BIOGRAPHY OF GELLÉRD IMRE

[Key viewpoints: orphan, excellence, loneliness, contradictions...]

Orphan - the dark background of his childhood; he wasn't only born into it, but in a strange way with the years this just kept growing around him. This was the loneliness of those who had been too gifted with talent, spiritual values and sensitivity but born into great poverty.

At the Theology [Seminary] an ardent spirit and becoming evident at the very beginning his excellence and vocation--many considered having the criteria of a genius in him. Laughing, he said: "I am not that clever but anything I read, I never forget, I remember of every letter for ever], sometimes I am surprized myself." And he kept devouring books, absorbing European culture. All the summer holidays when he had to continue working hard on the farmlands, he had the book in one hand and he read while hacking, making hay.

The theology alone wasn't enough for him, he had been attending other disciplines at the University, too: psychology, philosophy, pedagogy, French and Romanian languages. Using an esoteric language, he had an unusual aura around him, it was impossible not to notice his presence in spite of his modest, silent way of being buried in books and writings; in society he was almost awkward. As child of a poor peasant widow, he never was able to take this off and assimilate into the intellectuals. Being so superior intellectually, he still felt unreachably far the "fine high society" of the middle class. In fact he was at home only in village and was somehow proud of his roots. The soil [clod, lump, sod], the soil...

And he always sang... nobody can forget this even if some of his elder collegues at the Saminary tend to forget that he as a freshman, won the first orator competition against the already famous preacher, the senior Filep Imre. And his homiletical writings were consistently among the best, later the best ones. Yet, his self-consciousness didn't become greater. He just kept burning and singing.

He always dreamed [wished] to become physician. But poverty wasn't good recommandation to the medicine. Without money even the gates of the possibility to prove your talent didn't open. But there was psychology and pedagogy at Kolozsvár University and Benedek István. He started here research and the theses grew, could have even become an early dissertation. But the war came and tuberculosis, cruel times.

In 1944 he graduated from the Theology. Two invitations for ministry had been waiting for the two young alumnuses: Budapest and Székely-keresztúr. Bencze Márton the minister of modest abilities and therefore "a non-problematic case" was taken by Csíky Gábor at Budapest, Gellérd Imre, at his greatest joy, got Székelykeresztür (Which after Kolozsvár had the next greatest prestige in the Unitarian church with its famous Unitarian highschool, library and spirit.)

A great job was waiting for Gellérd Imre there, just fitting him. Becuase of the war all the ministers had fled --not only Ütö Lajos the Unitarian minister of the town but from the whole country-side [district] (They came back only at the end of 1945). Gellérd Imre became the minister of Székelykeresztúr and vicinity. He had the pulpit and the whole school remained also without any teacher (teachers fled or were taken to the army.) The news of a "miraculous" preacher got around soon. More and more people came to the church Sunday after Sunday, not only Unitarians. A catholic, Kovács Judit, who later became his wife, was told by her girlfriend: "Come with me to the Unitarian church, you never have heard such sermon in your life!" And she wouldn't miss a Sunday to listen to him.

The slim, pale, hyperactive young minister having "a face of a poet" and ardent spirit of a prophet whose eyes, voice and words awakened and made thursty everybody. Nyitrai Levente, a younger fellow minister, his prisonmate characterized him: "Gellérd Imre's voice was suggestive, that of Jesus or Balázs Ferenc could have this kind. With his fine, pecularly high tenor voce, sometimes wispering, he could speak so silent that it already was a cry, an injection given into the conscience." He spoke persuasively and inspiringly. Anything he told seemed a novelty even if one had heard it before.

The Unitarian Gymnazium [Highschool] at Székelykeresztúr was reopened early in spite of the war but having Gellérd Imre as the only teacher. As a genuine, passionate pedagoghe took over the whole school and he remained even after the war, when the headmaster of the school Lörinczi László became attached to him and invited him to teach psychology, French and Romanian (he was the only who spoke Romanian in the school, and this became compulsory soon) But first of all, he became a resident assistant master of the college, together with Gálfalvi Sándor, Patakfalvi Sándor, building a magical world there, a modern boarding school with school literary and debating society, with their own newspaper for students coming from the Secler (Székely) villages. (Many of the greatest Transylvanian Hungarian writers, artists, intellectuals had graduated from this school.) His students remember of Gellérd Imre, their face [always] takes the same characteristic festive expression: "He was extraordinary... a miracle occurred around him... we adored him... we were hanging on his words... we tried to absorb everything and to imitate him... we admired him and were ready to go through fire and water for him..."

In 1946 life gradually became normalized only poverty grew from day to day. By this ime Gellérd Imre was extraordianrily popular not only among the belivers, teachers and students but also among the recently organizing new communists, too. He was who profoundly knew Marxism. "This is a minister, a democratic minister!" the communists said and he was often invited to lecture, to teach at their secret meetings; being familiar with philosophy, he spoke clearly, logically. Soon he found himslef deeply involved into the political campaigne for election of Petru Groza's communist government. Representing the Hungarian Popular Association, he became their keynote speaker, in order to defend the interest of Hungarian minorities.

He got involved also in the just-founded Association of the Young Communists because of his great force of attraction for masses. One of his memorable lectures was "Socialism", naturally he meant a Christian socialism; the world hadn't have the Stalinistic socialism yet. Hungarians liked his lectures: the progressive political ideas, Unitarian Christianity and the popular thinking, national interest seemed to be in concordance [harmony].

The communist government of Groza being founded, kept alluring [inducing] him, promising great future, political leader career. He was proposed as member of the Central Comettee in Bucharest as representatives of Hungarians. He refused it, though it still seemed to be a national salvation mission. He even gave up suddenly his job at the school and accepted the invitation of the congregation of Siménfalva one of the most prestigious parishes that time, just become vacant. This step automatically resulted in his expulsion from the Communist Party.

What is the explanation of his stunning decision? What are the causes of this apparent [crucial] contradiction which is just one among others of his life?

One of the main factors, an internal one was the almost pathological lack of self-confidence. "How such a genius, such a great spirit could get so ridiculously stranded? How he could be in such a shortage of self-esteem?" his friends amazed. As he rejected the invitation to the Central Comettee, the far less talented Fazakas János [his former student] accepted the proposition. One could put the question: what would Gellérd Imre have done in that role which at the very beginning offered many opportunities to help Hungarians but demanded as many compromises as well--perfect adapting, serving. Gellérd Imre's very desire had been to serve, to serve his people, but he was totally incapable (by his psychological structure), to confront, to rebel stirring sharp conflicts. He had a great fear of conflicts and humiliation and he always had fled, had backed down [retired] before being forced for spinelessness or humiliation. He never betrayed his principles, his peak-values, though it cost the ruination of his marriage and eventually his whole life.

Gellérd Imre made everything with maximum seriousness and dedication and never surpassed his own limits--actually he never even dared to try. He gave up politics because of his fear. He never had enough courage and self-confidence to become a leader, though he had a mental frame [psyche] of a leader. He had been a spiritual leader of his congregation. But he was absolutely in lack of any ability of self-administration necessary to any political career. And what times would come? Whom the world would belong to? More and more to the collaborators of the Securitate. "The orchid is ill-fitted to the storm" was said of him. In those years at a party meeting at Udvarhely the remark--a future sentence for prison--was made: "We either bring him round to us or annihilate him!"

Gellérd Imre had chosen the church, though he knew, this was not a less dangerous choice.

How easy it was to become a scholar, to build the church, to serve the future with your best in the Unitarian church of the turn of the century. When talent and dedication was the standard for the students to be sent abroad at public expense and being loaded by European culture and returning, they took the professoral chair--the right man the right place to build the church and educate the next generation of ministers. It seems that the church in the past didn't waste such talents and such ardent willingness to give, just to give as Gellérd Imre had been.

But in 1947 he still had the world before him even in the religious field he just exclusively dedicated to. To keep learning, studying, growing and to pass the knowledge on, to keep perfecting yourself and others, to live for and serve your people, your church from all your heart and mind--this hasn't been anachronism yet. He was a living statue of Unitarian humanism. The parallel with his ideal, Balázs Ferenc, occurs to people all the time, there is so much in common [feature]. [ Both had been rising far above the average] At Siménfalva had happened something which greatly reminds us to Mészkö. But Gellérd Imre had less luck by his longer life because he lived to see all the hell coming and he also was more vulnerable than Balázs Ferenc.

Forcing him to choose an alternative [dilemma] considered obviously a breaking. The cause of the Unitarian humanism, whose living statue he was, he could serve at Székelykeresztúr in such a complex as minister, teacher, politician. But he was put into dilemma. He chose the church and proved during the next 12 years that one can bring to fullness even the part, can accomplish perfection if had been given enough time for it. "At Siménfalva he built a kingdom of God."

Gellérd Imre's choice for his church also had carried the seed of his tragedy in it because he was expecting in vain that the church to recover from breaking its backbone, to come back into "fashion" his humanism. The world and the church have changed; Gellérd Imre's unbroken spirit and backbone, his purity rejecting compromise, his idealism, his continuous desire to still give, his carrying on the scholarly work, not giving up writing--mainly to draw--and bearing in Jesus' spirit [in a Jesus way] the repeated ruinations of him, became very uncomfortable and annoying to the church authorities. He was in the way, causing too much worry --to actively, continuously putting him aside; even the prison only lasted 5 years and he survived. And he still wrote his second dissertation, too. His death was a relief for many in the Unitarian church and the more so that he had caused his own death. Nobody came to his funeral from the Unitarian church headquarters (though a minister is supposed to be buried by his bishop). Székely László, his prisonmate and one of the closest friends, couldn't be considered a representative of the church leadership, though he came from Kolozsvár--at least the 70 ministers assisting his burial service didn't think so.

"I feel the nostalgy of what Balázs Ferenc and Gellérd Imre fell victim," Nyitrai Levente said. "If there had been many Imre bácsi [bácsi, elder friend] the way of the church would have taken another direction." But he was only one and "from that kind of which usually is born only one in a century" his younger collegues say almost [as a] stereotyp[ly]. "In this time in which he had been living and acting--including the other denominations, too--there wasn't other so great creative spirit [talent] of the church in Transylvania."

"He still could have some hope that his life eventually got its real meaning and end [result] and because it wouldn't happen, he perished from [with]; I live when I already can't even have hope, this is why I survive it. (Nyitrai Levente, 1988).

These are only partially external, like the increasing misery, inflation, poverty after the war, the near-starvation of a teacher. The more decisive external motivation was his passionate love awakened for Kovács Judit. Judit had been a phenomenon in the town: beautiful and brilliant, full of temperament, 19 and a student of Gellérd Imre. (As he confessed, she had been his most talented student ever, graduating from two classes within one year.) She was an adopted orphan and her stepmother truly, horribly abused her. The conservative middle-class stepparents welcomed the distinguished young teacher-minister's courting; however his connection with the communists was highly shameful in their eyes. They tried to exert pression on him: to chose between Judit and the Party. But before any decision had occured, the Medical University from Marosvásárhely being just founded, recruited students and Kovács Judit entered the University trying to forget the disturbing love. Long months of emotional struggle came for Gellérd Imre who somehow had intuitied the future tragedy of theirs; its evidency comes from a letter of him written to Judit in 1946 (Letter).

Kovács Judit coming home to her Easter holiday as the excellent student of the medicine and about to fall in love with her collegue Mánya András, her mother declared the inappellable decision: she must get married, she is not allowed to return to an "imoral university" as the medicine is. In Judit's mind the obedience was unconditionned and unquestionable because of imposed obligation of her to be grateful for being elevated from orphany. She remained loyal to her parents for all their life and didn't even try to revolt against continuous blackmail. She even had to accept the next sentence of her mother who would take her first-born child as "a price" which the child's father, Gellérd Imre had to pay according to the previous [premarital] agreement [blackmail between Judit's mother and the bridegroom Gellérd Imre. She would "facilitate" the marriage but she has claim to their first child. Imre was in love, Judit was a matter of life or death for him and who could have possibly imagine that a grandmother like a cruel, demonic exactor would come and snatch the 6 month child from her mother's arms as her property.

Their love became full bloom again and in May they got married. "Worthy couple! Just created to each other" people said delightfully. The whole city and the school lined the streets and throw flowers to their coach. A dream came true through all fear.

And started those 12 years which can be the dream for any Unitarian minister.