Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1960-02-01 / 2. szám
FRATERNITY 9 came to see that it would have to bring about some reforms in this particular office. In the Cis-Tibiscan area there was no bishop at all to begin with. Instead, there was a committee composed of the four permanent moderators of the four Presbyteries of Church Counties, but the four moderators each performed the office of bishop in his own Presbytery area. With such an example before them, some wished to abolish the office of bishop altogether, especially when some bishops on occasion aped their Roman Catholic counterparts, and called in the civil authorities to imprison malcontents amongst the ministers and teachers. Discussion continued for a long time on the question of the office, and men turned their eyes to Holland and England to see what had been done in those countries in this regard. The Puritans objected to the fact that bishops and moderators held office for life, and consequently they preferred the rule of Kirk Sessions only. The question so vexed the Church that in 1616 George Rakoczy I summoned a national Synod to which almost every area sent representatives, and at which the prince himself was present. At it, the decision was taken, first of all, to create Kirk Sessions in every parish of the land, although it was another thing to see that such a resolution could be carried out. Then, secondly, it was felt that such a court could well exist in combination with the offices of both bishop and moderator, so that those offices were to continue in being. However, there resulted from the summoning of this Synod a completely new development, viz., the custom of having present at Synod meetings laymen in the person of patrons and state officials. It was natural, then, that since they continued to be present, it was only a step to the actual appointment of such laymen to offices that carried equal weight and equal rights with the offices held by the clergy. Reform in Morals Another reform that took place at this period was one in morals and church life, or,
