Election of the Territorial Representative of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church and its Consequences

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the establishment of contacts between the Reformed Church of Transcarpathia and the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults, the new regional office in the area, as well as the appointment of the so-called contact person between the state and the denomination, and the consequences of a failed election. Methodology the study is based on the analysis of little-known and unknown archival sources including the Synod Archives of the Reformed Church in Hungary, the Transcarpathian Regional State Archives and the Central State Archives of Supreme Bodies of Power and Government of Ukraine. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that in Ukrainian church history research, the problem of the Transcarpathian Calvinists has been only partially and not chronologically researched. However, the history of Protestants received widespread attention. Conclusions. The author came to the conclusion that following the Soviet invasion of Transcarpathia, the Reformed (Calvinist) church organization suffered significant damage since two of its three deans and 25 of its 113 pastors had left the office. In addition, 20–25% of congregation (male) members were carried off for what was called a three days’ restoration work but in fact were deported. The chaotic situation was exacerbated by the fact that the state registration of the Reformed Church was rejected by the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults office in 1946, until the time a territorial representative was appointed. Meanwhile, it also turned out that the religious office was unaware of either the organizational structure or the territorial distribution of the Reformed Church, or even the number of believers belonging to the denomination. However, when the territorial representative was elected, the fact that his appointment had not been agreed on with the regional religious commissioner caused another problem.

The authorities considered the failure of agreement an insult and as a result, the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults office asserted its authority by invalidating the results of the election. Moreover, it initiated a State Security Committee (KGB) surveillance of the elected Györke's friends. Similarly, the KGB classified Györke's activities as anti-state. The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults wanted to see Bishop Bary as the territorial representative because it was believed that his willingness to compromise would serve the interests of state power. The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults had also become aware of its lack of knowledge about the Reformed Church and therefore, it launched a full screening of the church. Furthermore, the Council did not rule out the possibility of its incorporation into the organization of  the Evangelical Christian Baptists.