wfn.org | LWF President - Churches in Hungary, Romania are "bridge to Europe"

[FRANK.IMHOFF@ecunet.org]

BUDAPEST, Hungary/GENEVA, 7 June 2000 (LWI) - The president of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF), Bishop Dr. Christian Krause, has described the
Lutheran minority churches in Hungary and Romania as a "bridge to Europe."

The Brunswick bishop made these remarks when he visited the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Hungary and the Hungarian- and German-speaking Lutherans
of Romania. He also met with Roman-Catholic, Reformed, and Orthodox church
representatives as well as with local politicians.  Krause said that the
government representatives with whom he held discussions had emphasized
that the churches are important for Hungary's and Romania's integration
into the European Union, and that the Christian faith is of vital
importance for Europe.

During his visit to the LWF member church in Hungary from 3-7 May, Krause
reminded church and political life representatives that Hungary's opening
up of borders in the summer of 1989 enabled citizens of former East Germany
wishing to leave to do so, a factor which indeed accelerated the
breakthrough of the former communist country. "We Germans will not forget
Hungary's contribution to the peaceful change in Europe," he underlined.

The Hungarian Lutheran bishop, Bela Harmati, said his church, a founding
member of the LWF, presently with a stable membership of 430,000 is the
largest Lutheran church in the central region of eastern Europe. He said he
has encountered among people a "hunger for spiritual comprehension" but
this has not been matched with a notable interest in the church.

According to Harmati, an interest in questions of faith and church can be
seen among individuals who, for example, send their children to church-run
schools and in that way make contact with the church again in the country
of 10.3 million inhabitants, 6.6 million of who are Roman Catholics.
Harmati said his church has two secondary schools in the capital, Budapest,
since 1990.

The LWF president recalled that the Seventh Assembly of the LWF was held in
Budapest in 1984, marking the first time that the Federation's highest
decision-making body was to convene in a country that was then an Eastern
Bloc state. At that time, Harmati's predecessor, Bishop Zoltan Kaldy, who
died in 1987, was elected president of the Federation.  Krause noted that
Reformation came to Hungary in 1523, six years after Martin Luther
published his theses.

During his meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in
Budapest, the Head of State expressed surprise at the loss of Christianity'
significance in the western world. Krause said he was concerned that
Christian faith is longer accorded recognition in public life.

Orban underlined that the churches in central and Eastern Europe bear great
responsibility for the reintegration of the continent following the
breakdown of communism. He pointed out that it is "right and important" to
return confiscated property to the churches.

Krause said people in central and eastern Europe, unlike those in the west,
are more likely to ask questions relating to Christian values. He noted
that in the last three years he had found this phenomenon to be true of
politicians during visits to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovak Republic,
Poland (in April), and now Hungary and Romania. Of his encounters during
those visits, he remarked that people still remember "how precious the
Gospel is."

The Hungarian Secretary of State for Church Affairs, Zsolt Semjen
emphasized the good cooperation between the church and state particularly
through schools and diaconic activities, saying that the Lutherans had
gained "social respect." He said the return of confiscated church property
would be completed by 2011. Following the political changes in Hungary, the
government no longer controls the churches but instead collaborates with
them, and respects their autonomy.

Joint Declaration is "a reconciliation document"

During a meeting with Cardinal Laszlo Paskai, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Budapest, both of them described the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification that was solemnly confirmed by the LWF and the Roman Catholic
Church on 31 October 1999 in Augsburg, Germany, as a "historic event" that
moved relations between Lutherans and Roman Catholics onto a new level.

For Cardinal Paskai, the agreement reached on the doctrine of justification
is a "reconciliation document." Krause called for further steps to follow
up on the Joint Declaration. He urged the Roman Catholic Church to welcome
Protestant Christians to the Roman Catholic Eucharist, saying that for
quite some time Catholics had been able to participate in Protestant
Communion. Mutual Eucharistic hospitality, according to Krause, is a first
step towards full Eucharistic fellowship. The LWF President said he was
convinced that the future of Christianity is ecumenical.

Church in Romania needs schools as a means of safeguarding identity

In Romania, Krause visited the Hungarian-speaking Lutheran church with
about 35,000 members, which has its headquarters at Klausenburg. The
Evangelical Synodal Presbyterial Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession
in Romania was founded in 1921, and initially belonged to the Hungarian
Lutheran church. After the Second World War it became independent. The
church's bishop, Arpad Mozes, in discussions with Krause, underscored that
the members of his church want to stay in the country. "We see our future
in Romania," Mozes said.

Meanwhile, the Romanian government has asked the churches to support the
country's admission into the European Union. Bishop Mozes said his church
was in principle willing to do so, but they expected the confiscated church
property to be returned much sooner than promised and to a larger extent
than the government had been willing to give up to date.

Mozes explained that his church in Sfintu Gheorge, Eastern Transylvania had
built a worship place for the more than 1,000 congregation members.
However the church needs elementary schools as a means of safeguarding the
religious and language identity. Bishop Mozes also talked about the
deteriorating ecumenical climate after the political changes of 1989. He
said that the Orthodox Church, to which the majority of the population
belonged, was supported by the government to such an extent that in
Transylvania alone it had built 1,300 new churches over the past ten years.

During a worship service in Sfintu Gheorge, Krause called the
Hungarian-speaking Lutherans a "courageous church" that had persisted under
difficult conditions and accepted "suffering for faith."

^From 9 to 11 May, LWF President Krause visited the Evangelical Church of
the Augsburg Confession in Romania. Krause noted that although the church
had experienced a sharp drop in membership due to emigration, there were
still "prospects for hope" for the German-speaking Lutheran church, which
he described as a "minority with a future."

The church's bishop, Christoph Klein, said 16,000 members had left the
church, which had more than 100,000 members before the political changes in
1989. Following further visits to congregations and talking to pastors,
Krause expressed his conviction that the Transylvanian Lutherans would
overcome the bitterness and sadness that is still felt in view of the
development in the past ten years.

Reason for optimism

There is reason for such optimism, for in Sibiu (Hermannstadt) alone, about
2,000 children attend Protestant religious education, even though this
city's congregation has only 1,700 members left. In view of the future use
and maintenance of the fortified Transylvanian churches, Krause suggested
settling religious communities as a way of developing support for the
church's diaconic tasks.

"We will continue to be a church of German tradition," explained Bishop
Klein, in view of the attitude of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg
Confession in Romania, "because this is our origin." However, through
increased opening up towards its environment, the church is going to
change-there are bilingual worship services and baptisms and weddings.
Until 1992, the Lutheran church had been able to fund itself but this is
not possible any more.  Klein said the congregations have enough pastors
and on average two theologians have been ordained annually since 1995, thus
ensuring pastoral services from the churches own means.

Bishop Klein acknowledged the support his church received from the LWF.
The Federation had made relations abroad possible and lent support in
various ways through grants and building projects. During the past few
months, for example, the LWF had supported the Lutheran church with USD
55,000, toward floods' victims. On behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Brunswick, Krause presented DEM 20,000 (USD 10,000) for the
Transylvanian church's emergency aid activities.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59 million of the world's 61 million Lutherans. Its highest
decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven years.
Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council which meets
annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
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