Hungarian Conservative

‘What should Hungarians do? The question—and Orbán’s visionary answer—has meaning beyond Hungary, in ways that Americans and other Westerners only dimly recognize now. And it goes back to the prime minister’s 2014 advocacy of “illiberal democracy” for Hungary.’

While the Christmas traditions of the Pilis Swabians have evolved and changed over the years, they have been largely preserved, and the spirit of the German Hungarian settlers is still alive, allowing the locals to honour their ancestral heritage at this time of year.

The first references to fisherman’s soup date back to the 1800s. Soon, fisherman’s soup became popular across the country, prepared with different fishes based on various recipes, but the fundamentals remained the same everywhere. The name ‘fisherman’s soup’ is owed to those fishermen who, lacking kitchen tools, prepared this now widely popular dish far from their homes on the shores of lakes or rivers.

In the West, there are a number of remarkable, colourful traditions linked to Christmas that vary from country to country. But what cannot be missing from any home where Christmas is celebrated is a decorated pine tree.

‘The duality of God and man is the most fundamental reality of existence: a reality which can structure and constitute all relations of human beings. This principal duality is the source of everything: epistemology, ontology, moral philosophy, politics, and—of course, as Martin Buber said before—the “Ich und Du” relationship is the source of the true philosophy of religion and theology. This point of view is close to the most fundamental personalities of modern Catholic thought, and the philosophy of neo-Thomists such as Jaques Maritain and Étienne Gilson. According to Molnar, this “I and Thou” is the message which the true Christian philosopher has to protect against modernity’s aggressive immanentism, which could be materialist or spiritualist, too. The essence of this immanentism is the dissolution of transcendence into man’s imaginary “divinity”—to reach the deification of the world.’

In the 11th century, three brothers moved from the Kingdom of Hungary to the Kievan Rus—while one of them died defending the Rus’ first two saints, Boris and Gleb, the other two later became Orthodox saints themselves as well, establishing a monastery that functions till this day.

‘What is less known is that Tsiolkovsky essentially wrote his groundbreaking contributions to rocket theory as supplementary notes to his philosophy of space exploration, which was the primary focus of his attention and consumed most of his efforts. What is even less acknowledged is that the philosophical foundations of his framework had an inalienable influence of Christianity that played an important role in shaping his perspective, a fact which Tsiolkovsky himself recognized.’

While millions of children across the globe get their Christmas presents from Santa on Christmas Day, in Hungary, Saint Nicholas, called Mikulás, arrives on the eve of 6 December, bringing sweets and nuts, and leaves the task of delivering the real Christmas gifts to the angels.

For years, Hungary has been under regular attack from Brussels for allegedly failing to respect ‘European values’. It is worth examining these values to see if it is in any way wrong not to respect them in the way that the representatives of the liberal mainstream in the Western world expect, and whether our entire civilization should not instead perform a paradigm shift, radically transforming its values.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is without a doubt one of the most prominent theologians of the 20th century, whose intellectual contributions to both science and religion gained recognition and respect from both the clergy and the scientific community. His oeuvre demonstrates that faith and scientific inquiry are in fact not at odds with each other.

One of the recurring topics of Agustine of Hippo’s City of God, a foundational work of Western philosophy, is his critique of Roman religion as having no moral teachings to offer.

Albeit Hungary does not traditionally celebrate Halloween in its North American sense, the connection between the Hungarian commemoration of the dead and Halloween is stronger than one might think.

Speaking at the exhibition, Tristan Azbej highlighted that while Christian communities in the Middle East are still in a difficult situation, the persecution of Christians is most serious in western parts of Africa, with Islamic State and other jihadist groups threatening communities. In Nigeria alone, some 3,000 Christians are killed each year, therefore Hungary Helps has decided to focus its activities on that region.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized that this visit marks the end of a long hiatus in the relationship, as there had been no diplomatic ties between the two countries for a decade. He pointed out that the decision to normalize relations was made last year, aiming to establish cooperation that benefits both nations.

The national narrative that Hungary is the bulwark of Christianity and Western Civilization was formed in the battles won on the lands of present-day Serbian Vojvodina, also known as Vajdaság in Hungarian.

Christianity has permeated most of the Western world’s cultural accomplishments. Its influence can also be detected in many literary works of a very peculiar genre: the imaginary universes of great scale and depth of speculative fiction.

Europe’s population could shrink from 742 million to just 586 million by 2100, and our share of the world’s population could fall from nine to 5.6 per cent. Of course, this is not necessarily bad news for all, but it is for our continent. It is our own survival that is at stake, our very existence, which, with all our—arguable—historical sins, I believe is good for the world.

Israel have always had few allies in the Middle East in its fight for self-preservation. However, one small ethnoreligious group is an exception. The Druze have sided with the Jewish state ever since its inception, adhering to a ‘covenant of blood’ between Jews and the Druze.

‘Just as a mother clings to her children, the Motherland also clings to her children, connecting Hungarian communities within and beyond our borders as if by an umbilical cord,’ President Novák emphasized in her remarks.

The Wondrous Stag that, according to the legend, led Hungarians to the Carpathian Basin is one of the most significant animals in the before-Christ Hungarian worldview. As in many other ancient myths of origin, the Magyars believed their ancestors had either been animals or turned into animals after their passing—a common trope among probably all world cultures, somehow deeply ingrained into our psyche. As recorded in the Gesta Hungarorum, the Turul was believed to be the Árpád dynasty’s totemic ancestor.

‘Christian nationalism is a type of religious nationalism in which the end goal is to achieve an absolute Christian theocracy within a society. Its advocates primarily focus on the internal politics of society, such as legislating civil and criminal laws that reflect their view of Christianity and the role of religion in political and social life, which calls for, at least in their mindset, a strongman like Putin.’

As an article by Premier Christian highlighted, for Armenians, leaving Nagorno-Karabakh is not just a geographical relocation, but also the act of severing ties with their deeply engrained cultural and religious heritage.

Tom Holland, the British author argues in his book, Dominion, that even the most fervent Western secular humanists are deeply influenced by Christian values, perhaps more so than they might be willing to acknowledge.

‘Transhumanism—at least in the form in which it is represented and explained by Harari—stands, above all, on the ground of anti-religion. The mechanical man, who becomes immortal, as the meaning and purpose of history, is above all the opposite of the eschatological perspectives of all religions.’

Hamvas’ focus on metaphysical questions in the field of philosophy did not simply stem from his belief in God or his religious predisposition, but rather from this critical attitude towards modern natural science, from a ‘scepticism against scepticism.’

God’s miracles occupy an important place in the Holy Scripture, demonstrating the omnipotent might of divine intervention that rules over the laws of nature. In his book titled Miracles, author of the Chronicles of Narnia and accomplished theologian C. S. Lewis undertakes the formidable challenge of unravelling the philosophical essence of these miraculous occurrences.

According to the 2023 World Watch List compiled by Open Doors, Pakistan is the seventh most dangerous country for Christians in the world. There are around 4.2 million Christians in Pakistan—only 1.8 per cent of the country’s population of more than 229 million people. Pakistani Christians are considered second-class citizens and are discriminated against in every public and private life aspect.

The year 1000 is not only memorable for Hungarians: at the turn of the first millennium, unexpected events took place in the whole of Europe, including on the fringes of the continent barely touched by Latin Christianity, in Poland and Hungary, where Christian conversion had been going on for years.

Many people of faith have taken to X to share their appreciation for the 20 August displays of religious imagery at the fireworks and lights show. They include Dutch political pundit Eva Vlaardingerbroek and American columnist Rod Dreher.

The Habsburg Court regarded Protestantism simply as the ideological expression of the nobility, that is, the ‘spirit of rebellion’. In addition, it was part of the absolutist thinking of the era that only a mono-religious country could be politically united.