The Christian Scene in Eastern Europe

The fact that a Hungarian has been asked to contribute a paper on the theme of Christian hope in Europe’s future might suggest that a ray of hope for European Christianity is expected from the eastern edge of our continent: ex oriente lux. Can my message reassure the aging and, in many respects, decadent Christianity of the west? Many outward signs have indeed been pointing in this direction. I do not believe, however, that we can judge simply from the recent papal visit to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Though spectacular crowds on our television screens have an eminent value for religious propaganda, we in the west expect something more behind these scenes. My real task should therefore be a foray into the background of the east European landscape. My foray will be limited, since I do not trust myself outside the confines of my native Hungary. It will be uncertain, since I am going to speak of a situation reminding us of the very beginning: ‘...and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep’. At the same time we can feel that ‘the Spirit of God was brooding over the chaos’ which the last forty years of desert wandering ‘uncreated’ in a part of our common European homeland.