Seeking the Future in the Past

"For it is the past, upon which the future relies."

--Gabriel Daniel

The history of Transylvania is both fascinating and tragic. Emerging from the mists of time, it is the land of the ancient Dacs and one of the furthest eastern outposts of the Roman Empire (thus the name "Romania"), At some point in the hazy past, the Carpathian Basin was also settled by the ancestors of the Hungarian- speaking Szekeler people, who make up the population of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church. Unitarians in Transylvania refer to themselves as a double minority, both ethnic and religious: Hungarian in the midst of a Romanian Orthodox majority, and Unitarian among their fellow Hungarian Roman Catholics, Calvinist Reformed Protestants, and Lutherans.

It hasn't always been that way. For most of its modem history, Transylvania was either part of the Ottoman or of the Austro-Hungarian Empires. Traces of both cultures can be found in Transylvania, particularly in the architecture of the old, inner cities, but also in the religion and politics of the area.

Transylvania was also home to a large Jewish population prior to the second world war, and to a large German or "Saxon" population up until very recent times. We all know what happened to the Jewish population throughout Europe during the war.

The Germans were imported to Transylvania during late medieval times to serves as border guards in what historians sometimes call the "remote borderland" of Transylvania. Their major fortress cities became known as the "Siebenburgen," or "seven fortified cities." The symbolism of seven castles still adorns the coat of arms of "Erdely," which is the Hungarian name for Transylvania, and the German presence accounts for the fact that many places in Transylvania still have three names: Romanian, Hungarian, and German. (Our Partner Church village has only two: Secuieni in Romanian, and Ujszekely in Hungarian).

One of the sad legacies of the Ceaucescu regime which ended with the Romanian revolution in 1989 is that Ceaucescu "ransomed" most of the Germans in Romania by literally selling them back to Germany in the 1970's and 1980's in order to provide income for his ailing economy. The Saxons, who were culturally and linguistically German, were for the most part happy to go, given conditions in Romania at the time, but these were people who had been living in Romania for hundreds of years and many generations. With the exit of the German population, a huge cultural and economic legacy was lost to Transylvania, though villages and city centers influenced by Saxon architecture remain and in some cases are being renewed, often with the help of German funding. Among the traces of German culture in Transylvania are the spectacular fortress churches which dot the formerly Saxon villages of central Transylvania.

Romania is also home to one of the largest Gypsy populations in Europe, which constitutes a large and complicated underclass in most Transylvanian cities and villages. In a land of minorities, the Gypsies are at the bottom of the heap, though some are actually nch because of their superior grasp of capitalism or their equally shrewd participation in black market trade. Stereotypes of the Gypsies abound, and present a real challenge for visitors in Transylvania. Most of them, however, are poor, rural, mainly agricultural workers.

Being only a week removed from Halloween, let me put to rest one very common misconception about Transylvania. It is not a land of vampires! Bram Stoker, the Irishman who created the fictional Count Dracula, used the mysterious sounding and little known Transylvania as a setting for his novel and loosely based his character upon a real life villain or hero (depending on who you talk to) named Vlad the Impaler, also know as "the Dracul." Vlad, who was ethnically a "Wallach," the precursor to the present day ethnic Romanians, got his nickname from his practice of impaling his enemies, who were usually Turks, on sharpened wooden stakes. His only connection to Transylvania is that he was born there, actually in the city of Sighisoara/Segesvar/Schassburg (remember the three names?), which just happens to be about a twenty minute drive or train ride from our Partner Church village in Ujszekely. The house where Vlad was bom is still standing, and if you travel to Transylvania you can visit it. Segesvar, as our Hungarian friends call it, is perhaps one of the best preserved medieval walled cities in all of Europe; its clock tower is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen anywhere, and when you are there you can climb it for some of the most spectacular views in Transylvania.

At the time of the origins of Unitarianism in the 1500's, Transylvania was under the protection of the Ottoman Empire. This factor may actually account for the religious tolerance for which Transylvania is justly recognized. For it was in Transylvania that the first edict of religious toleration was proclaimed, at Torda in 1568, the product of a debate won by our Unitarian religious ancestor Francis David. (You can still visit the church, now Roman Catholic, where this debate took place.) The Ottomans were surprisingly open-minded about the religion of their subjects, as demonstrated by their protection of the sole Unitarian King in history, John Sigismund. They self-interestedly recognized that there were benefits to keeping their subjects religiously divided among themselves. Indeed, some current scholarship about Transylvanian Unitarianism suggests that David's proclamation of religious tolerance is actually based on a similar proclamation by the Ottomans themselves, and even that Unitarianism's central claim of the unity or oneness of God could not safely have been made and allowed to take hold outside the Muslim religious milieu in which it originated. (Standby for more on these interesting and controversial theories: our Hungarian Unitarian friends like to believe that religious toleration originated solely with them!)

Throughout its history, Transylvania has suffered by being a cultural and geographical crossroads. (It's easy to find on a map of Eastern Europe: just look for the sideways horseshoe of the Carpathian Mountains; Transylvania is in the middle of the horseshoe.) It has been crisscrossed most recently by the armies of the Nazis and of the Soviets. Transylvanians paid a terrible price in casualties during the wars of the 20th century. (Our Partner Church minister Zsolt Jakab lost his grandfather in WWII and his great grandfather in WWI.)

During WWI, when it was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Hungary in particular, Transylvania sided with the Axis powers, whereas Romania sided with the eventual winners, the Allies. This led to the partition of Transylvania by Romania as part of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

During WWII, Transylvania was briefly returned to Hungary as a spoil of war in payment for Hungary's participation in the war on the side of the Nazis. When the Soviets overran the Nazis on the eastern front, Transylvania once again became part of Romania. (Romania had also originally sided with Nazi Germany, but switched sides in 1944 when it realized Germany would be defeated).

These historical events in Hungary, Transylvania, and Romania have resulted in a lasting legacy of ethnic and cultural distrust between Romanians and Hungarians, though relations have of necessity improved in recent years, as Romania looks to join the European Union and concessions are made to the Hungarian minority (which is the largest minority population of any country in Europe) and as Transylvanian Hungarians accept the unliklihood of a recidivist reunion with the motherland of Hungary.

Since 1989, the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church movement has sought to link North American Unitarian Universalist congregations with Unitarian congregations abroad, particularly in Transylvania, where it is estimated that there are between 60,000 and 80,000 Unitarians whose origins, as already noted, date to the Reformation of the 1500's. This grassroots international effort has succeeded in producing over one hundred and fifty partnerships in Transylvania alone, of which ours is one. Interestingly, our congregation, like many others, had been partnered with a congregation in Transylvania following the first world war. Those original partnerships failed largely because of the difficulty of travel and thus of making personal connections during the early years of the 20th century, but also because of the crash of the stock market in 1929, the onset of the second world war, and the fall of the iron curtain in its aftermath. Starting in 1989, new opportunities for partnerships opened, and for the last decade [actually since 1989, under the leadership of my predecessor, Bert Steeves, making ours one of the longest partnerships-my correction] the First Religious Society has been partnered with the little congregation in Ujszekely.

Though time does not permit me to get into the similarities and differences between North American and Transylvanian Unitarianism, a subject of both past and future sermons, let me just say that the remarkable confluence of underlying principles shared by these two movements, each with its own separate origins, has led many of us to believe that it is essential to save Transylvanian Unitarianism. Like many mostly rural movements around the globe, it is in danger of dying of attrition as young people are forced to leave the villages and head for the cities to find employment. Partnerships and economic development projects with liberal congregations abroad are one important way to keep the spirit of liberal religion alive in Transylvania. The inheritance of freedom, tolerance, and reason in religion shared by our two liberally religious movements and a few others around the globe are worthy of our best efforts at preservation and extension. If we are truly to become a global faith for the 21st century, what better place to build our foundations than on the nearly 500 year old legacy of religious freedom in Transylvania? "For," as Gabriel Daniel has written with truth, "it is the past, upon which the future relies."

Finally, let me add a few words about our plans for our Partnership this year. It is our hope to raise enough money to bring our partner church minister, ZsoltJakab, his wife Borika, the church President JozsefBuzogany and his wife Susanna, and perhaps a translator, to Newburyport next April. (Many of you will remember Zsolt from his visit to Newburyport in 1999.) We think that this will cost a minimum of $3000.00, none of which, unfortunately, is budgeted. We hope to get a good start on the fundraising this Thursday [November 11] evening at a poduck, slide show, and informational gathering, where, among other things, we will be auctioning off some wonderful Transylvanian crafts. Come and see what we have been up to!

Some of you are also aware of another fundraising effort which is being led by our former music director, Barbara Owen, to restore the historically important organ in Ujszekely. (Those of you who receive the e-mail version of the Steeple Bi-Weekly may have noticed the pictures of the organ being disassembled for repair.) This exciting project is already underway, part of a training and job development program in organ building and cabinet making for young Romanians, and should be complete by next summer, at which time some of us may travel again to Transylvania for the rededication of the organ.

A third and equally exciting fundraising project is being led by a group of our young people who hope to travel to Transylvania next summer as part of the annual UU Partner Church Youth Tour to Transylvania. Part of that tour includes a three day stay in Ujszekely, as well as gatherings with Transylvanian Unitarian youth and visits to Unitarian historical sites and villages throughout Transylvania. My son Josh, along with Brody Pagel, made this trip two years ago and had a wonderful and inspirational experience. I hope you will support these young people in their quest to journey to their Unitarian roots!

So far, fifteen members of our congregation, including myself, have made the life-changing pilgrimage to Transylvania, and I hope that in future many more of you will have the opportunity to experience the land beyond the forest. Come on Thursday to leam more about our exciting partnership and how you, too, can be a part of the Transylvanian experience, and help to make our plans a reality.

It is my fondest dream that one day our Unitarian Universalist faith will be a truly international one. As the Rev. Theodor Williams said at the international Unitarian Conference in Budapest in 1896, "It is good to discover that our Unitarian faith, whether in Boston, in London, or in Buda-Pesth, in not a local, not a provincial religion, but broadly human, able to speak in divers tongues, and to meet the most varied Conditions of humanity in different lands." The world needs our message of freedom, reason, and tolerance more than ever before. For some of us, our Transylvanian connection is already making the dream of an international faith a reality. Perhaps the future really is to be sought in the past! May it be so.

The Rev. Harold E. Babcock