Christian Culture is the guiding force in Hungarian history.
"First of all, please allow me to remind you of the fact that His All Holiness received us for an audience in Istanbul in December of last year, during which we agreed that the Orthodox Church has contributed significantly to the intellectual and material development of Hungary. It was during that visit that we agreed on the principles of today's agreement. On the occasion of the signing of the agreement, I would like to say that we are proud of the fact that the State of Hungary came into existence on the border between western and eastern Christianity. Eastern Christian communities have been enriching our homeland's material and intellectual culture for over a thousand years, and in fact it is worth remembering here today that the first Hungarian Christians were not christened by Rome, but by Constantinople."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the signing agreement with Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Patriarch was in Hungary on the 2nd and 3rd of March. He met with Hungarian Catholic bishops at a conference. The Orthodox Church played a significant role in Hungary's history as it was the Orthodox Church that had an early influence on the Kingdom of Hungary and not the Roman Catholic Church.
There are Orthodox religious minorities in Hungary today, but the vast majority of Hungarians are Roman Catholics. Recent years have seen a warming of relations between the Catholic Church and the eastern Orthodox Church.
