According to Új Szó, a news site for ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring Slovakia, Hungarian priests in Slovakia are encouraging the laity to pray for the Hungarian head of government, prime minister Viktor Orbán. The priests are pleading with God to give Orbán the strength to fight against the European Union.

The call to prayer is the result of a chain letter being circulated in religious circles.

Alas, the prayer:

May the Lord lead you down the right path!

May the Lord stand with you, hold you in his arms, and protect you from peril!

May the Lord stand behind you and protect you from those who seek to do evil!

May the Lord be beneath you to catch you if you fall!

May the Lord be inside you to bring you happiness when you are sad!

May the Lord be around you to protect you when others do you harm!

May the Lord be above you to bless you!

May the kind Lord bless you today, tomorrow, and always!

This is what many of us pray for you, Prime Minister. May the Lord help you!”

“Viktor Orbán is a special politician and that is why he has so many enemies, because he is protecting Europe from the liberals, the Freemasons and the European Union,” says János Varga from Slovakia. “He needs our prayers to ensure that the Lord gives him strength to fight battles for real values.

“I sent the prayer to 150 of my acquaintances, and they have sent the prayer further along to just as many people. So many prayers cannot go unheard.”

The prayer chain was started by Father Ferenc György, an ethnic Hungarian priest in Slovakia.

“I received the prayer from Austria and forwarded it,” he told Új Szó. “Even Saint Paul wrote that ‘supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way’.”