Christmas message from Dr. Tamás Sulyok, President of Hungary

Dear Fellow Citizens!

Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and around the world!
 
It has become customary for the President of Hungary to deliver their message to the nation on the first day of the year. My constitutional duties, rights and obligations are well defined in the Fundamental Law. Fortunately for me, however, they do not cover every situation, so there are some things in which I can also enjoy freedom.

Taking this opportunity, and slightly modifying the usual tradition, I am addressing you not in the state of euphoria characterising a new year, but in the intimate joy of Christmas. This aligns better with my personal life and is also more in harmony with my mental constitution. 

Christmas is a time of year when people who might not otherwise be so receptive to forming connections during the rest of the year seek out community with others. At this time, we are with those to whom we are connected in some way, whom we love, with whom life is beautiful – and for their sake, we strive to live it with integrity. Special days play a significant and beautiful role in how families, communities and nations define their communal bonds, and are central to our lives, to the formation and maintenance of our identity. These special days and moments help to keep the sense of community alive and thriving.

At the same time, Christmas strengthens generational ties in both the literal and the broader sense of the word. With old stories told and recalled, with photographs retrieved from treasured keepsake boxes, we recall our ancestors, finding our way to the celebration through inner journeys. This is how we reassure the younger generation that the family existed, exists and will exist; it has a past, a present and a future. Yet it is not just family, kinship or friendship that binds people together. Nations are also community-based units. A nation is not just a collection of individuals, but a collection of different communities. 

As Hungarians, we form connections as individuals, while also being part of a number of communities ourselves. Our togetherness is woven out of small and large communities in which we accompany each other from birth to death. These are the basic units that make up a nation, from which, over millennia, ideas that build, plans that move forward, decisive actions and good responses to the challenges of the times have emerged. One could say: the basic units from which the Hungarian future has stemmed generation after generation. 

Today, however, our communities seem to be fading away, to be losing their strength. The trials and tribulations, or, on the contrary, the conveniences of our times, first affect human relationships. Economic hardship leads us to withdrawal from society, and lack of peace leads us to self-isolation. With the opportunities offered by technological progress, if we live in the wrong way, we can easily exclude ourselves from the reality of life. Today, people can create the circumstances for not needing others, for not having to rely on others. But can others rely on such people? However, we still have a great need for sustaining, inspiring and encouraging communities. For it is only by strengthening each other that we can live and move forward even in the most basic everyday things. 

One of today's greatest challenges is to maintain our physical and mental health, especially in the face of the health-damaging and soul-destroying effects of our lifestyle and modern living conditions. To maintain both good physical health and mental balance, we need a supportive, helpful and upholding community - our fellow human beings. Community is what bolsters us even in the face of the influence of the world around us. 

We have been facing security threats for years because of war conflicts. Only together, united, can we stand up for peace for all of us. Including for the Hungarian communities in Transcarpathia - communities that are our own - and which are experiencing their third Christmas without peace. Yet, while we are fully aware that our influence on global processes is proportional to our size, the collective determination demonstrated by Hungarians on this issue is both important and exemplary for other nations. 

However, when we are promoting peace beyond our borders, we must also be mindful of our nation's internal peace. We must not allow ourselves to be divided or played off against each other for whatever reasons or interests. Let us never see each other, the other Hungarians, as enemies! A healthier and more peaceful nation - perhaps this could be our common goal for 2025. 

Dear Compatriots! 

A nation's success is not just measured in economic or political results, but also in the strength of its communities, the extent to which its members can form connections and help each other, and the extent to which we can rely on those with whom we belong together. Our most powerful weapon for national survival is staying in community. To do this, we need to protect the communities we have already built, and where they are not there or have withered away, we must create new ones. When our communities succeed, the nation succeeds. 

Our togetherness implies an active national community. It implies not just living side by side each other, but genuine coexistence - and this must prevail despite all the differences between us. For we can be heroes and freedom-lovers or creative and resourceful, we can work hard and achieve great things - as centuries of evidence about Hungarians have shown - but individually, apart, we will not achieve much. All struggle and effort is only valid in relation to the other. 

As Attila József put it just a hundred years ago: 

"In vain you bathe it in yourself; you can only wash your face in another." 
Throughout the challenges facing our country, during the trials of our nation, we need to relearn the practice of togetherness. Generational, political, economic, opinion or value differences are irrelevant in this context. If we stand by the other, they, too, will stand by us. That is how we can do better, do greater things, live better lives. 

No matter all our differences, let us include each other in our lives! – This is my wish for all of us. 

God bless Hungary! 

God bless our Hungarian communities!

God bless all Hungarians!