Hungarian Conservative

In the struggle for survival and existence of Protestants, the question of ministers’ clothing still remained an issue—the meetings of the Reformed church districts of the time continued to fight against excesses.

‘This scandal is a self-inflicted catastrophe for Fidesz. The prime minister plainly understands this, and is taking concrete steps to reform. Yet the idea that the political and cultural Left in Hungary is trying to capitalize on this crisis to sell itself to the Hungarian people as the real protectors of children is a farce—and a dangerous one.’

The second half of the 17th century was a time of great hardships for Protestants: Protestant church history calls the years between 1671 and 1681 the ‘decade of mourning’. Thanks to some illustrated works by pastors freed from galley slavery, however, we can get some idea of what the preachers wore in those days.

‘While establishing the Coalition in the early 1990s, I often tried to look at issues through the “other lens”. If something works in the US, why not try it in Hungary? And if it works in Hungary, why not try it in the US?’

Protestantism has been inextricably intertwined with Hungarian national consciousness and thirst for freedom. The Hungarian Protestant Bible translators made the Scripture accessible to Hungarians in their mother tongue, and also contributed to the development and preservation of the language. Practising Protestantism was also in defiance of the Catholic Habsburgs and Austria: Protestants were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce their faith, as the fate of the Hungarian Protestant galley slaves demonstrates.

Count István Tisza is still blamed by liberal and left-wing historiographers for Hungary entering WWI, despite clear evidence of his anti-war stance. It is rather anachronistic to hold Tisza to democratic standards that did not exist at the time and with the wisdom of hindsight: the knowledge of how the war ended.

The Kossuth Foundation, the organiser of the 20 August event, joined the ‘Bread of Hungarians’ programme this year, through which wheat from various parts of the Carpathian Basin made their way to the American capital, symbolising the unity of Hungarians wherever they live.

Referring to the congregation of Angyalföld, he cited its origin: at the beginning of the last century, a few enthusiastic young pastors began a mission in the poor, working-class neighbourhood. The mission gained new strength when the ‘exiles of Trianon’, the ‘wagon-living refugees’ who were resettled from Transylvania to Angyalföld, also joined the congregation.

The report explicitly referred to Baltazár as an ‘enemy.’ The investigators were quite obviously not interested in identifying the real culprits.