Not only the pastors, but also the entire presbytery resigned in Érmihályfalva.
The grievances and personal differences that have accumulated for about two decades cannot be remedied, so the pastors and presbyters resigned in Érmihály village in Bihar county, the Királyhágómelléki Reformed Church District wrote in its announcement.
"In recent weeks, the news spread on social media and then in the press that a conflict had arisen in the Érmihályfalvi Reformed Parish between a group of believers and the pastors. As a result, the superiors of the Királyhágómellék Reformed Church District conducted an investigation in the parish after listening to both parties, and then held a general assembly in the church on February 20"
- says the Királyhágómelléki Reformed Church District in its announcement.
They add: "although the investigation did not reveal any kind of financial abuse or neglect of duty, the grievances and personal differences that have accumulated over the past two decades cannot be remedied, therefore both the pastors of the parish and the presbyters resigned in the interest of the peace of the congregation. In the next period, the pastors serving will perform the services under the supervision of the Reformed Diocese of Érmellék, and when the spiritual wounds have healed, the congregation and the new presbytery can decide in the fall how they will fill the vacant pastoral positions.
Last week, the news appeared on social media that János Dénes Balázs and his wife Csilla Balázsné Kiss resigned from their pastoral positions. János Dénes Balázs then said that they are currently preparing for Tuesday's church district visitation and that he does not read the news that appears in the various Facebook groups. However, he did not deny the information.
As is well known, during January dissatisfaction was expressed in the small town in Bihar County due to the fees determined by the presbytery of the Érmihályfalvi Reformed Parish. Indeed, many of the Reformed considered the church maintenance contribution or the fees for various services to be excruciatingly high, not to mention the funeral costs and the predetermined amounts as "donations".
As a result of the indignation, previous perceived or real grievances soon surfaced. In a Facebook group in Érmihályfalv, grievances, accusations and various assumptions against the pastor couple rained down. Dénes Balázs János and his wife, Csilla Balázsné Kiss, have been serving as Reformed pastors in the settlement for more than two decades, and it turned out that there were problems years ago that could not be remedied at the time, and these gave rise to an ever-increasing wave of dissatisfaction.
The complainants also complain about the behavior of the pastor couple towards the faithful, starting from the alleged financial and accounting irregularities.
As a result of the indignation, more than a thousand people signed the petition that was sent to the Reformed Diocese of Érmellék, stating that they are not satisfied with the work and behavior of the priests in Mihályfalv. When a decision was made on the petition, the outraged residents of Mihályfalvia stood up and marched out of the church on Sunday, January 28, when the local pastor was about to begin his sermon, and then prayed and sang outside the walls of the church. On the two Sundays that have passed since then, László Bara, the dean of the Ermellék diocese, and Tamás Illyés, the chief registrar of the diocese, preached the word in the Mihályfalvi church.
"This case is sad, painful for me and certainly for everyone involved. Unfortunately, the church in Érmihályfalv has reached the point where a very big gap has formed between the community and the pastors. Now the reasons can be investigated, and we are investigating them, but the fact is that a gap has arisen that seems to be unbridgeable."
- declared János Bogdán Szabolcs, bishop of the Királyhágómellék Reformed Church District. He explained that they tried to solve the problem in a peaceful way.
"We had efforts to reconcile, we listened to both sides. I think it is important to say that the diocesan and church district leadership from the beginning, as the news about the dissatisfaction appeared on Facebook, was not visible to the public, but we started to deal with the case, we started to deal with it so that it did not escalate - because this was also involved - and we act responsibly in the matter within the framework set by our church laws", declared the bishop.
Featured image source: Tangent
