Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary ( Hungarian : Magyarországi Evangélikus Egyház ) is the national Lutheran church of Hungary. She is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe . Its official seat is in Budapest .

history

The Reformation events in Wittenberg about Martin Luther in the years after 1517 were brought to Hungary by Hungarian students studying in Wittenberg. The Reformation ideas could quickly become at home here. The free interpretation of the Bible and the priesthood of all Christians were in the foreground.

Simultaneously with the appearance of the first Trans-Danubian reformers Matthias Devai , Gál Huszár and Mihály Sztárai , the clashes with the Turks began in the southern border area. That was an important reason why it was not until 1577 that Máté Szegedi, the first Lutheran bishop in Hungary, could be elected.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary with its 300 congregations, most of which live in the diaspora situation, had around 179,618 congregation members in 2017; that's about 2 percent of the Hungarian population.

structure

The regional church office is located in 1085 Budapest, Üllői út 24. It is the administrative center of the church. From here the parishes are supported by the education, building, legal and youth departments. Hospital and prison chaplaincy are also promoted by this office, as are missionary services and the university congregations.

The main decision-making body is the synod , to which delegates from all parishes are sent. The spiritual chairman of the synod is András Korányi , the secular chairman is András Muntag .

The spiritual direction of the church has a senior bishop . He is one of the three diocesan bishops . Bishop Imre Szebik held this office until 2006 . He was succeeded by the bishop of the western diocese János Ittzés , and Péter Gáncs took up this office in 2011 , followed by Tamás Fabiny in 2018.

Dioceses

The Hungarian Evangelical Lutheran Church is divided into three church districts, which are subdivided into deaneries to which the individual parishes belong.

  • Western Diocese (Transdanubian Diocese): 9021 Győr , Bajcsy Zs. Út 26.

Facilities

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary is numerically a small church in its country. But in the field of education and social services it is of great value. In 37 educational institutions (kindergartens, schools) around 7,000 children and young people are taught by 1,000 teachers. 100 young people study theology or Protestant religious education at the Lutheran Theological University in Budapest.

There are also numerous facilities for the elderly, as well as facilities for the care and support of disabled children, homeless people and alcoholics. The church performs its social and humane task with social workshops and home care services.

Other services

  • Evangélikus Élet ("Evangelical Life") - weekly newspaper since 1935
  • Luther Kiadó (Luther Publishing House)

See also

literature

  • Pál Ács: Study and translation of the Bible in Hungary at the time of the Reformation (1540–1640). In: Alberto Melloni: Martin Luther: Christ Between Reforms and Modernity (1517–2017). De Gruyter, 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-049825-7 ( PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pál Ács: Study and translation of the Bible in Hungary at the time of the Reformation (1540–1640) ; in: Alberto Melloni: Martin Luther: Christ Between Reforms and Modernity (1517-2017) , Walter de Gruyter, 2017, ISBN 978-3-11049825-7 ( PDF )
  2. ^ Hungary - The Lutheran World Federation .
  3. ↑ Lutheran Service , Volume 47, 2011, Issue 1, p. 22.
  4. ↑ a b Péter Kondor introduced as bishop of the ELKU. In: Lutherischer Dienst , 54th year, 2018, issue 3, pp. 20–21.