Hungary urged towards religious unity by uprising memories
-08/10/06
A Hungarian churc
Hungary urged towards religious unity by uprising memories
-08/10/06
A Hungarian church leader has called for the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against the Soviet presence in his country to be used to overcome current divisions and to remind churches of their “prophetic role” in bridge-building and upholding values – writes Jonathan Luxmoore for Ecumenical News International.
“This was a unique event, when all faiths and political groups were able to act together for freedom,” said Bishop Peter Gancs, president of the southern district of Hungary’s Lutheran church. “We’ve now regained our freedom without the bloodshed and sacrifice of 50 years ago. But we’ve misused this gift from God and our freedom is again endangered. The task of churches is to help people find points of contact and understanding.”
The 55-year-old bishop was speaking in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the revolt, during which thousands died in street battles with Soviet tanks and subsequent executions. He said the memory of 1956 could “set a positive example” in the current political crisis, which erupted when Hungary’s Socialist party prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, was shown admitting in a leaked video that he lied to maintain his power.
“When our political leaders are egotistic and we lack mutual tolerance, the churches have a prophetic role in helping society rebuild its bridges,” Bishop Gancs, whose church has 300 congregations in Hungary, told Ecumenical News International.
The two-week uprising erupted on 23 October 1956 after a reforming communist regime under Imre Nagy denounced the Warsaw Pact and appealed for UN protection. A total of 2500 rebels and 720 Soviet troops officially died as invading Red Army tanks crushed the “counter-revolution”, although unofficial estimates put the insurgent death-toll at 20 000.
A further 1200 Hungarians were later executed, including Nagy and other leaders, who were hanged in 1958. At least 200 000 fled the country, which was ruled until 1989 by a Soviet-approved regime under Janos Kadar.
In an August letter to members of the World Council of Churches’ main governing body, its central committee, a senior Lutheran theologian, Karoly Hafenscher, said Western powers had “remained motionless” during the uprising, which was followed by “suffering and isolation”.
However, he noted that the WCC meeting at Galyateto in northern Hungary in summer 1956, had helped secure the reinstatement of his church’s presiding bishop, Lajos Ordass, after two years in jail for alleged currency offences.
While some Western delegates had appeared “uncertain about our mentality and recent history,” the theologian said, the WCC’s general secretary, W.A. Visser ‘t Hooft, had known “all the events in Hungarian church life better than we did ourselves”.
In 1958, following the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, Bishop Ordass was again forced out of office.
ENI adds from an Oslo report: Zoltan Kaldy, the Hungarian bishop who was president of the Lutheran World Federation from 1984 to 1987, was an agent of his country’s secret police from the late 1950s, says Norwegian theology professor Tormod Engelsviken.
Engelsviken told the Christian daily newspaper Vart Land he reached his conclusions after a three-year study of relations between the Lutheran Church in Hungary and ecumenical organisations, in particular the LWF.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
Hungary urged towards religious unity by uprising memories
-08/10/06
A Hungarian church leader has called for the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against the Soviet presence in his country to be used to overcome current divisions and to remind churches of their “prophetic role” in bridge-building and upholding values – writes Jonathan Luxmoore for Ecumenical News International.
“This was a unique event, when all faiths and political groups were able to act together for freedom,” said Bishop Peter Gancs, president of the southern district of Hungary’s Lutheran church. “We’ve now regained our freedom without the bloodshed and sacrifice of 50 years ago. But we’ve misused this gift from God and our freedom is again endangered. The task of churches is to help people find points of contact and understanding.”
The 55-year-old bishop was speaking in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the revolt, during which thousands died in street battles with Soviet tanks and subsequent executions. He said the memory of 1956 could “set a positive example” in the current political crisis, which erupted when Hungary’s Socialist party prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, was shown admitting in a leaked video that he lied to maintain his power.
“When our political leaders are egotistic and we lack mutual tolerance, the churches have a prophetic role in helping society rebuild its bridges,” Bishop Gancs, whose church has 300 congregations in Hungary, told Ecumenical News International.
The two-week uprising erupted on 23 October 1956 after a reforming communist regime under Imre Nagy denounced the Warsaw Pact and appealed for UN protection. A total of 2500 rebels and 720 Soviet troops officially died as invading Red Army tanks crushed the “counter-revolution”, although unofficial estimates put the insurgent death-toll at 20 000.
A further 1200 Hungarians were later executed, including Nagy and other leaders, who were hanged in 1958. At least 200 000 fled the country, which was ruled until 1989 by a Soviet-approved regime under Janos Kadar.
In an August letter to members of the World Council of Churches’ main governing body, its central committee, a senior Lutheran theologian, Karoly Hafenscher, said Western powers had “remained motionless” during the uprising, which was followed by “suffering and isolation”.
However, he noted that the WCC meeting at Galyateto in northern Hungary in summer 1956, had helped secure the reinstatement of his church’s presiding bishop, Lajos Ordass, after two years in jail for alleged currency offences.
While some Western delegates had appeared “uncertain about our mentality and recent history,” the theologian said, the WCC’s general secretary, W.A. Visser ‘t Hooft, had known “all the events in Hungarian church life better than we did ourselves”.
In 1958, following the suppression of the Hungarian uprising, Bishop Ordass was again forced out of office.
ENI adds from an Oslo report: Zoltan Kaldy, the Hungarian bishop who was president of the Lutheran World Federation from 1984 to 1987, was an agent of his country’s secret police from the late 1950s, says Norwegian theology professor Tormod Engelsviken.
Engelsviken told the Christian daily newspaper Vart Land he reached his conclusions after a three-year study of relations between the Lutheran Church in Hungary and ecumenical organisations, in particular the LWF.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.