About Monomakhos

Monomakhos was started back in 2009 or so.  It was the result of many conversations between Yours Truly and a few friends (both of whom are priests).  I was told that I “needed to start a blog.”  So here we are:  Monomakhos, the personal blog of George C Michalopulos and now my wife, Gail Sheppard, where we talk about Politics, Culture and Religion.

With respect to religion, we don’t preach.  Nor will we allow others to preach.  We are not a “come to Jesus” platform.  We do not offer one-size-fits-all solutions to achieving salvation.  We don’t deliver sermons; even abbreviated ones.  We leave all that to the Church.   –  What we do on Monomakhos is discuss topics and events we find of interest, generally in relationship to the Orthodox Church.  If you’re not Orthodox, not to worry.  You will undoubtedly learn a lot and be thoroughly entertained!   

This blog (and the videos we make) is decidedly on the right end of the political and cultural spectrum.  And unabashedly so.  Whether that makes us “conservative” or not we can’t say, especially if by “conservative” one means neoconservative or RINO.  We’re definitely not that.  Perhaps it would be better to say that we are on the traditionalist, populist and nationalist side of things.  If you’re looking for a shorthand version, “patriot” should suffice.

Although we are very much on the Right, that doesn’t mean that we don’t welcome open and honest criticism.  (It’s rather ironic that those of us on the Right are not scared of debating our positions; in fact, we welcome arguments.  It’s the Left which wants to shut down all debate, what with their stupid speech codes and jiggering with the algorithms.  Not us.) 

Therefore we welcome a hearty and robust debate on the great topics of the day.  One thing we won’t tolerate is trolling, obscenity, slander and ad hominem attacks.  We also won’t tolerate correspondents who consistently display bad faith.  If we are wrong, we fess up.  We expect the same from everyone else.  Make an argument and be prepared to defend it.  As Jefferson said, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”  If nothing else, we believe this is the only way to keep our leaders –as well as our critics–on their toes.

We treasure your opinions; one reason is because it makes us think and thus, increases the level of knowledge which we believe is necessary for a healthy society.  Every now and then, one of you will write something quite profound and we will publish it as a stand-alone essay.  This makes Monomakhos exciting (in my humble opinion). 

As always, we maintain full editorial control over all comments.  Sometimes we need to go in and edit a comment, excise a word or even check spelling.  (Gail does yeoman-like work in this regard.)  Other times, we delete a comment which we feel violates our standards.

In any event, we treasure your readership, your correspondence and your commentary.  We view each and every one of you as a member of our family.

Pax.  Let’s always try to love one another!