LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson Visits Hungary and Romania

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, accompanied by his wife, Ione, visited Budapest, Hungary, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary Oct. 26-29. This was Hanson's first visit as LWF president to a European church.

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson views the original copy of the Last Will and Testament of Martin Luther during his visit to Budapest, Hungary on Oct. 26. The document was given as a gift to the Lutheran Church in Hungary in the early 1800s. With Hanson are, from left, Ione Hanson, Bishop János Ittzés, interim presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, and Dr. Péter Szentpétery, senior lecturer, Lutheran Theological University, Budapest.

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson present a gift to Dr. Katalin Szili, president of the Hungarian parliament. Hanson, accompanied by leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, met with Szili Oct. 27 in Budapest.

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, second from left, and his wife, Ione, visit a cemetery in Budapest, where victims of the unsuccessful 1956 coup against the Communist regime, are buried. With the Hansons, are from left, driver Míklos, and far right, Anna Frenyó, who has youth ministry responsibility for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary.

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, right, makes a point during a discussion with Adrian Iorgulescu, left, of the Romanian ministry of cult and culture. The two met in Bucharest Oct. 30, during Hanson's formal visit to the Hungarian Lutheran churches

LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, right, presents Calin Popescu Tariceanu, prime minister of Romania, a book about Martin Luther following their discussion in Bucharest Oct. 30. During the meeting, the prime minister made a commitment to seek formal legislation that enable the government and the Lutheran churches of Romania to work together on social projects.

The historic "Black Church" in Brasov, Transylvania, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession, Romania, was the site of an Oct. 31 Reformation Day service. The sanctuary is more than 700 years old. It became known by that name because of a extensive fire in Brasov some 300 years ago that turned the exterior stone of the church building a dark color.

During a news conference in Brasov, Transylvania Oct. 30, LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark. S. Hanson responds to a reporter's questions. With him, left, is Bishop Dezso Zoltan Adorjani, of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Romania.

Bishop D. Dr. Christoph Klein, left, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession, presents LWF President and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark. S. Hanson a book during Hanson's visit to Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Transylvania, on Nov. 1. At right is Hanson's wife, Ione.