CORPORATE IDENTITY OF HUNGARY

by: Pieter Bos
date: 7/10/2006
Category: Nations

The Corporate Identity of Hungary: NOBLE HOSTESS

Definition of Corporate Identity (CI:)Tribes, peoples, states and cities, in general: 'nations', are corporate persons, created by God in his image.
The Corporate Identity (CI) of a corporate person is a. the expression of God's character in that person, because of which it contains b. her destiny in God's purposes, and c. her redemptive gift to her fellow nations; the fall has distorted and corrupted the corporate identity, but it can be redeemed.
or
The Corporate Identity (CI) of a nation is the creative and liberating truth of God over a nation.

The theology for the understanding of Corporate Identity can be found in chapter 3 of my book "The Nations Called; A Theology of the Nations and her Redemption."

Each individual person of a certain people group reflects more or less the CI of that group, be it the corrupted or the redeemed expression of it; a substantial part of his individual personality is rooted in the corporate persons (!, plural) he is descending form and connected to.

-- God's character:
Royalty, celebration, exquisiteness, sense of glory and splendour and abundance, deep feelings, strong convictions, intense bonding: all these are attributes of God, reflected in "Noble Hostess Rachel", including his intense sorrow over broken loves and shattered hopes.

-- About ‘Nobel Hostess’
Why is Hungary female? Hungarian dignity is much connected with appearance and title, their pride in culture, their need for recognition. The Hungarian language is flowery and ornate. Also: their hope is set on others, an admiring of others. The theme of many stories is making your fame elsewhere. Their leadership can easily break down through lack of unity and a critical attitude towards authorities.These are all, not all redeemed, feminine qualities.
There is a substantial element of nobility in the Corporate Identity of Hungary. Their greatest hero is King Mattias the Righteous (around 1480), who not only united the Hungarian people, but also established a real royal court life, inviting art and wisdom from outside. Till today the crown is a powerful symbol of the unity and the pride of Hungary as a people-with-a-land.
And the Hungarians are hospitable, celebrate with their guests, decorate their homes for grand reception.

-- About Rachel. The saga and the biblical account.
Rachel’s story (Gen 29-35) is in a way a sad one. The story starts so beautiful: she was the first love of the patriarch Jacob. But then sadness enters her life: she could not bear him a son. To reach her goal the uses a woman of her household, and causes her sister Leah to do the same; that means: sadness spreads. When at last she gives birth to a son, she wants another son. Sadness continues when, for the sake of her move to the promised land, she steals idols and lies about it to save her life. Sadness strikes definitely when her second pregnancy leads to her death. Sad is also that she would never know, that her first son would become the deliverer of her nation.
A similar sadness shrouds the history of the Hungarian nation. The mythical bird Turul is said to have generated with the primordial mother the forefather Magor, who by a mythological White Stag was led to his inheritance, the land of the Magyars. However, they could never peacefully settle, because it was always endangered and overrun by forces from outside. This parallels the idolatrous behaviour of Rachel during her journey to the promised land, ending with Rachel’s death upon reaching it.
The religious remains playing a major role in the Hungarian history: After about the year 1000 the king Stefanus was baptised and the people were Christianized, and allegiance not Byzantine but to Rome was established, her Golden Age started. The nation was dedicated to God and to Mary; there are many Hungarian saints, both from church and with political background. But the sadness plays a larger role: apart from a relatively short time of independence, the nation was ruled by or part of or bordering other ruling nations, like the Tartars, Turks, Habsburgers (and their contra-reformation efforts!), Soviets and NATO/EU. After WWI the total surface was cut down to 35%. A saying is: “A mutilated Hungary is not Hungary; the whole Hungary is heaven itself,” expressing the dream of being grand, of being grander, with cynicism towards protection and hunger for being recognized.
For the Hungarians after the fall of communism in 1989 the Turul-bird has been restored as national symbol, but seems to be a cause of death also. In their new freedom after the fall of communism in 1989, Hungarians turned to their ‘old national symbol’, the black Turul-bird. After some years statisticians discovered that the suicide rate did not drop after the fall of communism, as they had expected, but that it rose; the increase turned out to originate especially from suicides by jumping off the old Danube bridge in Budapest and by jumping in front of trains at a certain railway junction. Intercessors, taking these facts to heart, realised that both on the bridge and on a steep hill between the two joining rails, there were huge old images of the Black Turul-bird. These intercessors also knew that the Black Turul-bird required human sacrifice and concluded: the new recognition of the old symbol had been accepted by the spirit world as a commitment, and so the covenant requirements were ‘re-activated’ as well.
Another parallel with Rachel’s story concerns the marital relationships: Laban’s and Jacob’s and Rachel’s behaviour and negotiating, caused much pain and confusion. The sexual immorality, especially the porno industry in Hungary (a perversion of ‘hostess’) have become a (bad) name for the nation since the fall of communism.
Many Hungarians perceive their nation as raped, as a ravished girl, or with an orphan spirit; their heroes are kings and nobles who rescued them. An Identity-model for Hungarians is the tragic Queen Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi), who embraced the Hungarians in their need.

-- Positive expression in the church:
The warmness of tradition in the church can be understood from the perspective of corporate motherhood.

-- Positive expression in society:
Exquisite and grand hospitality, good wines and joyful music. The grandeur and warmth of Hungarian hospitality, in the city and in the countryside, is widely known. This is a feminine trait.

-- Negative expression in the church:
Nobility: Quite strong hierarchy in the church; ruling for the sake of grandness, without really taking responsibility.
Femininity: In doctrine, there is no room for compromise or for the big picture. Also: the inclination to identify the church with the nation, leading to church-fed nationalism.

-- Negative expression in society:
The distorted expression of nobility shows in that Hungarians feel superior, especially to the Slavic peoples, and more or less equal to the Austrians, this last because of their royal dynastic past. It shows also in a quite strong and not to be questioned hierarchy.
Distorted expression of femininity: many western companies find Hungarian women willing to make pornographic movies, and be prostitutes.
Distorted expression of Nobility: There is a general sense of failure, the stories are failure oriented. Also: gathering in a nationalistic way, disregarding others ‘among’ them.

-- Application for the Body of Christ:
In the area of church-leadership a check needs to be built in to prevent rigid leadership or too much leadership and pomp, and lack of initiative by “commoners.”
The feminine aspect ("Lady") may tempt Hungary to dependence, leaning too much on the masculine, on the state or foreign powers or on foreign aid. Creativity and wisdom is the alternative. Rachel should take strength from Deborah, from Mary who learned not to try to push her Son but simply to worship her Son. “Lady” (the nobility aspect) deceives to abuse of power, even manipulation. But it can lead to festive celebration and grand hospitality also.
“Rachel” (the sad history aspect) tempts the Church to introspection, self-pity. However, her dignity is not in status and recognition, in title or name, but in being gracious, caring, taking responsibility. in assuredness in her calling of being Lady Rachel, the Desired and Promising Bride, irrespective of recognition.

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