Hungary contributes money to restore churches destroyed by illegal immigrants on Greek island

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Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and for the Hungary Helps Program, has pinned to the top of his Twitter account a Tweet from May 22, 2018 that says "Hungary is a Christian democratic country with a dedicated government program to help Christians that are persecuted for their faith all around the World. Follow my humanitarian mission from the crisis zones of the East to the diplomatic fora of the West!"

Azbej has stayed true to his word to help persecuted Christians and in a Tweet made on Friday, promised to help Greece.

"As part of the HungaryHelps Program, we’re contributing USD 30000 to the refurbishment of churches vandalized by immigrants on the Greek island of Lesbos. I hope our messages about protecting Christian heritage & about illegal migration get through," he said on Twitter.

His Tweet also had a link to the web page of Hungarian Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyás.

"This year, migrants on the island have attacked several sacred places, thereby protesting against the fact that the Greek authorities are preventing their illegal migration to Europe’s more remote countries. In consequence of acts of vandalism, several liturgical objects and the furnishings of churches have been seriously damaged," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement published on his web page.

Most interestingly though is that the Prime Minister revealed that his country's initiative to help restore churches on Lesvos was initiated by the small Greek minority, numbering only about 4,000 people in Hungary who constitute one of the thirteen officially recognized ethnic minorities in Hungary.

"On behalf of the Greek national minority in Hungary, the Self-Government of the Greeks of Hungary contacted the Prime Minister’s Office in order to seek assistance with the restoration of chapels. Hungary firmly stands up for protecting freedom of religion and Christian culture. We hold that help must be taken where there is trouble, rather than bringing trouble here," the statement continued.

"The donation for the renovation of churches on the island of Lesvos will be handed over as part of the Hungary Helps Programme by Minister of State for Helping Persecuted Christians and the Implementation of the Hungary Helps Programme Tristan Azbej and Minister of State for Church and National Minority Affairs Miklós Soltész through the Self-Government of the Greeks of Hungary," the statement concluded.

Greek City Times has been extensively documenting churches trashed and vandalised in Lesvos by illegal immigrants, including the Saint Catherine church, the Saint Raphael church and the the Virgin Mary of Tsiradou church.

Lesvos, as an island of only 90,000 citizens, has been one of the most hardest hit areas of Greece. The Moria migrant camp hosts 20,000 illegal immigrants alone, and it is not known exactly how many illegal immigrants are in the other camps on the island.

As a deeply religious society, these attacks on churches are shocking to the Greek people and calls to question whether these illegal immigrants seeking a new life in Europe are willing to integrate and conform to the norms and values of their new countries.

These continued attacks has ultimately seen the people of Lesvos, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, become increasingly frustrated by the unresolved situation that has restricted and changed their lives as they no longer feel safe on their once near crime-free island.

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