2001 - A Pilgrimage Beyond the Village

Fifteen First Parishioners embarked on yet another pilgrimage to Transylvania and our partner church in Abásfalva on Wednesday, August 1 [2001]. We returned to Boston on the evening of August 14, tired but grateful for yet another memorable experience with our Transylvanian brethren.

Unlike previous group trips, we flew into Bucharest, Romania and were in Abásfalva within a day of our arrival. In past years we had flown into Budapest, Hungary, and spent several days journeying to our village. We were met at the airport in Bucharest by Éva Laszló Csoz (our friend whom we have known since our first trip in 1994 and who came to Bedford with her sister in the summer of 1998.) Eva stayed with us for most of our trip and acted as our translator and guide. A tour bus also awaited us in Bucharest and became our mode of transportation for the next two weeks. Our trip was “book-ended” by two important events in and near Abásfalva. The first weekend, we participated in a celebration in Abásfalva to dedicate two new signs at the entrances of the village that welcome visitors and let them know of the village's partnership with the church in Bedford, Massachusetts. On the second weekend, we attended the 3rd annual World Gathering of Unitarians in a large park in the city of Udvarhely - only about 45 minutes from Abásfalva. Here we met up with other Unitarian friends and acquaintances from Abásfalva and other Transylvanian cities and villages and attended a long worship service led by the Bishop of the Unitarian Church and other world Unitarian dignitaries and enjoyed traditional Hungarian music and dances from various villages.

During the intervening week, we traveled hundreds of kilometers throughout the Homoród Valley and toured cities and villages not seen on previous trips. Boglárka Barabás (Áron's sister, now 18 years old) and her boyfriend, Levente, joined us on our travels for the week. It was wonderful to spend time with her. Her English is now very good, so communicating with her was so much easier than in years past. Cities we visited were Marosvásárhely, Kolozsvár (the “Capitol of Transylvania” and the headquarters of the Unitarian  Church in Transylvania), Déva, and Udvarhely. We traveled through and stopped at numerous villages to meet the ministers and to look at churches, economic projects, castle ruins, local crafts and ethnic museums. On this UU pilgrimage, we visited a new Unitarian church that is under construction in the city of Marosvásárhely. We entered the church in Torda where Francis David preached his sermon the convinced King Zsigmond to declare Unitarian the state religion in 1568. We viewed the crypt of King János Zsigmond and hiked the mountain to the castle ruins and jail cell in Déva where Francis David was imprisoned until his death. (After the death of King Zsigmond, the new king renounced Unitarianism and moved to eliminate all Unitarians from the country.) We toured the Unitarian headquarters in Kolozsvár and met with Bishop Árpád Szabó who talked about Unitarian history in the region and the problems Hungarian Unitarians face today in Romanian society. We were able to visit the new dormitory in Kolozsvár for Unitarian seminary students and chose the “Bedford” room. (You may remember that we raised approximately $10,000 last year to share in the funding of construction for this new dormitory. One of the rooms is named to honor Bedford and our minister, John Gibbons.) We also visited a church that has a stone plaque on its exterior that dates from 1613 and is written in Latin. It is the earliest date that the word “Unitarian” appears on any church building.

Below: standing in the “Bedford/John E. Gibbons” room. John Gibbons, Eva Csoz, Hannah Peterson, Nancy & Rich Daugherty, Betty Hefner, Joyce Huff, Sarah Dorer, Boglárka Barabás, David & Sandy Boczenowski, Levente, Ben & Pat Leiby, and Sharon McDonald. (Tom D. or Julia B. must've taken the photo.)

As in past years, we endured bouts of stomach illness, extreme heat (our supposedly air-conditioned bus merely blew hot air around and on several occasions the temperature on the bus hovered between 95 and 100 degrees), some crankiness and lots of pork, sausages, and a sufficient quantity of home-brewed plum brandy. However, in spite of this, we did remarkably well and proudly represented Bedford and First Parish on our journeys. It was a wonderful experience for all, and one that will not soon be forgotten.

(Joining us on the trip were Sandy and David Boczenowski, Julia Bosomworth, Cathy Cordes [who stayed for only the first week]; Rich, Nancy and Tom (Rich's brother) Daugherty, John Gibbons, Betty Hefner, Joyce Huff, Pat and Ben Leiby, Sharon McDonald and Hannah Peterson [a 17-year-old from Swampscott, partnered with neighboring Kemenyfalva].)

Sarah Dorer

from the Parishioner, August 29, 2001