Photo of Csekefalva ("Check-a-falva") in Transylvania, Romania taken from the hills above the village.
Now in our ninth formal year of partnership, members of the Hopedale Unitarian Parish and the Unitarian Parish of Csekefalva share the religious and the everyday parts of our lives, and support and visit each other. We are getting to know each other better and better and realize that at the base of this relationship is the understanding that we “don’t have to think alike to love alike”. This is one of the basic teachings of Francis David, the father of Unitarianism who lived in Transylvania and proclaimed his support of religious freedom in 1568.
The Transylvanian Unitarian Symbol: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16
The minister of the village’s Unitarian parish is Rev. Noémi Moldován Szeredai. She lives in
the parsonage with her husband Gergely and their two young daughters Eszter (born 2000) and Lilla (born 2007). She has ministered
to the Csekefalva congregation for 10 years.
Description and History
Csekefalva is an agrarian village of 500 nestled in
a valley just north of the small city Szekelykerestúr in the midst of rolling hills, woods and fields of Transylvania, Romania.
The village is made up of small lanes off a single center street. It is dominated by the two churches, the Unitarian church
and the Reformed church on opposite sides of the street. Family fields of corn and hay rise up on both sides of the town with
pastures, vineyards and the cemetery above and woods beyond the ridge. While many in the village are farmers, others have jobs
in Székelykeresztúr, which is about 3 miles away. The high schools and trade school is also in this small city. Most houses
host a large kitchen garden and a barnyard for a horse and several cows, pigs and chickens.
The people in the town are mostly of Hungarian origin. There is also a gypsy or Roma enclave. Transylvania was part of Hungary for close to 1000 years before being ceded to Romania in 1918 at the end of WWI. The people of Romania are still in political and social transition from the many hard communist years leading up to their revolution in 1989.
You can see photos of the village at their web site
http://www.unitarius.ro/csekefalva/csekefalva.html (click
on KÉPEK on the left side)
This is a photo of Rev. Noémi Moldován Szeredai, with Eszter her daughter and her husband at Eszter’s baptism in 2003.Tim House and Ann Gary from the Hopedale Parish are godparents.
Rev. Noémi Moldován Szeredai spent part of her religious training in Chicago
at Mead Lombard seminary and was an intern at the Unitarian church in Bedford, MA in the mid 90’s. Her vision for what is possible,
her connectedness to the greater good and her indomitable practical sense, impress all those around her. Her 2002 trip to Hopedale
enabled her to share that energy and warmth with the Hopedale Congregation. Her husband Gergely is a history and geography teacher
at the nearby Orban Balazs Gimnansium, which was founded in 1793 in the nearby city of Székelykeresztúr.
Our partnership helps us to understand the roots of Unitarianism and to be connected with Unitarians in Transylvania today. Our connections are indeed “local” even with the great distance that separates us.
Part of the congregation outside the church 2003.
One of our programs is to provide educational support to the school-age children in the village. With contributions each year from involved parishioners, we provide a stipend to support supplies, books and school fees.
We communicate by cards and letters, e-mail, phone and SKYPE.
Transylvanian Unitarians are Christian humanists. Their main precept is: God is One; Egy az Isten. We follow Jesus as our example, rather than worship him as god. A quote from an 18th century sermon underlines this idea: “God has given us the spirit of free will. It is not enough to avoid evil; good must be done. And it is not enough to stay good--one must grow in human values.” - Judit Gellerd
