A commemorative thanksgiving was held on Bácsfeketehegy for the services of the scientist Gyula G. Röhrig.
"The only thing that can be fatal to a man is the belief in doom, because it prevents his conversion. If, however, God grants conversion, then we also notice what is around us, with gratitude and a heart of wonder. Then we walk more alertly and attentively among the mountains and the flowers and fields of the plain. And we also pay more attention to people's fate, and practice our profession more willingly".
the well-known German Protestant Jörg Zink's meditative book A Handful of Hope (Kálvin Kiadó, 2000) came to mind when we asked God and received the spiritual initiation conceived in prayer in connection with the 40th anniversary of the death of the late Reverend Gyula Röhrig G. Verbász . In particular, the fact that the converted person pays more attention to the fate of his fellow human beings. For the lives of the living and their predecessors, and possible descendants, for the lives of the little ones of God's people.
Thus, in the smallest Christian community, in our family, the decision was made: we will go to Délvidék with the spirit of Soli Deo Gloriás for thanksgiving for our spiritual and biological predecessor, Gyula Röhrig G. He was the one who faithfully provided the spiritual nourishment and care of the German and Hungarian Reformed people in one church for almost 50 years in the now handful of Southern Reformed churches. In the church which, since the Reformation, created the canons of Hercegszőllős following the "violining and singing" of Mihály Sztárai along the Dráva River, and the service of his companions, a Hungarian reformer who preached a new faith, and which was once much more populous than the present remnant, Baranya-Slavonia, Croatia, he had a faithful predecessor in Serbian kingdoms.
After the end of Yugoslavia, many people asked us why we are celebrating the 40th anniversary in the spiritual nest that now consists of 13 mother churches and at least 50 scattered ones, bringing together the Hungarian-speaking population of Kun and Székely and other origins. Our answer was very simple. Following the thought of the Reverend Old Testament researcher and Bible translator, this is all: the number 40 is very important in our dear Bible. The flood that shaped the saved humanity lasted 40 days, Moses walked for 40 days and 40 nights for his people and for the Law on the mountain of the Lord (Deuteronomy 9). The people of Israel and Judah wandered for 40 years in the Sinai desert until they could come home to the promised land:
"Remember all the way your God, the Lord, led you in the wilderness for forty years" (Deuteronomy 8:2).
Our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for 40 days, but he repelled the attacks with the spiritual, bloodless weapon of the Spirit and the Word (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). 40 days passed between the appearance of the Risen Lord to his disciples and his ascension. We have a personal reason for all of this: today is still free, today we can still be together as a family before the Lord on earth.
As the daughter of the Reverend Mr. Klaudia Röhrig, pastor and her husband, dr. According to Lajos Békefy's human calculation - preserving the Lord's free decision - at the age of seventy-three and seventy-five, they can still give thanks for their Father, Grandfather and Great-grandfather together with their families. Who will do this on the 50th anniversary is God's secret. Today is still possible, today is still free...
Bácsfeketehegy was chosen because Verbász is close, 16 kilometers from the episcopal seat in earlier times, the center of the national church, and because Reverend Röhrig came here many times with lectures, interpreting foreign guests, as a national auditor, as well as Reverend Klaudia, from Piros during his time as a pastor, as a national mission lecturer. Several former acquaintances, church members baptized and confirmed by Reverend Röhrig took part in the dignified and appreciative thanksgiving held on May 7, Cantata, sing to the Lord Sunday of the church year, and the subsequent wreath-laying held at the family cemetery. The deacon-pastor of the church Attila Orosz supported the plan to hold the commemorative occasion with an open heart and understanding.
YouTube/Screenshot
Caretakers Ferenc Kerekes and Imre Hallgató, together with the presbytery, supported and organized everything in this regard. Dr. Lajos Békefy, pastor and public writer, preached the truth-revealing and encouraging message of Jesus Christ based on Matthew 24:6-8;12 and Luke 12:32. It spoke about the dramatic consequences of evil, lawlessness, the arbitrariness of "I am the law", the alienation of love, and our Lord's gracious encouragement against all of this:
"Fear not, you little flock...".
He concluded his pulpit service by reading the letter of greeting with which Bishop Zoltán Balog, the pastoral president of the MRE Synod, greeted the remembering and grateful congregation, the pastor and her family who remembered his Father, as well as the pastors and communities of the Serbian Reformed Christian Church. The letter is published in its entirety below. After the sermon, the preacher lit a candle of sympathy for the victims of the Belgrade children's drama at the Lord's table and preached the comforting words of the resurrected Lord, while the congregation stood for half a minute of silence and shared their condolences with the mourners and the shaken public. The preacher is then in the Crossfire and the Existence-Strength . he gave gifts from his books to Mr. György Balogh, the consul who appeared on the occasion of the celebration, István Sárközi, the diplomat who appeared on behalf of the Hungarian Consulate General in Szátka, the president of the Hungarian National Council, the leaders of the church and the TV and radio staff.
At the Lord's table, pastor Dr. Klaudia Békefy-Röhrig remembered her Father in her personal retrospective, recalling how many times he was with him in the pamphlets, how he learned languages from him in the 20,000-volume parish library.
In his welcoming words, Bishop-Pastor Attila Orosz also recalled that when it was not possible to study as a theologian in Transylvania or Hungary, the Pastoral Training Institute was established in 1959, in which Gyula G. Röhrig taught the Old Testament. Those present were able to learn that the occasion was greeted by many people: with warm, fraternal words, Bishop József Steinbach from Transdanubia, president of the Ecumenical Council of Hungarian Churches, Dr. Albert Békássy from Sweden, secular president of the West European Reformed Pastoral Service. László Tőkés ny. bishop from Nagyvárad, rector Dr. Sándor Kovács, from the Alma Mater Protestant Theological Institute in Cluj, Dr. Géza Erdélyi ny. Bishop of the Highlands, Dr. Gaál Botond ny. university professor from Debrecen, Antal Spányi, Roman Catholic bishop of Székesfehérvár.
Among state officials, dr. Csaba Latorcai and dr. State Secretary Árpád Potápi and Major General János Schmehl, deputy commander of the national army, expressing their good wishes for the commemoration. After the spoken words of testimony and remembrance, the hallelujah truly rose from the soul and heart: The Lord works wonderfully.
Let us note this much as a lesson of the holiday thanksgiving: it is not only good, but useful, and even necessary to remember those who, not only with their science, but were able to turn the knowledge they diligently acquired in Cluj-Napoca theology and foreign universities into practical teaching, life, church- and Hungarian-building words and attitudes. rich theological-scientific knowledge.
Among them, Reverend Mr. Röhrig was invited to join the Bible translation community of the Hungarian Bible Council in 1950 thanks to his knowledge gathered at four universities, in French and German, in Strassburg, Münster, Heidelberg, and Marburg. The II. During World War II, as a German chaplain, he stood by the persecuted, saving lives, Israelite registers, Torah scrolls, and stone tablets, for which later his daughter was able to receive the Yad Vashem certificate addressed to her father during her studies as an archeological researcher in Jerusalem, and was able to get to know the saved Verbas Israelites who lived in the North -A new synagogue was built in Galilee, with the reverend's position immortalized in Hebrew and English on a copper plaque.
Written by: Pastor Klaudia Röhrig and her husband, dr. Lajos Békefy
Featured image: YouTube
