137/365: Fresh From Budapest The (Not So) Wholesome Kid Talks About A Church Inside A Cave Called Sziklatemplom

17th of May

“Shameless syet” , “inorgasm”, “kilig-b*y*g”, “k*nt*t”, “lamp*ngan” are some of the the regular words being used by the smart-cracking-mouth of this young guy on his social media statuses and on his blog  which by the title itself is a warning - Hindi Ito Wholesome (This Is Not Wholesome).

My apologies to my foreign readers because there are no decent exact translation for the opening words to the English language.  If I will find one and translate them for you my blog might be re-classified ha ha!

If you judge this kid through his words probably you will never like understand him.  I honestly cringed during the first time that I was coming across his statuses and blog posts.  But when you read beyond words you will realize that they are logical and sensible.  I took it that this kid uses words to emphasize his points which I think is very effective.  Plus his presence in the blogosphere by his own unique way of expression serves as a balance versus the abundance of the “goody-goody” blog sites. “Pang-balanse ika nga at maiba naman.”

Funny thing is that, in spite of this kid’s blatant way of expression I found it very contrasting to his angelic face.  Meet Cyron – tadaah!

Cyron's talent came in bundle.  Aside from his talent in writing he is also very good in art.  And attention ladies – he is SINGLE! (as far as I know ha ha).  Go get your passports and chase him in Hungary  

I had the chance to be in conversed with Cyron a few times because we share the same love for cats.  From there I found that there’s really a sweet boy behind those censored-risk-defying-expression (lol).

Now considering how Cyron expressed himself do you think it was easy for me to ask him to be my guest blogger and write about something that is related to ”holy” ?  Yep!  I did not hesitate!,  In fact he is one among the first people that I asked because I am certain that behind those “censored-risk-defying-way-of-expression is an intelligent and sensible sweet boy. 

And I was not wrong.  After clarifying some details about my invitation his “orgasmic” reply was “look forward for my post”.

So here it is for the first time in history!  Fresh from Budapest the Wholesome Cyron! 

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When it comes to places of worship, Budapest (Hungary) is rich in historic places of it representing many faiths and traditions. I have been living here for more than 10 years now and I must say this country is a must to visit here in Europe.

The spire, tower, dome or minaret is usually the most distinctive feature in any village or urban neighborhood, and often is the most significant historic building.  Fortunately, most are still used for worship, and some have found new sympathetic uses.  But investment in their care is also a significant responsibility, so congregations and communities can find it difficult to raise funds and maintain the buildings and their beautiful decorations and furnishings.  For the tourists and visitors, it is not easy to find interesting places of worship or learn of their history. 

As a person living here in the city, this is one of my favorite places of worship. To be tell the truth, I am a religious person in away that I don’t schedule myself to go to church on Sunday but instead just go in whenever I have a time and feel like to be alone and talk to myself and to God.

Sziklatemplom



Sziklatemplom pronounce as ’Sikla Templom’ or Cave Church is one of the unique church in Budapest, Hungary. It is located inside of the hill called Gellért Hill. It was founded in 1926, by a group of Pauline monks after a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France.

If you are not familiar, Budapest is home to a number of natural caves and cellar systems formed by thermal springs.

This church is not your typical church with high ceilings and gilded interior. The altar itself is located at the entrance of the cave and the congregation was seated outdoors on the terrace.












According to the legend, used to be, this place was a place for healing. Some time in the medieval ages there was a hermit called Ivan who cured many people with the thermal healing waters that kept flowing from the underground hot springs from the karst caves of the Gellert Hill. At that time the name of the hill was ‘Pest
Hill’ pest pronounce as ‘pesht’ – meant ‘cave’ in the Slavic languages, and Hungarians used the Slavic word for this area (part of Budapest now) indicating that the natural cave existed many centuries ago. St Ivan cave was not too big, so to make the church more spacious, there was a series of explosions carried out.

During World War II, the church served as a hospital and asylum. After the war, the monks were arrested and their superior, father Ferenc Vezér was sentenced to death by the Communist regime.

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By the way if you need more amusement and laughter in life you may want to tumble with Cyron here.

94/365: Prelude to The Guest Posting on Churches and Places of Worship

4th of April

In just a few days after I posted “Will You Be my Guest (Post) Blogger To Feature About Churches or Any Place of  Worship” I already received the first entry from one of my sweetest blogger friends.

After two more days someone sent the second entry.  Then a lot more messages from other blogger friends who are all expressing enthusiasm to be a part of my guest blogging series.  Heart warming… but oh boy now I’m the one who’s under pressure in posting these entries.

The messages from blogger friends who are telling me that they are kind of intimidated sending their entries made me smile.  Please don’t be!  As I’ve said you can feature your entry as you normally do on your own blogs.  You can have it your way.  You can present just one church or as many as you wish to share.  What matters to me and I’m sure with everybody else as well is for you to be a part of this fun and interaction in a unique way.

Here’s one of the major reason why I decided to push through with this special guest posting.

At the beginning of 2014 when I started my 365 Blogging challenge I was elated to see that my fellow bloggers most of whom have been in hiatus (like me)  in 2013 for a longer period than usual have came back to regular posting.  You know who you are special people. Seeing them making noises again in the blogosphere is one big motivation for a fellow blogger.  As I’ve always said the more the merrier.  I saw them posting regularly on their sites and interacting with each other through blog hopping and their social media accounts.  It was very nice to see such online camaraderie.

However just before the first quarter of 2014 ends they began to once again drift from posting. Their postings began to trail and the gap is starting to be wide again unlike when they started this year.   It is understandable though.  I know that most of us are blogging and writing just for the love of it.  I mean most of us does not benefit financially from blogging and yet it is eating much of our time.  I am pertaining to most bloggers that I have regular interactions.

This is the reason why I have extra respect for these people.  They are spending time to give way to their passion of expressing their opinion without financial benefits.  In fact I have a MUCH MUCH BIGGER respect for these bloggers than those bloggers who publicly brag about how much they earned from here and there.  Jeez why don’t you just publish your Paypal balances so we know the real numbers?!

Anyway going back and moving forward, this is one of the reason why I initiated this guest blogging fun.  In the hope that I may somehow pull back my friends to go back to blogging.  I want to encourage them not to lose their passion and way of expression.  Who knows in the end there’s still a reward waiting for us by doing this.  It may not be financially but you can never tell.

But I would like to clarify also that the invitation for this series is not limited to my blogger friends.  This is open for everyone.  As long as you are interested to share your likeness and interest about a church or a place of worship you are welcome.

So how am I going to post the entries?
There will be a pattern in posting. I was hoping it will be a regular post like my Sunday and Photograph” posts, Only this series will be every Saturday.

I am also thinking of creating a special page on this site for this series where your links will forever be on this page.

So here we go!  The first post will be simultaneously posted after this one! Yipee!

Photo Source: Google images. Caption is by author of this blog

82/365: Will You Be My Guest (Post) Blogger To Feature About Church or Any Place of Worship?

23rd of March

This coming month of April I will be starting a new series on my blog.  It will be called “Churches and Places of Worship” which will be done through guest postings.

Who will be the ”Guest Post”?
YOU! Be that you’re a reader, follower or blogger friend you are all welcome.  Anyone who is reading this and interested to be my guest blogger is welcome!

What makes this unique?
There are a lot of on-going guest posting in the blogosphere but what makes this unique is that we will just be talking about “churches” or “other places of worship”.

You may have noticed that I have this special interest (to the point of passion) about churches and places of worship. I already featured several churches here, and there’s a lot more that are on queue to be posted. As always I am just waiting for the right time to post about each church.

Then why guest post?
The more the merrier plus the fact that I will not be able reach as many places as I want to and feature as much churches as I want.  So why not ask the help of other people that might be interested with my interest as well?  Also, I have friends all over the world and it would be awesome to make them a part of this right?

Come join me as I feature churches and places worship from everywhere!

Any specifics?
Yes there are but they are not too complicated.

1. The post should not exceed 1,000 words and you can express it in any medium that you are comfortable with.
If you are a photographer you can feature it by photographs you just need to provide the caption.  If you are an artist you can express it by any medium you are comfortable with – drawings, doodles, song (with video is allowed) or any similar medium.  If you want it something literary, poem, quotation or a featured article it’s fine as long as it will not exceed 1,000 words.
3. Since my blog site is in the English medium the post should be in English as well.  But please don’t be intimidated by this.  I am not expecting a high-falutin words in the entry.  The simpler the better.
4. The church photograph or illustration is a must-provide plus the exact name and location of the church/place of worship. 

(If this is not too much) My special request.
I would appreciate it if you will be featuring a church from outside Metro Manila.  The reason for this is that I almost covered all the churches within the metro and we might have similar post.  My suggestion is that for you to choose a church from a place where you grew up, your provincial home or where you are currently located at or where you visited and travelled.

Is this a contest?
No. Therefore there is no material prize.  You will just make this blogger happy if that matters to you (smile).  What I will do is to connect your post to your blog or to any of your social media accounts or to whatever site you wanted to link it back (as long as it’s legal).  I will also include a brief description about yourself.

Initial steps.
I’ll start this by dropping private messages of request to some of my (fellow) blogger friends so I will have the initial batch of guest blogger as I wait for other guest volunteers.

How to?
You can email me at balutmanila@gmail.com or drop me a message on the comments form below or here. You can also contact me in Facebook or Twitter. Wherever that you are comfortable with is fine with me.
I am hoping for a “Yes” on the comment box below! Please?

P.S.
There’s a lot more about churches on this blog.  You just need to browse the “Search” button at the ride sided bar.

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HURRAY! for this early contributor! Be sure to check them out!

Churches: Magnificent;y Featured By A Fine Lady From Norway

A Church in Sagada Philippines in the Eye of the Soul Explorer

Let Us Travel To Long Phrae, Thailand With The Master of Metaphor As He Talks About Temple Wat Salaeng

How The Grumpy Blue Blogger Was Able To Write About A Place of Worship: OMKARESHWAR, INDIA: JYOTIRLINGA SHRINE OF SHIVA

Churches: Hail To The King of Mercy! Featured By A Christian Blogger From The Faraway Island of Surigao City, Philippines
Fresh From Budapest The (Not So) Wholesome Kid Talks About A Church Inside A Cave Called Sziklatemplom