Translated Sermon #20: The Treasure of the Church by Nyitrai Berta

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheTreasureoftheChurch.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 1973.   The sermon is using a personal story about the Transylvanian Unitarian Hymnal to reveal what is the most important, essential treasures of the church.  Both the building, and the church in the heart.  The circumstances of the writer of this sermon is also something to think about.  Nyitrai Berta was the wife of Nyitrai Mózes (the unitarian minister in the village of Homoródkarácsonyfalva).  Berta was a minister, and she also was, what we would call, a choir director at the church.   She was arrested in 1959 on charges that she committed acts that challenged the ruling communist order. She was sentenced to 25 years of prison.  She received amnesty in 1964, and then followed her husband who became the minister in the village of Vadad.    Her grandson, Dr. Kecskés Csaba, is currently the minister of the unitarian church at Marosvásárhely Kövesdomb.  That is the partner of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Translated Sermon #19: Concio CXV by Enyedi György

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonConcioCXV.

Summary of sermon: The author of the sermon deserves as much attention as the topic.  Enyedi György was the third bishop of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church, until his death in 1597. He is called in some Hungarian language literature as the “Unitarian Plato”, because most of his writings and sermons focuses on the explanations of Bible verses.  He is noted for using everyday, mundane metaphors to teach the congregation about the meaning behind the words of Christ.  Hungarian translations of the Bible began to spread in his time, and it was important to teach churchgoers on their mother tongue about it.

The topic of the sermon could be a motto for Enyedi’s life: learning about the words of Christ, and teaching and admonishing others.  The discussion includes reasoning about why go to church, why there is so much to learn about the word of Christ, how can we learn about the words of Christ when he is no longer with us, why reading the Bible in in the native language expands its interpretations, why we ought to teach each other, what you should do when it comes to sing in church, but you can’t sing,.  In this sermon you look through a window into late XVIth century Transylvania, and hear the words of a contemporary of Shakespeare.  So, sit back, relax, allow your time machine to take you back to around 1594, and enjoy this gem of a sermon, available the first time in English.

Translated Sermon #18: Our Fulfillment by Nyitrai Mózes

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonOurFulfillment.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 1991.   The sermon is urging us to do all we can to reach the highest level of development of our souls: become one with God. Because Jesus,a flesh and blood human, has reached that level, we have a path pointed out for us.  The circumstances of the writer of this sermon is also something to think about.  Nyitrai Mózes was an ordained unitarian minister in the village of Homoródkarácsonyfalva until 1958, when he was arrested on charges that he committed acts that challenged the ruling communist order. He was sentenced to 10 years of prison.  He received amnesty in 1964, and then he became the minister in the village of Vadad.   I wonder if the ideals explained in this sermon had helped him to maintain his dignity during that time of imprisonment, and after his release when he decided to continue to serve others through his ministry.  His grandson, Dr. Kecskés Csaba, is currently the minister of the unitarian church at Marosvásárhely Kövesdomb.  That is the partner of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Translated Sermon #17: Your Soul, the Good Soil by Székely Kinga Réka

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonYourSoultheGoodSoil.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2016.   The sermon is based on the parable of the sower; whichever is the current state of our soul, we have the power to change it to be the good soil that will produce a crop.    Székely Kinga Réka is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister serving as minister at the Homoródszentpéter church.  They are partnered with the Unity Unitarian Church in st Paul Minnesota.    Székely Kinga Réka was a Balazs scholar in 1999-2000.

Translated sermon #16: The Spirit of Hope by Bálint Róbert Zoltán

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheSpiritofHope.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2009, as a New Year sermon.   The sermon is about how we can look forward to a better new year if we place our trust into God, as he gave us the spirit of power, and not the spirit of fear.    Bálint Róbert Zoltán is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister serving as minister at the Mészkő church.  They are partnered with the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.    Bálint Róbert Zoltán was a Balazs scholar in 2009-2010.

Translated Sermon #15: The Empty Hand by Pap Mária

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheEmptyHand.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2015, and presented at the Fall Thanksgiving service in Kolozsvár.   The sermon is about how we might be grateful to God, eventhough we may not hold anything in our hands.    Pap Mária is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister who served the congregations of Szentivánlaborfalva and Kézdivásárhely.  She was a Balazs scholar in 2003-2004.   At the time of this translation she is the unitarian minister at the Old Meeting House Unitarian Chapel at Mansfield, United Kingdom.

Translated Sermon #14: Standing firm…. by Simén Dániel

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonStandingfirm.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written on December 3, 1956, and posthumously published in 2013.  This sermon has a very unique history, as this was one of the sermons that played a role in the 1957 arrest and interrogation of several Unitarian ministers by the Romanian Secret Police.   All of those ministers were found guilty of various “crimes against the state”, and sentenced to several years of labor camps. What was their crime?  You see, during 1956 a small group of Transylvanian Unitarian ministers put together a booklet of sermons that they were distributing throughout the Unitarian Seminary, and preached in Transylvanian villages. They were found out, and their booklet was confiscated, and the text of several sermons appeared as evidence of crimes, in the transcripts of the interrogations and the trial.  This is one of those sermons in that booklet;  the author suffered dearly just for speaking his mind.  So, who is this author?  Simén Dániel was a unitarian minister in the village of Lupeny till 1940, and after that he worked as a theologian, and a teacher in Kolozsvar.  He was imprisoned in 1959, and released in 1964.  He passed away in 1969.

Translated Sermon #13: In the Language of the Spirit by Czire Szabolcs

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonIntheLanguageoftheSpirit.

Summary of sermon: This 2017 sermon(published in 2018) is from Reverend Dr. Czire Szabolcs who is the teacher of Old Testament and New Testament subjects at the Protestáns Teológiai Intézet unitárius szakirányán (Protestant Theological Institute, Unitarian profile),  Kolozsvár, Transylvania.  He was a Balazs scholar in 2014.   The topic of this sermon is the story of Pentecost, and how it is still very applicable to our lives.  This sermon won the 1st place in the 2017 sermon contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

Translated Sermon #12: Our Tradition of Renewal by Jakabházi Béla Botond

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Summary of sermon: This 2018 sermon is from Reverend Jakabházi Béla Botond who is the minister at Nyárádgálfalva, Transylvania.  He was a Balazs scholar in 2007-2008.   The central theme of this sermon is why we want ask the following questions: as people of Unitarian faith  “Who are we? and Who do we want to become?” .  The answers are coming from the rich cultural traditions of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, and the words of Jesus.  This sermon won the 3rd place in the 450th Anniversary year contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

Translated Sermon # 11: On The Way There by Kovács Sándor

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonOnTheWayThere.

Summary of sermon: This 2018 sermon is from Kovács Sándor, one of the theology teachers at the Protestant Theological Institute at Kolozsvár, Transylvania.   Kovács Sándor is also running the library at the headquarters of the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár, Transylvania.  The topic of this sermon is God’s promise to the Jewish leaders exiled to Babylon. This sermon won a shared 1st prize in the 450th Anniversary year contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

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