New Organizations in Southeastern Europe by L. R. CONRADI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 22, 1912

New Organizations in Southeastern Europe

By L. R. CONRADI

L. R. CONRADI

TEN years ago Hungary and the Balkan States were hardly touched. That vast area, equaling Texas in size, and having a population of 38,000,000, with only a little over two hundred Seventh-day Adventists, was divided into two mission fields. At the end of 1907, there were still but the two organizations, with a little more than 500 members, who paid a tithe of $2,000 annually. But from January, 1908, Hungary appears as a conference, and in July of the same year the Croatian Mission was cut off from it. The name Croatian was changed at the commencement of 1909 to Adriatic. With the dawn of 1911, Transylvania—the southeastern part of Hungary, mostly peopled by Saxons—appears as a conference, having 400 members; while the rest of Hungary, with about 350 members, was now a mission field.

During November, 1911, it was our privilege to conduct three general meetings in that field; and as in the meantime the number of members there had increased to 1,300, several important changes took place, preparatory to the organization of a union. Our first meeting was held near Constanza, on the Black Sea, November 8-11. As the Rumanian priesthood is still very hostile to our work, and does everything in its power to prevent the advancement of our cause, we chose this country place for our meeting, which seemed providentially prepared for us. One of our German brethren is an old citizen of Rumania, and has been elected for some years as the chief magistrate of the district, although his faith is known. The brethren there have built a little hall, as an addition to one of their dwelling-houses. It has a seating capacity for more than one hundred persons, and was well filled with delegates from different parts of Rumania and Bulgaria. The Lord has greatly blessed the work in this field, so that we have now about 300 members, a dozen of whom live in Bulgaria. In the first three quarters of 1911, 62 new members were received, and the tithe amounted to $2,000. On the Friday we were there, the collection for missions amounted to $340 in cash and pledges. On the Sabbath we had a good experience. Brother A. Doerner was ordained to the ministry, and two new believers were baptized. One of them was in government employ, and had attended our meetings for some time, but had not taken his stand for the truth until this meeting. We all felt the time had come when Rumania and Bulgaria should be separate mission fields. The following Sunday, we spent in the city of Bukarest, and spoke in the evening to a full house. The brethren have secured three halls there, Rumanian services being held in two of them, and German in the third. If the work continues to develop as it is doing at present, Rumania will soon form a good little conference.

From Bukarest we proceeded to Koloszvar, the leading city of Transylvania, where the conference was held in a large hall, November 15-19. This city is really the birthplace of present truth in Hungary. Having read in a German paper that there were many Sabbatarians in Transylvania during the time of the Reformation, and that a few were still there, in 1890 I went to Koloszvar to investigate the matter. A Unitarian professor there, who spoke English well, introduced me to the family of Brother Rottmeyer, the oldest Baptist in Hungary, who was then in charge of the depot of the British Bible Society. During my visit there, the seed of truth was sown, and he and his family soon began to keep the Sabbath. From that little grain of mustard-seed, the truth has spread throughout Transylvania, until there are now 550 believers in that section of Hungary alone. For the conference meetings, we rented a large hall in the city, which was crowded with attentive hearers night after night. Fifty-eight delegates from twenty-six churches and companies were present at the opening services of the conference session, and altogether about 300 of our people were in attendance. Thirty-six persons were baptized during the meetings. The tithe of this conference has increased to about $2,800 annually. The collection taken for missions yielded about $200. Brother H. Meyer was again unanimously chosen president of the conference. Brother Boex, our general canvassing agent, was present to organize the canvassing work.

Our next meeting was held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, November 22-26. Probably no other nation has concentrated so much of its efforts on the development of its capital as has Hungary. With its suburbs, the city has now nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, while there is hardly another town in the country with a population of more than 100,000. This conference was in many ways of great importance to our future work in Hungary and the Balkans. The hall chosen was itself a place of interest, being the old Hungarian parliament building, where Kossuth delivered his important speech against the government, and declared a republic, in 1848. The building is round in form, and seats about 600 persons. Over the rostrum still hangs the old coat of arms of Hungary. About 130 of our people from the mission fields were present, and there were 44 delegates. In view of the fact that we now have a membership of about 375 in central Hungary, a new conference was formed, called the Central Hungarian Conference. It is equal in size to Massachusetts and Vermont, and has a population of 4,000,000. Several new missions were also organized. They are as follows: The West Hungarian Mission field, with a population of 4,000,000; and the North Hungarian Mission field, with a population of 3,500,000. The Adriatic Mission field was divided. It now contains Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro, with about 3,800,000 inhabitants; while the Theiss-Save Mission field includes four districts of southern Hungary, where the Servian language is spoken, Slavonia, and Servia. We have thus, from the beginning of 1912, two organized conferences and six mission fields there. A collection for missions during the meeting brought in $250. Brother Huenergardt was elected president for the new conference. For the mission fields, Elders Kessel, Cunitz, Schillinger, and Schaefer have thus far been elected, while the union president still looks after Rumania and Bulgaria. Thirteen persons were buried with their Lord in baptism. The attendance of those not of our faith was most excellent.

At these meetings, besides Elder H. F. Schuberth, the union president, Elders Wolfgarten and Huenergardt assisted, and Elder G. W. Schubert was present at Budapest. The prospects are indeed bright for this new field, and we believe that by the end of 1912, when the union

will be fully organized, it will have at least 1,500 members.

Another important step was the starting of a branch of the Hamburg house in the city of Budapest. Our Hungarian paper has a monthly circulation of 10,000 copies. The canvassers are increasing, as they have less difficulty in obtaining the necessary permission when we have a depository in the country itself. There are at least six leading languages spoken in this territory: the Hungarian, German, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Servian, and Croatian. Thus the light of present truth is spreading into every corner of Europe, and strong, organized fields are being developed, with a number of efficient laborers who can present the truth effectually in all these different tongues. Many of the 1,300 members were formerly Catholics, and we are happy that the truth is powerful enough to gather out a people for the Lord from every nation, tongue, and creed. May we all remember this important field in our prayers.