Day 39 - August 16: Hontianska Vrbica - From the cowshed to the church

Pastor Iwan in Batovce said during breakfast that the Protestant church in the spa town of Dudince is worth seeing, but the community room is currently occupied by a Ukrainian family and therefore overnight stays are not possible. Therefore, he provided a contact to Pastor Susann in the rural community of Hontianska Vrbica. Because the distance to this community was only 25 km, I still drove to Dudince beforehand to see the church. The place is located in the northern Danube Highlands of Slovakia. Since I had to ride a section of my route twice, I hid my 4 bicycle panniers under a secluded bridge so that the ride would not be so strenuous, hoping that they would still be there when I returned. This way, I could ride almost 18 km without any worries. When I arrived at the outskirts of the spa town Dudince, I thought that the church would be an old, more traditional church like in Piestany, because Iwan didn't say that it is a modern church building. I called the sexton and after 5 minutes he came and opened the church. Inside, there are appealing wooden benches. The altar is made of marble. Several spa guests, who want to see a modern Protestant church, also come to the church service with around 60-80 visitors. However, my stay was short because my destination for the day is the rural community in Hontianska Vrbica with Pastor Susanna.

The last 10 km were very challenging because I did not want to ride on the heavily trafficked motorway, but had to overcome a mountain about 150m high, so it was again laborious uphill and downhill at around 34 degrees, sweat-inducing. On the way, I was able to quench my great thirst with fresh, cold water from a mineral spring.

When I rolled into Hontianska Vrbica, I saw two church towers. But neither belonged to the Lutheran community. I found the parsonage almost at the outskirts of the village and Pastor Susanne and her husband welcomed me warmly. I learned that she is only responsible for about 240 members in three localities. She also told me that due to the rural exodus in recent decades, there are hardly any families and children left in the village and the elderly often remain lonely. However, the church leadership has not yet closed this small rural pastorate because the congregation members pay their contributions and thus the position still continues for now. Then Susann said that we would go and see the church. But where?

The church is actually just an inconspicuous extension to the parsonage with a larger worship hall. After the Second World War, when the formerly expelled Slovak Lutheran Christians were allowed to return, the former cowshed was converted into a worship space and from the outside it does not look sacred at all. However, inside there is an altar and a baptismal font. Unfortunately, there is currently no organist, so Pastor also has to play the keyboard for the worship service, which is attended by around 20 congregation members every Sunday. She regrets that there are hardly any children and young people in the village and that the church life mainly consists of working with seniors. After the tour, she and her husband invited me for a drive through the countryside. We passed the Catholic and the Reformed Church, whose church towers I saw as I rode into the village. We also went to an observation tower with a magnificent view of the Hungarian mountains on one side and the Slovak mountains on the other. Afterwards, they invited me to a typical Slovak national dish in a typical excursion restaurant and we talked about the laborious church work in the rural areas. After 2.5 hours, a beautiful evening with an interesting conversation came to an end. Satisfied with the day, I fell asleep on the kitchen sofa and thought about my work in the countryside. The next morning, I was warmly bid farewell and told to come back again.