Je Suis Charlie Martel–Part I: Why I’m not Charlie

i-am-not-charlieOne of the perks of being a realist is that you’re never surprised when reality intrudes. It’s always comical (but tiring nonetheless) to explain to Liberals that reality has this way of being –how can I say it?–real.

Recently, in France, reality broke out yet again. In yet another case of Moslems being Moslem (or Sudden Jihad Syndrome), another Islamic-inspired atrocity took place. In this case, two “French” brothers broke into the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine and murdered ten employees. Another “Frenchman” immediately went on a rampage, took hostages in a kosher grocery store, and killed four innocents. All three men were killed by the authorities before they could be interrogated so we’ll never know the full scope of what really transpired.

This was all most unfortunate. There are many issues involved here, not the least of which is the stupid policy of open immigration of Third World fellahin to Western nations. Another is their inability or (more likely) non-desire to assimilate into the host nation. One issue which was not involved however was that of free speech.

Make no mistake: nobody should be killed for drawing cartoons no matter how offensive, idiotic or scatological. But Charlie Hebdo and its employees were not engaged in free speech nor were they advocates of free speech. They weren’t even satirists in the legitimate sense that Mad Magazine or The National Lampoon were back in the day. They were just sophomoric cartoonists of a particularly blasphemous bent.

What Charlie Hebdo was was nothing less than the official journal of the Jacobin Left. Nothing was sacred to them but their dogmas and they impugned in the most egregious way possible anybody who didn’t share their anti-traditionalist world view. The two policemen in New York who were recently gunned down for example were mercilessly mocked recently in their pages. They printed blasphemous cartoons of the Holy Trinity. And so on. But as I said, they themselves did not believe in free speech (having urged for the suppression of the Front National).

Nobody in Europe does for that matter. There is no First Amendment. Unlike the United States, a person in Europe can be fined and even thrown in jail for any number of “crimes” involving speech. Thus it was most comical to see world leaders mourning the dead “journalists” marching in lockstep and lamenting the loss of journalistic freedom. According to one count, every one of those world leaders leading the procession has either imprisoned or caused to be killed any number of journalists. And no, Western Liberals: Vladimir Putin wasn’t there. We’re talking David Cameron, Francois Holland, Angela Merkel and of course, Benjamin Netanyahu. All of these people have blood on their hands. In hindsight, it’s good that Barack Obama wasn’t there once it the facade of “imperiled journalism” faded away.

And how quickly did it fade away! Just a day or two later, the Camaroonian-French comedian Dieudionne M’bala M’bala, was arrested for posting on Twitter that “I am Charlie Coulabily,” thereby mocking the entire affair. With this play on words, he identified himself with two of the murderers, laying a turd in the punch bowl at the funeral reception (in a manner of speaking).

Now of course this was a horrible thing to say. But the dictates of free speech allow for such tasteless words. Free speech is for the protection of unpopular sentiments, not popular ones. (And given his African descent is it any wonder he expressed the alienation that North Africans and Moslem immigrants feel towards the decaying French culture? More on this in Part II.)

So the jig is up. This was not about free speech and Europe, with its millions of Moslems seething with rage, is at a breaking point. Is there a lesson there for us?

You bet.

For one, we could put a moratorium on immigration to our shores, especially from Third World countries. Second, we could eradicate so-called hate speech laws. Not only are they a violation of the First Amendment, they are a legal club that can be used by favored minorities to silence opposition. (Make no mistake: the alienated Islamic masses of Europe seethe with envy when they see that European Jews are protected from rhetorical violations on their honor by numerous laws. All they want is the same thing for them. Unlike the Jews however, who have patiently worked through the legislative process, the Moslems are impatient and demand protective sanctions now.) Third, we need to recognize what is great and good about European and Christian civilization. We need to stop whining about it and actually standing up for it. Our civilization has been the most productive and glorious one throughout history. We have given more, produced more, and taken less than any other civilization. It is not for us to apologize but to recognize our accomplishments. If, on the other hand, there are individuals or cultures that feel differently, they are welcome to not come to our lands and stay where they are. Those Westerners who feel likewise can decamp for other shores as well.

That’s why I for one, am most definitely “not Charlie.”

Comments

  1. Ashley Nevins says

    Does the posting of this article in some way make the Orthodox pro west? Do they basically agree with it?

    The Orthodox are not realists. You have to embrace rationalism to be a realist. The Orthodox do not exist in the rational reality of the real world. They live in an exclusive we alone are God right unreality of a closed, isolated and subjective system that believes it has no comparison. The Orthodox are anti west, rational and modern and that is America. In affect, they are anti freedom on a state level and they do not have spiritual freedom in Christ as a church. You simply cannot claim to be a realist and not embrace rational. That would be irrational and that is exactly the Orthodox outcome in America.

    Rational Christian thinking would have seen that Jonah was not going to last in the OCA as metropolitan after he said at his enthronement, I have the most profound respect for the bishops on stage with me. That was an irrational statement considering they are all corrupt. The accurate statement would have been, The bishops on stage with me are all corrupt and we have to change our of our thinking and attitude of respect for the corrupt. Jonah was telling the church to have profound respect as I do for the corrupt and because they are not corrupt. I am not corrupt and so you can trust me in my spiritual evaluation of the bishops on stage with me like you do in me. He was trying to transfer his credibility onto the corrupt to hold trust and unity in the church together at any cost including reverence for the corrupt. That is irrational Christian morality and ethics. It is relativism and situational ethics and morality based upon a mans definition of what is not corrupt and what is corrupt in comparison to him and not Jesus and the NT. Jonah was telling the church to see those corrupt bishops as you see me and through me. It was not through Christ. Jonah is not the Jesus he believed he was. The bottom line of that is subjective idolatry of man over objective God as the comparison. Jonah was saying the transparency and accountability of the bishops stops here and now at my enthronement because I respect them you can respect them like you do me. His profound respect for them resulted in what for him and the OCA? Do you get it about what that resulted in? Many on this forum side with Jonah like many in the GOA side with Gerasimos in his save the GOA strategy. These men and the leaders in support around them are not the solution. They all in their own and in similar like ways lead you into church corruption and death. Even if they were trying to save their jurisdiction with good intentions the delusion they are involved in undermines all good intentions and the solutions end badly.

    The problem boils down to a top down centralized authoritarian rule structure based in its own power and control inside of a closed, isolated and subjective system that has an exclusive we are Gods only true church and Christians mindset, attitude and resulting behavior. Jonah was saying, pay no attention to what Gods Word says about church corruption trust in me as your God who determines for you who is worthy of respect and who is not. That is idolatry of structure and system and its rulers over God and no matter how corrupt they are. Jonah’s subjective opinion of the bishops moral and ethical state was not rational objective made by comparison to Jesus and the NT. Jonah is not the only EO ruler example of this. He is just an obvious one the Orthodox in America recognize due the scandals of this jurisdiction. The GOA is actually in a more scandalous state of church failure but it is better at hiding it and I am not here going to go into the reasons why it is better at hiding it other than to say you can see it in how the EP of Astoria, NY fame got away with it and how the new save the GOA strategy denies such threats to it.

    Any church is capable of reaching a plateau and start a downward decline and find itself in need of a correction. No church is immune to such. However, what you use to bring revival to it and who brings that revival is critically important. Get the strategy wrong with the wrong kind of leaders leading it and it will surely fail. This is spiritual warfare and those who know how to wear the armor of God and fight spiritual warfare are the ones to lead it and produce the strategy. Those who have led you into corruption and failure and then do not repent openly about how they led you into that cannot lead you out of that. Most of them should have never been put into the position and most of them need to be removed from the position. If you do not have anyone you can replace them with then the laity leads the church until it does. The laity leans into the Holy Spirit by humility to its leadership and in the new senior leadership development and the laity does not lean into what corrupted the church for new senior leadership or the church remains corrupt. Leave one corrupting issue missed or deny it and it will roar back in your face and destroy the strategy.

    Your system of senior leadership development develops the kind of leaders the system of the church is and if it is incompetency and corruption that is what the system of senior leadership development will produce as senior leaders. Its a vicious circle. The system produces the senior leadership and the senior leadership produces the system. Two sides of the same corruption coin. Leave one corrupting bishop in place in rule over the strategy and that strategy is over at the gate. The strategy is a change of system strategy and who rules the system of it determines its outcome by how the system of senior church leadership develops senior leaders to develop and lead strategy. See what can become a vicious cycle of corruption that corrupts as it tries to stop corruption or what is causing the church to die? One leaven left will leaven the whole lump. I promise and all of my promises to the Orthodox come true. All of them.

    The more steep the hierarchical authoritarian structure and closed and isolated system of rule the more it creates a laity dependency upon it. The more people look to it as GOD and the more they do that the more it creates a church culture of idolatry of church authority over God as the ultimate authority and because the church rulers have turned the church into them as God in rule over it. They define rationality for you and you do not have to Biblical freedom in Christ thinking for yourself any longer and because they who are your God define rational Christian reality for you. That kind of dependency creates a church culture of religious codependency that is dependent upon the religious addiction of authoritarian power and control as its God. That religious codependency will scream Axios of corrupt rule when told to have the most profound respect of them by the idol who has replaced Christ in authority over the church.

    This is just one sample of idolatry out of many that could be used to explain the real problem causing the corrupt, failed, incompetent, abusive, cultic and dying state of the Orthodox in America. When Christ is in authority He does not tell you to have profound respect for the corrupt, but when man is in authority over Christ you will be told to have profound respect for corruption and you will all go over the church death cliff when them that advocate that kind of respect for corruption.

    I know who the spiritually corrupt fallen being in rule over corruption is and how much he wants respect for his corruption as God. He is the leader of church death and Jesus is the leader of church life. Anyone who would tell you to have profound respect for the corrupt in a spoken or unspoken way is under the control of the evil one. No matter who you see him as he is under the control of Satan. He is deceived agent of the liar, thief and murderer.

    Can you see the lie that steals you to murder your church by telling you to have profound respect for the corrupt? That lie is telling you to respect the corruption of Satan and accept it as Gods appointed holy authority over you. Evil has such authoritarian religious addiction power and religious codependency control that he is not afraid of any real challenge to his authority when he bold face tells you to respect his corruption as your church authority.

    This explanation explains why the week of Jonah’s enthronement I in public on a Orthodox forum predicted he would not last more than 2 years and it also gives you insight into how all of my predictions of the Orthodox come true. The Orthodox did not believe me when I told them he would not last more than two years and like they have not believe all of my other predictions of them that all have come true.

    What is my latest prediction? The new save the GOA strategy will fail by 2019. Not because I want it too, but by the rational analysis of the systemic threats to the strategy denied.You know, like the threat of the most profound respect of the corrupt that I made public was denied by the OCA. Irrationality that has an exclusive we alone are Gods right mindset cannot objectively see itself as it is and just like it cannot hear what it is really saying.

    I loved the last few sentences of the article and how they remind me of the Orthodox in America. The Orthodox are not pro west at all. They are not westerners like they are not freedom of religion.

    ‘We need to stop whining about it and actually start standing up for it’ That’s an interesting statement to contemplate if you are EO. You whine about the corrupt state of your church that is dying and you stand up for the corrupt rulers of it by the most profound respect of them. That is not realist like it is not rational.

    The Muslim world is ruled over a top down centralized authoritarian structure and system that is closed, isolated and subjective with an exclusive viewpoint of itself and it is anti west, rational and modern. They are systemically corrupt. They want to be a religious state theocracy that rules the world for Satan who is the author of their religion. They are a kingdom of this world.

    Romans 12:2 says to be transformed by Christ and not conformed by and too this world. Conformed means to be molded by the world into what it is and it is corrupt. Christ’s transforms and Satan conforms, he molds. A top down authoritarian structure that is a closed and isolated system power and control pushes down molds you into what it is, but freedom in Christ comes under you and raises you up to God by transformation. It is easy to tell the difference between these two different kinds of churches.

    I find common denominators, correlations and parallels an interesting comparative analysis to make and then then make public to the Orthodox who then deny them in their dying state of church.

    Orthodox, another prediction. Watch how the top down centralized authoritarian power and control hierarchical church lines up with the evil one as the time of Christ’s return grows ever more close. Satan wants to gain his own top down centralized power and control over it by systemically corrupting it. Satan molds and Christ transforms. Authoritarianism and corruption molds and freedom in Christ and holiness transforms.

    Now, how can I make that prediction??? Its easy, the more a structure and system of church authority lines up with the evil ones structure and system of authority the more easily it is, what? You tell me Orthodox. You tell me the what of it by thinking for yourselves. Tell me if the top down authoritarian closed system church conformed to the world by it being systemically worldly corrupted is or is not the set up to be ruled over by the evil one. Yes, tell me how the systemically corrupt and dying jurisdictions are not molded but instead are living in the freedom of Christ’s transformation. Tell me how the corrupt rulers of this structural and systemic corruption do not want and demand you most profound respect of them in their like Pied Pipers leading the jurisdictions over the cliff of church death.

    The molded by authoritarian systemic corruption dead church represents no living freedom in Christ transformation threat to the evil one. It does represent a threat to any true Christians found in it and who are not religious codependency idolatry blindly enabling and supporting the very things that are destroying it. The evil one will do anything he can to suppress, hold back and down and kill anything that represents a freedom in Christ transformation threat to his molding. Molding creates religious codependency misplaced loyalty, honor and RESPECT for the corruption that molds the church into corruption that leads to its church death. It creates idolatry of all that corrupts and so that you will unknowingly place loyalty, honor and respect in what idolatry corrupts you and in ways the idolatry will blind you to see. If you will follow that what does that say about how the anti Christ who usurps Christ’s authority can deceive the hierarchical church into the anti Christ in these last days before Jesus returns?

    The Orthodox jurisdictions are conformed by corruption that is molding by corruption.

    All church growth and relevancy development starts by comparison to Jesus in the Gospels and the NT. All that can kill growth and relevancy dead is found in them by comparison.

    Romans 12:2 is a comparison like John 8:31-59 is and like the 7 churches in the book of Revelations are, etc, etc, etc.

    Orthodox, I do not just pull issues of molding vs. transformation out of the air like a molding statement to have profound respect for the corrupt does and how it does that without such a comparison to Christ and the NT. When your church structure and system is based in its own power and control authority as God it will tell you to have profound respect for it as God your authority. Jonah, in affect, said, I am the comparison of holiness and who is the God who tells you who to trust and place loyalty, honor and respect in. I have never seen an Orthodox hierarchical ruler who does not state that in their own corrupt deceptive ways. They have all been molded to do exactly that and now your church pays the most serious consequences for that and that consequence is church death.

    Church death is molded whereas church life is transformation. The molded church that by the deception in the lies of the evil one will not hear the truth of it told to it by those transformed by Christ. It has a very effective self protection defense mechanism to protect itself from the threat of Christ’s transformation. Those who speak into its evil are said to be heresy that practices apostasies by its we are Gods only true Christians and church viewpoint of itself. That closed system Orthodox wall is impervious to the freedom in Christ transformation truth is like the Jewish orthodox wall that Jesus faced in the Gospels and that was impervious to Christ transformation as its only solution. Christ told them what was wrong in their orthodoxy and they refused to hear Him and I don’t see much difference in their orthodox we cannot be wrong refusal than I do in the EO refusal that can’t be wrong about itself.

    The rational church is the most self exposing church on the planet and what it exposes about itself is not pretty. It basically tries to be bottom up and open system transparent in its faults and failures that it exposes about itself. No matter what the Orthodox think about it this church is the most effective at church growth and relevancy than any Orthodox jurisdiction is by it being a bottom up and open system that can expose itself to itself like no Orthodox jurisdiction can or does. The more a church is Christ bottom up and open system Christ and NT centered the more open transparent and exposing of itself it will be. The more it is like this the more it will compare itself to Jesus in the Gospels and the NT and the more it exposes about itself that is not the delusion of deceived Eastern Orthodoxy that believes that by its exclusive claim that no church can compare to it and which in the practical realism of the real world is really saying we are God our only comparison to ourselves and that compares Christianity outside of it to it and always finds it wrong in that comparison.

    A western rational Christian just conducted a brief but specific comparison and the irrational Orthodox reject it and I know better than they do why they do and why they are dying by molding and when their only solution is Christ transformation to life.

    All churches and their leaderships are to be compared to Jesus Christ in the Gospels and the NT and no church is to see itself as Gods only true comparison. That is, unless it wants to go corrupt. When a systemically corrupt church sees itself as Gods comparison that determines the God right state of other churches and Christians it has no Christ ethical or moral foundation to make such a comparison from. If it does in a systemically corrupt state that is it saying it is the God role model or ethical and moral church that has no comparison. That is idolatry and idolatry will send a church to its death and then straight to hell.

    The goal is not the perfect church. That only leads to religious legalism, performance and works void of grace. The goal is church safety and health that is grace based in the freedom in Christ truth that sets the church free to live like Jesus lives and not die like Satan is dead. The top down centralized authoritarian structure and closed and isolated system church that has an exclusive viewpoint of itself in its religious addiction and religious codependency corrupted state is in a religious legalism, performance and works void of grace state. Grace based in freedom in Christ truth that sets free does not lead to a corrupt state of church that dies. However, corruption that always leads to forms of religious legalism, performance and works void of grace does lead to church death.

    Orthodox, how do religious addiction and religious codependency create a church culture of religious legalism, works and performance. How does an authoritarian structure with a closed and isolated system with an exclusive viewpoint of itself create a church culture of religious legalism, performance and works? Orthodox, how is systemic church corruption legalism, performance and works and how does it turn the church into those things? Which one comes first, legalism, performance and works corruption (spiritual corruption) or the systemic corruption of a church by some other means first? What has to be corrupted first before a church goes systemically corrupt and dies? Yes, you tell me what is the cause of the Orthodox church death in America and since all of you are we are Gods only true church and Christians in your thinking about yourselves. No one should know better than any of you if this is truly who you in your church and your church itself is by your exclusive claim to be. Any other insight, observation and call made by a Christian outside of it on it is wrong if it does not line up with your exclusive viewpoint of yourselves in your exclusive claim. Unless the cause of the church corruption and death comes from the Orthodox it is wrong. After all, unless you are one of us in our exclusivity how can you know what to discern about us? Any conclusion made will be made without a thorough understanding of us in our exclusivity. That would be similar to how the world without Christ does not understand Christianity for it not being Christian. (Orthodox, they are two different things, but I would invite you to tell me how they are not. I know every defense you can make. All of them. I read them all in John 8:31-59 that is the source of comparison by Jesus being the only real comparison and not a corrupt church in a state of failure that it cannot find the Christ solution to its failure by corruptions.)

    I don’t have to be corrupt to know what corruption is and the source of its causation and if I do that is only pointing to corruption in those who make such a claim that I must be of them to know what I am talking about them. In the Orthodox Mind I really don’t know what I am apostate talking about and yet they know why their church is in the state it is in and that is why they can’t provide the solution to its state and why every solution tried fails.

    Spiritual corruption leads to religious works, performance and legalism corruption and if you try to use that corruption as the solution to church failure it will lead your church to its death in America. Spiritual corruption is religious works, legalism and performance that corrupts the church in many other ways. It can easily turn church senior leaders into false Christ’s, into anti Christ usurpers of Christ’s authority, into idol gods.

    When the corruption of the hierarchical authoritarian of a closed and isolated structure and systems says it is the solution run the other direction away from it or be molded by it into its corruption. It is not repentance as its solution. It is its power and control in its self righteousness, pride and arrogance as the solution and that its the mindset, attitude and behavior of the evil one as the solution. It will tell you to have profound respect for the corrupt in spoken and unspoken ways. Know you are being set up for failure and more corruption when unrepentant corruption comes to you as the solution to a dying state of church or too correct a corruption problem in the church. Don’t know it and you will be molded made a part of the corruption that leads to the death of your church that your religious codependency enabled and supported.

    Yes, Orthodox, tell me how impervious a closed, isolated and therefore subjective system of religious addiction power and control rulers church cannot be turned inward against itself by molding it into religious codependency that is itself self focused idolatry and when idolatry is a closed, isolated and subjective system of self righteousness that cannot be wrong about itself.

    Orthodox, religious addiction and religious codependency are idolatry and idolatry molds you into what it is and it is corrupt. So, when your corrupt hierarchical rulers tell you they are going to lead you to solution know who is leading that solution and why others are following them to that failed solution end.

    Some of you are starting to pick up on what I have been telling you for years and at the same time you don’t like the demeanor in which you are told of the harsh reality state of your church. You believe I am being harsh about the harsh reality of your church and when in reality I am pointing the harshness of your church coming down on all of you harshly and in ways you do not see and deny when pointed out. You don’t like the victim of your victimizing harsh reality of your church telling you how it harshly victimizes all of you. I believe that is the Lord pointing out to you by comparison the harsh victimizing reality of your church and it harsh denial of it being that harsh victimization of people. He is making a comparison of your dead and harsh apathetic and indifferent cold and dead carnal state to Jesus who is in living love, truth, grace and mercy. Christ continually made this same comparison in the Gospels and it was rejected by the same harsh mindset, attitude and behavior of your harsh structure and system of idolatry spiritual abuse it harshly creates. The abuse points to shame basis of the church and the corruption points to religious, works and legalism of your church that is its death. It points to the character in authority of your church that is shame and death and that is exactly the character of Satan in Genesis 3. He used subtle lies that were subtle forms of harshness to deceive them into the harsh reality of shame and death. Satan is all about religious works, legalism and performance harshness both subtle and overt and Jesus is all about transformation in freedom in Christ that is not subtle but is always overt.

    Either your senior leaders walk in the Garden of Christ’s truth that does not lead to shame and death as a church or they walk in the lies of the evil one in Garden that leads to shame and death as a church.

    Shame = Spiritual abuse

    Death = Religious works, performance and legalism

    Is Jesus love, mercy, grace and truth that is freedom in Christ or is the bondage of Satan’s death and shame leading your jurisdictions?

    I can answer that question by thinking for myself by comparison to Christ and I don’t have to be an Orthodox to come to the right answer to the question.

    Orthodox, you decide the answer to that last question and if you get the answer wrong what will that mean for the future of your already dying church in America?

    Maybe your priests and bishops can answer the question for you and like they have answered it for themselves by how they exclusively think about themselves?

    Of course, your priests and bishops are the solution and just like they were the ones who led your church into a corrupt and failed state in America that makes them competent to lead your church out of this state. Trust them, be loyal to them and hold them in high honor and respect. Let them think for you and let their thinking be your church end in America. Then you face God on that judgement day you can blame them and say it was all their fault and that you had nothing to do with the collapse of your church in America. You did not religious codependently enable their religious addiction power and control corruption idolatry that led to your church death in America. You did what your authority told you to do and you by being good Orthodox Christian submission in unity obeyed them, you embraced the same profound respect for the corrupt as they do in their individual idolatry of each other and in their rule together.

    The unspoken rules of your rulers is:

    1. Submission to what corrupts

    2. Loyalty to what corrupts

    3. Respect of what corrupts

    4. Honor of what corrupts

    5. Unity by what corrupts

    I see those as PROFOUNDLY corrupt rules. They are not just misplaced by the Orthodox. The Orthodox are completely lost by them. Those rules will not lead to a church growth and relevancy state, but they will lead to church irrelevancy and death as its state. An irrelevancy and dying state of church is not the Jesus in the Gospels and NT comparison that determines the state of other churches in comparison to it. Only Jesus can be and because He cannot be corrupted. That truth is completely lost on the Orthodox who have lost their church by its corrupt, failed and dying outcome in America. Orthodox, you lose your church by the degree you believe it is the exclusive only comparison. You lose it by the degree it believes it is the exclusive comparison and because in its exclusiveness it will not compare itself to Jesus in the Gospels or the NT. Idolatry does not compare itself to Jesus and the NT. It requires that you see it as the exclusive comparison and when you do it corrupts you to destroy you by the degree you see it as GOD. Idolatry will always very subtly set itself up as the authority and objectivity of God and tell you to exclusively submit to it, obey it, serve it and worship it as God. In the modern world rational Christian world that is evangelical that is called cultic or cultism. It will subtly by its deceptions in lies tell you to respect, honor and be loyal to it as God. It wants you to have the same delusional viewpoint of it that it has of itself and just like Satan does whose character is lie, steal, murder, shame and death and who is quite capable of creating a delusion among you that your church has not become this. If by delusion he can corrupt your church then by delusion he can cause you to deny the cause of that corruption. That is what is called a Christian rational realist to see that for what it really is. The delusional made irrational by their delusion cannot rationally see it for what it really is. The delusion keeps you from rationally facing what it really is and so you will not find a rational solution to it and stay under the irrational corrupt power and control of the evil one. Christ leads to a rational holy state of church and Satan leads to corrupt irrational state of church. Christ transforms into rational objective holy spiritual authority that is clear transparent and Satan molds into irrational subjective corrupt authority that is dark closed. Christ is light and Satan is darkness. Satan wants to exclusively be God and Christ inclusively is God. Satan closes by exclusivity and Jesus opens by inclusive. Orthodox, there are two basic kinds of churches and I know which basic one is your church. (I can also show a spectrum but I am keeping it simple for the intellectually spiritually and theologically exclusively God right and therefore superior Orthodox Mind) All of you believe you are above and outside of such a delusion by your exclusiveness that leads you into that delusion and then when exposed to you by your delusion you deny it. I do not have that wrong.

    • Ashley,

      I’m curious as to why you bother with the Orthodox other than a passionate hatred for our Church. I mean, the realistic thing for you to do would be to found your own church that embodies your contrived religion. That would be a reasonable course in the “real world”. Jousting at windmills here when most people don’t even bother reading all your drivel is a waste of your time. But, that being said, knock yourself out.

    • Daniel E Fall says

      George needs to change his blog to pay per letter.

    • Pere LaChaise says

      This Ashley person is one sick… person. It’s just pure bile, and it goes on for pages and pages. Obsessive. It’s unreadable to boot, full of misspellings and anagrammatisms. What did the Orthodox ever do to merit this person’s attention?

      • Daniel E Fall says

        Ashley actually makes some wise comments, but they are hard to decipher. Ashley is the bereaved parent of Scott Nevins. Google Scott Nevin’s suicide.

        I do not know anything about Mr. Ashley Nevins, other than the tragic history and his writings here. I am unfamiliar with whether Mr Nevins disliked Orthodoxy before his son’s death or as a result.

        Mr. Nevins is about thrice times wordier than me times three, but he is worthy of our compassion, although that doesn’t mean we need to endure the entirety of his posts.

    • tl;dr

  2. For one, we could put a moratorium on immigration to our shores, especially from Third World countries.

    But you’ll also need to close the back door.

    Reports are that the Mexican border is a target for US entry for emigrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia whose initial presence in Mexico and central America is aided by the UNHCR.

    The Canadian border is also presumably a weak point, and also the Florida straits.

    In the final analysis, moratoriums on immigration from particular sources will only work if the UNHCR Refugee Convention is re-written by the nations who are net receivers of Third World emigration.

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      So many borders, so little time!

    • Michael Kim says

      We all want to help the down trodden, do we not? We all want good for all good people, do we not?
      Well, then… How can, or could we be the helpers to so many if our actual existence as a land of plenty is threatened by being overwhelmed by illegal immigrants of all sorts both good, and outright criminal?
      The universe itself is a complex mix, but well organized it is.
      Until the U.S. seals its borders, and initiates a well planned, and organized means of immigration its very existence is truly doomed.
      Seal the border first

      • Daniel E Fall says

        Mr Kim…. Pig latin here for you mpossibe iay. You sir, have fallen prey to alking tay oints pay.

        Head to the Quetico sometime and get back to me with your lan pay.

        Sorry for the ig pay atin lay, but I don’t enjoy giving tips to terrorists like US news channels seems to enjoy.

  3. Baraboyla Bill says

    Once again, there is no such thing as “Islamofascism” or “Radical Islam.” Just call a spade a spade – Islam, period. This heinous “religion” is based on a pedophile and murderer (Mohammed) and is an anathema to the world, aided and abetted by cowardly media and political leaders. In America, the land of unabashedly exponential narcissism and insatiable addictions to entertainment and self-aggrandizement, its citizens need to read more and unemotionally arm themselves with facts. “Sword of the Prophet,” “The Great Divide,” and “The 5,000 Year Leap” would be three great books to wake up and begin the reality check. Knowledge truly is power. And finally, let’s just stop playig pattycake with these devils and wage a Total War a la William Tecumseh Sherman.

    • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

      Ahhh, that great Christian, General Sherman!
      Baraboylie, what was St. John of Damascus doing,serving (like his Christian father before him) as the Vizier to the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus?
      What you thought was a spade might have been a suitless joker!

      • Baraboyla Bill says

        Hello, Bishop Fitzgerald. Thank you for your response. With all due respect, I understand what you are saying, and yes General Sherman had no time for the Roman Catholic Church, let alone Christianity. However, if we had the mindset of St. John of Damascus during the Revolutionary War, would we be the USA? If we had St John of Damascus’s mindset during the Civil War and then the 20th Century, what then? Finally, if we had St. John of Damascus’s mindset, would you be enjoying the fruits of the USA’s labors through its heroes’ sacrifices on the fields of Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Normandy, and Iwo Jima? Wishing you well.

        • George Michalopulos says

          The wrong side won at Gettysburg.

          • Monk James says

            Opinions run rampant even a century and a half after the american ‘War Between (sic) the States’.

            There is such a thing as objective truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says ‘I am The Way. I am Truth. I am Life.’

            But there are still opinions even in the face of that. History is always a matter of interpretation, facts be damned. Or — as someone once said — ‘The first casualty of war is truth.’

            So I don’t do politics. Politics is poisonous to the soul.

            Lord, grant us Your peace, for we are unable to make it ourselves.

          • Baraboyla Bill says

            Hello, George. I hope you are joking with that Gettysburg comment. I love your website and have had pleasant amiable conversations with you on AOI. However, if you aren’t joking, then I am appalled. In a former lifetime, “I was there” (from the movie Patton) hunkered down sweating profusely and bleeding attired in the glorious Union blue at Cemetery Ridge on July 3rd waiting for the wrong side to make its suicidal charge. If you should so have the time, sir, I would welcome the rationale behind your harsh and egregious Southern bias. You hear that, George? Those are the vociferously reverberating “huzzahs” of many Union soldiers after the victorious repulse of Lee’s legions. Ah! Such sweet music.

        • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

          Baraboyle: here are my replies to your bizarre message:
          “Hello, Bishop Fitzgerald. Thank you for your response. With all due respect, I understand what you are saying,”
          I don’t think you do.

          ” and yes General Sherman had no time for the Roman Catholic Church, let alone Christianity.”
          That’s news to me. I wasn’t aware of it , so I wasn’t saying that.

          “However, if we had the mindset of St. John of Damascus during the Revolutionary War, would we be the USA?”
          I’ll bite, would we? And just what WAS St. John of Damascus’s “mindset” (SIC)?

          ” If we had St John of Damascus’s mindset during the Civil War and then the 20th Century, what then?”
          I”ll bite again: give us your answer to your rhetorical question.

          “Finally, if we had St. John of Damascus’s mindset, would you be enjoying the fruits of the USA’s labors through its heroes’ sacrifices on the fields of Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Normandy, and Iwo Jima? Wishing you well.”
          What in the world is St. John of Damascus;s mindset?

          Do you know that by being in the Islamic Empire of the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus St. John of Damascus and hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Christians, including those on Mt. Sinai, were able to keep and pray before their holy icons whlle the Christian Empire headquartered in Constantinople was smashing icons more vigorously than ISIL today?
          I feel Sherman was an early incarnation of a militant jihadist.

          Thanks for reminding me of our military achievements. i am an unbecomingly proud veteran of three years enlisted service in the Signal Corps of the US Army and 8 years service as an officer in the U.S. Air Force serving the last three plus years on the Air Staff in the Pentagon as Deputy Chief, Personnel Security Group. Are you a war vet, Baraboyle? What did YOU earn for our country?

          • Baraboyla Bill says

            In fact, I did serve in the military, and I don’t think my response was bizarre at all. I began my message with – what I thought – was a respectful recognition of your response to my comments. In light of the politically correct manner in which this administration is waging war on islamic terrorists, I think the “mindset’ of a William Tecumseh Sherman, or Total War, is what is necessary in defeating islamic terrorism. I was merely agreeing with your sarcastic comment of Sherman being a “Christian” and supplementing it with an interesting fact about him. What I meant about St. John of Damascus’s “phronema” was merely one of pacifism, service, and “turning the other cheek” and how such a “Christian” mindset is so contrary to what is necessary in winning wars (i.e. aggression, killing, and destruction). The book, “Virtue of War,” co-written by an Orthodox Christian Chaplain, provides excellent food for thought on matters regarding “Just War,” its criteria, and discusses the Orthodox hierarchy’s misunderstanding of the aforementioned. Thank you for your service to this great country. However, you seem to be arrogant and defensive and your thoughts on Sherman are sorely misguided. I think you might want to read Victor Davis Hanson’s “The Soul of Battle” and “Autumn of War.”

      • Vladyka,

        That’s funny. God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) ordered the Hebrews to engage in genocidal war against the Moabites and the Amalekites. It’s just one of the paradoxes of our faith. Part of it has to do with wartime action as opposed to peacetime. (See St. Basil, re killing in wartime not being considered murder). Part of it has to do with the status of those Christians persecuted vis a vis the established government and the reason for which they are being persecuted.

        Agreed that sometimes the best, if not only, alternatives would be to suffer martyrdom or to flee. Yet we know from the Gospel of Luke that the Apostles themselves were armed and that Christ Himself ordered them to sell their possessions to purchase swords before He sent them out to mission to the Gentiles.

        It’s not that you can’t find excuses to assert Christian pacifism from the New Testament. It is rather that there is such overwhelming evidence against it in both the Old and New Testaments that the proposition is untenable and irrational. Unless one is willing to construe scripture as being repugnant to scripture, the effort is futile.

        Simple direct and undeniable truth: He who laid in a manger killed the firstborn of Egypt. If He didn’t, He was an awfully presumptuous liar.

        • Michael Bauman says

          Still, Misha it remains clear that peacemaking and marytrdom remain the preferred course and great danger lies in assuming our wrath is God’s wrath–our cause His cause. Killing in war is not always murder but St. Basil’s healing penance of three years away from the cup reveals it is still damaging to the soul.

          Today’s warriors are often misused.

          • If it were damaging to the soul, why did St. Sergius bless it? Why do Slavic Orthodox still bless their militaries? What you are asserting is simply false. Bloodshed was seen as creating a type of uncleanliness. However, I have not any doubt in my soul whatsover that killing can be a holy and meritorious act. After all, God Almighty has ordered it to be done on a number of occasions in the Old Testament. Suggesting otherwise is to directly accuse Him of ordering evil.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              Bless as they kill people made in the image of the One True God. A disgrace That Orthodox pepole had to live with and a sin we must repent of and yet you revel in it and endorse it. People ask whether OOM is Orthodox. The same could be said of you. Thought shalt not Kill. I never understood what was so difficult with this straight forward commandment.

              Peter

              • Because the commandment says no such thing. It says to do no murder. God ordered the Israelites to execute murderers almost in the same breath. Moreover, He ordered them to do many more things that you would consider heinous. You don’t even have an elementary understanding of what you are talking about. Your so-called faith is a hodgepodge of modern attitudes and does not reflect Orthodoxy at all.

                • Peter A. Papoutsis says

                  I think you do not understand between a direct command from God to kill based on God’s protection and love of his chosen people and killing by corrupt governments to promote not the Gospel but to promote a corrupt geo-political and economic policy that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and more to do with Machiavelli. Try again Misha.

                  Peter

              • The Church has saints who fought in war, and the Church has saints who did not lift a finger in their own defense. I guess reality isn’t as clear-cut as you want it to be.

                • Peter A. Papoutsis says

                  Actually it is if you actually see what those individuals did in regards to their sainthood vis-a-vis their military activities.
                  Monk James gives one example with St. Constantine.

                  Also, don’t use the saint to rationalize the killing of human beings that is a direct violation of God’s law and Gospel.

                  Peter

            • Causing the death of another human being is always a bad thing. It may be unavoidable or the lesser of evils, but it is always bad. To claim anything else is to dreadfully midread Orthodox and even human history.

              This is reflected in secular law, through the concept of things like involuntary manslaughter. If you cause a death, there can be legal consequences, even if no harm was intended whatsoever and it was an accident.

              Same in canon law. If I am not mistaken, a priest or deacon who has caused the death of another human being — even by accident or in self-defense — can no longer serve the Mysteries. I once knew a priest who didn’t own a car or drive for that reason — he didn’t want to accidentally kill someone in a car accident and thus be unable to serve. It of course restricted where he could serve to communities with good public transportation.

              Yes, God has ordered killing in human history and there is a tradition of blessing soldiers and armies in the Orthodox world. These things exist not because they are good things in and of themselves, but rather, obviously, because of our wickedness and sinfulness, just as Christ said that Moses ordained divorce because of the hardness of men’s hearts — but he said it was never intended to be that way.

              Would I hesitate to put a .44 Mag bullet through an intruder into my home who was a threat to me and mine? Not for a second — that’s why I have the gun. Would I confess it and accept whatever time of being banned from communion that the priest assigned? Without hesitation, because I would have done a bad thing, even though it was justified and even commanded by God (the Bible says that even the heathen care for their families).

              • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

                Edward, your advocacy of ‘the lesser of evils” triggers in my Orthodox mind the classic vaudeville sketch titled “Niagara Falls,” with the memorable refrain, “Slowly I turned . . . ” Older readers of this blog should remember the episode with that bit on the “Abbot & Costello” television series.

                Any moral justification of a so-called lesser or necessary evil is theological nonsense, the widespread chorus of Orthodox clergy and scholars who sing that discordant tune notwithstanding. Worse, it ushers one down a slippery slope of “greater” evils.

                As an Orthodox moral theologian who has endeavored for many years to articulate a coherent case for never choosing evil, lesser or otherwise, I would suggest that you consult chapter 5 of my book titled The Virtue of War: Reclaiming the Classic Christian Traditions East and West (2004), co-authored with Prof. Darrell Cole of Drew University. That chapter (pp. 106-121) demolishes, I hope once and for all, the sophistry of the “lesser evil” mantra and argues how Orthodox Tradition allows for justifiable use of military force in some circumstances (to be sure, fewer than most advocates of such action would acknowledge) as a “lesser good,” while, antinomically, embracing absolute pacifism as a moral option for Orthodox Christians.

                • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

                  Sorry, I read Edward and sympathize with his humanity. I read Fr. Alexander W., and recognize not so much a human being as an ideologue fixated on his scholarly accomplishment:
                  “As an Orthodox moral theologian who has endeavored for many years to articulate a coherent case for….” Q.E.D. (“antinomically” or not)

                  • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

                    The retired OCA bishop in Los Angeles has declared, ” I read Fr. Alexander W., and recognize not so much a human being as an ideologue fixated on his scholarly accomplishment.”

                    So there you have it, folks: I am, according to the retired OCA bishop in Los Angeles, “not so much a human being”! That is rather ironic, since I am adamantly opposed–on both moral and practical grounds–to trans-speciesism.

                • Father, if you will re-read what I wrote, it is the antithesis of sophistry. I certainly at no point was using a “lesser of two evils” argument to morally justify anything — I was making quite the opposite point. If you are so invested in fitting the topic at hand into your published thought constructs that you can’t clearly read what I wrote, then I am not particularly optimistic that I will find your written logic compelling. Especially since you addressed none of the specific examples that I cited.

                  I myself am a veteran and am proud of my service. I would do it again in a heartbeat. But I never believed anything but that the existence of military service was an unfortunate necessity caused by the presence of sin in the world. I can’t say that I spent any time parsing out whether some particular thing we were doing was a “lesser evil” or a “lesser good,” but I imagine that had I felt the need to do so, I would have identified some of each. It seems an exercise in casuistry to try to make killing someone into a “lesser good” rather than just seeing it as a necessary evil, but knock yourself out.

                  The relevance of the particular sketch that you mention goes over my head, but I will nonetheless catch up on my Abbot and Costello — they were before my time, but we had a couple of silent movies of theirs that my dad showed us over and over with his old-fashioned projector when I was a kid. Great fun.

        • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

          Apparently, “Misha” is trying to demonstrate that Christianity is no more a “religion of peace” than Islam is?
          Interesting, to be sure. We should NOT however claim that Old Israel and Christianity are identical, as Misha apparently believes. Marchers for Life of today could hardly agree with, let alone endorse, the massacre of all the first-born of populous Egypt, could they? I think even fanatic jihadists would shrink from circumcizing all their enemies on the battlefield. Even devotees of the KORAN might object to calling those who dash ANY infants against the rocks (let alone those of Babylon!) as “blessed” as does the psalmist and so on.

          • This of course demonstrates that “Bishop Tikhon” does not believe in the God of Israel. Therefore, since Christ stated he was the Son of the God of Israel, “Bishop Tikhon” has openly apostacized. This is fine with me. We will not miss him. Perhaps he ought to read about the heretic Marcion so as to get in touch with his true faith.

            The Church canonized the Old and New Testaments. The God expressed in them is the same God. To deny this is to deny Christ. It is also true that Christ is “very God of very God, begotten and not made, being of one essence with the Father”. Every single act of God in the Old Testament can be and must be laid at the feet of Christ. Otherwise, He is being called a liar for saying “I and my Father are one.”

            I am glad that, in his ignorance, “Bishop Tikhon” reflexively expresses the sentiments of the pseudo-Orthodox modernists. They need to be exposed for what they are. If Marchers for Life disapprove of the actions of God, that is their problem, and “Bishop Tikhon’s”, not that of the Orthodox faith which he apparently does not share.

            • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

              Oh, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel!!!!
              The Canon of Scripture is the LIST of approved writings which measure up to the ruler. I very much believe in that God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. But I’m not at all sure that I believe in old Israel as GOD. I believe God was right to complain about,, reproach, and punish old Israel Don’t you, Misha?

          • I have had to rethink matters in light of recent posts. It is apparent that I do not share the same religion as too many here. I do not say this in disparagement but simply as acknowledgement of an apparently objective fact: We do not share the same faith or the same God.

            When a “bishop” of the same jurisdiction as the webmaster openly apostacizes by denying the God of the Old Testament openly and unabashedly, I have to take my leave. Some will be happy at this, I’m sure.

            But really I see it as being the best thing. Effectively, much of the American church has already left Orthodoxy. They just continue to use the name dishonestly. So be it.

            It is better to be a navel gazer. I have been breaking my own rule with respect to ecumenical relations. It is better to work inside traditional Orthodoxy for strengthening and expansion of the traditional Church than to interact with modernist “Orthodox”, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, etc. I have lost faith in the continued interaction or intercommunion of modernists and traditionalists. I hope our bishops come to the same conclusion sooner rather than later.

            It’s just not healthy, people of demonstrably different and mutually exclusive faiths going at it this way as if we were edinovertsy. Better to live in the light and let the darkness die.

            Adieu.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              An Epistle

              of the conference of ROCA parish representatives

              to all faithful members of the Russian Church Abroad

              Gathered here in the Church of the Holy Trinity in the God-fearing city of New York, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA) parish representatives make known their sorrow and concern regarding the decision of a part of our Church to join the Moscow Patriarchate, which continues to engage in ecumenism and sergianism. This sorrow is made even more severe, as this decision was made in contradiction to the sobornost of our Church, the decision of the Pastoral conference in Nyack, the IVth All-Diaspora Council, and without the approval of a corresponding declaration of the ROCA Bishops’ Council, and even by violating the regulations of the Bishops’ Synod. It was undertaken in ways foreign to ROCA in earlier times, but sadly, typical of the Moscow Patriarchate, a part of the Church dependant on secular authorities.

              We share the sincere desire of all faithful members of our Church to see a united Russian Orthodox Church. We desire no less, though, to see the Russian Church based in Truth. In this instance, we observed how the representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate demanded loyalty to their principles of ecumenism and sergianism, while our representatives surrendered to their insistence. At the same time, having strayed from one of the fundamental tenets of the Russian Church Abroad – the free existence of the Church in the world around it, they entered into a type of dependence to this world, to the extent which results from the participation in matters of ecumenism and sergianism. The assertion of some of the ROCA representatives that one can avoid involvement in heresy and be in Eucharistic communion at the same time, contradicts the dogmas, canons and the entire Sacred Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

              In these circumstances, we believe it is essential to keep our Church free from serving the spirit of the this world, as we recognize only one Master – our Master, Jesus Christ. The Provisional Supreme Church Authority of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, made up of members chosen by us, has as its goals to organize the canonical order of our dioceses and parishes and to prepare for the convening of the Vth All-Diaspora Council, which will reinstate the canonical foundation of our Church.

              For us at this time, the preservation of our ROCA and the restoration of its organizational structure is important above all else. That is why we accept the idea of the union of the different parts of ROCA as proposed by Bishop Agafangel: “The reason and goal of uniting the parts of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad is to preserve the Russian Church Abroad in the state in which it existed under our hierarchs of blessed memory – Metropolitans Anthony, Anastasiy, Philaret and Vitaliy. That is why we may unite only with those who wish to remain in, or those who want to partake of, the spiritual legacy of the Church Abroad, and through this legacy, to be a part of the Sacred Tradition of the Universal Church.”

              We consider it possible to begin a dialogue with representatives of the other parts of ROCA on the basis of the principles proposed by Bishop Agafangel. In the future, with God’s help, we hope also to begin a dialogue with other parts of the divided Russian Orthodox Church, so as to not give credence to the false assertion that we do not wish to see a united Russian Church. In the meanwhile, we will concern ourselves with the building and strengthening of ROCA, as much as it is possible in our current circumstances. To that end, we place great importance on the furthering and widening of brotherly relations between our Church and the Old-Calendar Churches of Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

              Again, let us remind all our faithful members that our main task is the restoration, regulation and strengthening of the life of our dioceses and parishes. We must emerge from this difficult period with honor, so that we may continue to witness true Orthodoxy to the world, as the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad has always done with such success.

              May God help us in this calling!

              Conference Chairman,

              Most Reverend Agafangel,

              Bishop of Taurida and Odessa,

              Temporary Ruling Bishop of the Zaporozhiye,

              Buenos-Aires and South American Dioceses

              Conference Members
              ______________________________________________________________

              Peter

  4. What to think about all of this? Well, I can’t say anything positive about either Charlie Hebdo or the murderers. Vermin on vermin crime. To me it really isn’t a free speech issue. No government shut down CH, some terrorist/criminals just decided to murder them. But George is right, Europe doesn’t really have free speech anyway (not that I’m saying it’s a good idea, mind you) so that is all a crock. Yet it will likely have a chilling effect on the way Western European media outlets deal with Islamic themes. They are not the bravest lot over there. The liberals over there created a monster, now let them live with it.

    I do think it is important for the Orthodox in our ethnic homelands to remain (or again become) strong in order to defend against both varieties of serpents, Western liberal/secular and Islamic. The other great enemy of the Church today is Roman Catholicism and it should be guarded against as well. However, Pope Francis may be a godsend, the first Episcopalian pope.

    My instinct is to attack fiercely in all three directions – the best defense being a good offense. However, I remember the examples of Sts. Alexander Nevsky and Dmitri Donskoy:

    http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/library_en/saints_dmitriy.html

    http://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexander_Nevsky

    St. Alexander entered a treaty with the Mongols in the 13th century (since they had no intention of trying to suppress or replace the Orthodox faith) and warred against the (Roman Catholic – crusading) Teutonic knights and Swedes. St. Dmitri later fought the Mongols (with St. Sergius of Radonezh’s blessing) at Kulikovo in 1380.

    Orthodoxy recognizes warrior saints who defend the Church. St. Alexander especially was a pragmatist in that he evaluated who was the more pressing threat and freed himself to eliminate it first, allowing others to finish the job later.

    In Russia, at present, the government has a relatively stable relationship with the Islamic authorities there inasmuch as the government wants no internal discord and inasmuch as the Muslims of the Russian Federation are generally respectful (read “afraid”) of what the government might do if they misbehave. After all, the RF waged a fierce war against the Chechens during their “time of troubles” (the 2nd Chechen War, Amnesty called it “genocidal”, but that’s their favorite word). Most Chechens got the message.

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      Perhaps the strangest post yet on an increasingly strange blog…..

      “Mind you”, I wouldn’t want to be thought to be in favor of free speech, what with being an American and all. Our Founders were clearly deluded from the beginning. “Mind you”, indeed….

      Roman Catholicism, the “great enemy” of the Orthodox! This nefarious band, always going about down the centuries founding hospitals, schools, colleges, etc. by the hundreds and thousands in a never-ending program of trickery…..Why, in my city only within the last few weeks, Catholic Community Services opened a new center with 52 apartments for the homeless, along with a multitude of other services– diabolical!

      Wisely, the Orthodox have refrained from any of these deceptively eleemosynary undertakings, preferring instead to concentrate on a real program of countering Roman Catholicism, which is…..what, exactly?

    • Misha:

      However, Pope Francis may be a godsend, the first Episcopalian pope.

      Pat. Bart seems to like him; but the Marlboro Patriarch, not so much!

      • It is an old custom for many Patriarchs of Constantinople to get weak in the knees over the Pope of Rome. Many contemporaries believed God allowed the Turks to take the empire down for that very reason.

        • Peter A. papoutsis says

          Many contemporaries were wrong. Let’s not start Catholic Bashing. We have enough problems of our own and for the record let’s keep the the very stupid rhetoric that the EP is bad and the MP is good way down because Pat. Krill has alot of so-called skeletons in his own closet to worry about.

          Peter

          • I said nothing about the MP, and I was not bashing Catholics. I’m merely pointing out that it is a common opinion that many EPs have been excessively concerned with gaining the approval of the Pope of Rome—sometimes at the expense of inter-orthodox relations, and occasionally to their own downfall.

            I would be perfectly happy to keep to our own problems. Let the Pope of Rome repent, or leave him to his own devices. Enough with this bizarre dance.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              Really? Just ignore the RCC? No thanks. That’s stupid and leads to nothing constructive. I don’t like and never supported ecumenism, but to not even try to dialog with the RCC is not the answer. The EP and other Orthodox are trying to build legitimate bridges of friendship and understanding. That is a good thing. Not synchronizing belief, but having a real dialog With the RCC. I would rather love than hate and forgive than ignore. That’s not Orthodoxy but fundamentalism run amok.

              The EP is not perfect but it’s trying to do the right thing. How is the MP doing? Going with Evangelicals is that “good” ecumenism? Hmmm? Would like to seen the rationalization on that one because the communist controlled MP can obviously do no wrong, especially with all that Ukrainian blood on his hands, but that’s OK because it’s unia blood so that makes it ok.

              So the U.S. has Ukrainian Orthodox blood on its hands and Russia has unia blood on it’s hands. Tell me again who the Good Guys are?

              Peter

              • So many straw men.

                We will accept nothing less than the Pope converting to Orthodoxy. The RCC will accept nothing less than Orthodoxy submitting to the Pope. No amount of talk is going to make this happen. The only honest options are mutually exclusive; thus it’s a waste of time. Let the Holy Spirit do his work and stop with the dialogue nonsense. If Rome wants to return to the Church, they are completely aware of how to do so.

                I wish the EP cared as much about helping to heal the schism between Antioch and Jerusalem and Romania and Jerusalem. The schisms among the Orthodox are the only ones that really matter at the present.

                I don’t know why you insist on dragging Russia into my post about the EP, because I never said anything about it.

                • Peter A. Papoutsis says

                  I think the EP cares more than you think and so does the MP its just they care about very different things. Further, I see Moscow causing a schism more than the EP. All of us should be worried about that.

                  Peter

        • Bishop Tikhon Fitzgerald says

          Nevertheless, when the Turks conquered Constantinople, ;the then uniate, filioque-confessing Ecumenical Patriarch fled to southern Italy, and the Turkish Sultan searched out an anti-Unia monk (Scholarios) and demanded he be made a Bishop and then personally appointed him Patriarch, thus restoring Orthodoxy to that See. Who knows WHAT would have happened if the Turk had left it up to the hierarchy and faithful Laos!! . (Reminds one of how Julian the Apostate succeeded in finally appointing a Nicene Patriarch to that See which had remained Arian since the reign of Constantine the Great.) And neither Mehmet the Conqueror nor Julian the Apostate was a God-anointed monarch. (I don’t believe they consulted mediums either, unlike the latter-day German denizens of the house of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.)

      • Yes, Bartholomew who was educated at the Pontifical Institute in Rome, takes boat rides down the Mississippi River to combat global warming and spends time inventing new definitions of primacy suitable for Uniatism, does like Francis. Meanwhile, Pat. Kirill who has carried on the rebuilding of the ROC,(partially funded by a sin tax on tobacco and vodka – can you think of a better source, given taxation’s retarding effect on consumption?), and who is opening Orthodox churches around the world, including in Turkey, will not meet with the pope.

        That does speak volumes.

        • Peter A. papoutsis says

          Yes, volumes of disrespect! As for the money from the sin tax I guess you are OK with building Orthodox Temples with the money from peoples misery and sin. Great testimony for Pat. Krill. Quick question, anybody find that magical rolex of his that was there one minute and gone the next? Thank you clarifying that for us Misha.

          Peter

          • Peter,

            Bartholomew is a terrible person caught in a sympathetic situation. He is quite true to the “faith” of Patriarch Meletios IV and the Living Church (which Constantinople once supported) – and that “faith” is dying, thank God.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              Terrible person? Really?

              Faith dying? Really?

              Well thank you for that Misha. That truly spoke volumes about you and your so-called beliefs.

              Peter

        • Misha:

          Meanwhile, Pat. Kirill who has carried on the rebuilding of the ROC,(partially funded by a sin tax on tobacco and vodka – can you think of a better source, given taxation’s retarding effect on consumption?),

          Another DIABOLICAL LIE from Misha. The church’s cigarette concession was TAX-EXEMPT. The CHURCH’s CANCER was cheaper than the other guy’s cancer; this led to an INCREASE of the consumption of cancer. The MARLBORO PATRIARCH sings to the Russian Orthodox faithful: “GOD GRANT YOU (NOT SO) MANY YEARS!”

    • Patrick Henry Reardon says

      Misha says, “The other great enemy of the Church today is Roman Catholicism.”

      It is?

      • Patrick Henry Reardon:

        Misha says, “The other great enemy of the Church today is Roman Catholicism.”

        It is?

        The RC Church, Pope Francis, the twin “serpents” of Western liberal/secular culture and Islamic civilization. Wherever the SIEGE MENTALITY turns its gaze, it finds enemies. It needs to be ROOTED OUT of the Orthodox church.

        • George Michalopulos says

          I have never agreed with RC-bashing. Having said that, I think the good work that JPII and Benedict did is being eradicated root and branch by the pointless papacy of Francis. As Misha (or someone else) said on this site, as the first “Episcopalian pope” he’s done Orthodox Christians a huge favor; namely that he’s conformed the world. That means we’re in this alone (save for a few disgrunted RC/Prod Trads).

          In reality, Francis has now finally caught up with his Church. As many have commented, in America at least, in the great cultural battle between Protestants and Catholics, the Prods have won. You can see it in the Roman liturgies, architecture, moral adherence, you name it.

          • Michalopulos:

            As Misha (or someone else) said on this site, as the first “Episcopalian pope” he’s done Orthodox Christians a huge favor; namely that he’s conformed the world. That means we’re in this alone (save for a few disgrunted RC/Prod Trads).

            “…we’re in this alone” = SIEGE MENTALITY. FYI: Orthodoxy in America is every bit as LIBERAL as Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. It’s the phony traditionalists and biblical literalists who are marginal in American Orthodoxy; they just can’t seem to acknowledge that fact.

            • George Michalopulos says

              Well, as Margaret Thatcher said in response to the accusation that she was a reactionary in her first campaign. “There’s a lot to react against.”

          • Michalopulos:

            I have never agreed with RC-bashing…

            Michalopulos:

            …in the great cultural battle between Protestants and Catholics, the Prods have won. You can see it in the Roman liturgies, architecture, moral adherence, you name it.

            THERE”S CONSISTENCY FOR YOU.

            • George Michalopulos says

              I’m sorry, that’s not bashing. Pointing out a foible or a defect is not evil, especially if it’s true. Coming from Oklahoma as I do, I can honestly say that if you want to see a beautiful, architecturally pleasing Christian church, you would first go to any number of older Episcopalian churches. The predominant mode that obtains in Catholic churches is the Our Lady of Pizza Hut aesthetic (with apologies to Rod Dreher).

              • The predominant mode that obtains in Catholic churches is the Our Lady of Pizza Hut aesthetic (with apologies to Rod Dreher).

                Would one judge the “predominant mode of architecture” in the states by the BARNS formerly housing FARM ANIMALS that have been converted into Orthodox churches ?

                • I have seen barns-turned-Orthodox churches that have a better churchly aesthetic than most brand-new million-dollar Roman and Protestant churches.

          • in the great cultural battle between Protestants and Catholics, the Prods have won

            Well said, and sadly true.

          • Tim R. Mortiss says

            George says:
            ….. “as the first “Episcopalian pope” he’s done Orthodox Christians a huge favor; namely that he’s conformed the world. That means we’re in this alone (save for a few disgrunted RC/Prod Trads)”

            A “huge favor”? I don’t want to be “in this alone”. I don’t want my five children, my sons-in-law, my daughter-in-law, and my twelve grandchildren “in this alone”. I don’t want my great-grandchildren, should God grant them, to be “in this alone”. Many bad things are coming, and I want all of the Christian allies we can get.

            I have given many hostages to fortune. I was married to a Catholic, in the Catholic church, nearly 48 years ago. (Indeed, we still live 6 blocks from that church.) This is partly because there are many Catholics in America (so one does meet them), something that riles the Mishas of this blog and their ilk even more than the country’s Protestantism.

            I am not as “abysmally ignorant” as the anonymous Misha thinks that I am. But I do find the sort of paranoid/revanchist ideas dear to some to be strange, indeed.

        • “The RC Church, Pope Francis, the twin “serpents” of Western liberal/secular culture and Islamic civilization. Wherever the SIEGE MENTALITY turns its gaze, it finds enemies. It needs to be ROOTED OUT of the Orthodox church.”

          Completely parochial mindset. Root out Jerusalem, Serbia, Athos, the ROC . . . good luck with that little project. What’s left? The Phanar, parts of the Church of Greece, parts of the OCA and the GOARCH? A few million?

          • Peter A. Papoutsis says

            As if numbers matter to the Holy Spirit. Typical Russian mentality might makes right. I may not agree, and I do not agree, with what Pope Francis is doing and I may be very skeptical about other actions on the part of the RCC, but they are not the problem and Russian Orthodox Misha is NOT the only form of Orthodoxy and these days its not even the best.

            Pat. Krill encouraged Putin’s “Russian World” policy that has led to destruction and ruin for thousand in Ukraine and for what? That’s not to say that the U.S. is clean in this because its not, but America is NOT an Orthodox Country, but Russia claims to be. So with so much blood on its hands is Russia truly and Orthodox Country?

            Let’s cut the bull Misha and face facts neither Russia nor Western Democracies are clean and both have fallen way short of the Glory of God. Christ would never have sanctions many of the things Russia has done and these guys are doing it in the name of Christian Orthodoxy! Just like America bombing and killing people and then turning around an calling itself a Christian Nation. PLEASE!!!

            Wake up buddy, Russia is a check on the Globalists, not the savior of the world. That’s Jesus just in case you forgot, and something tells me he is not all to happy with what Russia has been doing as of late.

            Peter

      • “Misha says, ‘The other great enemy of the Church today is Roman Catholicism.’

        It is?”

        Most certainly. There was a happier time in Orthodoxy, before ecumenism, when this was by no means a controversial proposition.

        As to the alleged liberalism of American Orthodoxy, I am certainly in agreement that this is the case. Yet, thank God, American Orthodoxy is only a miniscule fraction of world Orthodoxy. World Orthodoxy, which is predominantly Slavic and “Old Calendar”, is quite conservative and completely in keeping with the teachings of Holy Tradition.

        I for one strongly encourage the progressive “Orthodox” to exit and form their own little protestant sect. The sooner they become honest about their apostasy, the better.

        • http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/encyc_1848.aspx

          This might also help those who are confused about the fact that Rome is an enemy of the Church. It was promulgated by the patriarchs and synods of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem in 1848. it clearly condemns Roman Catholicism as a heresy as well as condemning it for its missionary aggression against the Church. I would only add that military aggression is also a component: The Crusades, the sacking of Constantinople, the Northern Crusade against the Orthodox Slavs, Uniatism (often under political compulsion), aggression of Greek Catholics in the recent conflict in Ukraine, the Ustashe in the Balkans during WWII, etc.

          But they also seem to be self destructing. When your enemy is destroying himself, the best thing to do is stand on the sidelines quietly and watch his demise so as not to interfere with the process. Regrettably, in Ukraine, the enemy brought the fight to Russia’s front yard. Hammering this enemy in an effort to convey the futility of such endeavors is indeed a holy cause, much like the mission of St. Dmitry Donskoy against the Mongols blessed by St. Sergius of Radonezh or the battles of St. Alexander Nevsky against the Northern Crusaders.

        • Peter A. Papoutsis says

          I strongly encourage the “so-called “True” or “Genuine” Orthodox to stay and really learn the Gospel of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because they have been without it for far to long. They seem to equate legalism with Mercy and Grace that only comes from Jesus Christ.

          I also recently heard a ROCOR nun complaining about this so-called “True” Orthodoxy mentality in ROCOR that more times than not makes a mess of things and a real embarrassment to the rest of the ROCOR faithful.

          “Happier Time?” when was this? During the First World War? During the Crimean War? During the Napoleonic War? 400 years of Turkish oppression? the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution? What golen time are you talking about?

          Also, who is miniscule? Romanians are not Slavs? Albanians are not Slavs? Arabs are not Slavs? Japanese are not Slavs? Jordanians and Northern Africans are not Slavs? Americans are not Slavs? Greeks are not Slavs? and a whole host of People who are not Slavs that are Orthodox so the so-called Slavs are not that big of a chunk of the Orthodox Church. So relax Misha and drop the Russian Triumphalism. Its very unbecoming.

          Shheshh!

          Peter

          • Goodness Peter!, struck a nerve, have we? Let’s stomp on that nerve a little further, shall we?

            Modernist and progressive “Orthodox” have forgotten most of their alleged religion. It is a remnant to which they cling, in parts, for sentimental purposes. Neither the “Genuine” or “True” Orthodox, or simply traditional Orthodox believers have thing one to learn from them. They are an excellent counter indicator of true piety.

            I am at a loss as to what the terrible spiritual and physical crimes the RCC has committed over the centuries has to do with “legalism” on the part of the Orthodox. Only someone from GOARCH could understand that little assertion.

            Despite persecutions and physical suffering, the golden times to which I referred were those in which the Faith itself had not been so widely corrupted by those who serve the Goddess of Modernity rather than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Someone without a materialist orientation might better understand my point.

            I think your reading comprehension is also suffering at this stage. I did not list the Arab Orthodox or the Romanians or Albanians as minions of this ominous miniscule progressive “Orthodox” church since they have not apostacized from Orthodox morality as have many of the Greeks in GOARCH and significant parts of the OCA. That is why, for example, I said that the Church of Greece itself was divided. I have heard some encouraging traditional insight come from there, as opposed to new age, quasi-Uniate garbage which is most all that emanates from the Phanar (other than insufferable hubris and demands for transfers of property to prop up this pathetic little enclave in the eyes of its captors).

            Now, in the midst of this, we hear bitching about duty exemptions on tobacco imports and a “magic disappearing Rolex”. The watch thing was silly. Yes, I will agree that it is a bit unbecoming for an alleged monastic, albeit Patriarch of Moscow, to wear an expensive designer watch, even if it was a gift. But it’s a tempest in a teacup.

            The ROC, in order to facilitate its rebuilding after the destruction caused by the Soviets, has been allowed to import two entirely legal products duty-free. The effect of this import is to defer funds that would normally go to the government as tax proceeds on these products into the accounts of the Church for its upkeep, the paying of salaries and expansion. Though the ROC does, I’m sure, undercut the price charged by other importers to some extent, much of its profit comes from the fact that the prices it charges are boosted by the fact that the other 90% of the market must pay taxes on these products. No one is making any one smoke or drink or do any other legal thing that the Church does not condemn with excommunication. The effect is that the taxes that would normally be charged on, for example, 10% of the tobacco market, instead go to help the Church.

            Like it, hate it, criticize it, praise it, as you will. Regardless it is playing a significant role in the resurrection of the ROC at home and abroad.

            Is that really the best that Russophobes can do in criticizing our Church? Cause it doesn’t sound like anybody’s A-game or even B-game to me.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              like I said good luck with your triumphalism.

              Peter

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              Misha says:

              Like it, hate it, criticize it, praise it, as you will. Regardless it is playing a significant role in the resurrection of the ROC at home and abroad.

              Is that really the best that Russophobes can do in criticizing our Church? Cause it doesn’t sound like anybody’s A-game or even B-game to me.http://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/engindex.htm

              Hey Misha you may want to say that to Высокопреосвященнейший АГАФАНГЕЛ, митрополит Нью-Йоркский и Восточно-Американский, архиепископ Таврический и Одесский, правящий архиерей Нью-Йоркской и Одесской епархиями, Председатель Архиерейского Собора и Синода РПЦЗ.

              http://sinod.ruschurchabroad.org/engindex.htm

              ROCOR kicked him out for standing up for the truth which is Orthodoxy and not Russian Nationalism/Communism. I guess the so-called Russian “Omogenia” is alive and well in ROCOR.

              Its this type of Russian Nationalism/Russian Fundamentalism that is going to get the Russian faithful in trouble. I should know the Greeks are still suffering from it. We care more about our ethnicity then the Gospel. We hate America and bad mouth our country spreading lies that our Founding Fathers never wanted to found a democracy. They wanted an indirect democracy called a Republic, not a direct democracy which is mob rule.

              Yet we sing praises to the Russian Federation which is still communist and still in many ways a dictatorship. So-called Americans are saying this because they have been blinded by Russian Strength in Putin and American weakness in President Obama. May God have mercy on us for we are truly sinners with all of our petty agendas and allegiances, and our complete abandonment of the Gospel.

              Where has Jesus Christ and His Gospel been in all of this? so far nowhere. And we call ourselves Christian. Ok.

              Peter

              • There are plenty of Americans who admire Putin who are neither Russians nor Orthodox, or even Christian. It is a product of our hedonistic culture, our corrupt government, and our weak president. People look for a leader who is promoting things they believe in, and many see Putin as better than anything the West has to offer.

                Maybe it’s just people being edgy, or maybe they don’t understand the entire situation in Russia. But he fact remains that Putin is selling a message that appeals to a lot of people, even if he’s a bad guy behind the scenes.

                Maybe if the West, and America in particular, would produce better leaders, we wouldn’t be in this position. As it stands, I believe the dark underbelly of our government is every bit as corrupt as Russia. So all things being equal, at least Russia promotes public morality and normalcy.

              • Archpriest Alexander F. C. Webster says

                Peter, I have refrained heretofore from entering your dialogue with Misha. But two of your comments above clearly cross the line of accuracy and Orthodox fraternity:

                (1) “ROCOR kicked him out for standing up for the truth which is Orthodoxy and not Russian Nationalism/Communism.”

                (2) “Yet we sing praises to the Russian Federation which is still communist and still in many ways a dictatorship.”

                I appreciate your staunch defense of Greek Orthodoxy and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, particularly from unwarranted attacks and even cheap shots by some fellow Orthodox. But your two sentences above reveal a woeful lack of knowledge about the intricacies and various moral actors in the ROCOR / ROCA schism, as well as an insensitivity surrounding the use of the term “communist’ when applied to the Russian Federation at present and, by implication, the Moscow Patriarchate in increasingly close cooperation with the post-Soviet state.

                • Peter A. Papoutsis says

                  Fr. Alexander I have always and will always continue to respect you and your perspective, but I am no fool and I’ve been a lawyer for far to long and know lies when I see them and hear them, especially coming from the Russian Federation and Vadimir Putin himself. Mr. Putin is Machiavelli’s dream prince come true. ROCOR was the ONLY Russian Orthodox Church. Moscow was and Still is compromised, and ROCOR knew that. Many in ROCOR saw this and refused the Union of 2007, and IMHO those who left may be right. Did Moscow clearly and unequivocally renounce Sergianism? From my reading of the 2007 act of reunification it did not. How about its collaboration with and infiltration by Communists? Did they just disappear?
                  1989 the Soviet Union fell. No more Communists Right? so from then till now they have become social democrats, Free-market supporters, etc., right? No, not by a long shop.

                  So I will continue to say Maybe ROCOR is right. I say MAYBE right because I have great admiration for ROCOR and its Bishops, even when it was not in canonical standing with the rest of Orthodoxy, and hope and pray they know what they are doing. However, when the day comes and the day WILL COME when Moscow will ask for ROCOR’s UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT because the RF wants it that way over something ROCOR cannot give its support to, War in the Ukraine, War in Crimea, War with the WEST? how do you think Moscow will behave? How do you think Moscow will feel at ROCOR’s disobedience? Because that’s how Moscow will view it as “Disobedience.”

                  That day is quickly coming and it will be on that day I will either be proven right or proven wrong. I hope and pray that I am proven wrong, but I am preparing if I am proven right. Moscow does not and never has shared power, and it won’t do so with ROCOR. So I say to ROCOR Be very careful.

                  As for the EP I have my own issues with the EP, but I stand on solid canonical ground in supporting the First Among Equals. Not because of His Holiness Bartholomew, but because of the Good order of the Church. I would defend His Holiness krill if the title of Ecumenical Patriarch fell on him. But here’s the thing His Holiness Krill WANTS that title and wants it bad so he, with the approval and blessing of the RF and VP, started and sustained a propaganda campaign against the EP. Not calling him Ecumenical Patriarch, not recognizing that he is First Among Equals. Why? Why would Moscow do that while pushing the “Third Rome” Doctrine? Answer: Because Moscow wants the title and the Power. Well what do you know the EP comes out with its canon 28 argument. Checkmate Moscow. And Moscow goes crazy. That’s very telling.

                  Now let’s say for the sake of argument that Moscow get’s the title EP then what? Well now you have the Great and Mighty Krill and Vladimir Putin and the Great Russian Federation striding the world like a colossus. Russia now has all the power Political, Economic and Spiritual. What a thought! Makes one want to read the Book of the Apocalypse.

                  So Fr. Alexander I don’t trust Russia and never will until the last Communist is out of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church with clear renunciations of past sins and transgressions.

                  As for the EP I truly believe Father Ephreim in the GOAA and in Greece has done alot to combat and to continue to combat the modernism that has infected the EP and the GOAA. Further, do take a look at the Greek Old Calendarists because they have changed alot since their bad old days and they are now more unified and growing than ever before and again IMHO they will soon become a force to be reckoned with not only in the Greek community, but in Orthodoxy as well.

                  So I stand by what I have said and hope that you are right and I am wrong, but right now I do not see it. Please understand that I do not mean and have never meant to insult you or your jurisdiction. That was never my intent. I said what I said out of love and respect for a bulwark against a great evil that now, in my eyes, has stopped being that bulwark.

                  Peter

                • Tim R. Mortiss says

                  What is the ROCOR/ROCA schism? Sorry, I’m new, sort of, and hadn’t heard of this one yet. Actual question….

                  Edit. Looked it up on Orthodox Wiki and probably that’s enough….

                • Peter A. Papoutsis says

                  It would seem that I am not the only one that is skeptical about Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church and their vision of the “Russian World” and the “Unique Russian Soul.” The undertone message seems to me to be that we Russians are so Unique and so Orthodox we should rule. Maybe I am wrong. Read it for yourselves and see what you think:

                  http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/russia-putin-orthodox-jihad/

                  Peter

          • “. . . and a whole host of People who are not Slavs that are Orthodox so the so-called Slavs are not that big of a chunk of the Orthodox Church.”

            I was going to let that go but it is too tasty. You have no idea what you’re talking about, Peter. More than half of all Orthodox are Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Serbs, etc.) Considerably more than half, in fact.. By some estimates, the Russian Orthodox Church alone, not counting the other Slavic Orthodox, accounts for half of the Church.

            “Not that big a chunk of the Orthodox”, not sure whether that is just lamentable ignorance or comic relief.

            Now, if it is agreeable to all, I am willing to move away from the merits and sins of the Phanar and the MP as well as the lamentable history of Roman-Orthodox relations.

            • Peter A. Papoutsis says

              I already let you go. Good luck with your Russian triumphalism. I will stay with the Gospel.

              Peter

  5. Daniel E Fall says

    Liberals in the US are actually wimps. Imagine a media outlet that starts with a political direction then tries to influence the culture. We have one in the US.

    The French government failed to protect a sure soft target.

    There is nothing wrong with bashing a religion. If the reaction is to kill the basher, then governments need to recognize these ez targets are just that; unless the government is not on its side. ?

    Would it be better for CH to be a target or a middle school?

    I am not Charlie, but they are very cool. We have no uber leftists like them in the US, but if we did; send in the army.

  6. Except for the tasteless “punch bowl” metaphor, a brilliant essay. A pity that hardly anyone will read it.

  7. Kirk Skeptic says

    This former lurker says amen, & don’t forget the need to repeal the ridiculous law regarding anchor babies. While you’re at it, eliminating the Welfare Plantation that attracts so many of them in the first place would be the clincher.

  8. Tim R. Mortiss says

    The “ridiculous law” is in the US Constitution. Not so easy to “repeal”, eh? That fact has been a frustration for many over the years, on many other issues!

  9. Peter A. Papoutsis says

    I don’t remember if I actually posted this, but here are others that share my skepticism on Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/russia-putin-orthodox-jihad/

    Again I do not say this to insult, but out of my sincere love for the Russian Orthodox Church.

    Peter

  10. Peter A. Papoutsis says

    Well is anybody surprised at this:https://www.yahoo.com/health/should-we-all-be-in-monogamish-relationships-109895587302.html

    I love how people who know very little about the Bible state so dogmatically that the Bible never defined Marriage as One man and One Woman. I guess Genesis and the Gospels are too difficult for people to read and properly understand even in Modern English Versions. I love how they never talk about the sin and transgressions of these people that took multiple wives or Our Lord’s saying that what was intended from the beginning was Monogamous Heterosexual Marriage between one Man and one Woman and that it was our hardness of heart that led to divorce and other sins and should never have been there from the beginning.

    Oh well, enough of that let’s get back to Inter-Orthodox Squabbling because that’s what really matters.

    Peter