communism

Sin, Repentance, Forgiveness

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The present writing discusses analytically Sándor Fazakas’s book entitled We have sinned… The church in the context of historical and social sins. It is known that in the darkest decades of the last century, the Christian churches were in the focus of different totalitarian oppressing regimes. Under these conditions it seemed to be impossible and/or senseless to interpret questions of social and private sins from the viewpoint of church organisations, church leaders, or laic believers.

Mrs. Mária Sass-Tőkés, the Embodiment of a Silent Power

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The martyr pastor Kálmán Sass was executed by the Romanian state authorities at the Gherla/Szamosújvár prison on the 2nd of December 1958. “His main misdeed” was sympathising with the ideals of the Hungarian revolution of 1956. His wife, nee Mária Tőkés (September 27th 1913 – May 19th 2004), was deported from the parish of Valea Lui Mihai (Érmihályfalva) with their children to a village called Olaru. All their belongings were confiscated; their two older sons were imprisoned for a few years.

The Hungarian ethos of forgiveness during the decades of “the western past elaboration

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After World War II many questions were raised by the „generation of sons” to their fathers regarding the war. There was an urgent need to cope with the past somehow. In this past elaboration the voice of the victims was worth to listen to and forgiveness of the aggressors became a major question of the society. This article was born from a study of western forgiveness-discussions and presents the Hungarian forgiveness-ethos after the end of the Great War and the big changes of 1989.

László Musnai (1888–1967). A Sketch of His Life

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László Musnai, pastor and theology professor. His work and activity can not be listed into one specific theological area. Considering his basic qualification, he is a New Testament scholar, on which field he has written his phd thesis. But if we look at his other books and publications we can say, that he is as good in Bible-translating or in church history, as in biblical studies. As far as his social and educational activity is concerned, he was a prominent church leader and appreciated teacher as well.

The Visit of Abraham Kuyper to Bucharest, Budapest and the Burning of His Books Translated to Hungarian at Cluj in 1962

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Abraham Kuyper’s travels to Romania (1905) and Hungary (1916) is not widely known. In his travel book entitled Om de oude Wereld-zee (Around the Ancient World Sea), he describes his traveling around the Mediterranean Sea. The first chapter of his book outlines the threats coming from Asia and an analysis of Islam. The book also contains sixty pages about Romania in which Kuyper compares Romania to Belgium. Kuyper was also received by the Romanian royal family. He foresees a great future for the Romanian people, even though they do not excel in practicing their orthodox faith.

“The Unsung Martyr”

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Iván Hadházy was born in Beszterce in 1947 and died painfully young in 1982. He studied Theology in Cluj/Kolozsvár. After graduation he served as a Unitarian minister for a short while, then taught in village schools and worked in the Archives of the Roman Catholic Church. He suffered years of unemployment as nobody dared to offer him a job due to his critical approach to the regime. In his own church, was his greatest support Professor János Erdő, who also preached at his funeral. Rumours told that his death was an “accident” arranged by the Securitate.