The Reformation spread rapidly in Hungary after 1518. Ottoman victories and prolonged occupation of the land made Lutheranism a more radical popular movement than in Germany. From 1522 until the time of Luther’s death (1546), 148 students from Hungary attended Wittenberg University. A leader among them, Mátyás Dévai (d. 1545), was later called the “Hungarian Luther”. The first complete Hungarian translation of the New Testament (1541) and of Luther’s Small Catechism (1550) stimulated the rise of numerous Lutheran printing houses, also in Transylvania.
Plans for Reformation 500
In Hungary, the government has established its own Reformation remembrance committee, chaired by the Prime Minister V. Orban on 31 October 2013. Plans of the Ev.-Luth. Church in Hungary include:
- A 10-part animation series about Luther and the beginnings of the Reformation in Wittenberg (The Life of Martin Luther)
- Hungarian Lutheran Digital Library ("From Gutenberg to Google"): Digitalization of 200 000 pages of theological and church-related literature (ongoing)
- Publication of a new Hungarian critical edition of Martin Luther's selected works (12 vol)
- In cooperation with the Reformed Church in Hungary an exhibition is being planned at the National Museum
- There are plans to mint a memorial coin with the help of the Hungarian National Bank and a memorial stamp with the Hungarian Post.
