President of the Republic about the importance of Primož Trubar
Ljubljana, 7.6.2008 | press release, speech
The President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Danilo Türk has attended today the solemn celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Primož Trubar's birth, which was held in the Evangelical Church of Primož Trubar in Ljubljana. In his speech the President emphasized the importance of Primož Trubar for the Slovene nation and for Europe, and reminded of Trubar's message which is still present nowadays:
Address by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, at the ceremonial academy to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Primož Trubar
Evangelical Church in Ljubljana, 7 June 2008
Check against delivery!
Bishop Geza Erniša,
Honourable Former President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Milan Kučan,
Honourable ministers, distinguished guests,
Today’s ceremony is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the birth of Primož Trubar and marked by the unveiling of a special bust to pay tribute to this great man in Slovenian history. This is one of the important symbolic acts in the Year of Primož Trubar. As the President of the Republic of Slovenia, I have several tasks and obligations. These include chairing the Honorary Committee to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Primož Trubar, which is one of the most important anniversaries and definitely one that attracts a good deal of my attention. And the work of Primož Trubar demands this.
Today’s ceremony marks the anniversary of a man who was the founder of Slovenian culture, who in many ways was the creator of the Slovenian nation and one of the great personalities in all of Europe. We remember Trubar as the translator of biblical texts, as the author of the first Slovenian books and the founder of the Ungnad-Trubar Bible Institute, one of the first institutes of this kind in Europe. He was also respected as a teacher, a translator and a leader who made it possible for the Slovenian nation to have a translation of the entire Bible in 1584. This occurred quite early in history, and thus the Slovenian nation became one of the early, essentially, cultural nations.
If we wanted to highlight the most important message of his life and work, it would be formulated as follows: Trubar’s work proves that there is no contradiction between the best achievements of the European spirit and the most heartfelt efforts for national identity. Even today, this message plays an important role, since the strengthening of culture and raising the awareness of European citizens enables Europe to grow as an entity. And Europe is today aware of this. However, Europe established this recognition after a long and difficult past full of deviations and violence, a past which witnessed such occurrences as the oppression of small nations and elevating large ones to the level of racism in relation to others. That is why today we fully understand the meaning of synthesis between a free national identity and universal intellectual breadth. We understand it in its intellectual import as well as in its political significance.
What motivated Trubar in his work? This is also a question worth raising. His work reflects his scope of spirit, his great education and knowledge of works written by the leading intellectuals of his time, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchton, Huldrich Zwingli and others. Trubar maintained correspondence with many of them. Yet, there is something more in the core of his work, something stronger. It is his Christian ethics, his true faith in Christianity, his profound and real ethical belief. While in Trubar’s time Martin Luther spread his ethical belief, which contributed a great deal to Europe, Trubar took this ethical message seriously. This led him to the path of creating the Slovenian Church, to reformation, but unfortunately also to the problems he had in his country.
Quite recently in Slovenia we were given the opportunity to think very directly about this, as the only original copy of Trubar’s Cerkovna ordninga (Church Order) was shown in Slovenia for a very short time. The paradox of history is that the only original copy of this great work, which created the Slovenian Reformed Church in Trubar’s reformation effort, came from the Vatican Library. With the help of the Vatican in 2008, we were able to take a closer look at the original Cerkovna ordninga.
This experience also tells us that we live in a much better era than Trubar's. We live in a time where freedom is almost universal, allowing us to communicate much more freely. And for that very reason it should not be difficult today for us to recognise the historical role of the Evangelical Church in the history of the Slovenian nation and the great contributions to the cultural and political growth of our nation made by Slovenian Protestants. As the President of the Republic of Slovenia, I acknowledge this recognition today, since it also expresses the spirit of our era as the spirit of freedom. This spirit of freedom takes its strength from our traditions, especially from the Protestant tradition.
However, there is one more thing we have to know. Trubar’s message, the message of his profound ethics, is also important today, which in many ways is a time bereft of ethics. Therefore today, Trubar is also a good starting-point for reflection, reflection about what could be done better in our society and what we as a European nation must do to improve. With this thought about how Trubar binds us to think about our future, I would like to conclude my address by wishing you that the Year of Trubar will pass with careful consideration and contribute to our general betterment.
Thank you.