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“Rise up, Oh, Tihany’s clamorous daughter,
fly forth from your sacred hills!”
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ecclesiastical and Secular Dignitaries, Citizens of Tihany, Dear Friends,
Quoting the poet Mihály Csokonai Vitéz is not unjustified: the place where we stand is sacred ground. We have gathered in one of the spiritual centres of the Hungarian world to give thanks for the complete renovation of the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany. All Hungarians feel emotion and reverence in their hearts when they see the peninsula with these two towers rising on it, stretching out into the Balaton – this lake with a thousand faces. There is hardly any other built monument in our nation that so delights our eyes and brings such a sense of home and peace to our souls. The wisdom and prayer of the Benedictine order took root and flourished here in Tihany even before our King Saint Stephen. The country’s leaders have much to learn from the monks of Tihany about survival and new beginnings. Throughout history there have been three attempts to wipe the Benedictines of Tihany from the face of the earth. But each time they rediscovered one another and rebuilt both their spiritual house and these stone walls. To some it will be surprising that it seems that of the Turkish, Josephinist and then communist dissolutions and persecutions, it was the latter that Tihany Benedictine Abbey found most difficult to recover from. Expecting the communists to recognise either God, man, or a founding charter is in vain. That was not so long ago, and it is worth keeping it in mind. The Tihany peninsula became a peaceful and fruitful meeting place between East and West one thousand years ago. Together with Anastasia, the wife of the church founder Andrew I, priests from the East came to these sacred hills. Here they lived, worked, prayed and evangelised together with the Benedictine monks from the West. It would be good if the divisive rulers of today’s Europe – the warmongers and flingers of sanctions – were to direct their vigilant gaze to Tihany.
Dear Celebrants,
Tihany is the sacred hill of Hungarian identity. The royal crypt here, with the tomb of our King Andrew I, is the only Árpád-era burial place left in its original state. As we stand here, it is fitting and just to remember not only the first, but also the last. At the end of October 1921, before he was forced into exile, our King Charles IV spent his last days in Hungary in this very building.
Dear Friends,
Today, Dear Ecclesiastical and Secular Dignitaries, Dear Brothers and Sisters, is a bright day of celebration: we are gathered together to rejoice at the renovation of the Abbey. In the Carpathian Basin in recent years we have renovated more than three thousand churches, and built two hundred new churches. This represents success, a tribute and support for the religious world; but each of us, every Hungarian, can be proud of the fact that we are honouring our past. Our Fundamental Law recognises the role of Christianity in preserving the nation. Christianity is both a culture and a civilisation. We live within it. Culture is the reality of everyday life. It is Christian culture that guides us through the contradictions of life. It defines our understanding of justice, of human relationships, including relationships between men and women, of family, of success, of work, and of decency. I am convinced that the foundation we lay for the future must not differ from the one we laid here in Tihany a thousand years ago. We are Hungarians, Europeans and Christians. Therefore we must be aware of and must not ignore the fact that today the foundations of European life are under attack. They want us to be what we are not, and indeed to become what we do not want to be. They want us to mix with peoples from other worlds, and to mix traditional male and female roles; and on top of that, they want us to get involved in a losing war. Instead of the order of creation, greeting us from all sides are a mixing and stirring of things, the signs of a new anarchy, of a new Babel. As people of goodwill, as members of a nation ravaged by war, as peace-loving Christians, it pains us to see that Europe has been infected by war psychosis: war instead of peace, killing instead of life, destruction instead of construction. Membership of the European Union in exchange for war. This is not what the European Union was invented for; the founding fathers of the Union were Christians. As a free, Christian, European nation, we must not allow the future of Europe to be decided over our heads. We want a Christian Europe because we believe that only a Christian Europe has a future. Here, in the shadow of empires, at the crossroads of civilisations, we have always won our battles for the survival of our homeland, the preservation of our nation and for Christian culture. As our Constitution says, without Christianity Hungary would not exist. By this sign we have won. And we shall win, again and again.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Yesterday, in the debate between the Romanian presidential candidates, Hungary was addressed in relation to Christianity. One of the candidates, Mr. Simion, said, and I quote: “Now is the time for a Europe of nations, a Christian Europe, in which we will fight for our right to be European citizens.” This was not said in Hungary, but in neighbouring Romania. We fully agree. We live in a historical community of destiny with the Romanians. We are not interfering in the ongoing Romanian presidential election battle, but we are sending a message from the middle of the Carpathian Basin, from this symbolic place, to assure the people of Romania and its future president that we stand on the ground of unity and cooperation. Therefore we will not support any isolation or political reprisals against Romania and its leaders. Both Romanians and Hungarians are and will remain full citizens of the European Union. We must be able to count on each other in the fight for Christianity and sovereignty.
Dear Celebrants,
Christianity is also the best defence against the imperialisation of Europe. The Christian Church teaches that the community closest to a person has the opportunity and responsibility to manage its own affairs. If a family can look after its own members, the state should not interfere. A country should decide for itself the path it wants to take, and not have its future determined from imperial centres. Hungary is a diverse state, interspersed with and divided among centuries-old cultural and religious communities. But we firmly believe that we are all united by the notion of a Christian Hungary. Where there is a church, there is not only a past, but also a future. Where Christianity and patriotism live, there is Hungary. This is the meeting place of faith, history, statehood and culture. The renewed Tihany Abbey is a shining testimony to this unity. It is a symbol that calls us to honour our past and build our future in the spirit of Christian freedom. May God grant that this sacred place proclaims faith, knowledge and the strength of the Hungarian spirit long into the future. On behalf of the Hungarian government, I respectfully express thanks for their work to all those whose intellect, labours, effort, and engineering and physical achievements receive tribute in all that I see around us here today.
God above us all, Hungary before all else! Go Hungary, go Hungarians!
