Istevan Garaguly plays the organ at St. Mary's Armenian Church in Budapest. He is a 26-year-old lawyer, whose Armenian ancestors came to Hungary hundreds of years ago.
Dr. Moldovan Kristof, 78, is a retired road construction engineer whose dream in life is to see the completion of the Armenian Center in Budapest.
Two Hungarian Armenians, each with a different view on what their Armenian roots mean and what it takes to keep the Armenian flame alive in a changing society.
For Istevan Garaguly, it is the Armenian tradition, religion and culture along with the thrill of learning more about his roots.
He is a relative newcomer to the scene. He has always been aware of his ethnic Armenian background, but had no contact with other Armenians until three years ago when he discovered that there was an Armenian church in Budapest.
As a young boy, Garaguly remembers his grandmother's stories, including how his grandfather's parents did not want him to marry a foreigner.
"My grandmother may have been different, but she was not a foreigner," he said.
The story made a great impact on the young boy, enough to get him thinking more seriously about his background.
"One day my sister came home from college and said that one of her teachers was a deacon at the Armenian Church. I thought I'd look into the church, and here 1 am," Garaguly said after a recent Sunday mass which was led by an elderly Catholic priest who is half Hungarian and half Polish but conducts mass in Armenian.
"1 loved the service and wanted to learn more, and that's how I started studying the Armenian language and liturgy. That was a three years ago, and I have not missed a Sunday service since," he said.
Garaguly now reads and writes Armenian, has visited the Armenian quarter of east Jerusalem and is very active in the Armenian community of Hungary.
As a lawyer, Garaguly works for his family business, and devotes most of his free time studying the Armenian language and reading about Armenian history and culture. For him being Armenian is a question of choice and not just a birthright.
"We cannot take anything for granted. As human beings, we have to get involved in the causes in which we believe. For me, what started as a curiosity is developing into an objective and a sense of pride.
"Having some Armenian blood in your veins is not enough. You have to do something about your heritage...you have to keep it alive," he said, turning to his mentor, 78-year-old Moldovan Kristof, who studied Armenian as a young boy, but lost his language skills as he grew up in a society where integration and assimilation were stronger than his will to maintain his ethnic identity.
Born in ancient Transylvania which is now part of Romania, Moldovan Kristof attended an Armenian school there during his early childhood, received his university education in Germany and settled in Budapest in 1940.
"I vividly remember the barbecue picnics and well-dressed women who wore a lot of gold jewelry. The Armenian flavor was lost over the years, but I am optimistic about the future," he said.
Since his retirement, and more so since the end of communist era, Moldovan Kristof has embarked on a mission to revive the Armenian heritage.
"The only Armenian I know is the Lord's Prayer, but I want to help create the conditions which will help future generations of Armenians through education and culture," he said.
In recent years, he has successfully negotiated the acquisition of a large property adjacent to the Armenian Church in Budapest which he wants to develop into a major Armenian Cultural Center.
He has already drawn the blueprints, and with help from other community members, is busy raising the necessary funds to complete the work.
"Next time you visit Budapest we will welcome you in our new center which will have adequate facilities for the arts, Armenian language classes, a small club and even a guest house," he said.
Both Garaguly and Kristof attribute the Armenian revival in Hungary to two factors. One is the end of the communism and the second is the Hungarian government's encouragement of ethnic communities. “It seems we have been waiting for a chance to start getting organized. We now have a golden opportunity to make up for lost time and build for the future,"
Moldovan Kristof said.
Like others in his age group, he remembers the apathy toward his Armenian roots during an era when nationalism and religion were frowned upon.
While Hungary was never a communist dictatorship like the Soviet Union, it's treatment of minorities was at best described as circumstantial.
"There was no persecution but there was also no encouragement. Today, the situation is very different. We are encouraged to stand up and be recognized. I can go as far as saying we are being pampered, and therefore we have no excuse if we remain apathetic toward our roots," Moldovan Kristof said.
"The Armenian flame in me comes from my parents who lived at a time when they had Armenian schools and churches. Losing these accelerated our assimilation. It was not their fault.
"Today we have new opportunities to build on our past heritage. We should not waste these chances if we want to see an Armenian community in Hungary 50 or 100 years from now," he said.
