Pentecost in Vojvodina
Lutherans have 250-year history in Serbia
By Arden Haug A
s the ELCA regional representative for Europe, I often visit places where few people expect to find Lutheran churches. One such place is Stara Pazova, a
municipality in Vojvodina, an autonomous province of the Republic of Serbia. It’s a unique territory where diverse faith groups live together.
Conquered in 1526 by the Ottoman Turks, the territory changed hands in 1699 when the Habsburg monarchy captured the land. The staunchly Roman Catholic Austri- ans wanted to prevent the Turks from reclaiming the area, so they opened the land to Protestants.
These newcomers included Slovak Lutherans, who in 1770 left the Tatra Mountains of Upper Hungary to begin a new life along the Turkish-Austrian border, where they could freely express their faith. They established the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stara Pazova, the first Slovak Lutheran congregation in Vojvodina. From the outside, the Lutheran building looks no dif- ferent from most of the area’s historic churches. Long ago a Habsburg emperor in Vienna ordered that all churches in Vojvodina should look the same, regardless of whether they were Lutheran, Reformed, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic or Orthodox. While Lutherans in other parts of the Habsburg Empire weren’t allowed to have a church tower, it was acceptable in Vojvodina. Yet it isn’t so much the outside of the church as the community inside that is so fascinating.
COURTESY OF ARDEN HAUG
Women in traditional clothing lead the singing at the Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church in Stara Pazova in Vojvodina, Serbia.
Haug, an ELCA pastor, serves as ELCA regional representative for Europe.
As with other European Lutheran churches, worship- ing during the season of Pentecost can feel like entering a forest. Newly cut birch boughs adorn Stara Pazova’s sanctuary and fresh cut grass is strewn across the floor. Greening the church is a link to the Jewish festival of Pen- tecost (or the firstfruits, which the apostles celebrated in Jerusalem with the “firstfruits of the Holy Spirit”) as well as a reminder that growth is present all around. Nearly the entire service is sung, led by women in traditional Slovak costumes. Men and women still sit in separate parts of the sanctuary. I am told that it helps wor- shipers focus, sing and meditate on divine things. What it doesn’t reflect is different roles for men and women. The Slovak Evangelical [Lutheran] Church of the
Augsburg Confession in Serbia (a companion of the Northwestern Ohio Synod) ordains women. Their clergy are educated at the seminary in Bratislava, Slovakia, where the tradition of ordaining women dates back to the 1950s—more years than the ELCA. During com- munist times, when many men weren’t joining churches, the region’s congregations realized that to survive they needed women pastors. On Pentecost Sunday, I preached in Stara Pazova about our mission and responsibility to care for neighbors— even those who don’t speak the same language. It made for a lively message in Vojvodina, which has 25 ethnic groups and six national languages. Of Slovak descent, church members have never translated the Lutheran lit- urgy into Serbian. They view this as their new challenge. As the Stara Pazova congregation knows, Pentecost
isn’t simply about a mighty wind filling the room and sending the disciples out speaking in new languages. Pentecost is about the change brought about through the Spirit, and the gifts of courage, strength and power that Jesus offers us through the Spirit.
Filled with the Spirit, the early disciples found that
no barrier, border, social institution or hardship would prevent them from proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. There was no distinction between Jew, Greek, male, female, youth, elder, German, Slovak, Roma, Hun- garian, Serb or American in the wondrous body of Christ. I showed photos of a Sunday worship service in Vojvo- dina to a young Serbian pastor and asked if he saw any- thing interesting. He noted only that I was wearing a black robe instead of my usual white. Where I see differences in seating, Pentecost greenery and colorful, diverse clothing, these sights are common for the people of Vojvodina. It has caused me to marvel at the wonder of God’s
church. And during this season of Pentecost, I wonder: What everyday signs of God’s marvelous kingdom do I pass by daily?
32 The Lutheran •
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