Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia) and Nagyenyed (Aiud) in Romania will host the Hungarian Reformed Unity Day from 19 to 21 May, also commemorating 400 years of Reformed education in Transylvania.
The three-day event was announced at a press conference on Tuesday 26 April by Béla Kató, Bishop of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District, Botond Gudor Kund, Dean of the Reformed Presbytery of Nagyenyed and the chief coordinator of the event, Szilárd Tussay.
This year's Unity Day took place on the occasion of the anniversary of the establishment of Reformed education in Transylvania, 400 years after Prince Gábor Bethlen founded the Collegium Academicum in Gyulafehérvár. A statue of the prince, the work of Árpád Deák, a sculptor from Oradea, will therefore be unveiled on 21 May at the joint service celebrating Reformed unity.
The official day of unity is Saturday 21 May, but the joint service in the Castle of Gyulafehérvár will be preceded by a series of events.
The events will kick off on Thursday in Nagyenyed with a conference on the history of schools and churches, organised by the Protestant Theological Institute of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). Several exhibitions on similar themes will also open in the city. On 19 May, in the afternoon, an exhibition on the history of education in the Carpathian Basin will open at the Museum of Art. On 20 May, an exhibition on the history of publishing of Transylvanian schools will open at the County Museum in Cluj-Napoca. Books used in the schools of the past will be on display, including a copy of Gábor Bethlen's handwriting. Several museums have contributed to the exhibition, with the volumes coming mainly from the libraries of Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mures), Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) and Nagyenyed (Aiud). In addition, an exhibition of the László Teleki Foundation's monument restoration projects will be opened, including churches in the reformed diaspora that have been spectacularly restored.
Main organiser Szilárd Tussay, Bishop Béla Kató and Dean Botond Gudor Kund presented the event
A special occasion of the series of events surrounding the Unity Day will be the simultaneous thanksgiving worships for the renovation of ten parishes in South Transylvania on Friday afternoon. Congregations in Csombord, Magyarlapád, Székelykocsárd, Gyulafehérvár, Alvinc, Marosszentimre, Szászváros, Kéménd, Algyógy, Magyarigen and Boroskrakkó will will host simultaneous worship services, led by Bishops of the reformed churches from Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Romania. The General Convent, the deliberative and consulting body of the Hungarian Reformed Churches of the Carpathian Basin, will also meet.
Day of the Hungarian Reformed Unity in 2019 in Debrecen
For the Unity Day celebrations on Saturday 21 May, the organisers are inviting participants from all corners of the Carpathian Basin to experience and express together the unity of the Reformed Church community.
Bishop Béla Kató, head of the Transylvanian Reformed Church District said at a press conference that the leaders of the Hungarian Reformed Church decided in 2009 in Debrecen to celebrate the unity of the Reformed Church on the last Sunday of May each year. Celebrations took place in various places in the Carpathian Basin during the past 13 years, but the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to organise the unity day. He reminded that two years ago the celebration had to be cancelled in Târgu Mures, in the year of the 100th anniversary of the peace treaty of Trianon/Versailles. Thanksgiving for a hundred churches that had been renovated had to be also cancelled.
Dean Botond Gudor Kund, pastor of Gyulafehérvár, pointed out at the press conference that the founding of the school in Gyulafehérvár and the successor institutions, the college in Nagyenyed, the seminary in Kolozsvár (Cluj) and the education, in general, in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mures) or Sárospatak, Hungary, which started here, were decisive for the whole Carpathian Basin.
Szilárd Tussay, the main organiser of the event, pointed out that the Unity Day celebrations have grown over the years into a series of events lasting several days, so that this year's meeting in Gyulafehérvár will also offer a wide range of activities for guests from all over the Carpathian Basin. The organizers welcome all those who wish to celebrate regardless of their denomination, as they would like to organize an event that will deepen faith and strengthen the entire Hungarian community.