EurasianStudies_0110..

January-March 2010 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume II., Issue 1.
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are accusing the Catholic Church to betray the heritage of Jesus. In this sense, Badiny Jós and his
followers should rather be called Gnostic believers. Note that Gnosticism is a world-wide Christian and
religious movement questioning the doctrines of the Catholic Church based on scientific research of the
rediscovered gospels. Badiny can be said to represent a Hungarian interpretation of this stream. In any
case, whatever the scientific worth of Badiny’s work there is no reason to isolate this phenomenon as
something specific Hungarian labeling it ‘neo-paganism’. So we must understand that the label
neo-paganism is actually an anti-Hungarian stereotype in the Hungarian context pointing to those who
are not in agreement with the doctrines of the Catholic faith.
It is not the place to defend the scientific statements put forward in the work of Badiny Jós but it is
clear that it is unquestionable that no-one can be denied the right to study the ancestry of the Holy
Virgin Mary. Whether Badiny has been successful in defining the ancestry of Mary as ‘Partian’ is a
different question that should be answered on the basis of a critical review of his work but that has not
been undertaken by the HCBC as far as I know.
It is unacceptable that the HCBC rejects the scientific study of the ancient Hungarian history and
culture on the basis that it should be not Hungarian, because accordingly it is not Christian and hence it
is a priori unscientific. This sort of unclear, illogical reasoning should be rejected by anyone searching for
scientific truths. But also an important aspect of the Hungarian identity is the ancient history of the
Hungarians and their ties with Central Asia as illustrated by many studies in this journal as well. Are
these studies all suspected examples of ‘neo-paganism’? That is hard to believe. It is bizarre to consider
such studies non-Hungarian, or unscientific a priori because they are not in accordance with the Catholic
faith. Well I have to remember the HCBC that the times of Galileo Galilei are long ago past and it is not
possible to turn back time, even if the HCBC is hoping that Hungarian politics will share this goal. The
results of scientific research is not something the Catholic Church is justified to evaluate only. The
Catholic Church has no monopoly on sciences and should not try to dominate scientific research
agendas, even if this has to do with Hungarian identity.
The traditional Hungarian churches could have played an important and positive role in Hungary’s
transition to a democratic society respecting liberal freedoms after the collapse of communism. Actually,
the main obstacle for this is the fact that the traditional churches, the Catholic Church included, were not
able to clear up their role under communism harshly suppressing the Hungarian people. A number of
scientific publications have appeared in recent years making clear that the so-called traditional churches
were heavily infiltrated by the Hungarian security services and that they were hotbeds of secret activities
directed towards ordinary believers under communism. So far no official investigation has taken place
under the guidance of the Catholic Church to clarify this. Until this has not happened it is simply
unconvincing to claim that the HCBC is against the relativization of the truth as is done in the Episcopal
letter of September 19. This is simply untrue. To study and to uncover the data and the search for truth
reflecting on the history of the Catholic and other traditional churches during communism should not be
neglected. I must point out that this is against the doctrines outlined above. It is precisely this sort of
‘truth paradoxes’ which make many people in Hungary skeptical about the traditional churches, like the
Catholic one.
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