Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1960-08-01 / 8. szám

6

FRATERNITY

HISTORY

OF THE

HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH

By

IMRE REVESZ, Th. D.

Translated by

GEORGE A. F. KNIGHT

III

THE PERIOD OF REPRESSION 1715—1789

(Continuation)

As a matter of fact the picture that has come down to us of the Reformed Church during the reign of Maria Terezia is that of a very chastened and hopeless Church. We learn of its condition, for example, from a memorandum which the church leaders presented directly to the Queen in the year 1749. It represented their position to be such that what was called religious freedom in Hungary was obviously merely a farce; many churches, it seems, were standing with locked doors, daughter charges of city churches were no longer allowed to function, and country folk had many miles to travel to public worship and to obtain the services of a minister. Religious literature of all kinds, it seems, had been banned and confiscated. Ministers, the complaint ran, were constantly being brought before the authorities on trumped-up charges, and again and again they were being put to the rack or imprisoned. People were being dragooned into entering Roman churches, landlords were compelling their workers to change their faith, beating out of the village those who refused to do so. Officials who refused to take the decretal oath (which included swearing by the Virgin Mary) were not only removed from office, but had their