Bishop Without a Church

Hungary's Lutheran Bishop Lajos Ordass, whose courageous sermons drew crowds even after he was in deep political disgrace with the Red regime, will no longer appear in Hungarian pulpits.

Ordass has been persecuted by the Reds ever since he opposed nationalization of church schools, in 1948 was jailed for 20 months on a trumped-up charge. Later he was stripped of his post as primate of the Hungarian Lutheran Church. In 1956, partly because of pressure from Lutherans the world over, he was finally cleared, resumed his post. Last year Ordass got permission to attend an international Lutheran assembly in Minneapolis (TIME, Aug. 19), but after his return, he was slapped in the Red press for his "antiCommunist addresses," was replaced by Collaborationist Bishop Lajos Veto as Hungary's No. 1 Lutheran. The only post Ordass kept was that of head of Hungary's Southern Lutheran District. Last week Hungary's Kadar regime stripped him even of that position.

In Geneva, the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation could only protest and reiterate "full confidence" in Lajos Ordass. From Vienna a TIME correspondent cabled this picture of the defeated bishop: "He now lives in a two-room Budapest apartment with his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren. Wearing an old grey sweater, as grey as his face, and smoking too much, Ordass manages to speak serenely despite the fact that he is obviously ill. He may or may not get a pension from the government. But his wife, who is suffering from asthma, recently learned how to make artificial flowers, and the family is expected to live on the proceeds of that work. Lajos Ordass is an unforgettable figure, reading his Bible at a desk that is cluttered with scraps of colored paper, paint brushes and artificial petals.

"Henceforth he will be allowed to preach only on the specific invitation of a Lutheran church, which he is not expected to seek, since he wants to avoid further trouble for his fellow pastors. But, while he may be a man without a church, he will never be without a flock. He is, in the view of one of his pastors, the most popular man in Hungary today."

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