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

1960-02-01 / 2. szám

FRATERNITY

7

HISTORY

OF THE

HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH

By

IMRE REVESZ, Th. D.

Translated by

GEORGE A. F. KNIGHT

II

THE VICTORY OF THE COUNTERREFORMATION

1608—1715

(Continuation)

The elders, in their turn, however, could only act in the government of the congregation in tlie presence of the minister, and all decisions had to be recorded in the Session records. Again, vis-a-vis, the ordinary members of the church, the elders, were to be regarded as assistants to the minister in the matter of discipline, the idea being to insure that the Reformed Church should never revert into the priestly rule of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, although this first Kirk Session was not elected by the people, it was a distinct step towards popular rule in the parish.

In 1630 the Transdanubian Synod meeting ordered the creation of Sessions in all its parishes on this model already in use in Papa. Thus the number of Kirk Sessions now greatly increased in the western parts of the country.

In the eastern areas of Hungary, meanwhile, Sessions were formed only gradually. However, we have information about another type of church court that was in use at the beginning of the 17th century. These were rather in the nature of Presbyteries, whose number was defined by the Synod, which was careful also in the selection of the ministers it elected. No*- all ministers, it