2019. április 29., hétfőIn late March, a sizeable delegation visited the Evangelical churches of Lebanon and Syria, signing memoranda of commitment. We have asked the delegates about their experiences in the Middles East, including the situation of local Christians as well as the significance and further possibilities of cooperation. ‘It is destroying a flourishing country with its tangible, millennia-old cultural heritage, and threatening the carefully maintained religious and ethnic balance that has been developed over the centuries,’ says Bishop István Bogárdi Szabó of the Danubian Reformed Church District, when asked to describe the civil war that has been raging for eight years. Eleven million refugees, half a million victims, villages and cities in ruins, but those who have stayed behind or have since returned ‘are seeking opportunities for new life amid the ruins with a level of enthusiasm that is both admirable and touching,’ concludes the Ministerial President of the Synod. A meeting of East and West ‘We are not powerful enough to rebuild Syria ourselves, but we directly support the community work of local Christian churches, because they create a home for others as well,’ adds Balázs Ódor, Head of the Ecumenical Office of the Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH). It was in the first half of the 2010s, after the war had broken out, that our church – which is considered to have a strong position within the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) – started focusing on the region with the aim of supporting the Presbyterian community of the Middle East, who constitute a double minority as a Christian community on the one hand, and a Protestant one on the other. The first personal meeting took place in 2016, with the help of our Swiss and German partners. Since then, our relationships have been progressing at a rapid pace, ‘partly because time and time again God has granted us with opportunities to meet, and also because we developed a mutual sense of trust almost instantly.’ Balázs Ódor believes the explanation lies not only in the common foundation of the Gospel, but also in the similar mentality and historical background that Hungarians share with Armenians and Syrians. ‘We all know what it means to be suppressed, alienated and misunderstood. One could say we are the east of the West, while they are the west of the East.’ Community made visible The past three years have been about strengthening personal relationships, receiving first-hand information and developing joint projects. In December 2017 a Hungarian delegation visited Beirut, Homs, Latakia and Aleppo, and in 2018 our Middle Eastern partners travelled to Hungary. The Hungarian Reformed Church Aid has initiated two rounds of donations to support Sunday schools in Syria, the Reformed Church in Hungary offered funds for the renovation of the Armenian Evangelical church in Aleppo, and the Presidium of the General Convent has set up a scholarship programme for local church schools. ‘Signing the memoranda of commitment has been a logical next step stemming from our organically developing partnership,’ according to Diána Erdélyi, Ecumenical Secretary of RCH. Ms Erdélyi, who is also a member of WCRC’s Executive Commission, believes that the significance of the statement jointly released with the Arab-speaking and Armenian churches is that ‘we publicly announce and confirm the community we have already established.’ Source⇒Reformatus.hu. |