Repentance and Credibility

What are your first impressions after being elected as the presiding bishop?

To be honest, I wasn't prepared for it. I was more in a phase of letting go because the maximum term of office for a bishop is three terms - eighteen years - and I am in my sixteenth year. Trusting in God's saving grace, I have nevertheless accepted the new office of the Presiding Bishop for the sake of our beloved Church and the cause of the Gospel.

Since my election, however, I have been full of joy, hope, dedication and zeal, but also full of humility. Throughout my episcopal ministry, I have tried to listen to everyone with a pastoral spirit, and to respond immediately to calls and requests. I don't know if this is still possible at this level. I expect support, help, patience, love and, above all, the prayers of my community.

Your predecessor resigned because of the so-called clemency scandal. You apologised on behalf of the Church to the victims and survivors of child abuse. How do you see the Church's responsibility towards abused children?

We can only speak about this sad event with a voice of remorse, in the spirit of apology and reparation. My predecessor and I have endeavoured to do this, and we continue to do so. We cannot point the finger at others but must repent. We are deeply shocked, we are humble, we apologise publicly, and we want to make amends and learn from this mistake. I don't want to go into this any further, because anything else I would say would be misinterpreted in one way or another.

At the same time, I would like to emphasise that in the large family of the Reformed Church in Hungary and the wider Hungarian Reformed community, we have done our utmost, with unity and humility, even in critical times, to bear the fate of mistreated and needy people, of all those living in difficult situations, with the love we have learned from Jesus Christ. This can be proven by many who also know beyond doubt that abuse of any kind is unacceptable in our church.

What are the most important challenges for the Reformed Church in Hungary in the coming years?

We have been shaken, we must be quiet and listen to the Word, we must pray, we must come to ourselves, and serve again in unity, faith and hope. May the Lord grant us forgiveness and renewal. But we must also do our best amongst ourselves. We must restore our credibility with those we have let down. We should be given the chance to try to make amends.

I see two important areas in the life of the church: pastoral care (pastoral work) and mission. One is an internal and the other an external ministry that we want to carry out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as our instrument.

In the regional church office, we have highly qualified, professional employees in whom we have confidence and whose expertise will also be needed in the future. We want to encourage them and strengthen them spiritually.

In Hungary, ecumenism is bearing blessed and good fruit. As President of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary, I experience this with gratitude. That is why I am in favour of ecumenical cooperation, which enriches us mutually, also with our trusted foreign partners. It is also very important to work for the unity of the Hungarian Reformed community in the Carpathian Basin and beyond.

My certainty is rooted in our common foundation: the 'cause' of Jesus Christ is a cause full of hope for all times. The church may be vulnerable and weak, rejected by many, sometimes even seemingly extinct, but God's love is always at work.

According to the latest census, the proportion of people in Hungary who consider themselves members of a religious community or denomination has fallen below 50 per cent. How do you see the role of the churches in today's secularised society?

We are increasingly confronted with such figures in the Western churches, although the reasons for this are very complex. Prosperity is a great gift, but it hardens the heart, people become selfish and egotistical, forget their God, the divine order, misinterpret freedom and misuse God's gifts. We generally refer to this development as secularisation.

At the same time, it is my conviction and experience that people long to be loved and addressed in a meaningful way. The source of all mission is to love people, to understand them, to listen to them, as the apostle James tells us. Then, in this relationship of trust, the gospel can have its say. At the same time, people are ready to hear the word of God through the example of an authentic Christian life.

I am also convinced that God is preparing a vacuum through the abyss of this crisis, in which the Holy Spirit brings about revival and a new beginning. Where Christ is proclaimed and lived, the Word of God is at work. The rest is not our concern.

The GAW supports numerous churches of the Hungarian-speaking minority outside Hungary. What role do minorities of all kinds play in the work of the church?

I would like to thank the GAW for its people-saving, Christian, credible, love-driven ministry, from which we ourselves and many others have benefited for decades and continue to benefit.

The majority is always qualified and judged by how it treats minorities. Jesus Christ always turned to the most vulnerable and the smallest and lifted them up with his mercy. Of course, we do not want to expect others to help the minority, but we ourselves should begin to do so. In the institutions run by the Synod alone, almost 70,000 people are cared for by 7,000 employees, especially in homework supervision, in the Roma student hostels, the daycare centres, the network of foster parents, the schools, elderly homes and the homes for the disabled.

It is important to me that all minority communities are cared for without discrimination and with dignity.

How does the war in neighbouring Ukraine affect the Reformed Church in Hungary?

For us, this war is terrible and upsetting, not only because Ukraine is our neighbouring country. We should remember our brothers and sisters who have to suffer the consequences of the war in Transcarpathia every day as members of the Hungarian Reformed community. Almost eighty Reformed pastors are waiting at their posts, often without their families, and are confronted with the worst every day. This has prompted us to actively provide help and ask for the divine miracle of salvation.

Another big question is whether we as Christians can at least work peace among ourselves in this divided world, as Paul did in Corinth. The prerequisite for peace is that we build bridges to one another in our diversity, bridges between people and peoples. We cannot give up on those who are indifferent, nor on those who think very differently about the world than we do. We must find ways to relate to each other in Christ, however impossible this may seem.

Translated and edited by Emma Perry.