On 9 September 2003 the Russian Prime Minister M. M. Kasyanov visited the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Budapest while on an official visit to Hungary. He was greeted at the Cathedral’s entrance by Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Representative to the European Institutions in Brussels and temporary administrator of the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary. Mr Kasyanov was by several ministers of the Russian Federation, as well as by Mr V. L. Musatov, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Hungary. Upon their entering the Cathedral Bishop Hilarion addressed a welcoming speech to the Prime Minister. In remembrance of his visit Bishop Hilarion presented him with an icon of the Mother of God.

Welcoming speech by Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions and temporary administrator of the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary, addressed to M. M. Kasianov, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, during his visit to the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Budapest

Your Excellency!

May I warmly welcome you and your wife to the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God – the main cathedral of the Hungarian diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. This marks the first time in history that the head of the government of the Russian Federation has visited this holy church, which has been a center of Orthodoxy in Hungary for over 200 years. We are extremely pleased with your visit and deeply thankful for the interest and care you have shown to our church at a time when it has become a “stumbling block” (Lk. 2, 34) for others.

The Cathedral of the Dormition was consecrated by a Serbian bishop, under whose jurisdiction it remained from the time of its foundation. It was built at the end of the 18th century by peoples of various ethnic groups, including Greeks, Wallachians, Albanians and Hungarians. Services were originally held in Greek, a language which the parishioners from the 19th century understood less and less. In the first half of the 20th century the number of parishioners decreased, and it seemed as if the parish was doomed to die out if it had not entered a new phase of its life in 1949, when it entered the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church and received the blessing to serve in Hungarian. Over the last fifty years the parish has grown and gained strength, becoming the main cathedral of the Hungarian Orthodox diocese.

Our diocese exists on Hungarian territory and works together in a brotherly way with the Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian dioceses, which have existed in this country for many centuries. This harmonious unity of Hungary’s Orthodox faithful would undoubtedly have continued had not the Hungarian Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, registered by the state in 1995, caused confrontation and confusion among the Orthodox believers here by their attempts to take away the Dormition Cathedral, which they declare as rightfully belonging to themselves. In violation of church canons forbidding the solution of ecclesiastical problems in secular courts, the Constantinople Patriarchate’s Exarch has filed a lawsuit at the Budapest Municipal Court demanding that the cathedral be “returned” to the Greeks.

Their main argument is that Greeks participated in the construction of the church. They also maintain that the Russian Church, which supposedly appeared in Hungary with the support of the Soviet Army, took over this cathedral by force. In arguing so they ignore documentary evidence confirming the voluntary nature not only of this parish’s joining, but also of several other Hungarian parishes’ entrance into the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in the 1950s. They are also silent about the fact that the Greeks who participated in the building of the church did not belong to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but were under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Church. They also overlook the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church has already existed in Hungary for 200 years (the first Russian church in Üröm, built in memory of the Grand Princess Alexander Pavlovna, was consecrated in 1903), and not since the entry of the Soviet army into Hungary after World War II. Finally, they also ignore the fact that after the last Soviet soldier left Hungary in 1989, the clergy of our diocese, comprised almost exclusively by Hungarians, decided to remain faithful to the Moscow Patriarchate even though they had many chances to change their church jurisdiction.

We have no doubt that the decision of the Hungarian courts will be just, based on facts and documents, and not on political slogans and empty pretenses. We believe that the Dormition Cathedral will continue to serve the needs of Hungarian Orthodox believers, always remaining open to Greeks, Russians and those of other ethnic groups.

Your Excellency! Your visit bears witness to the significant progress made recently in the relations between Hungary and Russia. I would like to express my hope that the relationship between these two countries, freed from the communist yoke, will continue to improve, and that the traditional ties between the Hungarian and Russian peoples may grow and develop.

In conclusion I would like to pray that God’s unfailing help may always be with you, who have been entrusted with the extremely difficult task of leading the government of the Russian Federation. The lives of millions of people depend on your decisions and the actions of the government headed by you. You have already accomplished much to stabilize the Russian economy, but there is much that still remains to be done. May God grant you wisdom and strength, patience and health. May the Lord bless your efforts, grant you and your family many good years, and may the Most Holy Virgin keep you under her protection.