The Premontrean fathers and sisters can still count on the government, stated the State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for church and ethnic relations in Budapest, before the concert organized on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premontrean order on Friday, October 22.  

Miklós Soltész, who was also the main patron of the event, said: the church stood up after the fall of the Soviet regime. The people of Premontre have restarted and are developing in Gödöllő, Zsámbék, Szombathely, Keszthely. Churches are renovated and built, and a nursing home is established in Csorna.

However, according to the secretary of state, the achievements are threatened by many things, who singled out neo-Marxist aspirations and "the liberal dictatorship".

"Let's remember who persecuted our churches and who are still threatening us today!"

Miklós Soltész, the State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for church and ethnic relations, gives a speech before the jubilee concert held on the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premontre Order at the Müpa

Miklós Soltész, the Prime Minister's Secretary of State responsible for church and ethnic relations, gives a speech before the jubilee concert held on the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premontrean Order at the Müpa on October 22, 2021. MTI/Balázs Mohai

"With 900 years behind us, we want to live another 900 years. Let's not let them take away that hope!” he added. He said that the communist repression inflicted enormous wounds on the Hungarian church, the monastic orders, including the Premontreans. "They wanted to destroy this wonderful country, they wanted to destroy our churches, and although they partially succeeded because they caused enormous destruction, these people who know neither God nor man do not know one thing: what is Providence," the state secretary emphasized .

Abbot General Jos Wouters delivers a speech on the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premontre Order.

Abbot General Jos Wouters gives a speech before the jubilee concert held on the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premontre Order at Müpa on October 22, 2021. Next to him is the poet János Lackfi. MTI/Balázs Mohai

 

Jos Wouters, the abbot general of the order , the chief superior of the order, emphasized in his speech in English: "your brothers and sisters" have been present on Hungarian soil since the foundation of the order. Although the number of Premontreans is small, they can be found on every continent, he added.

Source: MTI

Photos: MTI/ Balázs Mohai