Kézdivásárhely was the site of an impressive series of celebrations at noon and early afternoon on Sunday. The renovation works of the Reformed church in the town of Upper Háromszék were presented, then the renovated denominational kindergarten and the new classroom and gymnasium of the Reformed college were blessed, and the college took the name of the famous Reformed bishop of Transylvania, Kálmán Csiha.
The renovations were carried out with effective financial support from the Hungarian state. The series of celebrations lasting more than four hours began with a thanksgiving service in the Reformed church, where Zoltán Balogh , dean of the Reformed Diocese of Kézdi-Orba, and Béla Kató , bishop of the Transylvanian Reformed Diocese, preached and gave speeches. At the end of the service held in the packed Reformed church, Imre Beder , parish priest from Kézdivásárhely, listed the names of the guests from Hungary and the motherland and thanked all those who contributed to the renovation of the church.
Afterwards, Réka Brendus , head of the State Secretariat for National Policy at the Prime Minister's Office, gave a ceremonial speech.
"Today, the eyes of the Transylvanian Reformed world are fixed on Kézdivásárhely. For the multiple celebration that embraces the church and the school at the same time, paying tribute to the ancestors and paying attention to the future generation. This is the big celebration of the city and the community, and of course now - as in any significant moment of our existence in Transylvania - everything is connected with everything. We already knew that the church and the school form an inseparable unit. And this unity has special significance today. Because this place is the Eastern stronghold of the Reformed Church, where religious education is also considered an Eastern stronghold. (…) So here, at the end, today we are handing over a renewed church, a renewed kindergarten, an expanded school to the generation that will come after us. We give for preservation and strengthening, growth and fulfillment in faith. Because whoever builds a church also builds a school, a community and a community institution. The institutions of our communities will thus be placed in the safest possible place: in the bosom of our churches, where they have always belonged throughout our history. Where a textbook is also a prayer book. Where our thousand-year-old world of faith intertwines with our thousand-year-old education. We open doors. Church, kindergarten, school gates. Every gate leads us somewhere, and sometimes we don't even know exactly what awaits us inside. When we enter these gates, we know exactly where we are going. In one hand is the hymn book, in the other is the hand of our children - this is how the church and the school protect us, this is how we are forged into one and our faith in God is strengthened with faith in the future of our children", explained the head of department in his celebratory speech.... The church ceremony is the anthem ended with her singing.
The renovated denominational kindergarten in the immediate vicinity of the church has become a jewel, where, László Szegedi , the missionary speaker of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District, parents can place their children in the hands of God in addition to teachers. Szilveszter Szabolcs gave a welcome speech , and after the music and poetry program of the kindergarten students, those present could admire the educational institution rebuilt from its ruins.
The famous Reformed bishop of Transylvania, the re-founder of the Reformed school network after the changes after 1990, dr. The Reformed college in Kézdivásárhely was named after Kálmán Csiha. At the ceremony held in the school's yard Ferenc Farkas said that the first grades were established in 1990, and the educational institution became independent in 1998, and since then it has been considered one of the best secondary schools in Transylvania. Photo: Attila Pinti In the continuation, the head inspector of Kovászna County, Imre Kiss , Botond Burus-Siklódi , the president of the Hungarian Pedagogical Association in Romania, and Reverend Zsombor Szentgyörgyi .
Bishop Béla Kató considered it important to note that " not only Reformed students study in this school, but mostly Catholic youth" . The works carried out in Kézdivásárhely, the renovation and expansion of the church and the educational institutions could not have been realized without the financial help of the motherland - emphasized all the speakers.
"The school takes the name of Bishop Kálmán Csiha, who died fifteen years ago and had such a tragic fate. In the last years of his life, as an honorary bishop, he brought the message of togetherness, persistence and faith to the communities of the entire Carpathian basin. And so, where else could the conceptual prison years have the clearest and at the same time the most painful meaning, if not here, in Kézdivásárhely. Kálmán Csiha has just brought us his message for the future. Others can destroy walls or human souls, we can always rebuild them. Here, for almost two hundred years, there was a fire, there was also war and occupation - but the community always revived, rebuilt itself and its city. Our past, present and future are all in the hands of God, from whom we also learned how to build and how to build - whatever happened in the past, whatever is in the present, or whatever the future may bring. Today, Kálmán Csiha fills the school with this gift from God, the message of the power of construction, and fills the community that can be strong and wants to stay strong. As the psalm verse serving as the motto of today's celebration says: »If the Lord does not build his house, the builders labor in vain. If the lord does not protect the city, the guards protect it in vain,'' stressed Réka Brendus, head of the Department of the State Secretariat for National Policy of the Prime Minister's Office.
The complete article, richly illustrated with photos, can be read on the szekelyhon.ro portal.
(Cover image: szekelyhon.ro/Attila Pinti)
