About us
First Unitarian Congregation in Budapest has 125 years of history. The congregation was founded on the 14th of April, 1881, as a member congregation of the Unitarian Church in Hungary, which had its headquarters in Kolozsvár.Budapest, the capital of Hungary, after the Compromise with the Austrian Empire in 1867 became the political, economic, cultural, and administrative center of Hungarians living in the Carpathian basin. Due to this more and more Transylvanian families moved for a shorter or longer period to Budapest. In order to satisfy their religious needs Unitarian bishop József Ferenc entrusted minister Károly Derzsi with the task of founding the congregation.
In the beginning, the congregation kept its worship services in the Hall of the Evangelical Highschool at Deák Square, and later on, on the corner of Alkotmány and Koháry street (Nagy Ignác street today) where the church building was erected, serving today as the headquarters of the congregation.
The real estate was a donation of the city. The building designed by Samu Petz is housing the Congregation Hall and a few apartments too.
The church was consecrated on the 6th of October, 1890.
Since then, worship services are held regularly every Sunday morning at 11:00.
On the great Unitarian holidays, Easter, Pentecost, Thanksgiving and Christmas the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper with bread and wine is also practiced, with adults and confirmed youth taking part in.
Our ceremonies are: baptism, confirmation, Lord’s Supper, wedding, and funeral.
The First Unitarian Congregation in Budapest has 610 pledging members; total estimated membership is about 1,300. Great majority consists of first, second or third generation of descendants of Transylvanian immigrants. The great waves of immigrants came during events like the Trianon Treaty after World War I; the end of the World War II; dictatorship of Ceausescu during the 80s; and the political and economic changes in the 90s.
Leading staff of the congregation consists of Reverend József Kászoni; lay presidents Csaba Zoltán and Gábor Schmidt; the parish clerk Mrs. Kaveczki, Katalin Farkas and a board of trustees consisting of 15 members, including music director Attila Vadady. Leader of the congregation’s office is Mrs. Ildikó Postás.
Besides the worship services, Bible hours, and religious education our congregation works to build the community of the members, to strengthen the personal relationship, and helps people with carrying on their everyday life. For this purpose we keep cultural and musical events, exhibitions, lectures and dinners occasionally inviting guests from Transylvania and abroad.
We keep our members informed through our newsletter, the Budapesti Unitárius Hírlevél (Unitarian Newsletter of Budapest) which is issued four times a year.
Twice a year, in May and September, we gather for an open-air worship service and dinner party on the scenic lot in Magyarkút (it belongs to the municipality of Verőce) maintained by our congregation.
Unitarian youth between the age of 6 and 18 have a possibility to take part in camping in Magyarkút.
We established partnerships with several Transylvanian congregations and the largest UU Church in USA, the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, state of Oregon.