Despite historic differences, such as strife over once commonly claimed territories, a new era has dawned for relations between Hungarians and Serbs. Both nations are standing strong for their religious and cultural traditions and thereby resisting the demands for woke transformation coming from the EU. Illustrating this new unity among onetime rivals was the Serb patriarch’s decision to bestow an award on Hungary’s conservative premier, Viktor Orban.
...Patriarch Porfirije started his address by noting that each individual and each community lives according to its own value system. With these values, he said, they organize private, social, and cultural life, form public morality, set priorities and standards, build relationships with others, and nurture their authentic identity:
Today, however, we are faced with waves of new value systems that are often aggressively imposed on a global scale with the aim of eradicating every existing natural and civilizational order, to establish a new paradigm. In this vortex, the intention is to destroy the foundations of identity and the very pillars of individuals and communities, to make everything relative, fragile, and fluid. You, on the other hand, stand for the Christian value system that springs from the Gospel, which God established. These are the values that created both the Hungarian and the Serbian people, the values that created Europe as we knew it until yesterday, as we lived in it until yesterday. In that we are the same; there is no difference between us.
...Thanking His Holiness for the award, Prime Minister Orbán stressed that he was especially grateful that the Patriarch would pray for him and his family. He also said that for the rest of his life, he would be proud of the decoration for three reasons:
First, because I received that award from a Christian brother. The second reason is because I received the award from an Orthodox brother; and the third reason is that I received the award from a Serb. All three reasons are very important to me.
I could not describe the situation in Europe more accurately than you have described it in your own words. We are people of peace; we want peace, but unfortunately we are in the middle of a war, which, as you yourself said, is the struggle for the soul of Europe. We have no choice in our lives, in the lives of our children and our grandchildren, and we should accept what God has ordained for us. When there is a lot of water, then big dams should be built. I am personally convinced that we cannot win this battle without the unity of Christians. Moreover, we cannot win that battle without our Orthodox brothers. We will need you very much, and we count on your spiritual support. We ask you and your associates to give us all this support so that we can gain enough strength to fight the temptations.
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