The Hungarian Catholic Episcopacy pronounced on 1st December 2005 that Máriapócs is a National Place of Worship. The decree was announced by Cardinal and President of the Episcopacy dr. Péter Erdő --as special delegate of our Pope Benedict XVI. -- in Máriapócs on 3rd December, then he dedicated our homeland and our church to the protection of the weeping Blessed Virgin of Máriapócs.Mr. Cardinal placed a Golden Crown blessed by Pope Benedict onto the Glory on the renewed devotional picture during the Jubilee ceremony. Our National Sanctuary has gone through a quite, monumental change in the last years. The church and thus the whole environment were renowned, by the help of donations, and a certain tender of the EU. Now we have all the icons, altars, as well the iconostasis renovated, a new geothermal heating system is made, every corner before our eyes, and unseen parts too renewed. The official re-opening happened in the last year on 11th September. That day remains one of the happiest and mesmerizing events for us by all the time. In the history of Máriapócs this was the first chance to make a complete - inner and outer -- restoration, and reparation. Now, we really are a modern European shrine, with beautiful traditions and most suitable features for the 21st century.Máriapócs is the most famous and -- at the same time -- the mostly visited place of worship in Hungary. Máriapócs is the beloved spiritual centre of the Greek Catholic faithful of the Carpathian Basin and member of the "European Mary Network". Our church that has won its fame through the weeping Blessed Virgin's picture worthily is visited by 600.000-800.000 pilgrims and tourists each year. The name of the village appears first in the early writings of the thirteenth century, without the prefix "Mary" as an estate of the Báthory family and a few centuries later, as an estate of the Károlyi family. The significance of the not-so-famous village begins in the year of 1696 in the tiny wooden church of the local Greek Catholic community. One member of the congregation of Pócs, László Csigár undertakes - as a thanksgiving for his miraculous escape from the Turkish imprisonment -- to have the Blessed Virgin's picture painted which is an indispensable part of the iconostasis. The realizer of his noble intention was the local priest's younger brother, István Papp, who painted the icon for six Hungarian Forint. We can see that it is needless to search a famous secular or church maecenas or creator either in the person of the costumer or the painter. During the Holy Liturgy on the 4th November 1696 the believers present noticed that teardrops are running abundantly from both eyes of the Blessed Virgin. The exceptional event filled the attendants with admiration. Throughout the next day's crowds visited the church, among them were officials of the emperor, functionaries and people belong to the other churches. The weeping lasted for two weeks non-stop and with shorter breaks until 8th December. The Austrian general officer Count Corbelli visited the church with his followers in these days, examined the soundness of the picture and wiped off the running tears with a cloth himself. He had other people made the examination as well, among them were Lutheran and Calvinist believers too. The church examination were ordered by the Bishop of Eger and during the hearing the witnesses stated consentaneously that the weeping actually happened and they even made an oath. The oath and signed records draw our attention to a noteworthy circumstance. Among the subscribers we find protestant folks as well. It is an elevating and outstanding if we consider that it was not the period of peaceful ecumenical prayer-weeks that characterize our time when the church communities try to represent Christ in the world by helping each other. Flight test Mikrokopter HexaKopter Aerial Photography Video Platform Goldstein Endre Modell Hungaria Ltd. 2011.07.12

• published: 12 Jul 2011
• views: 5633