Journal index

Towards the end of 1918, the Kingdom of Hungary was close to a collapse. Diplomatic interventions of all kinds tried to prevent this, and the Protestant churches were also asked to intervene. The Hungarian churches sent a delegation to The Netherlands. Members of these delegations, among them Géza Antal and Jenő Sebestyén, spoke with a number of Protestant sympathizers, like A. Kuyper and H. Colijn. The Dutch Protestant churches issued a statement warning against the danger that was threatening the Protestants in Hungary. According to Antal they were the first to issue a warning. But was there really an official report? Until now my research has not led to any firm indication in this respect.

We are always seeking for the sense of the life, for ourselves and for the place in our family and community. Religion shows a new way to us, according to Jesus Christ’s principles. The son of God not only created a religion, but gave us an example how to live, and sacrifice himself for us. Sándor Karácsony reckons religion as a spiritual behavior, the base of our social contacts. We have to see into our lives and character according to the message of Jesus Christ. The right and appropriate personality can be evolved by individual training.

The views of Sándor Karácsony about religious education can be clearly discerned from his writings. The main task of reformed pedagogy is to activate continuously the divine notions in this continuously changing world. Protestant teachers must accomplish their daily work according to the Gospel of Christ. The Hungarian Reformed Church was a so-called “church of schools” for hundreds of years. This means that even between WWI and WWII it owned more schools than churches. The number of Reformed schools is significant even today. Sándor Karácsony claims that only Reformed people and communities are able to maintain Reformed schools by people who “are ready to serve and sacrifice themselves” for this cause (Karácsony, Sándor: A magyarok Istene. Széphalom Könyvműhely, Budapest 2004, 172).