Ten members of the Reformed Church submitted a petition to the Synodal Court, in which they request the removal of Bishop Zoltán Balog for violating several points of the Church Act, reports RTL.
Among other things, they claim that Zoltán Balog’s behavior is suitable for destroying the faith of the church and scandalizing the church and society.
After the pardon scandal, Zoltán Balog admitted in a video message that he had indeed played a role in the presidential pardon granted to the deputy director of Bicske, but he only resigned from the leadership of the synod, not from the bishopric. Zoltán Balog has been running away from the press ever since.
I think such a case against a bishop is perhaps unprecedented
– said Reformed presbyter Levente Kónya, who signed the petition sent to the court.
Levente Kónya says that they are counting on several versions of what comes next. As he says, it is also possible that they simply “sweep the case under the carpet”, but it is possible that it will drag on for years until Zoltán Balog’s episcopal mandate expires, and it is also possible that the application will be rejected for formal reasons.
RTL wanted to speak to the Reformed Church and Zoltán Balog, but they did not respond to the inquiry.
Zoltán Balog resigned from the leadership of the Hungarian Reformed Church in February after the pardon scandal broke out. The former minister only left the synod president’s post, he kept the episcopal seat of the Dunamellek Church District.
Since then, more and more Reformed pastors and church members have asked the Reformed bishop to also resign from his position as bishop of the Danube region, the “We can’t listen!” one hundred and thirty Reformed intellectuals have already signed the declaration.
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