A Seventh-day Adventist Seminary in Hungary gained its first government accreditation last month. News of the accreditation for Hungarian Theological Seminary was shared Oct. 29 by Hungarian accreditation association officials to Imre Tokics, seminary director, and Humberto Rasi, education director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, who visited Hungary for the occasion.

Since its opening in 1948, the Hungarian Theological Seminary has had to suspend operations on three separate occasions due to socio-political circumstances. Since 1989 the institution has operated without interruption in a context of increasing religious freedom.

The seminary moved in 1998 to its present location in the town of Pecel, 25 kilometers from downtown Budapest. It also serves as the headquarters for the Adventist Church in Hungary.

Seminary administrators were able to share with accreditation officers the philosophy and objectives of Adventist education and its network of schools, colleges, seminaries and universities that the Seventh-day Adventist Church operates in 145 countries of the world.

The school currently has about 100 students, mostly from Hungary, but also from neighboring Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine, where Hungarian ethnic groups also reside.

Located in eastern Europe, Hungary has about 4,500 members worshiping in 111 churches.