Thanks to the suggestion of the General Bishop's Office of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia a meeting took place on 25th of November 2011 in Budapest. The aim of this meeting was to prepare a partnership contract between ECAC in Slovakia and ECAC in Hungary.
The meeting followed up on previous engagement in Bratislava (19th of September 2007) as well as other official and unofficial meetings and discussions that have been conducted between our churches on different levels.
Our church was represented by the General Bishop Milos Klatik and General Supervisor Pavel Delinga. The Hungarian sides were represented by General Curator Gergely Pröhle and Bishop Tamas Fabiny. Director of the General Bishop's Office Dušan Vagaský attended this meeting as well. Simultaneous translation was provided by Erika Hlacokova - pastor of Evangelical congregation in Bratislava and Pal Lackner - General Secretary of Hungarian Evangelical Conference and Hilda Fabulova of Slovak evangelical congregation in Budapest. Klara Tarr, the secretary of foreign affairs of the ECAC in Hungary was present as well.
It has been stated during the meeting that even though good neighborly relations of our churches are decisive, good interpersonal relations and good will among the believers and members of both churches are crucial for the partnership contract that is being prepared. This contract will be legal codification and expression of interest of both parties in good partner relationship, which sends an important signal not only to our churches but also to other countries.
The contract will contain seven articles dedicated to different areas of cooperation. One of these will be devoted to support of national identity of Slovak Lutherans living in Hungary and Hungarian Lutherans living in Slovakia. After endorsement of wording of the partnership contract it will have to pass responsible bodies of both churches - General Presbyterium in the case of ECAC in Slovakia.