Diversified traditions or variety of spoken languages are not the only decisive elements of [629841]

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INTRODUCTION

Diversified traditions or variety of spoken languages are not the only decisive elements of
the European culture. The Christian conception of life and also the faith are two essential things
of our continent. Christianity was always a decisive element, not only for the culture, but also for
the history of Europe – and a real milestone of this history was the reformation, happened in
1517. The answering acts of Martin Luther have made our entire continent – which was
relatively organic from the confessional point of view until that year – to fall to pieces.
Reformation first reared its head on German territory, but later on, it gathers ground easily on the
much of Europe. Even though there are more reformators to be appear near Martin Luther during the history (such as Jean Calvin or Ulrich Zwingli), my work is aimed to analyze the apparition
and spreading of the Lutheran Church. As reformation is still growing continuously through the
16th century, the political and demographica l organization of Europe is also changing. Ministers,
who have gained their knowledge directly from Luther himself, or from his successors, are easily
gathering new members for the new church around them. This is how it also happened in our
region, and in the city of Oradea. However, storms of history were really unkind to Protestant
people.
The purpose of this thesis is to review the spreading of reformation, the hierarchy and the executive organization of the Evangelical – Lutheran Church in Romania. Subsequently, I will
investigate the reasons why and how the number of its members was shaping in the past 100 years (since 1914 until 2014). In the first part of my thesis I will study the apparition and
spreading of reformation, as well as the sit uation of this church in Romania – all my
investigations being based on historical data. The third (the last) chapter of my work will contain the processing and demographical analyze of birth certifications data (births and deaths). Birth
certifications us ed for my investigations were provided by the m inister of local Lutheran
community, Rev. Attila Mátyás. My thesis will cover the events happened since 1914 until 2014,

8
and all the data available for this period. By this way, we can have a really panoramic view about
demographical fluctuation of the Lutheran community in Oradea , which is covering the past 100
years.
Confessional repartition of the citizens is a really important factor in population
geography. This confessional repartition can be c orrelated with the different political regimes
beyond the all -time authority of the state. The purpose of my thesis is to investigate these
relations, and nevertheless, to explain and prove the variation of the members` number –
depending from a particular regime. Furthermore, I also want to investigate the way by the
number of these members is influenced by economical or migration phenomena. There are many
different investigational results and tabling to exemplify all these aspects to the reader of my
thesis.

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CHAPTER I.
THE REFORMATION

The word reformation means: to restore something to its original state. The spiritual
reformation movements of the 1500s were already preceded by different ideas of reformation in
the earli er centuries. Among the notions of humanism, the recognition of the necessity for a
major change was also introduced: society is no longer sustainable in its actual status. The XIV –
XV century Europe was divided by lots of variances, contradictories.
As Eu ropean cities became much more agglomerated, food supplement was also
weakened by feudal relations of the era. Epidemics of plague were raving the population, vices
and witch hunts have brought storms of indignation on a daily basis. The Church was also quite
unable to handle this situation by its own available tools, amidst these circumstances.
The absolute majority of the population understood quite nothing during the church
services. Masses celebrated on Latin language were risen some sort of mystical, holy feelings,
rather than offering reliance or consolation through transmitting God’s will to the inhabitants. Rapacity and vice has also infiltrated inside the whole Church, creating even more indignation.
The schism of 1054 has also really weakened its positions. There were so many people at that
time recognizing the real need for a serious reformation of the Church, but the first attempts were throttled by Catholic inquisition. (Colijn, 1996)
Renaissance and humanism wanted these changes to b e procured by a different way than
the ecclesiastical one. Renaissance is basically the Latin translation for the notion of scriptural
rebirth, which has nothing to deal with the religious attempts of repairing the human soul: its
purpose was to raise an a bsolutely new type of human being. Therefore, this ideology said that
the basic tool for this could only be the education, and not the faith. Humanists have even criticized the Church itself: they saw an imperative sign of a necessity for changing the huma n,
as they saw the taint of the clergy as well.

10
Significance of humanism has manifested itself above even more areas: the need for
scientific development was spread above scriptural disciplines, mainly on areas such the
knowledge and reading of scriptural languages. Later on, humanists have admitted that
Christianity is the purest philosophy, and they helped the clergy spr eading their disciples.
(Tomlin, 2003)

1.1. The apparition and the evolution of reformation
The life of Luther befor e taking the step that has finally led to reformation was streaming
among circumstances that helped him to recognize the problems of his era – not only the
problems of civil life, but the clerical ones as well. As his studies were forwarding, Luther
reflec ted its own era based on the Holy Scripture.
His attempts have marked only the aim to preach the pure scriptural disciples, the way
the prophets and apostles have done it – instead of modifying the structure of the Church. The
pure life that God likes can be reached only standing on these bases, and this kind of life can be
only preached by this way as a purpose.
Relationship between God and the ordinary run of mankind from his century was relied only on masses celebrated on a different language , on the pictures of saints, services filled with
holy, mystical deeds. This kind of relationship in fact was a desperate attempt of accommodation to God almighty, who will judge everything – of course, He is the one to decide the eternal fate
of human souls towards the heaven, or the perdition. The waiting for the apocalyptical Day of Judgment was also really strong. ( Tomlin, 2003)
As the constructions of Rome have mopped up more money than the material possibilities, and the population was quite aware of the judgment – even though they undertook less and less
the Church- prescribed expiatory pilgrimages – it was a good opportunity to simplify the
absolution by selling the absolution cards. The usage of this method – without any scriptural
basis – has raised not only Luther’s indignation, but also the indignation of other wise people
with the same ideology, and the same scriptural knowledge. (Bottyán, 1982)

1.2. Martin Luther
He was born in 1843, in Eisenberg, as the second child of a s imple family of miners. The
father Hans Lude r has made all efforts possible in order to train his shrewd son. He wanted
Martin to have a good and sparkling judiciary career, in the hope that later he will gain a nice
income, and will be able to give a helping hand to his family. He has began his studies at the

11
University of Erfurt in 1501, and received his first master degree four years after – then went
back home, to train himself onwards in judicial matters after the summer break.

Figure 1. The portrait of Martin Luther
(Source: http://www.dejonckheere –
gallery.com/medias/tableaux/zoom_portrait_de_martin_luther1.jpg )

This summer has traced brand new guidelines for his life. The thought of death has
previously preoccupied him. At these times, there were many events happened consecutively,
which were even more thought -provoking. One of his friends has died of pneumonia, Luther
himself was desperately wounded by his own knife after a simple fall, and later on, inside the forest of Erfurt a thunder has swooped on a tree so close to him, that he – frightened – has
immediately made a pledge: if he will survive this , will beco me a friar. (Tomlin, 2003)
After only two weeks, Luther has retracted his apply to the judicial faculty, and asked to
be accepted into the Augustinian monastical order. His father took notice of this issue with great
indignation, he was so angry that he even disinherited his son. Later – on the dinner after
celebrating the ordainment of Martin – he also gave voice to his anger, saying that God`s call
could be the voice of the evil. (Tomlin, 2003)

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Monastical life of Martin Luther was even more austere than required: he spent all his time
studying dogmatism, clerical disciples, and other theological works related to masses. His main
areas of investigation were the issues of sin and absolution.
When he was allowed to read the Bible in its original form, he suddenly began to
recognize that salvation, hell and heaven are not direct upshots of worldly merits or sins
committed, but only the will of God`s mercy, and the deed of Christ the Saviour for humanity.
He was ordered as priest in 1517, a nd was moved later to the city of Wittenberg where he
obtained its PhD, and teached exegesis from 1518 until his death. Since 1518 Luther was completely alighted about the fact that he misunderstood the Holy
Scripture until now. He thought about the righteousness of God that this righteousness is a
punishing and threatening one, that can be only reconciled through austerity and penance. He recognized that the right man is living from, and with faith – and will get closer to God not by his
good wo rks on Earth, but will trustingly accept the mercy of God.
When in 1516 he issued his 97 theses and debated them with his followers, there were no
reactions arrived from Rome. In the following year, Luther reworked the theses to 95, and posted them on 31
st
October 1517 on the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg, in order to have a
public debate.

Figure 2. : The 95 theses nailed by Luther to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.
Luther’s theses were engraved then into a bronze gate
(Source: http://www.br.de/themen/bayern/inhalt/kult- und-brauch/Reformationstag -Luther )

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In these theses he discussed the sale of indulgences and methods of scholastic teaching.
This was the point when the spreading of reformation has started. The wake itself was a practice
which assured the theocracy over society. Luther’s criticism against the Catholic Church were
largely supported by many worldly sovereigns and German bishops, because they were unwilling to send all the income resulted from the sale of indulgences to Rome – as these amounts of
money could be spent on a wiser way inside their own country. A large mass of people were more and more enlightened about the fact that the Church has institutionalized the salvation of
Jesus Christ, where clergy is selling God’s gifts for a certain amount of money .

Figure 3. : The sale of indulgences shown in a question to a Mintmaker, woodcut by Jörg Breu
the Elder of Augsburg (1530)
(Source: http://www .haciendapub.com/sites/default/files/SaleOfIndulgences.jpg )

Luther’s success is mainly due to the presence of printing works, which were spreading
progressively at that time. Typographers have recognized that these 95 theses are not only some sort of usual writings for creating undesired quarrels, so they have spread them in a huge number
all over the country and abroad as well, in a very short time. The fact that his Theses have easily became really well -known, has also rose up the attention of Luther’s enemies: first he argued
with Dominican friars, then he was interrogated by cardinals in Augsburg – finally, the Pope
himself has threatened him with fulmination.

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After these threats, Luther has written his works which mainly caused the rupture. In
these works, he sharply proved the following things:
– Church has no power over the world
– The Pope cannot be an unerring interpreter of the Holy Scripture
– Not only the Pope has the right to summon a synod
(Bottyán, 1982)
After all thes e were said, Luther was officially avowed as being heretic, and was
fulminated, excluded from the Church. His life was more and more endangered. As a heretic, he could be killed anywhere by anybody without any punishment – furthermore, he could be sent to
stake (in fact, this was the desire of the whole Catholic clergy).
Frederick II, Count Palatine of the Rhine – also known as Frederick the Wise, and a good
friend of Luther – kidnapped him and gave him shelter inside the Castle of Wartburg, wearing
the Kn ight George pseudonym. Luther has experienced this fake imprisonment as a really
blessed period: with the help of his fellows, he succeeded with translating the whole New Testament. (B ottyán, 1982)
By this enormous work Luther has not only brought the world of Holy Scripture even closer to the population, but also laid down the bases of organic and national German language.
German people talking in lots of dialects until that moment now have found a common wave by
reading this translation. Luther’ s disciples and polemics were really significant for the European
progress of the reformation, but the translation of the New Testament has given an even higher impulse to these attempts, which have meanwhile became a movement. Despite of the disciples
of foreign students studying in Germany, the population has also paid heed to the recognition
framed by humanists: in order to renew the whole society, you need education. Some improvements of this idea have said that there is a need for an organic national l anguage in order
to sustain education, which must be done vernacularly. This is the reason why Luther was so appreciated in his homeland, and gathered more and more followers around him.
Translations of the Holy Scripture have appeared among nea rly every European nation
during the following decades. These were really popular, despite their really high prices and the fact that these were only fragmentary translations in many cases.

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1.3. The spreading of reformation
This process coi ncides with the intense spreading of the Turkish Empire. The huge
Turkish invasion trespassing Carpathian Mountains has dissipated the population, ate up its
economical supplies, and had no mercy against monasteries, which were burned and despoiled –
their orders have also fled to farther order houses, or have been dispersed among the other
refugees of the area. Monastery depopulation is also due to the fact that intramural life was
sustained only by appearances and soulless rules. Many of the religious orders have become
empty, content -and purposeless, being sustained only by the austere forms of Roman Church.
(Fabiny, 1984)

Figure 4. : The religious divisions of Europe, ca. 1555
(Source:
http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/262/268312/art/figures/KISH_13_309.gif )

Luther’s doctrines reached not only the northern territories of Europe, but also the Eastern
parts of the continent. Even though Protestant concepts were hardly let in by Catholic people,
they were not completely able to prevent their spreading to the very end.
Extended Turkish occupation in Europe was also contributed to the spreading of
Protestant Churche s, which were tolerated by the Ottomans th rough an unconcealed interest.
Turkish landlords were so afraid that in lack of a Christian minister, an even higher number of working and tax -paying population will run away from their territories. (Fabiny , 1984 ).
Ottomans have also hoped that Protestants will help them in their Islamic evangelism. Rev. Méliusz Juhász Péter, who talked many languages, was forced by them to translate Quran into

16
Hungarian. Because of his early death, this t ranslation has f inally failed. As Protestant ministers
were poor pilgrims (but also eager -minded and wise young people), they were easily took in not
only by magnates but also by noblemen or even ordinary people. These ministers were skilled
not only in questions of faith – there were many pharmacists, doctors or typographers among
them. In a short while, their doctrines have influenced the opinion of the whole settlement. The beginning of the reformation of Oradea is a good example to this issue. In June 1552, a young
student – known only as Student Krist óf – has appeared in our city, who is apparently identical
to Köleséri Kristóf, graduated in 1544- 45 from the University of Wittenberg. After teaching a
while at the city of Timișoara, he moved away to the surrounding asse ts of Oradea. In 1552, he
firstly spoke at the mass of the Day of Corpus Christi, held in the Castle Church of our city. In his speech, he preached the Biblical disciples about sanctities. Civilian authority and the
population took the part of this student and maintained his point of view, even though the
chaplain of Oradea asked for severe measures against him. More and more aldermen have stood at the side of reformation, and meanwhile even the political situation has forced the Catholic
Church to not only balk, but also to flee. In 1567, another reformator – Czeglédi György – has
arrived to our city, who graduated in 1553- 1554 from the University of Wittenberg. He was a
real keynoter of serious polemics and meetings. It seems that he lived in Oradea until 1569 – by
this time, the city has already followed the way of prosperous reformation. The existing Catholic
churches have become Reformed of Evangelist churches. (Cser nák, 1992)

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CHAPTER II.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN ROMANIA

The main purpose of the reformation was to restore the Church to a form that is really
similar to the early apostolic Christianity. Doctrinal theses and the matters of Church
government were both revised – however, my work will not discuss dogmas. Changes appeared
in the government of the Church are truly visible if we pay some attention to the organization of the early Christian Church.

2.1. The hierarchy of the early Christian Church

We can get knowledge of the early Christian folds from the New Testament (the books of
Acts and Galatians).
Formation: the risen Christ has sent away his twelve apostles to stay in Jerusalem until
the promise of the Father will be fulfilled. This fulfillment was the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost, which had a wonderful effect: the apostles have experienced the miracle of praying on different languages, and have gained a power that truly made them deputies of God,
who are able to spread the good word even to the utmost boundaries of inhabited area. At this
mom ent we can talk about the first 3.000 people who have become Christians (followers of
Christ). They have understood everything through a common wave of language, a present of God’s Holy Spirit – even though they were of so many different nationalities around the world.
Constitution : The conductorship of the early Christian community had two entities: the
apostles (the twelve, from which the 12
th is not Judas but Matthias), and the seven deacons.
Apostles were mainly preoccupied by preaching about Jesus Chr ist and healing through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Deacons have handled financial matters at the beginnings and later on,
they have brought on the basis of social aiding . (Burkhardt et al, 1987) .

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After the twelve apostles died, not too many si milar people remained, although there was a
huge attention around those who have known Jesus Christ personally, and lived even after the
turn of the first century. Thereafter, the government of the Church had stood on the lay elders
(not expressively elder people but mainly those real Christians, whose faith was recognized
unconditionally) and the deacons. Monasticism was unknown at scriptural era (community of Qumran cannot be called a regular religious order as it exists nowadays).
Even at Luther’s era there were so many functions that couldn’t have been held in their early apostolic circumstances: Christian deacons were those who cared about widowed people,
orphans, slaves who were also members of Christian community and those severely wounded
during wars. Those willing to join the early Christian community have bestowed their whole
estate when they came in – this was a serious basis for aiding other needy members. Their
Christian slave fellows were bought from their holders, and were manumitted. In case of need, Christian communities helped each other jointly. Notions of clergy – by its medieval meaning –
were completely unknown. Among early Christian people there were only a few with similar skills to Apostle Paul, but despite of their wisdom, they don’t aim for higher positions. Every
local community had its members with yet really much knowledge about the life and deeds of
Jesus – their wordy teachings have stood in the middle of every sermon. As the persecution of
Christian people was gradual ly reinforced, deacons have had the assignment to choose
clandestine meeting locations and to securely notify all the other members. The admission to
such communities – the christening or in other words baptism – was preceded by instruction and
examination (testimony), that had to be made in front of the lay elders, who could convince
themselves about the true faith and devoted conscience of those newly arrived.
In matters of faith or incertitude the final decision was resigned to those having credits of
being as close as possible to Jesus, having credits of their knowledge about him and could
properly see the whole situation by the help of the Holy Spirit. The final decision – similar to
apostolic letters – was written and presented to lay elders. These de cisions were mostly positive.

2.2. The executive organization of the Lutheran Church in Romania
According to the ecclesiastical law of the Lutheran Church, dogmas are the facts that
spiritually bind the community members together. Furthermore, the Church itself carries out its
functions based on an official system of organization approved by state authorities, but not
influencing it. Differences between Lutheran Church and early Christian communities are the
effects of necessities resulted from social organization of the modern era. Anybody can become a member of the Church, if he or she was previously baptized, enounced his or her intent to be a

19
member, and nevertheless, will contribute by his or her financial and spiritual possibilities to the
maintenance of the community. There are no lingual boundaries. Members have election rights
in their diocese belonging to their place of residence (election right regards the election of those
taking ecclesiastical appointments: the minister, the deacons o r presbyters). Membership is
ceased by death, by quit or disciplinal extrusion.

Figure 5. : Cluj Napoca Lutheran Church, the seat of the bishop
(Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Cluj –
Napoca_Evangelical_Church.jpg)

Communities constitute bishoprics and then, dioceses – thus, the whole Church.
Ecclesiastical offices are taking shape accordin gly to this structure. The competent offices are:
the ministerial office (at community level), deanship (at the level of bishoprics) and the bishop’s
office (at diocese level). This kind of organization was unknown in early Christian communities,
election rights were not separated as well. Decisions have belonged to the members and lay
elders. Apostles were kept in touch with other communities of larger regions through correspondence, and then preachers, deacons or other community delegations have visited t heir
farther brothers, and conciliated them on decisions taken in certain matters. The language of

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preaching service was mainly determined by local necessities (in particular in strays) just as
nowadays.
The main administrative, legislative and electoral ent ity of the Evangelical – Lutheran
Church in Romania is the synod, which is also authorized to make theological decisions, while
the main representational, administrative and electoral entity of communities and dioceses is the general assembly. The all time and all -level eparchial and executive entity of the Evangelical –
Lutheran Church in Romania is the Presbytery. Communities, bishoprics and dioceses are
allowed to create and maintain different institutions of internal or exte rnal evangelism and
socially aiding institutions or other religious organizations as well, including educational institutes or training units of their own staff. They can also manage pension funds and can have
their own publishing houses (for ecclesiastica l books or magazines). The management of these
institutions is regulated by the particular canon issued by the synod, according to Romanian law. (The canon of the Evangelical -Lutheran Church in Romania, 2003)
Early Christian Church had no similar institutes. Services of charity were carried out by
deacons; colportage of ecclesiastical literature was not possible in lack of literate majority.
Education was always related to the religious instruction of those willing to be baptized – these
activities were ca rried out by the preacher of the Christian community or an authorized deacon.
Decisions of the synod or the general assembly are registered in an official report, which are to
be forwarded to the archival. Every decision will become valid after its promulg ation. There is
also a period of 15 days for appeal: during this time, the validity of a particular decision must be verified intensively. As far as Christianity itself has continuously drawn off from early Christian
communities, the ministerial appointmen ts have become even more composite. After the death of
the first generation of early Christian people who have known Jesus Christ, teaching and
disciples have also become blurry and medley. Written evangels and apostolic letters must have
been spread and b e studied. Persons with a higher level of knowledge and faith could become
ministers of a community later on. Nowadays, ministerial service, deaconry and religious education is depending on theological qualification. Therefore, according to ecclesiastical
canons, the minister can be sanctified only by the bishop himself, after the candidate is fully
qualified. Ministers can also be directly appointed to a community, where the members will
affirm his admittance. According to early Christian rule, a minister or other eparchial leaders
must have a puritan life, and a respectable civil employment, if they are not earning their incomes from the Church itself. General assembly has the power to bring in effect the decisions
made. Common matters are handled and mana ged by the Presbytery. Assembly of the Presbytery
is always private, and never public. This assembly can form a quorum for important decisions if

21
it’s legitimately convoked, and at least the half (+1 people) of the electorate is present. ( The
canon of the Evangelical -Lutheran Church in Romania, 2003)
It is obvious that main acts and decisions made by the Presbytery of our days are related to
clear fin ancial and bureaucratic issues. The most of these matters are not to be found in an early
Christian community.

2.3. The Romanian Lutheran dioceses

The Lutheran Church is divided into three dioceses: the diocese of Bra șov, diocese of
Cluj Napoca and diocese of Nădlac. The head of the Church is the bishop himself, dioceses are
supervised by deans. Dioceses are built up of different communities which are also supervised by
the dean, who is authorized to see after ministerial services as well. Cluj Na poca is both the seat
of bishop and the diocese of Cluj Napoc a. The investigated community of Oradea is also
belonging here.

Figure 6. : Lutherans in Romania (2002)
(Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/File –
Evanghelici_(lutherani_la_nord_de_Carpati_si_alte_confesiuni_la_sud_de_Carpati)_in_Romani
a_(2002).png )

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The Lutheran Church of Romania is not to be confused with the Evangelical Church of
Augustan Confession. Saxon Evangelic people have their separate Church, with a separate
bishopric in the city of Sibiu. They have formed separate dioceses, which are not identical to the
dioceses of t he Lutheran Church . Native German Lutheran people had their own Church from
the beginnings, their worships were also held on German language. Latin language used within
ecclesiastical government and clergy was also gradually replaced by German. Therefore, it is
obvious that Saxon people haven’t used Hungarian language, the most part of them were adepts
of German and Habsburg policy, which have caused problems amidst the fights of Hungarian
people for independence. (Mátyás, 2012)

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CHAPTER III.
STATISTI CS OF THE LUTHERAN COMMUNITY IN ORADEA

Hereinafter, I will use the vestry books of local Lutheran community in order to explain
how the number of members is fluctuating, and also to discover the reasons for high or low death
rates. These registers were provided by the minister of our community. After reviewing the
Evangelical – Lutheran Church, this chapter is given over to such kind of investigations. Using
the registers provided by the loca l Lutheran minister, I rounded up all the dates concerning the
total number of births and deaths, which were finally summed up into a table and a diagram. By
this way, we can obtain a really panoramic view about the history of our Lutheran community,
cover ing a whole century (including the two world wars, the communism and later on, the
transition from communism into democracy). These historical facts had a strong impact upon the local Lutheran community, the large number of deaths caused by the world war, and the low
birth rate caused by migration can be also traceable. The exact yearly number of members from
the local Lutheran community can be find only since 1990. Before this year, there are only a few
periodically recorded, approximate statistical accoun ts about the fluctuation of the members`
number. Local Lutheran community sums up a little amount of members in the past few decades: nowadays it has 606 members, according to a recent report for this year.
One of the main reasons for the low number of Lutheran Evangelic citizens can be the
fact that at the beginning of the 20
th
Lutheran community hasn’t really taken part of such events, and this phenomenon is
obvious even in our days. Therefore, the force of community is gr adually weakened, not only by
this, but also by the high- leveled migration caused by the transition from the communism into
democracy. century there were not so many public activities organized
by the Lutheran community, at least, we cannot found any records of local media about such things. Minorities with other confessions have tried to remain active by literary, theatrical or
other public appearances. (Filep , 2008)

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Figure 7. : The vestry book of the Lutheran community

3.1 Statistics between 1914 -1920
At the end of the 19th century there were huge military building operations in course. In
1891 and 1892 new barracks of cavalry were built up on the road towards Arad, which was later
expanded in 1897 with artillery units. Later on, many uphouses were built up for the attendants
of the army (such as shooting galleries, stables or for the Staff College). Therefore, our city was
able to display a significant military division at the beginning of the First World War. From here,
the 4th regiment of defenders was deployed. (Péter , 2014)
„War!” – this is how the leading article of local newspaper Nagyváradi Napló has
appeared on 26th July 1914, with bolded types. On the front page, we were able to read the
following: „At 12 o’clock in the night, the war broke out. The army of the Monarchy marched in Serbia…” On the following day, local tabloids reported the mobilization of the 7
th regiment –
within the 4th and 20th defender units of our city. Decree of mobilization was presented on 27th
From sources above we can observe that the 4
June, at 4:00 AM by Ferenc Eleméry, the advis or from the local authority in military matters, in
front of the journalists present at the city hall. (Péter, 2014)
th defender regiment how largely was
deployed into military operations, which have led to many heroical deaths, according to the
nature of this war. Soldiers of the army were recruited mainly from the young people of the city, and its surrounding settlements. As many families have wanted their sons to have a military
career (due to good possibiliti es of military education), the impact of the war was quite

25
inevitable for local Lutheran community. Those willing to have a military career were not
disadvantaged because of their religion.
Table. 1. : The number of births and deaths between 1914 – 1920

(Source: Data taken from the vestry books)

Figure 8. : The number of births and deaths between 1914 – 1920
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books)

It is also traceable from the graph that in 1915, the wane of membership within local
Lutheran communi ty has significantly increased (73 deaths), which is unequivocally caused by
the First World War. Even if not so seriously, but this war had obvious effects on the number of members from our community. Birth rate was also influenced by the war during the f ollowing
years – not too many people were willing to have children in these heavy times. No wonder that
death rate was much higher than birth rate. During a severe war, a country is more preoccupied
with defending itself, than with birth rates. War is end ing in 1918, but birth rates will be
normalized only in the following two years (1919 and 1920 – with 22 and 32 births within
Lutheran community). The end of the war will also even the things up in the life of this
community, when everybody could calm down and run on their family matters, after fathers have

26
also came back from the battles. Excepting the war, there were probably no other facts to largely
influence the membership of the community.

3.2 Statistic s between 1921 -1938
The period between the two world wars was quite uneasy for the community. After the
troubles of the war, the Church itself was politically constrainted and pushed aside. During the first years from this period, political repression cannot be really sensible on Luthera n
community, but the second part of this era looks more differently
. After 1920 German Saxons
living in the Eastern diaspora, were systematically repressed or assimilated. Churches were
gradually but consequently voided of their possessions, material resources, territories and
members, though, the period between the two world wars doesn’t seem to be that negative.
(Mátyás, 2012) Firstly, Lutherans from Oradea have seceded from the Lutheran Diocese of Tisza
and the Lutheran Deanery of Hegyalja, and have founded in 1921 the Hungarian Augustinian Superintendence, bound together with other Hungarian Lutheran communities from
Transylvania, and its three deaneries (the one of Brașov, Arad – Banat and the Deanery of the
Five Cities). The first dean was Imre Materny, since 1922. Despite of all the struggles and good organization, the Hungarian Lutheran Church was quite unable to shift from this point because of
the relocation of its members (the number of its members was dwindled) and a total ec onomic
crisis. (Mátyás, 2012)
Table 2. : The number of births and deaths between 1921- 1938

(Source: Data taken from the ve stry books )

27

Figure 9. : The number of births and deaths between 1921- 1938
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

Birth rates are easing down due to repatriations, but death rate is still higher, cause aged
Lutheran members haven`t changed their con fessions. The incredibly low birth rate is an upshot
of political situation – the government doesn`t really supported churches. It was quite difficult
for the community to find a true relief from the World War, and later on, constant political
constraints are making Lutheran confession unpopular, with not too many people willing to
undertake their membership. According to Rev. Attila Mátyás, Lutheran community has made certain steps to leaven this situation, but was quite unable to keep its members stay.
3.3 Statistics between 1939 -1945
As it is well known, the Second World War has broke out in this period, which sweeped
over the whole Europe, and our country had no chances of escape as well. Our city and its Lutheran community have both suffered significan t losses.
Difficulties caused by the war are presented by the documents of the archives. In 1944,
the north of Transylvania was attached to Romania, and on 2
nd June this territory was severely
bombed by English and US troops, causing a huge number of deat hs. As a direct upshot, many
Lutheran people have become homeless. Later, on 2nd
The effects of this battle were devastating: the tower of the local Lutheran Church has
suffered a severe hit, and a ll the windows of the Church have broken. At the arrival of the
Russian troops many homes and stores have become a victim of this plunder, as well as those belonging to Lutheran people. Officially, the war ended on 9 September Russian troops have invaded
the city of Oradea.
th May 1945, the new border was
traced b etween Oradea and Biharkeresztes. German troops have capitulated on all fronts, and

28
have put their weapons down. Although we can imagine that from this moment on there was
peace, it was exactly the opposite thing that happened: every minority was treated j ust as
enemies, who were stripped of their faith, their financial security and autonomy, in order to be destroyed and assimilated later on. (Mátyás , 2012.)
Table 3. : The number of births and deaths between 1939- 1945

(Source: Data taken from the vestry b ooks )

Figure 10. : The number of births and deaths between 1939- 1945
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

Period between the two World Wars was not so famous about peace and mercy, but the Second
World War was the hell itself. In 1939 and 1940 the effects of previous times are still obvious,
but later on, there is some courage regarding births within community. Dogs of war could not be avoided by Lutherans: in 1945, 100 people have lost their lives, which has severely tried the
whole community. Bec ause of so many plunders and these dogs of war, there is a need for some

29
faith training, but the will itself is not enough: the following years will bring a political regime,
where the number of the members are controlled again by the state.

3.4 Statisti cs between 1946 -1966
After 1946 a brand new era begins in the life of local Lutherans, but new laws and
decrees doesn`t really ease ecclesiastical work. Therefore, estrangement from Church and
unpopularity of religious communities are both general ly sensi ble during these times. In 1948,
the new law issued in order to regulate the relationship between state and Church was quite distinctive regarding Catholic and Protestant churches. The first was unwilling to accept in its
charter the interruption of direct relations with the Vatican. Secondly, the Reformed Church has
made an agreement in 1949 with the state leaders, which has allowed authorities to control the whole church largely (the regulation of ecclesiastic life and the election of clergy as well).
How ever, this agreement never acquitted the Reformed Church of ceasing their educational
institutes to the state. (Bárdi & Papp, 2008)
T he upshot of this decree was the complete blackout of religious education in schools in
the years following the war, and in 1948, all ecclesiastical schools were socialized (law 175). The Lutheran school of Oradea was monopolized on 26
th July. It is obvious that according to
habits of this era, local Luthera n community was not previously informed about this provision,
but until the end of the same year, Romanian government has recognized the autonomy of
Hungarian Lutheran Church, and has also permitted the ordainment as a bishop of György
Argay, installed in his office on 21st May 1950, in the city of Cluj Napoca (Hungarian:
Koloz svár). (Mátyás, 2012) Socialization influenced all the areas of economy: stores, tenements,
and other estates were monopolized by the state, which made the owners themselves tenants i n
their own property. This is the moment when the systematic perturbation of masses and worships
has begun. On 18th June 1950 a huge musical event is to be hold just in front of St. Ladislaus
Church, on the International Children’s Day. The anniversary of the birthday of Stalin is moved from 21
st December to 24th
Meanwhile, slow migration is on its way, causing the diminution of local Lutheran community to only 600 people. This is the reason why local Lutherans were not able to have
their own minister, but they needed to invite one periodically from t he city of Baia Mare
(Hungarian: Nagybánya) – this was Ödön Deák (Schuller). Political pressure of the 50s and 60s
has more and more obstructed ecclesiastical work. Almost every state decree contributes to , in order to be celebrated instead of the birth of Jesus. Parents are
required to tell their children that Christmas gifts are not from baby Jesus, but they are sent by
Stalin himself. (Mátyás, 2012)

30
hamstring all the churches. Authorities are trying to strip all communities of their financial
resources and territories, and to obstruct their service. In July 1950, a deputy of the state is
appearing in local Lutheran community, requiring the minister to convey all the registers without
any opposition. This is the moment when the three earliest birth, marriage and burial registers of
local Lutheran community have gone into the hands of state registry. These can be find today at
local state archives, and were photocopied in the 90s – at the time when the minister was Csaba
Máthé. Now, these are also available in a digital format, in t he ministerial office. (Mátyás, 2012)

Table 4. : The number of births and deaths between 1946- 1966

(Source : Data taken from the vestry books )
The table shows us the upshots of political measures. The first part of the era doesn`t bring major
changes regarding birth rate, but this will cause a flagging tendency, which is another upshot of political influence. Deaths are decelerating too, probably due to the end of the war, and the
development of public health care. To sum up, the greatest change appears on birth rate, even if
communist regime is not too propitious up to Protestant churches.

31

Figure 11. : The number of births and deaths between 1946- 1966
(Source : Data taken from the vestry books )

3.5. Statistic s between 1967 -1989
At the end of the 70s, the situation was bettered within limits. Political pressure was
weakened, loyal and faithful Lutherans were not estranged any more from the Church and from
God by the communist re gime. (Mátyás, 2012 ) In 1984 – the 35th year of service – local
Lutheran minister reports stagnation within community: death rate is higher than the number of baptisms, young people doesn’t attend the worships after they were prepared for confirmation.
Community is completely upheld by a handful of active me mbers. (Mátyás, 2012)
1989 is the last year of a dark era. At that time, not only here but in several places, many
people have tried to search for a refuge, a better futu re, a better life, a warmer home abroad,
fleeing from the regime. Many precious young lives were broken due to the killing weapons of the of ficers (Mátyás, 2012 ).

32
Table 5. : The number of births and deaths between 1967 -1989

(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

Figure 12. : The number of births and deaths between 1967- 1989
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

33
The Ceaușescu – regime of the 70s is slightly permissive up to all the churches, but the
most part of the members are still unmanly and discouraged. In these times, death rate is
stagnant, but migration is also rearing its head. This phenomenon will become a serious problem
after the transition from communism to democracy – Lutheran community is much stronger
under communism, than after 1989.

3.6 Statistic s between 1989 -2014
In 1989, a new era has begun, not only in the life of the whole country but also in
ecclesiastical life. Churches now were able to take a fresh breath, as spiritual repressions were
ended, but they also had to have a fight for their monopolized estates, which lasted for nearly
two decades. At the end of 1992 the number of mem bers has mildly increased due to
confessional changes and people moving in, but juvenile work and catechistic work were also in a state of up swing. (Mátyás, 2012)
Slovakian speaking Lutheran communities have created their own dioceses, those belonging to the Diocese of Timișoara (Hungarian: Temesvár) have created the Diocese of Cluj
Napoca (Hungarian: Kolozsvár). During the following years, rejuvenation of the whole Church was obvious through the events happening in pa rticular communities. (Mátyás , 2012 )
Despite of the fact that political and ideological repressions have ended, the service of
Lutheran Church is not really significant – this issue is probably due to the low number of its
members. Expansive historical works doesn’t even mention it a s a significant minority church.
At the beginning of the 21
st
century, 93% of Hungarian people living in Romania are members of
three bigger religious communities (Reformed, Catholic and Unitarian).
Reformed Church has got two dioceses with Oradea and Cl uj Napoca as headquarters.
Unitarian Church has got only a single bishopric, also located in Cluj Napoca. Catholics have four dioceses in Transylvania (Satu Mare, Oradea, Timișoara and Alba Iulia), one diocese in
Moldova (Iași) and another one in Bucharest . From these facts it can be really obvious that not
all the rest of Hungarian people (7%) are can officially be members of Lutheran Church.
My source above has classified Lutheran Church together with Jewish community,
among those having really low membe rship. (Bár di & Papp, 2008)

34
Table 6. : The number of births and deaths between 1990 -2014

(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

Figure 13. : The number of births and deaths between 1990- 2014
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

35
After the transition from communism to democracy, borders were also opened, political
constraints are also ending, and therefore, the whole Lutheran community takes a new lease on
life. Despite of so many struggles, the number of the members are still cons tantly decreasing,
thanks to the policy of previous regime – its effects haven`t disappeared completely – and to
massive migration. Low death rates can be due to the rising of average age, while public health
care is also developing, and there are no threa ts of war any more.
Seeing the graph it is obvious that death rates are easing down compared to previous eras,
but birth rate is still very low – it was higher even under the communist regime, despite of so
many constraints. Possibilities given by the n ew world are influencing Lutheran citizens too, and
therefore, they take the road in order to find their luck elsewhere. As an upshot of constant
migration, we can see that the number of young people is really reduced within Lutheran
community, and they wi ll also go abroad constantly – as the majority is composed mainly of
aged members. Struggle and creativity of Lutheran community is in vain, if current social circumstances don’t support the young ones. This can be a proof of the fact that social events ca n
largely influence the whole life of a simple religious community. The most part of Lutheran people lives now abroad, they will have children abroad, so they cannot be taken as members of
local community any more.
This graph shows us the certain number of members from our community between 1990
and 2014. As I mentioned, we have certain dates about this issue only since 1990. After
transition from communism to democracy, the number of the members is 742, which is higher
than it was in 1946 (600) – due to a more submissive Ceaușescu – regime, and the struggles
made by the community for subsistence.

36
Table 7. : The number of the members between 1990 -2014

(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

Figure 14. : The number of members betwee n 1990- 2014
(Source: Data taken from the vestry books )

37
Borders have become more permeable, and therefore, many young people will decide to
found their families elsewhere – this can be an explanation for the constant debridement of
membership. Death rate i s only one of the reasons, births doesn’t equalize the number of dead
members, so the whole community is ageing.
Nowadays, they are only 606 effectively, just as they were after the Second World War.
This wo bbling typifies the membership, which currently trends towards wane.

38

CONCLUSIONS

The work of a community always depends on a certain social and political assessment, as
it was also presented by the dates available. Even a much subjective community with real
religious basis will be influenced by the environment. Communities are made of citizens, so
therefore, social uncontent will not sidestep religious life.
Diminution is characteristic for the times of war: most of the young people had to serve
the army, or the devastating effects of poverty ar e reaching nearly every family. Constant
tensions have great influence above the life of a community, but togetherness is much characteristic, although other issues coming outwardly can be sometimes stronger. Repressions of political power after 1945 have tried to obstruct ecclesiastical work, but finally we can say
that these tries have only weakened but never destroyed communities. At the beginning of this
dark era, local Lutheran community had only 600 members, while in 1990 this number was 742
– so local community remained viable despite of low birth rates, and restrictions of language
usage by the authorities.
Most part of citizens are becoming a member of a religious community from their birth.
By this way, correlations between social problems and ecclesiastic life can be largely presented.
These were really obvious during the deaths of the two world wars, but also during the transition
from communism to d emocracy. Migration is also a significant problem of these times, which
has affected Lutheran people. The country itself and the community is constantly ageing: throughout the past few years, death rates are much higher than birth rates.
Dates available h ave really proved my hypothesis, as confessional repartition of the
people is truly correlated to the political regimes of state power – furthermore, contemporary
problems (such as economical or migration phenomena) can highly influence the number of the members – just as it happened after the years of transition.

39

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