We are sad to share that the long-time previous Chaplain at Saint Margaret’s Budapest, the Revd Canon Denis Moss has died. 

Born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1932, Canon Denis passed away peacefully at home with family in Marton, New Zealand, on Sunday, 14 September 2025, aged 93.
 

After training as an architect, Canon Denis spent a number of years working in the field, eventually becoming Senior Architect for the Fiji Housing Authority. During this time, he was ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church of New Zealand, and after returning from Fiji, he entered full-time ministry, taking on a role as coordinator of the Auckland City Mission.

He was to continue to serve the Church faithfully for many years in both his homeland, as Priest Assistant at St Mark’s, Remuera, Auckland, and then from 1992 in Hungary, where he became the founding chaplain of Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church in Budapest. He also served as Area Dean for Central Europe and was honoured as Canon Emeritus of Malta.

Alongside his second wife, Maria, a Hungarian, he founded the Szárnyak (Wings) Foundation, affiliated with the Wings Rehabilitation Trust in New Zealand, offering addiction counselling in both English and Hungarian.

He retired from active ministry in 2010 and moved to the village of Zalaszántó in Western Hungary, where he continued to celebrate Sunday Eucharist for local British expats and others. Following his formal retirement and in recognition of his service to the Diocese of Europe, he was awarded the Royal Maundy by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011. Throughout his eighties, he described himself as only “semi-retired,” and took Sunday services from time to time in Budapest. Maria died about three years ago, and Canon Denis returned to New Zealand earlier this year.

“Canon Denis had a warm pastoral touch and a particular interest in healing ministries,” notes the Revd Canon Frank Hegedűs, the current chaplain. “His persistence and faith in the face of many difficulties became the foundation of his ministry and ultimately of the Saint Margaret's community. Canon Denis was much loved by our Saint Margaret’s chaplaincy and was highly regarded in the local ecumenical community.”

He will be remembered most for his deep faith, quiet strength, and devotion to his spiritual family, as well as for his dry, perceptive sense of humour, which remained

intact to the end. “Canon Denis’s death marks the end of an era for us at Saint Margaret’s,” concludes Canon Frank.

Compiled by Rick and Anne Weymouth, son-in-law and daughter, on behalf of family, with additional details from Frank Hegedűs the current Chaplain.