Usually at Monomakhos, we write an editorial first and then punctuate it with a news story afterwards. Today, we will append our commentary after the news story. We do this because Lady Thatcher, quite possibly the most consequential woman in history since Catherine the Great, deserves a much deserved commentary but also because, unlike the great Ronald Reagan, her progeny is both real and consequential. (Also because beauty as well as religiosity runs in her family: Amanda Thatcher is very … [Read more...]

If not, why not? I'll tell you why. Because the issue was never one of "sexual minorities" --which the people described in this article most definitely are. Its because homosexuality is the only sexual juggernaut capable of paganizing the Church. I draw the term "sexual minorities" from Fr. John Jillions, the OCA Chancellor who uses it (promiscuously as it turns out) as a euphemism for the normalization of homosexual activity within the Church without explicitly saying so. The term is … [Read more...]

Every now and then, your Humble Correspondent strikes a nerve. The latest one was when he praised a Mormon student at Florida Atlantic University for refusing to write the name "Jesus" down on a piece of paper and stomp on it. If memory serves, yours truly asked for the return of the fine old American tradition of tarring and feathering. This of course angered the Tolerant Among Us who thought that such an action would be unChristian. That's arguable. After all, a lot of things we do … [Read more...]

Introduction Clearly very little has gone right for the OCA over the last nine months. Even those who take a Pollyanna attitude have found it difficult to state otherwise. Crying over spilt milk is useless at this juncture, nevertheless it is necessary to ask how we got here. And ask we must for barring public repentance, there is no way that the continued, slow-motion implosion of the OCA will reverse itself. Some of course claim that the autocephaly of the OCA is to blame. That is to say … [Read more...]

Anybody want to guess how long it will be before the OCA as a whole has a locum tenens? Three years? Five? Don't laugh. Just count up the territorial dioceses that are presently vacant: Alaska (four years), Dallas (three years), Canada (two years), Philadelphia, and now Chicago. And isn't it curious how none of this was going on when Jonah was Primate? Then we were electing bishops (Melchisedek, Alexander, Michael, Matthias) and creating territorial dioceses (Washington). Then, the … [Read more...]

One of my dark pleasures is rubbing the faces of Liberals in the dirt of their own ignorance. We are constantly told that History Doesn't Matter! or that traditional Muslims have always lived in peace with traditional Christians (Stan Drezhlo, call your office). The Neocon/Trotskyites peddle their own brand of this Progressivism in order to justify the importation of American Democratism to the Third World. Over a year ago, I belittled the "Arab Spring" that overthrew President Hosni … [Read more...]

Assorted Lefties: call your office. It seems that the Religion of Peace didn't get your memo that Muslims are more tolerant than Christians. (I wonder how Stan Drezhlo is going to spin this one?) … [Read more...]

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To me, this graphic says it all. However Lady Thatcher would not want us to mourn forever but to pick ourselves up, shake off the dirt, and get back to fighting. One candidate for Mayor in Norman, Oklahoma is doing just that. Candidate Promises Statue of Free Cheese in Norman, OK Source: American Thinker | Oleg Atbashian If David Kempf wins the mayoral race on April 2, a bronze statue of Free Cheese based on the People's Cube design is going to be built in Oklahoma's third … [Read more...]

This question is directed to our Western Christian readers (since we Orthodox won't celebrate the Resurrection for another 30 days). But first, a little context: It's been a bone of contention here on Monomakhos that West has become increasingly secularized. It's not so much the culture per se but those cultural "drivers" who try very hard to Stalinize the language. By and large they've won. Modern culture is very much desacralized but most importantly it's de-Christianized. You … [Read more...]

St. Innocent Orthodox ChurchMacon, Georgia[/caption]A little pick-me-up as we go through Lent. Courtesy of the ever-delightful Byzantine, Tx. How it should be done: St. Innocent Church in Macon, GA Source: Byzantine, TX (Vimeo) - Filmed, edited, produced and directed, by Ted Liedle. This has been one of the most interesting and fun projects I have done in over 40 years of production. I have grown to love these people. Prior to my experience with this Orthodox community I … [Read more...]

I remember back in the late nineties, when Liberals were all a-twitter about Slobodan Milosevic and his campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in order to keep Serbia intact. "It was an outrage!" we were told. Milosevic (who was a Communist) was being painted as an exemplar of Right-wing xenophobia. NATO was told that we had to go in an protect the Albanians from being overwhelmed by the Serbs. Instead, Milosevic should have contacted the Serbian-American community of Chicago. One of their biggies, … [Read more...]

Some have taken your humble correspondent to task for predicting a bleak future for Christians in America. Others choose instead to look at the growing Christianization of Russia and worry about the Tsar being restored to his throne. You know, the Patriarch wears a nice Rolex and all that. I just tend to look at things as they are and try to see trends. It's funny though --has anybody found this story in any organ of the American mainstream media? Even an "Orthodox" website has been … [Read more...]

- The month of February (sometimes March) is rarely a happy time in Casa Monomakhos. That is when Goodwife Monomakhova must litter the dining room table with numerous receipts, documents, and assorted detritus in order to make it easier for our accountant to help Uncle Sam swindle us even more. But if you wanted more proof that the National Income Tax is responsible for the growth of the Leviathan State, just look at the first chart. Then read the article. The 100th Anniversary of … [Read more...]

Well, that's a better title than "our church got relegated to being ranked dead last, after 'Other' in the list of invitees to the Pope's inauguration." So what are we up to now? How many more slights does the OCA have to suffer both here and abroad because of Syosset's horrible defenestration of His Beatitude? Just think back to last January, when the American Catholic bishops asked Metropolitan Jonah to inauguate the annual March for Life. The OCA was temporarily vaulted to the first … [Read more...]

In the armament of the War Between the Sexes, this is one of the better ones that men have at their disposal. It's not flagrantly sexist and can be uplifting to a woman of a certain age even if it's not true. It's a pleasantry, nothing more. Even when it's not sincere, it's a tactic that can derail a feminine tirade. (You know, the kind that men of a certain age realize that they can't win.) I think in retrospect Sen Ted Cruz (R-Tex) should have said something along these lines to Sen … [Read more...]

So answered the infamous bank-robber Willie Sutton back during the Great Depression when he was asked, "Why do you rob banks?" I first heard Sutton's comment back when I was a teenager. I didn't understand it until much later. The people asking Sutton this question were no doubt well-meaning Progressives. They were probably interested in his toilet training, whether his mother made him eat his vegetables, if his father paid enough attention to him -- something like that. Surely there had to … [Read more...]

It seems that my comments on Pope Francis have elicited much commentary in return, some of it positive, some of it negative. Some critical comments have to do with the usual Orthodox questions regarding the Roman Catholic Church since the Great Schism of 1054. For my part, we are beyond that, the culture is simply too far gone to concern ourselves with bilateral dialogues regarding the things that separate us. Perhaps this is obvious to other Orthodox luminaries as well. Patriarch … [Read more...]

Source The Morning Offering Pope Francis A Jesuit with a Franciscan's Simplicity In Catholic tradition, Francis of Assisi had a mystical vision in which Christ told him to rebuild his Church. In taking the name Francis, this pope seems to be pledging himself to rebuild the image and integrity of a church that has suffered from widespread allegations of corruption, and the cover-up of the child sex abuse by innumerable members of her clergy. After becoming … [Read more...]

"Habemus Papam! We have a pope!" These are the words that the Cardinal Protodeacon shouts from the loggia to the assembled crowd below. The conclave that elected Jorge Maria Bergoglino to the papacy was no different in this respect. Otherwise, the differences are vast. Pope Francis is the first from the Americas, the first Jesuit, the first from the "Global South," and the first in 600 years to replace a man still very much alive. Many of our readers will no doubt take umbrage at the … [Read more...]