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The communion cup of the Reformed parish of Érkeserű (Cheșereu, Romania) was originally a plate, which was melted down at the beginning of the 19th century and made into a chalice. Its history, which can be traced back to the last third of the 16 th century, is closely linked to the history of the parish and the local landowning families, especially the Suselith-Horváth family. This study corrects and supplements earlier literature by using archival sources and source publications. It shows who were the original owners of the silver chalice, how it came to the later donor and the social background of the donation. It describes the relationship of the family members with the Reformed Church.

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).