The Hungarian Reformed Church (HRC) or Hungarian Reformed Communion ( hu, Magyar Refomátus Egyház) is a global fellowship of
continental Reformed denominations historically related to the
Reformed Church of Hungary
The Reformed Church in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Református Egyház, MRE) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and fou ...
.
The purpose of the organization is to maintain unity among Hungarian Reformed churches in different countries and to give joint representation of denominations in international organizations of Reformed denominations.
History
From the
Dissolution of Austria-Hungary, after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the members of the
Reformed Church of Hungary
The Reformed Church in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Református Egyház, MRE) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and fou ...
were spread over several countries.
In each of these, Hungarian retirees organized themselves as a new national denomination.
On May 22, 2009, 6 of the Hungarian Reformed denominations decided to form a Hungarian Reformed Fellowship, also called the Hungarian Reformed Church.
[
]
Doctrine
All denominations part of the communion subscribe to the Second Helvetic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Calvinist Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, ...
as a faithful expression of biblical doctrines, such as the Reformed Church of Hungary
The Reformed Church in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Református Egyház, MRE) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and fou ...
.[
Likewise, they differ from the other reformed denominations in that they call those responsible for a church jurisdiction "bishop".]
Members
Communion members are:[
* ]Reformed Church of Hungary
The Reformed Church in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Református Egyház, MRE) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and fou ...
* Reformed Church of Romania
The Reformed Church in Romania ( hu, Romániai Református Egyház; ro, Biserica Reformată din România) is the organization of the Calvinist church in Romania.
The majority of its followers are of Hungarian ethnicity and Hungarian is the main ...
* Reformed Church in Transcarpathia
The Reformed Church in Transcarpathia is a historic Calvinist church in Ukraine. It is the oldest Protestant church in the country, founded in the 16th century, and a significant part of the Hungarian-speaking ethnicity belong to this denominatio ...
* Reformed Christian Church in Serbia
Before World War I, the Reformed Christian Church in Serbia (Szerbiai Református Keresztén Egyház in Hungarian) was part of the Reformed Church in Hungary. In the period of the Reformation, Rev Sztáray planted 120 Calvinist congregations in th ...
* Reformed Christian Church in Croatia
The Reformed Christian Church in Croatia (the ''Reformirana kršćanska kalvinska Crkva u Hrvatskoj'' in Croatian) became an autonomous church in 1993, following the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Croatia became an independent state. The first or ...
* Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia The Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia has 110,000 members in 205 parishes and 103 mission churches and 59 house fellowships in 10 presbyteries. The bishop is the head of the church, in contrast with other Calvinist churches.
History
Before Wor ...
* Reformed Christian Church in Slovenia
References
{{Reflist, 3
International bodies of Reformed denominations