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In Austria-Hungaria

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 15, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 7.

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In Austria-Hungaria

By L. R. Conradi

L. R. CONRADI
WHILE the daily press brings constant reports of difficulty between Hungaria and Austria, yet in that great two-headed empire-monarchy our work goes steadily forward, and the love and fellowship of Christ is continually adding to our numbers such as accept the message for this time.
En route to the meeting in Hungaria, I spent the Sabbath with our church in Dresden, the beautiful capital of the kingdom of Saxony, where, the last few Sundays, street riots have taken place, on account of the great desire among the people for universal suffrage. About eighty-five met with us on the Sabbath (which was the last Sabbath of the week of prayer), and the collection that day amounted to about seventy dollars.
Sunday I was in Prague, the old capital of Bohemia; I found that great changes had taken place since my previous visit. Our brethren have rented a very neat meeting hall in the center of the city. We had a good meeting in the afternoon; and among those present was a professor who had once been a Catholic, but who had been led, through a study of the Word, to leave Catholicism; he is now really looking for more light. Although he is not a Catholic, and the archbishop openly declared he wished the man were away, yet the emperor has decorated him, and he is one of the members of the school council. He was much pleased to get acquainted with our people, and we hope that when he studies the truth more carefully, he may fully embrace the message. Elder Mathe was with us at the meeting. Besides him, we now have in Austria a licentiate, Brother Wentland, in Gratz; a Bible worker at Prague, at Vienna, and at Reichenberg; there is also one canvasser there now, and, after many years of waiting, we hope to begin the open circulation of our literature. Last year the number of Sabbath-keepers was about doubled, and now there are sixty members in that field. By next year we hope we may be able to have a general meeting also for Austria proper. While together, we seriously considered the publication of a Bohemian paper. Such a paper would not only be of great benefit to the six millions of Bohemians, but also to the three and one-half millions of Slovaks. As many of these two nationalities are to be found in the States, especially in the great cities, we sincerely hope that if such a paper is published, our brethren there will also try to help in its circulation in America.
Our meeting for Hungaria was appointed for Clausenburg, in the central portion of the country, where our work really first began. I reached that place December 13, and the meeting lasted until the seventeenth. Elder Mathe, in addition to the regular workers of the field, was present to assist in the meetings, which were held in a public hall.
We were really glad to find that every church and company in Hungaria was represented; about eighty-five members were present. This is the most we have ever had. There are now about two hundred and fifty members in the whole field. The work is carried on among five nationalities, or, better expressed, in five languages,—the Hungarian, the German, the Slovak, the Rumanian, and the Servian,—and we have workers laboring in each of these. Brother Huenergardt labors among the Hungarian- and German-speaking people; Elder Reifschneider works for the Slovaks and the Germans; Brother Unk, a Bible worker, gives his time to the Rumanians; Brother Todor Peter labors among the Servians and Hungarians, and Brother Kelemen and Sister Nagy among the Hungarians. And lately one of our younger German students, from Friedensau, Brother Kessel, has joined the corps of workers there; he is making good progress in learning the Hungarian. Two canvassers intend to enter the field after this meeting.
One important matter that received consideration was the publication of the Hungarian paper as a monthly. Until the present time it has appeared only as a forty-page quarterly. It has a circulation now of about four hundred; but after talking over the matter carefully, it was decided so to arrange matters that each worker would be able to receive at the beginning of the quarter a club of three hundred copies (one hundred copies for each of the three months during the quarter), which we can send according to our postal laws, for twelve and one-half cents. This will increase its circulation to more than a thousand copies. The workers will then, month by month, sell these papers (as they will be arranged as monthlies, although published at the beginning of each quarter). Of course the regular subscribers will get their issues from our Hamburg house, month by month, through the mails. By this cheap postal rate, we can furnish the papers to our workers at a low figure. We would be very glad also if our brethren in the States could interest themselves in the circulation of this paper among the thousands of Hungarians that are flocking to the New World.
Our conference meetings were all marked by a spirit of union. Brother J. F. Huenergardt was again unanimously chosen mission director of the Hungarian field. Sabbath was a good day. Three promising young men were baptized at this meeting. One of them is a student of law; he is a Hungarian. In the evening meetings, about three hundred were present. The hall was overcrowded.
While the tithe of this year is only about half of what it was the previous year, yet this is partially accounted for by the fact that large extra sums were given in former years; and yet all felt that had each one been absolutely faithful, the tithe would have been considerably increased; and it is hoped that the coming year will see an improvement in the finances of this field.
On my way home, I stopped in the capital, Vienna, where we had a good Bible study. As we are allowed to hold no public services in Austria, the work must be done from house to house, and it is rather slow work.
When we remember that Austria-Hungaria is mostly a Catholic country, and that there are great difficulties to be surmounted there, we feel that we have every reason to thank God for the progress that has thus far been made, as we have now in both countries about three hundred believers, and we are glad that the work has a foothold among six nationalities. The prospects for this year are brighter than they ever were before. May God add his blessing is our prayer.
Hamburg.