Pál Huszár, Former Lay President of the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary Has Passed Away

Pál Huszár, the two-term lay president of the Transdanubian Reformed Church District and the two-term lay president of the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary, the former lay president of the Reformed Presbytery of Veszprém, the elder of the Reformed parish of Várpalota, a high school and university teacher, has returned home to his Saviour.

"Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine" (Isaiah 43:1)

"Today, April 28, 2024, after the Sunday service, we received the news Uncle Pali has been called home by the Lord.

The above Scripture, so often quoted with believing certainty, immediately came to mind. How comfortingly this beautiful Word shines before us even now, taking away all fear and embracing our lives with its redeeming love. Our comfort is that we belong to the Lord in life and in death (Rom 14:8), and from His love, no one and nothing can separate us (Rom 8:38-39).

“With this certainty, we give thanks for the life of our brother Dr. Pál Huszár, for all that the Lord has done through him in our beloved church, in the building of the kingdom of God" wrote Bishop József Steinbach on behalf of the leadership of the Transdanubian Reformed Church District.

A final farewell will be held on 3 May at 14:00 in Várpalota, in the Upper Town Cemetery.

Pál Huszár was born in Várpalota in June 1941. After the early loss of his father, his mother raised him in great love with his five brothers. A decisive figure in his childhood was his pastor, Sándor Fejes, who contributed greatly to his upbringing as Reformed, Hungarian, and an intellectual.

During his studies, he graduated from the Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, with a degree in History and several languages. He taught at the Thuri György High School in his hometown for twenty-eight years. He was involved in the organisation of the Department of German Language and Literature at the University of Veszprém. Until his last years, he taught at the Pápa Reformed Theological Seminary.

Pál Huszár served as the lay president of the Transdanubian Reformed Church District between 2009 and 2021, and also served as the Lay President of the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary during the same period.

During this time, as a traveling ambassador of the Hungarian Reformed Church in the Carpathian Basin, he visited many places where Hungarians were separated due to historical and political events but could not be separated in faith. His work has been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the Károli Gáspár Prize, the Hungarian Order of Merit, the Order of the Hungarian Cross, and the Pro Pannonia Reformata Award.