Reformed Church, Suza

At the turn of the 13th to 14th century, the first church on this site was built in the Gothic style.^[3] In preserved written sources the church was mentioned for the first time in 1301.^[2] The later Reformed church was constructed on its remains.^[3]

The Reformed Church congregation in Suza was founded during the Reformation when the village population converted in 1544.^[4][2] The teachings of the Reformation movement in Slavonia and Baranya spread through the preaching of Mihael Starin, who, over a period of six to seven years around 1544, established roughly 120 Hungarian and Croatian Protestant parishes.^[4] There are no preserved written sources about the church during the period of the Ottoman Hungary.^[2] The contemporary church was built in 1806.^[2]

In the Reformed cemetery lies the pastor Gedeon Ács (1799-1887), who, as a participant in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, accompanied its leader Lajos Kossuth into exile in Ottoman Empire and later to United States of America.^[4] He returned home in 1861 and lived and served in Suza as a Reformed minister until his death.^[4] The church building got its present appearance in 1869.^[3]

In 1886, the parish counted 877 members, by 1915 the number was 785, and in 1971 it had decreased to 294 believers.^[4] During the First World War, two of its three bells were taken away, and in the 1930s the villagers purchased new ones to replace them.^[3]

After the end of United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium mandate in 1998, the onion-shaped tower dome and the tower itself were restored, along with the church roof and exterior façades.^[4] As of 2025 around 250 members of the Reformed faith live in the area, all of Hungarian nationality.^[4]

• Hungarian Reformed Communion
• Reformed Christian Church in Yugoslavia
• Reformed Church, Kotlina
• Reformed Church, Kneževi Vinogradi
• Reformed Church, Karanac
• Reformed Church, Kamenac
• Reformed Church, Vardarac