Fraternity-Testvériség, 1961 (39. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1961-04-01 / 4. szám

FRATERNITY

5

Sundry Movements

In the prevailing atmosphere of liberalism that followed the Napoleonic wars, the idea of union between the Roman and the Reformed Churches was mooted, but, of course, came to nothing. However, a serious attempt at union with the Lutheran Church was made, though under political pressure, towards the end of the 18th century. In the 1830’s again an attempt was made to set up a united Protestant high school in Budapest, but this plan, too, fell through. In fact every official attempt, whether ecclesiastical or political, even at closer cooperation was doomed to failure because of popular dislike of the idea. Many Slavs and Schwabs (people of German origin) were to be found in the Lutheran Church, while the Reformed Church was virtually wholly Magyar. So it was nationalistic feelings on both sides that militated not only against union but against even any kind of cooperation.

However, below the surface of ecclesiastical squabbling there was much goodness of heart. Many charitable institutions began to take shape in the Reformed Church during this period of tension. A system of cooperative selling of grain was planned; there was also an association to succour victims of fire and those whose crops were damaged by hail and ice; work-houses, too, were founded about this time; prison reform exercised the minds of church people, as well as the regulation of beggars, the care of infants and of orphans, and so on. A society to fight against the use of obscene language and a temperance union were both formed in the forties. Moreover, many new churches were now being built, surely a sign of real religion amongst the people. These churches, too, were well filled, ministers being punctilious about the distribution of the Lord’s Supper, and the preparation of young people for their first Communion. Baptism was now usually administered within the walls of a church and before the face of the congregation, but since church buildings were unheated, babies