that sometimes lasted for years.