nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

248 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
It is hoped that the Seminary can be re-opened in the fall of 1947. For
that work we shall need two new couples.
The Baptists of Italy are blessed with excellent national Christian leadership.
It would be hard to find in any land a more devoted and forward-looking
group of pastors.
On all hands words of appreciation of Southern Baptists are heard in Italy.
Time and again persons expressed their thanks for the food and clothing their
American friends had sent. This generosity must be continued until our
Italian friends dig themselves out of their ruins.
HUNGARY
Such messages as these have come from Hungary: "Lost all belongings in
Baptist Seminary. Please send help."—Dr. Grimm
"A great shell hit the seminary building, which ruined our apartments and
killed four people, who were at that time in our home. Gladys (Mrs. Udvarnoki)
died instantly. Beluska, our older son, escaped with a slight wound,j Eugene
and myself were not in the apartments. There is more sad news to write. We
had a little girl, Marianna, born on May 4, 1944. Since Gladys went home, the
baby had to be separated from breast feeding. During the siege of Budapest
we had to stay in the basement seven weeks, and we could not feed the baby
properly. The baby weakened, and she got diarrhea and a few weeks later
whooping cough. In spite of all medical treatment she died, March 25.
"The seminary building is damaged beyond repair. My home was completely
ruined, and I lost all my furniture and belongings except those which I could
dig out from the ruined walls."—Dr. Bela Udvarnoki
Our Board responded at the earliest possible moment by sending $10,000
to our Hungarian brethren. The following paragraphs are indicative of their
appreciation:
"We assure you that this sum of money helped the cause of the Lord considerably.
The work of the Seminary can be continued, poverty-stricken pastors
and members may be given help which will enable them to do their work
unhindered by suffering from need."
"Dear Brethren in the Lord:
"We the undersigned, as members of the Central Committee of the Hungarian
Baptist Union, express our sincere joy because we can be in connection
with you again. Thank God for his grace. We send now our warm fraternal
greetings to the American brethren, especially to the leaders of the Foreign
Mission Board as our true friends.
"We live here after a destroying war, among ruins. The financial, social,
and spiritual crisis is so great. Therefore, we must inform you with love that
our will and resolution is to carry together every responsibility in every matter
of the Baptist Mission in Hungary. So we beg you that you may send your
kind gifts always to this authorized committee."
RUMANIA
Baptists in Rumania are still having a hard time. They were recognized
by the government in the fall of 1944, but they are not accorded the same
treatment as are the so-called "historic cults." The latest information is that
"The Rumanian Orthodox Church considers the Baptist cult as a danger to
their future. . . . The Orthodox Church knows that in the measure the Baptists
and other evangelical groups will develop here, in the same measure their
church will die. They know that they cannot fight against the Baptists' simple
and right principles—in an honest way. Therefore, they try to show up the
Baptist work in Rumania from a political point of view."
The evidence is that the Rumanian Orthodox Church is courting the favor
of the Russian Orthodox Church, in an effort to impress the Soviet leaders with
their friendship. At the same time the Baptists are accused of being friends
and informers of the United States and Great Britain to whom they are related.
Last fall there was a meeting in Arad of representatives of all the Baptist
churches of Rumania. More than five hundred delegates attended, and at the
closing session 3,500 persons were present.