- Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church
The Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church (SCRC) ( _uk. Закарпатська Реформатська Церква) is a Christian Protestant association in
Ukraine which declares its foundations on the works ofHuldrych Zwingli andJohn Calvin written during the 1520s and 1530s. By 2007 it had 105 communities, 55 ministers and 105church es. [http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/major.religions/sub.carpathian/ The Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church in RISU Catalog] ] The Church is located in the Sub-Carpathian region, with its center inBerehove . The area borders on severalEastern Europe an countries, andRomanians ,Hungarians ,Slovaks and other ethnic groups live there in addition to Ukrainians.The SCRC is considered to be the oldest Protestant community in Ukraine (first group of Reformers appeared in Sub-Carpathia in 1530s) and the only church of the Calvinist tradition. It is organizationally divided into 3 regions (Uzhanskyi, Berezskyi, Maromorosh-Ugochanskyi), which are subject to the governing board of the SCRC. The highest governing and regulating bodies are the General Assembly and Synod of the Governing Board of the Church.
Bishop s and members of the Synod are elected for four-year terms. [http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/major.religions/sub.carpathian/ The Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church in RISU Catalog] ] The majority of the SCRC faithful are ethnic Hungarians. The Church promoted the establishment of three specializedsecondary school s (with teaching of additional religious and theological subjects), operates 80Sunday school s, [ [http://all.zakarpattya.net/ZNasel4.html Religion on Zakarpattya] ] has its special charitable foundation, and publishes a quarterly journal "Mission" (with 500 copies circulation). Pastoral leaders are educated and trained mainly inHungary ,Romania andSlovakia . [http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/major.religions/sub.carpathian/ The Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church in RISU Catalog] ] The present leader of the community is Bishop Zan Fabian Aleksandr (since January 2007). The Church is a member ofWorld Alliance of Reformed Churches and by some estimations involves about 140,000 parishioners.László Medgyessy, [http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no161/099.html "At the Great Divide"] , The Hungarian Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 161, Spring 2001.]Several church buildings of reformers are well-known historical monuments and tourist attractions to
Zakarpattya , namely a stone Gothic church in Muzhievo, a Gothic church in Chetfolvo (15th century), a Baroque church in Chetfolvo, and a Gothic church inNovoselytsia (Beken). [ [http://www.carpathia.gov.ua/ua/84.htm Administration of Zakarpatska Oblast] ]Leaders and members of the Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church were persecuted by the communist authorities in the
Soviet Union and were sent toGulag labour camps inSiberia . By some estimations, 40,000 persons from Sub-Carpathia perished between Fall 1944 (when the Soviet Army invaded the territory) and 1956.ee also
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Protestants in Ukraine References
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