Deeper in the Unitarian Archives in Kolozsvar

The Unitarian Archives have been raided by the many invaders of the last centuries. Probably the most damaging were the Communists who simply claimed ownership of everything and removed

many ancient manuscripts to their state libraries. Currently Molnar Lehel, Archivist, is looking for a 1566

Cathechism where Fenencz David, George Biandrata and others recast the Heidleberg Cathecism

in an early Unitarian light.  It was removed from the Unitarian Library in 1948 and was in the Romanian Library.  It was not there several weeks ago when he looked. He has learned of fragments in a library in Hungary.  The search goes on.

Meanwhile, Lehel is holding the 18th century Unitario-Ecclestiastica Historia Transylvania. 

This religious history is in Latin

and is the life work of two men in succession, John Kenosi-Tozser and Steven Uzoni Foszto.

Remember this oddly-shaped wooden case? Lehel found it in a dusty storage room and inside was a cello,

badly damaged. It turned out it belonged to a Unitarian renaissance man- scholar, educator, musician for whom the high school is named- Brassai Samuel. The cello has been restored and a master cellist has been chosen to play it for three years, then it will go on to another with the provision that the cellist

play for special High School events.

Work table for a volunteer who is archiving local Unitarian church records.

Back to my work place- note front of cello case. Lately I have been intrigued by a letter by

James Martineau, preeminent British Unitarian minister, theologian,

 author and principal of Manchester New College.

He wrote a stunningly beautiful letter to Bishop Ferencz Joseph in Kolozsvar in 1879 on the 300th anniversary of the death of Ferencz David,

"We do not address you as strangers. More than half a century ago, when our (British Unitarian) Association was formed, one of its first duties was to open communication with your churches..."

 Here is a close up of the big Transylvanian church history. 

Parts of it have been edited and published recently.

 1587-1606

Partiale Generalae Consistorium

The earliest recorded of the governing body of the church- a representative

group of clergy, lay people and staff.

The modern-day Consistorium met here last week.

Pakei Lajos was a preeminent Unitarian architect from Kolozsvar 

who designed many major buildings here around 1900.  He designed the headquarters/high school/seminary/ Bishop's office where I am staying in the attic!

This poster announces a special exhibition of his work and a scholarly

presentation based on a newly-published book of his work, author below (note Pakei photo to right)

Students studying Pakei's architectural drawing loaned from among 600 drawings in Unitarian Archives.

They were finding their rooms and the many stairways they travel.

Lehel as expert archivist at reception.

A nice entertainment at the Pakei reception and presentation.

Pakei's work- the Headquarter's building.  He also designed the Unitarian High school in Szekelyudvarhely

where our Shoreline UU Pilgrimage is taking English books in mid April 2013. The drawing look very similar to the Kolozsvar school, but smaller.  Lehel is from the town with the smaller school and attended it.  His father and grandfather ran the local museum in town.

Au revoir! I'm taking off for the Easter Break and will share

how Transylvania Unitarians celebrate Easter

in about ten days.

We may have more in common than you might imagine!

Rev. Claudia

Flower Sunday

Still Sunday, March 24

Young men who helped up front with flowers brought the vases to the exits and

passed flower to everyone in the service.

Recognize the large stone on the right?

The Minister of the Kolozsvar Unitarian Church in his clerical robe/cape. Just before taking this picture

I asked him about the flower ceremony English is excellent. He said this is the third year they have done it-

it is new to them!

I told him we did it in June.  He said they don't call it flower communion,

like Norbert Capek did in Prague, because

when they have communion

about six times a year they eat bread, and they don't want to eat flowers!

This is the stone on which Ferencz David stoodin 1568 when he preached to the town and in the process everyone became a Unitarian, or so the story goes.

Can anyone read Hungarian?

Coffee hour on the street- note Minister's long black cape.

More coffee hour....lingering.

Time for lunch.

Palm Sunday/ Flower Sunday March 24

A brisk Sunday morning just above freezing, the bell is ringing from the Unitarian Church steeple, competing with serious traffic noise. A fire truck whizzes by and finally the pedestrian light turns green to cross over to the church. The air felt like Connecticut, but the street scene was not like Rte 1 in Madison, except the speeding cars!  The church bell persists at its steady, even rate. It's nice being rung to church. At eleven the church is filling fast, many more people than last week, grows to about full in the prime zone.

Look closely through the hats and coats, many flower and vases are on the communion table, and a steady of people of all ages are bringing them in.Young men are helping people with the vases.  I recognize the young man from the desk at Hotel Transilvania is the leader.

More flowersand a line of about 20 children and adults come down the aisle with their flowers. Now I'm curious.  Is what we know as Flower Sunday as started by Norbert Capek in Prague a spin off of a Palm Sunday tradition?

From about half way back, the minister almost looks like he is on TV in his raised pulpit.  We stand through many parts of the service- about half the time. Of course everything is in Hungarian so I don't have a clue about the content.  We sang about three hymns, but very few people actually sang- a small choir and the organ carried

music. I didn't recognize any tunes.

The hymns were slow, but not as dramatically slow as 10 years ago.

I found not understanding content freed me up to meditate on the tone and cadence of the minister's voice, the pacing of the service, and of course just looking up at the details in the arched white plasterceiling. 

The detail of the pulpit is extraordinary, dramatic lighting, the red embroidered Szekeley trim, and carved plaster give the illusion of a wedding cake!

more later

A First Look at the Transylvanian Unitarian Archives

Entering the Archives

The sign above the door says Church Archives in Hungarian. A large metal door rolls down in front of this wooden door every night as part of a basic fire safety system. Of course,getting here is not this easy. Below is the last flight down, you can see the Archives door at the end of the hall.  From my room, there are five more similar flights. Wow, do I feel my quads getting stronger!

.

This is my work station with my pile of correspondence received from the English Unitarian church by the Unitarian Bishop's office in Kolozsvar between 1820s-1920s. My job is to summarize in a data base letters in English, so Hungarian researchers can understand the nuances in the content. My biggest challenge is mysterious handwriting and convoluted English sentences.

Much of the content is the English offering condolences for deaths in Transylvania, invitations to visit, scholarship arrangements for Hungarian Unitarians at the Channing School (English Unitarian Girls High School) and Manchester College, Oxford (Unitarian Seminary- all men in this period, though changing around 1920 when my thesis subject, Margaret Crook, was accepted there) and offering support and congratulations for anniversaries. Some of the letters are first drafts of 

English translations of the Bishops letters.

See the oddly-shaped brown wooden "box" in front of me? Any guesses? I'll tell you soon.

This morning I spent over an hour on this letter below.  Want to give it a try?

I think I finally got most of it.  I found if I worked on it for a while, then came back, more fell into place.

 Molnar Lehel (family name is always given first in Hungarian)  the Archivist at his desk. One of his colleagues told me the Archives was a pile of brown paper when Lehel began here around 15 years ago after finishing theological School- now it looks organized and you can find things.  He is trained as a parish minister, but was always finding himself doing research in the Archives. He is very efficient and exacting and loves to tell the stories of the Archives.  What a joy to work with such a kind person who has truly endless amazing true stories!

 Below, the neat and organized part, rows of ancient record books on the left.  The Archives is also working on gathering parish records for safe keeping, and a book shelf over 200 years old (brown) in the center.

 Archivists dream, acid free boxs neatly catalogued, stacked and marked, below.

                       I would call this the Archivists' lament, Lehel might call it a treasure trove; it gets worse. 

My workplace with a magic keyboard.  It can switch back and forth between English and Hungarian which means that z often turns into y and quotation marks are hard to find, to name just a few mysteries.

To be continued.

Also, my friends, if you have questions or things you would like hear and see from an American Unitarian Minister in Kolosvar, let me know in the comments 

Life in the Archives

 

Local Food and Sightings

Farmers Market, getting there, I'm afraid these oranges on my desk are the closest I can show from the Farmers' Market.  It was bustling and my focus was on buying breakfast and not getting pick-pocketed.

I didn't realize until we were leaving that I had left my cell in sight in my jacket pocket.  Lehel said, "Remember you are in 'the East' now."

One the way to the market, behind the Unitarian buildings.  Gray communist era apartment below.

Someone was passing out coupons for coffee at McDonalds good only after 7pm. Wow, do I miss American coffee- a nice big mug- these little sips of expresso aren't doing it!

Olympus Cafe where I got take out dinner- lots of filo pastry, not much cheese. 

Side street with Unitarian HQ on right,

December 21,1989 Blvd ahead.

Cafe across the street owned by Unitarian Church.  The same kitchen cooks for this as for our basement school dining room.  Church here are very entrepreneurial here.

SUUS Travelers take note- this is the Hotel Transilvania on left, where Bram Stoker stayed while writing Dracula and where you will stay at the end of our Pilgrimage.  Below, hotel courtyard. I had dinner there tonight!

Above, cottage cheese fritter with jam and cream.  Yum!

An amazing ancient wood and iron door that deserves more of a showcase than it is getting,

a few doors up from the Hotel.

Good night!

Unitarian High Schoolers

A morning with 13 year olds at the Unitarian High School English class...and Kiss Biborka, their teacher

What a fun and lively group- here were some questions-

Do you have gangsters where you live?

Is there discrimination against blacks?

What is New York like?

What are the high school like in America?

Have you seen a UFO?

How is your ecomony?

...and many more!  They wanted to see pictures and I tried to hook up my iPhone pictures but it was too hard to sort them all out.  So I am making a collection on a thumb drive.  I mentioned I have a blog and they all wanted to sign up- so hello there!

I will go back next Tuesday.

 

The Neighborhood

The Neighborhood

The Unitarian Church is in the city center, though not the oldest part of the center.  The HQ building was erected around 1900 to combine all the programs of the Unitarians: Bishop's Office and Consiliatory, archives, high school, elementary school and seminary. It was designed by a noted architect of the day and covers an entire city block. As I mentioned earlier, the seminary was moved by the Communist regime to better control Protestant religious groups in one location.  Lehel told me when he applied for seminary in 1988, the Communists would only allow two new Unitarian candidates a year. He was accepted, but in the meantime was the 1989 Revolution and the Unitarians then decided to accept ten seminary students.

To the East

Just a block to the east seems to be religion city- the Protestant seminary is below. This is on one side of a square with the

Catholic Seminary on the east,

The Opera on the south and a

 big Church of the Adoration orthodox church

right in the center.  

 These are devotional candle stands for the orthodox church- very fire proof and very ugly next to the ornate church.

To the West

Kolozsvar/Cluj Center

City Hall

 The Central Square with way too many cars buzzing around.  St. Michael's Church where the Interfaith Independance Day service was held is right in the

center, just to the right of the sculpture of the man on the horse.

 Napoca Boulevard, on the west of the square with conspicuously ugly Communist state in contrast to ornate buildings behind.  St. Michaels, below.
Note two ornate domes on west side of square. That is "twin street" where all building features mirror each other across the street as you walk down the street.  Considered quite an attraction here.

This is a very pedestrian city with sidewalks often filled and people in a hurry.

Speaking of which, I have to go to dinner- and it is probably

only noon where you are!

Unitarian HQ



Life Inside

Always stairs and halls- note stairs worn by generations of students and teachers.



 Miles of hall are line with class pictures, each one a piece of art from that class, that era.  Students can never forget who came before- perhaps friends and family.

 The school closed during WWII.  Note serpent and dove, "be ye wise as serpents and gentle as doves."

 Green plants are prized and cared for tenderly in a place of wood and stone.

My work nitch on right in the Archives. The big pile is the early 20th century English correspondence with the Bishop.  I love the natural light, delving into another era, then looking out on the children playing in the courtyard.