The Hungarian TJCII prayer team took a prayer journey to Vác, a historic town in northern Hungary, over 1,000 years old and a good reflection of Hungary’s history. It is one of the ten bishoprics established by Hungary’s first king, Stephen.
During our journey, we made several discoveries: At the synagogue, we saw the stone tablets rising toward heaven and repented for the destruction of Jewish life in the town. The official history of Vác does not mention that Jews ever lived there, although around 1,600 Jewish people were deported in 1944. Before this, the Jewish community had helped build up the town’s industry, and Hasidic miracle-working rabbis had lived there.
In the Catholic center of the town, we learned how, after the Turkish devastation, it was often more important to bishops and church leaders to push Protestants to the edges than to unite and rebuild the town.
We also discovered that, despite the high number of Holocaust victims, there is no proper Holocaust memorial in Vác.
We spent time praying in the main square, in front of the Cathedral in Konstantin Square. The Lord gave us a picture of how the church, over the centuries, had invested itself in the struggles of worldly powers and had lost its direction. We saw Yeshua standing aside, looking intently and sadly. This reminded us of Peter after he betrayed Yeshua, when the Lord looked at him with the same sad yet penetrating gaze that brought him to repentance.
Based on this, we prayed for the repentance of the church and read the extended version of the Nicene Creed in the main Cathedral.
We remembered again the stone tablets rising toward heaven, their light shining into the dark history of the town. The Hebrew words on the front of the synagogue summarize it all: “Fear My sanctuary!”