11 of our Sr. Youth went on mission this summer to our Partner Church village of Gyepes, Romania. On their way to the village they took a pilgrimage to ancient and modern Unitarian sites – places that are sacred to our faith. They’re looking forward to sharing their experience with you in a Partner Church Sunday worship service this fall. Until then here’s a little preview of what they saw, and what they did:
Day 1 - The beginning of the journey is beautiful – the mountain resort town of Sinaia in the Carpathian mountains. At this point we are in Romanian-speaking Romania. Teens who have been working on their Hungarian catch-phrases are trying to understand why they don’t work here.
Day 2 – The next day we travel further into Transylvania, to
Bran Castle, aka “Dracula’s Castle” and learn the not-so-nice and all-too-real
history of Vlad Tepes – “Vlad the Impaler”. In the afternoon we reach Deva, and
the fortress which is our first pilgrimage site looms above the town. The
grown-ups are beginning to wonder why the teenagers do not need to sleep at
night, but when we catch them crowded together, terrified by the ghost stories
they’ve stayed up telling each other, all is forgiven.
Day 3 – First thing in the morning we travel up the mountain
to the fortress of Deva. We are “beginning at the end” for inside this fortress
is the cell where the first great Unitarian preacher, Francis David, spent his
last days. Francis David was lauded by King John Sigismund for his great
oratorical skills, and progressive thinking, and together with Queen Isabella
and Dr. Giorgio Biandrata they made Transylvania the first place in the world where religious
tolerance could flourish. However, King John died young, and the next rulers
were not religious progressives. They forbade Francis David, or anyone, to “innovate”
in religion, upon threat of imprisonment and death. Unable to change his very
nature, David proposed that prayer never be directed at Jesus, but only to the
God to whom Jesus himself had prayed. He was immediately removed to the
fortress at Deva – the furthest place one can be from the capital city of
Kolozsvar and still be in Transylvania. We stood before the cell where he died,
and each person paid his or her respects to this man without whom none of us
would be here, together, claiming our progressive liberal faith, and our
fellowship. A few of us were in tears at
the words David left for his captors to find: Neither the sword of popes, nor the cross, nor the image of death — nothing will halt the march of truth.
Day 4 – We are on our way to Kolozsvar, headed deep into the
heart of Transylvania. En route we visit Gyulafehervar to walk and pray in the
same church King John and Queen Isabella attended – a 1000 year old cathedral
that is now Catholic. We then travel to “The Church of the Edict” in Torda, the
very place where the first Edict of Religious Tolerance was issued in 1568. We
can now feel as well as see the
famous lithograph of Francis David preaching the beginnings of the Unitarian
faith. Tonight it’s on to Kolozsvar, and
a chance to stay at the Unitarian highschool and seminary, and maybe meet the
Bishop. The teenagers are beginning to wonder why the grown-ups cry so much
and are ridiculously angry when all the signs leading into Kolozsvar are written only in
Romanian, but when they find out there’s pizza for dinner, all is forgiven.
Day 5 – The Bishop spoke with us for over an hour this
morning and we learned many things about life as a Hungarian Unitarian during
communism, and now, in the aftermath. The Bishop has a big job! We wondered at
how he does it, and stays so positive, and so willing to talk and laugh with
all of us on a busy weekday morning. Then we visited First Church of Kolozsvar –‘the
most beautiful church I’ve ever seen’, said more than one teen- and stood near
the rock that Francis David stood on when he preached to the citizens of
Kolozsvar and converted the entire city to Unitarianism. We wondered what we could preach that would
change our world so profoundly. In the afternoon we left the city to visit the
famous “Alabaster Village” of Mesko. For those of us returning to Transylvania
it was a beautiful thing just to be in one of the Hungarian Unitarian villages
again.
Day 6 – Today was for fun – we went to the medieval walled
city of Segesvar to walk, eat, explore the ancient and beautiful Lutheran
church with its vast and complex graveyard, and shop for presents for our
family and friends. Tomorrow we will get serious again as we travel to
Marosvasarhely to visit the Cultural Palace, the unforgettable stained glass
windows of which teach us quite a bit about Hungarian myth and legend, and to
learn more about religious oppression during communism, the uprising that
brought it down, and the complicated aftermath that Hungarian Unitarians (and
other ethnic and religious minorities) are still living with.
Days 7-12 - We’re “home”: settled into the David Ferenc
(Francis David) Unitarian Conference Center in Homorodszentmarton where we will
live for several days and nights as we run the summer camp for children from
Gyepes and Recsenyed, and help paint Gyepes’ community center. This is what
most of us have really come to Romania for, and we are eager to begin.
For the next several days we will breakfast in Szentmarton,
then head to Gyepes for a full day of camp and paint. Right away the teenagers
are in love with the people of Gyepes, the camp children, and, especially, the
food. Yes, the teenagers confirm, Gyepes food is the best in the world – now if
the grown-ups could please stop talking about it, all would be well…Camp is
crazy and wonderful, and other work projects give our teens a chance to meet
the Gyepes youth and work together. Church on Sunday and the singing of the
Szekely Aldas goes beautifully – the Gyepes women and children had prepared 5 songs
for us, and we were glad we had one to offer in return!
Day 13 – Leaving for the airport from Bucharest, where our
Hungarian, once again, does us no good.
It was hard to leave the village, and it’s strange to be leaving each
other, but we are eager to get back to our family and friends, and to begin the
next church year and all the work we can do from home to further community
development in Gyepes, and to deepen our partner church relationship with
people we now know and love….Eniko, Tunde, Renata, Tomas, Sabe, Robi, Istvan …the
list goes on and on.
