Fellow contributor, Jim Jatras, sent this in for our consideration.
Western Campaign Against Orthodox Church Turns to Montenegro
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” So Karl Marx wrote in 1843. For three generations over the course of the 20th century his atheist disciples violently sought to break their subjects of this “opium” addiction.
They failed. In many though not all parts of the former communist bloc Christianity not only survived but provided the impetus for national and social revival. In some countries, like Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania, this meant Roman Catholicism. In others, like Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Georgia, this means Orthodoxy.
For the no-less-godless successors of the commissars now ruling most of Europe through the twin bureaucracies of NATO and the European Union, religion – or at least Christianity – remains a retrograde force that needs to be overcome. They are helped by the fact that in western Europe (and increasingly in the United States) consumerism, feminism, LGBT, multiculturalism, and other materialistic post-modern alternatives have proved to be far more corrosive of Christianity than dynamite, bullets, concentration camps, and punitive psychiatric hospitals.
There is also a geopolitical element. Because NATO/EU’s biggest target is Russia, and because revival of the Orthodox Church is central to Russia’s revival – including its military determination to resist western aggression as it has so many times in the past from Germany, Sweden, Poland, France, etc. – the Orthodox Church is itself in the crosshairs. From the soulless perspective of western bureaucrats Orthodox Christianity is nothing more than an instrument of the Kremlin’s soft power. According to one person rather new to the relevant issues but nonetheless considered authoritative by the State Department:
‘The Church, for its part, acts as the Russian state’s soft power arm, exerting its authority in ways that assist the Kremlin in spreading Russian influence both in Russia’s immediate neighborhood as well as around the globe. The Kremlin assists the Church, as well, working to increase its reach. Vladimir Yakunin, one of Putin’s inner circle and a devout member of the ROC, facilitated in 2007 the reconciliation of the ROC with the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile (which had separated itself from the Moscow Patriarchate early in the Soviet era so as not to be co-opted by the new Bolshevik state), which reconciliation greatly increased [Patriarch of Moscow] Kirill’s influence and authority outside of Russia. Putin, praising this event, noted the interrelation of the growth of ROC authority abroad with his own international goals: “The revival of the church unity is a crucial condition for revival of lost unity of the whole ‘Russian world’, which has always had the Orthodox faith as one of its foundations.”’
Thus the 250-million-plus-member Orthodox Church needs to be brought to heel, or better yet, broken. Over the past few years we have seen several episodes pointing to that end:
- Removal of Bishop Artemije of Raška and Prizren, the Serbian Orthodox eparchy that includes the NATO-occupied province of Kosovo and Metohija. In 2010 Vladika Artemije, an outspoken opponent of ecumenism, was accused on spurious corruption charges for which he’s never been brought to trial, expelled from his eparchy without an ecclesiastical trial, and later reduced to the status of a simple monk. (He insists that he is the true Bishop of the Raško-Prizrenska Eparchy in Exile, leading to his being falsely being accused of schism.)
The real reasons for this were transparently political. Vladika Artemije was punished for his forthright opposition to US, NATO, and EU policy in Kosovo and his spearheading a Washington lobbying effort to oppose creation of that terrorist-mafia pseudo-state (and hotbed of Islamic jihad) under NATO protection. In addition, he sued the NATO powers in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and in 2009 sought to bar a visit by then-US Vice President and current 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden (a belligerent proponent of war against Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo and of detaching Kosovo from Serbia, not to mention a Ukraine profiteer via his son Hunter Biden) from visiting Visoki Dečani monastery – a decision overturned by the Serbian Church at the behest of the Serbian government, then headed by western quisling Boris Tadic. The Biden snub reportedly prompted a high NATO official (probably US Admiral Mark P. Fitzgerald, then Commander, US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, and Commander, Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples) to demand: “What we need here is a more cooperative bishop.” The soon got it, with the shameful submission of the Serbian Church under pressure from Washington, Brussels, and Belgrade officialdom. (As noted below, the Serbian Church leadership’s betrayal of Vladika Artemije has now come back to haunt them in Montenegro.)
- The Ukrainian Orthodox Church schism. A year ago His All-Holiness, Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople, recognized as a new “autocephalous” (entirely self-ruling) “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (“OCU”) persons who had up until then been universally shunned as schismatics and frauds by all Orthodox jurisdictions. Since then Constantinople, with the overt help of the US State Department and the Greek government, has been able to round up a few additional endorsements, notably from the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa and the Archbishop of Athens (both dependent on Greek state subsidies) but pointedly rejected by many of the bishops, clergy, and faithful in the African and Greek jurisdictions. A number of Churches, notably Antioch and Serbia, have been outspokenly supportive of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which remains an autonomous part of the Russia Orthodox Church.
US officials who wouldn’t know Orthodoxy from orthodontia have taken a keen interest in the Church’s internal canonical arrangements, insisting that creation of the bogus “OCU” is an exercise in human rights and “religious freedom,” despite violence against clergy and believers of the canonical Church and plans to seize churches and monasteries. Among the outspoken supporters of the OCU are celebrated theologians like US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (who placed a personal call to the “newly elected head of the “OCU” “Metropolitan Epifaniy” (Dumenko), Geoffrey Pyatt (current US Ambassador to Greece, who was also Ambassador to Ukraine during the 2014 regime change operation), Sam Brownback (US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom), and – recognizable to many Americans from their impeachment testimony – US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and US Ambassador in Kiev Marie Yovanovitch (noted for her over-the-top LGBT promotion in Ukraine). Pyatt and Brownback are notable for their round-robin visits to Orthodox Church leaders, notably in the Balkans, to “encourage” their recognition of the Ukrainian schismatics.
- Violence over LGBT in Georgia. Governments of formerly Christian countries in North America and Europe have made LGBT ideology an integral element of their promotion of “human rights” and “democracy” in formerly communist countries where the locals generally have a far less “progressive” view than is common in western Europe or “blue” America. This includes pressuring compliant governments of European countries recently emerged from communism to hold “Pride parades” that offend local sensibilities. The message to traditional societies still grounded in Christian morality but with elites committed to “a European course,” meaning membership in NATO and (perhaps someday…) the European Union is that it’s a package deal. You don’t get to pick which part of western “democracy, human rights and free markets” you want and which you don’t. You can’t have transatlanticism without transgenderism. So shut up, grit your teeth, and take it . . .
The sexual social subversion campaign arrived in Georgia this summer, when the usual suspects – foreign embassies and their controlled NGOs, working in concert with George Soros’s Open Society groups – were determined to hold Tbilisi’s first Pride parade. With strong opposition from Orthodox faithful led by activist businessman and father of eight children Levan Vasadze, the parade was cancelled. Forced to back down, the pro-western, pro-LGBT forces responded with violence, using as their pretext a visit by international (including – Russian!) lawmakers to the Georgian parliament under the auspices of the Athens-based Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). Endorsed by Tbilisi Pride organizers, the parliamentary attack was spearheaded by the United National Movement, the party of disgraced former president and Western favorite Mikheil Saakashvili (who is in self-imposed exile, fleeing from his conviction on corruption charges). The Georgian parliamentary Speaker was compelled to resign and questions were raised as to whether the ruling Georgian Dream reformist party could retain power – which surely was the point in the first place. The country’s politics continue to be unstable, with forces defending Georgia’s Orthodox Christian integrity denounced as “far right” by hatemongers in the west.
- Montenegro’s new anti-Serbian Orthodox Church law. Now in the crosshairs is the Serbian Orthodox Church in spanking new NATO member and EU aspirant Montenegro, with passage of a new law (with the approval of the Council of Europe’s Orwellian-named “EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW.” a/k/a the Venice Commission) that requires religious bodies to prove their ownership of properties before 1918. As reported by RT’s Nebojsa Malic:
‘Montenegro’s ruling regime rammed the controversial law through the parliament in the dead of night between Thursday and Friday. Every single amendment of the opposition Democratic Front (DF) – proposed to alleviate concerns that the bill was deliberately targeting the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) – was rejected. When some DF members disrupted the session in protest, all of them were arrested and jailed. [ … ] [JGJ: Some of the detained legislators have declared a hunger strike.]
‘The government in Podgorica has waved off criticism, saying that the law is in line with the highest EU and international human rights standards. [JGJ: A de facto endorsement from the Vienna Commission says it all.] Most journalists have been happy to take that at face value. Not being most journalists, I actually read its text.
‘Article 11 mandates that any religious community in Montenegro must be headquartered there and cannot extend outside its borders. That’s absurd for a country that’s about the size of Connecticut, with a population estimated at around 620,000.
‘Article 16 says that no religious community may have in its name “an official name of another country or its emblems.” Article 7 bans “abuse of religious feelings for political ends,” whatever that may mean. And Article 24 says that the state can seize the property of any religious community that is determined by police to have violated the terms of its registration and been stricken from the rolls, without appeal. Need one go on?
‘Now consider that President Milo Djukanovic has recently accused the SOC of “promoting pro-Serb policies that are aimed at undermining Montenegrin statehood,” as Reuters phrased it, and it becomes blindingly obvious for whom the bell tolls.’
In a close replay of the Ukraine situation, the new Montenegrin law sets the stage for state seizures of Church properties and turning them over to an unrecognized schismatic group, the so-called “Montenegrin Orthodox Church,” sponsored by the corrupt regime of President Milo Djukanovic. Protests have broken out in both Montenegro and Serbia, with Montenegrin police very democratically beating some protesters, including a Bishop of the canonical Church. In Belgrade, the ruling Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church denounced the new law and stated its support for the canonical Church. (Belgrade has been stalwart in its support for the legitimate Church in Ukraine. But perhaps, now that they’re being targeted themselves, some of the Serbian hierarchs may remember how shabbily they treated Vladika Artemije in their vain attempt to appease western demands – and will take steps to remedy that shameful mistake?)
It remains to be seen what western governments will do, but based on the Ukraine precedent it isn’t hard to guess. Comments Malic: “Adopting a ‘religious freedom’ law that opens the door to persecuting a particular faith would normally be seen as a horrifying breach of human rights, but when done to Orthodox Serbs in Montenegro, the West doesn’t seem to mind.” As of this moment, except for a non-specific demonstration alert, there is no posted statement from the US Embassy in Podgorica, either in English or in some language written exclusively in the Latin (not Cyrillic) alphabet called “Crnogorski,” evidently a reference to Serbian. (Foreign embassies in Washington take note! Start posting your websites in “American,” not English!)
Now all that’s needed to ice the cake is for the State Department’s human rights, religious freedom and democracy mavens and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom – which, with Your Working Boy’s culpability, has long since become little more than another subjective standard under which countries the Washington apparat wants to hammer can be cited (accurately or not) – to hail Montenegro’s latest step into the radiant, post-Christian, post-national future of Euro-Atlantic integration.
But who knows. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised and Washington and Brussels will demand that their Montenegrin flunkies back off. Don’t bet on it though. There’s still a lot more of the Orthodox Church left to disrupt.
God bless Jim Jatras for using his God-given brain to defend His Church, and for providing the members of the Church the information needed to better defend the Church. I hope this valuable article can be translated into Greek, Russian, Bulgarian–and as many languages that will let the faithful know who the good guys are and expose the bad guys so they can be defeated. The Church will survive!
Thank you Peter, I hold the same sentiments. Mr Jatras sees his fellow Orthodox suffering. He doesn’t see the ethnic identity, unlike some poor souls do.
I had to stop reading after the section of Georgia, …
This Jatras person is a thorough troll whose propaganda is so deeply embedded in rightwing conspiracy-mongering that it makes about as much sense as what that Greek fellow Mark wrote elsewhere here.
This Jatras person knows nothing about Georgia and the misery people there undergo daily on account of the criminal enterprise called the ‘Georgian Dream Party’ which is nothing less than straight-up Russian style oligarchy headed by the eminence gris Bidzina Ivanashvili, who has done more damage to Georgian interests than even Shevardnadze and Jabba Ioseliani I’m their criminal war against Georgian President Zviad Ghamsakhurdia in the 1990s.
The fictive connection between anti-regime protests and LGBT activists is calculated to effectively smear popular resistance to the criminal regime, whose supporters like the ‘quiverfull’ Levan Vasadze undertook active violent measures against the queer
Activists before the protest of Parliament. This man is likely a heretic and wraps himself in a flag while encouraging violence in the streets. He has nothing of Christ in him.
Likewise the Ivanashvili regime shows zero Christian character in its domestic policies, actually encouraging people to leave the country (implied, “if you don’t like it”), suborning the judiciary and falsifying elections. The regime disempowers workers and seems to be mostly about turning the country into a playground for rich foreigners (Iranians, Arabians, Chinese and Russians) while doing nothing to promote local economy. They even tax local meat and have zero-tariff import regime for Russian meats.
To pretend that Georgian Dream is pro-Orthodox is sheerest delusion as their pose is transparently false. If they were patriots they would defend the people; in fact they privilege Russian invaders and the Dreamer party won’t even redeem captives of the Russian Army kidnaped from their homes and farms in Samachablo.
Mr. Jatras is free to write me directly if he thinks he is such a defender of Orthodoxy spouting pure neofascist lies.
Funny how red smoke comes out of this trollish piece straight from the dominions of hades. Interesting how an obvious troll can call someone else a troll. Montenegro is in dire straights much like the Ukraine.
LOL. I can’t take anyone seriously who defends homosexual activists who are in rebellion against God and drops the “neofascist” moniker around to anyone who disagrees with his Leftist garbage.
Mr Jatras invented intelligence as far as you are concerned! He knows what he is talking about , while you use your ahole to do your talking!
Lance, in retrospect, I should have never allowed your post to see the light of day. I thought that by excising certain scatological references it would shed some light on the subject by bringing perhaps another side to the story but clearly I was wrong.
Mr Jatras is a professional diplomat who has forgotten more about the Cold War and diplomacy than the entire corps of neoconservatives will ever hope to know. His writing speaks for itself and is grounded in history, common sense and the proper Orthodox phronema.
The fact that the defense of Orthodox nationalism and cultural sovereignty brings out the hatersleads me to believe that he’s spot on.
‘…the defense of Orthodox […] brings out the haters…
Professional haters?
Probably. They think their pithy comments will be well received. Most see them for what they are.
Thank god you allowed Lance’s post because he revealed what is truly happening in Georgia
I have no interest in seeing the Russians (Church or Putin) lead anything. It’s beyond my comprehension how Jim Jatras consistemtly defends the Russian enterprise as the savior of all that’s good in the world. The same Russians who originate and sustain much of the criminal , terrorist, cybercrime, thought and dissent suppression, and hitman teams in the world. Our DoS properly sees the Orthodox hierarchs for what they are–a continuous criminal conspiracy supported by their respective states and used for all sorts of nefarious political purposes.
He defends it I assume because neither Russia nor its church has gone off the deep end.
Perhaps because they’re opening churches while we’re closing them down?
George, opening churches? Is thst not yet illegal in West?
Niko, soon only the “right” type of churches will be allowed to be opened in the West.
You mean the way Putin tries to oppress the exploding Evangelical movement in the Russian East, esp. Siberia?
So that makes it ok for the US/EU to suppress the canonical Ukrainian churches? Or the Canadian government to jail pastors who preach against homosexuality?
Please explain.
It was the late tsarist era when church and state joined forces to combat protestant sectarianism (Polunov, 2012). The only group Putin had a big problem with were the Jehovah’s Witnesses and that’s because he viewed them as “a dangerous foreign sect that would erode state institutions and traditional values.” I’m not sure he was wrong. I think I may have read in Christianity Today that Evangelicals also have a problem with Jehovah’s Witnesses because they don’t believe in the Trinity.
Putin didn’t oppress an exploding Evangelical movement. By 2004, there were 4,435 registered Protestant societies representing 21% of all registered religious organizations, which is second place after Eastern Orthodoxy. What he did do is start building a lot of Orthodox Churches. I think they build one every 3 days.
Thought you might enjoy this, Mitch. There are a LOT of Evangelically minded people in the Orthodox Church! This is the parish I started out in . . . https://youtu.be/CN7yAB5sCWo
Thanks for the info, Gail!
To all: maybe if the evangelicals were doing more of a bang-up job here in America, we could criticize the Russians.
There’s nothing wrong with suppressing heretical sects.
George, see the three articles by Theodore Kalmoukos in The National Herald: Patriarchate of Moscow Seen Attacking the Unity of the Orthodox Church; Russian Orthodox Church Cuts Ties With Alexandria Patriarch; The Smashers of the Orthodox Church. WOW!!! See also comments for each.
Here is my comment:
There have been seven Ecumenical Councils to date.
Not one has been convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch.
All were convened by the Roman Emperor.
There is no Roman Emperor and no Roman Empire now.
In the Roman Empire, after the schism with Rome,
the EP was ‘First Among Equals’ in honour only.
In the Ottoman Empire, after the Fall of Constantinople,
the EP was appointed ‘Rum Millet Basi’ by the Sultan;
that is: ‘First Without Equals among Orthodox Christians’.
Of course, this only applied within the Ottoman Empire.
There is no Sultan and no Ottoman Empire now.
Therefore there is now no, and no need for any:
‘First Without Equals among Orthodox Christians’.
Brendan. Following Islamic custom whoever was the head of the Christian Millet (not just the Orthodox portion) was he who paid the sultan the most money, if I am not mistaken.
Most folks could not survive that constant corruption using with both flattery and coercion for very long at all. I know I would not Methinks the EP did not either. Only a semi-delusional romanticism focused on the glories of the past, Hellenism, the Greek “race” , etc. kept anyone sane in that environment.
A vacillating appeal to Rome to acknowledge the importance of the EP combined with trying to pull a nonexistent rank within the Orthodox world–a world that stopped being static at the end of the 19th century with all of the people leaving for Europe and the New World.
The entire frame of reference has long been a whitened sepulcher I am afraid.
Michael, it was worse than that. Not only was the flattery constant, but so were the bribes. It kept bishops, priests, parishes and ordinary Christians in a state of constant, intractable penury.
Michael, I think you will find that the Rum Millet was for Romans (ie: Orthodox). I believe the Armenians had their own Millet.
That sounds right. Thanks for the cotrection
I have not. Would you kindly post these letters?
You sound rather clueless.
RetiredCPA,
“It’s beyond my comprehension how …”
Indeed, THAT is your problem.
RetiredCPA says: “The same Russians who originate and sustain much of the criminal , terrorist, cybercrime, thought and dissent suppression, and hitman teams in the world. ”
Hollywood thrillers are not the best source for understanding Russia and Russians, Mr CPA.
Indeed. Our retired CPA needs to get a grip. At the very least stop believing all the propaganda that Hollywood spews forth.
He probably writes much of it… 😉
RetiredCPA: “Our DoS properly sees the Orthodox hierarchs for what they are–a continuous criminal conspiracy supported by their respective states and used for all sorts of nefarious political purposes.”
Edward M Korry (US Ambassador to Chile 1967-71): “…not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty”.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
who is the most deluded of us all?
CPA – If you are un-ironically extolling the US State Department in the year of our Lord 2019, you deserve only contemptuous laughter in response. Seriously.
This is just anti-American and anti-Trump propaganda masquerading as moralism. The U.S. State Department is trying to Make America Great Again. Jim Jatras should recheck his allegiances. Is he an Orthodox American? I’m not so sure he really is.
Jim can speak for himself but I will certainly take exception to your gross mischaracterization. It is not “anti-American” to criticize our State Dept when they are clearly engaging in cultural espionage. Or when they try to actively subvert foreign governments. Since 1950, we have overthrown over 80 governments, beginning with Mossadegh in Iran.
Now, to be intellectually honest as well as consistent, as a flag-waving Cold Warrior, I had no problem fighting the USSR and Red China by whatever means were at our disposal. The overthrow of or meddling in the elections of foreign governments was certainly better than getting into an actual shooting war (as we did in Korea and Vietnam). The Chile of Allende and the Greece of the Colonels were better off because of our meddling in my humble opinion.
But that was then, this is now. What we were doing then was saving ordinary peoples from the very real ravages of Communism. We were not imposing a soul-destroying, culture-eradicating perversion upon them. Now we are doing the exact opposite. In any event, we should honest and admit that we have and continue to meddle into the affairs of foreign governments. It’s not good when Obama did it with Great Britain when he warned them to not vote for Brexit. And it’s certainly not beneficial today when we are trying to impose the homosexualist agenda on Orthodox countries.
Henry Kissinger’s fingerprints were all over the colonels’ doings. And when the junta fell, lo and behold, more than one armory in Greece was found to be empty. Bravo to the Russians for building and renovating churches but the government’s cyber crime is real. Also, I hope I never again hear the term “third Rome”. Other than that, Moscow has it all over the Phanar.
I wonder if Russia’s cybercrime, which of course is real, mirrors our own. My guess is that they’re evenly matched. We’ve got to quit being surprised that it happens because it has become a way of life, unfortunately. What China does is probably worse.
Gail: “I wonder if Russia’s cybercrime…mirrors our own.”
Orthodox Russia was nearly extinguished by the Mongols, by the Papacy and Germans (Teutonic Knights), by the Golden Horde, by the French (Napoleon), by the Germans (WWI and WWII) and by the Communists. Despite all this, it has survived to this day and is reviving – though now it is surrounded by missile installations installed by the Neocons and their Deep State acolytes. Perhaps what you call ‘Russia’s cybercrime’ is what they call prudent self-defence against those that seek to destroy them – in line with Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations and the PNAC (Project for the New American Century).
And I would agree with them.
What? “the [Russian] government’s cyber crime is real.” I agree with Gail, there is undoubtedly cybercrime going on in a lot of places, including Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, the US, Nigeria, and I don’t know where else.
But what is the basis for saying that the Russian government is engaged in cyber crime? And how do you define “cyber crime”? Does it include what the NSA has been doing in and outside the US? Is it “cyber crime” when the US government puts wiretaps on the phones of foreign politicians, for example?
Don’t forget those Nigerian princes who happened to figure out that your bank account is a good place for them to stash some money.
MAGA – If you think President Trump has control of our State Department, you have to get your eyes checked. The Deep State is more entrenched than ever, and the only thing that might—might—succeed in disbanding that is the wholesale disbandment of vast swathes of the government structure.
It’s not something a single President, even wholly dedicated to it (and Trump isn’t) could accomplish in two terms. This would require a new political party with a large and rabid following, and a solid streak of electoral victories, to even have a chance to accomplish it.
Aside from Fedposting, that is the only hope we have.
Very well said. A swamp of this magnitude can only be overthrown by either a series of massive electoral victories on the order of which you prescribe or by violence. The violence may be legal (as in massive arrests).
Right on George. I don’t know the person that runs this blog but he/she is extremely left-wing as well as anti-American. No room for leftists in The Greek unorthodox church. A real Christian can’t be part of the left and a leftist can’t be a real Christian. You have to have blinders on that you do not see what is going in the United States today and how our president has brought to light the deep state. He alone with very few other godly people is trying to eradicate the evil that has taken ahold of our government. I am a proud American who was born and raised in Greece and a legally naturalized citizen of the United States. You have to have lived a life in both countries to understand how sometimes the original church is being used by the leftist and the socialists.
Uhh, George runs the blog. He’s been accused of a lot of things, being left-wing is first! He is, however, a strong free speech advocate which is why you will see divergent opinions here.
Agatha, I will write my thoughts on Trump and his ascension to the Presidency in due time. Short answer: he was put in place by powerful forces, which I hope are for the most part benign. Clearly they are more benevolent than what we see on the left side of the spectrum. Truly, what with governors in Klan hoods or blackface, post-partum infanticide and incessant war-mongering, there some pretty bad sh!t going on over there.
Why would a “retired CPA” bother to express such hatred? Is there some purpose for doing so?
Indeed, how does “RetiredCPA” know that any of the things he states to be “facts” are true? He’s heard it, or read it . . . does that make it so. I’m with George, in Russia churches that look like churches are being rebuilt and opened and are being used by faithful daily. Not so much here in the once at least nominally Christian west.
Christ is born.
lexcaritas+
I expect he is a (semi?) retired DOS CPA
just keeping his hand in…
Lex, it’s even worse than I thought. I’ve been told that in Russia they are either building, rebuilding or refurbishing three (3) churches a day whereas here in America where we have “freedom of religion” we are closing one hundred (100) churches per week.
“By their fruits, ye shall know them”.
In my community vacant church buildings remain a rare commodity, but that’s because every time a Protestant church closes, it is immediately bought up by a weird Hispanic Pentecostal cult. Then the Protestants flee to the latest savior preaching at the newest mall church.
That’s interesting. Here in the “buckle of the Bible Belt”, I regularly travel through small towns and see church buildings that have long been abandoned. Even in T-Town, I can remember three well-established mainstream denominational churches in nice areas that have been bulldozed.
It sounds like a fertile ground for Orthodoxy.
Where I live in the Midwest, there are a couple of mainline denominations still ethnically and culturally ingrained, and it’s rare that one closes down. There’s a few Orthodox missions that worship in storefronts because that’s all they can afford; even the most run-down church that might come onto the market is upwards of $100,000+ just due to sheer demand. You can only really buy one if you have connections. Like I said, a lot of these proto-megachurch-of-the-month congregations are in the same boat as the Orthodox, although the closed-down Kmart aesthetic seems to appeal to them.
I don’t know how the Hispanic cults get so much money though. The only Mormon church in my area closed and it was bought by Buddhists, which I didn’t know were around either.
I have heard much about the Russians building churches and consecrating bishops. What I would really like to know is how many people are actually attending these churches? The Church is people, not buildings.
Dear eternal wanderer,
We are named when we are baptized into Christ and anointed with chrism in the Orthodox Church, we approach the chalice with our names (the servant of God by name) etc. so why do people write anonymously save a lack of accountability?
They have a long, hard haul ahead of them, as the Soviets literally wiped out the Church. I think what’s encouraging is that their leadership is helping them get back to their roots. Over 70% of their population identify as Orthodox, whether they go to Church or not. When I was there, I saw Russians standing in a 2+ hour line, in the middle of a July heatwave, to venerate an icon. There was one young woman, a 30 something executive, who stopped off on her way to work! You don’t see that here.
Much as I like James Jatras’ brilliant evaluation of Orthodox geopolitics, I must respectfully disagree with his narrative of former bishop Artemije’s removal, which sounds too much of a plot theory to anyone who is at least minimally conversant with the situation of the Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija.
Having visited those difficult lands and having met with Vladika Artemije a few times, and having even had him in visit to my own parish in Italy (which is, methinks, a higher level of Artemijology than most contributors here could possibly claim), I have to take side with the OTHER Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo (actually a little more than 99% of the total), who are no less suffering and no less confessors of the Orthodox faith than their former bishop.
The case of embezzlement wich started the crisis around Vladika Artemije was sadly true, and I reckon that if it had happened around any bishop in America (no matter how traditional-minded and/or NATO-basher), Monomakhos would be on the front line calling for that bishop’s removal. And it was not just a funding problem of Artemije’s too grandiose plans, alas: the money was literally stolen from the dinner table of the persecuted Serbian minority in the enclaves (which I personally visited, so please, I know what I am talking about).
Perhaps James Jatras might profit from hearing the sad story from the counterpart (which is not so foolish or deluded… thinking so would be tantamount to considering the whole episcopate of the Serbian Church as a bunch of morons, which is clearly not the case). Unfortunately, neither former Bishop Artemije nor his successor Bishop Teodosije know English, but many very competent and articulate clergy from the area do. I would suggest addressing Archimandrites Sava from Dečani and Ilarion from Draganac, both of whom are well-known in the Orthodox world, have been repeatedly in America and other Western countries, and could offer some more objective evaluations.
Hegumen Ambrose, thank you for your reply. I’m sure that there is another side to the story (there always is).
Is it possible however that the bishop in question was “set up” by NATO? It’s not that hard to do. Especially when one takes into account that he speaks no English (as you point out). In many of the more traditionalist, anti-NATO/pro-nationalist camps, one finds a level of unsophistication that can entrap their bishops should the globalists put their minds to it.
Claes, as for the GOP being a “criminal enterprise”: guilty for the most part. So is the Democrat Party. (Now would be a good time for you to brush up on your basic St Augustine, BTW.)
As for the Georgians and their supposed nightmare, I actually know a few Georgians and whatever they may feel about Putin and the ROC, it’s not that quarter that’s shoving the LBGTQ+ agenda down their collective throat.
The official story about Bp Artemije is not reflective of reality. More to follow on that.
However, I am very intrigued by your last sentence. Please understand: I did not “promote Elpi’s lies”. I couldn’t have “promoted” them because I didn’t know what (if anything) the GOA primate was saying about the OCA. But assuming he did spread this propaganda, it would indicate that that there really was a conspiracy wouldn’t it?
So now, are you now peddling in “conspiracy theories”?
Stay blue-pilled…
No one ever criticized Vladika Artemije for a lack of linguistical skills or of political subtlety, and indeed all reckoned him as a true monk, with the pure heart of someone who lived an ascetical life since his early teens. This may compensate for any naïveté in evaluating political and military interests, but NOT for the lack of overseeing (the flat translation of επισκοπεία, that is, the very nature of the office of a bishop) of an enormous amount of money entrusted to the Church for the care of a persecuted population. Even the present-day “Artemites” look more like a small group of sychophants and flatteres than a party sincerely worried for a persecution of the Orthodox Church around the world: if they truly were, they would not be so harsh towards their own Church.
Spartans were notoriously…spartan until, sometimes, tempted.
Pausanias and Lysander are evidence of that.
Hegumen Ambrose, I have no personal knowledge of the case. However, bearing in mind what the British did to the Birmingham Six (not to mention the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven), I am hesitant to declare anyone definitively guilty of anything – particularly when state authorities are involved. The Gospels should persuade us of that at least.
However, as something of a scribbler myself, I love the expression ‘…a higher level of Artemijology’.
It has brightened up a dull afternoon in Glasgow. 🙂
Many thanks for such a nice comment from bonnie Scotland, which I haven’t visited since the last millennium (or as Robert Burns might have said, “seas between us braid hae roar’d sin auld lang syne”).
Of course no one accused Vladika Artemije of anything vaguely resembling terrorism, and even the initial penalty for the embezzlement was quite mild, at least for an old and experienced monk: the removal from an active episcopal role and the placement into a monastery as a retired Bishop. If he had submitted to the sentence, he could even have asked to be sent to the monastery of his choice. Rather, it was his pig-headedness to continue to act as ruling bishop which brought about many appeals to stop, and, as a very last resort, the deposition to the status of a simple monk.
Yeah he is one of the globohomo trolls of western backed NGO’s. One way to tell is how he parrots the same old talking points: western euro-transatlanticist man good!. All others are Barbarian bad!
The crap that spews forth from the pro-western lobby of my parents adopted country of the U.S.A is staggering.
Hellenism was the ORIGINAL GLOBALIZATION, just see Alexander’s Oat of Opis
Yeah, the Maccabees had a problem with that, didn’t they?
I was just thinking yesterday how different the general Christian (mostly Protestant, which controls America at least) mindset would shift if heroes like the Maccabees were accepted and well known as scripture. Instead of a meek and mild “400 years of silence”, it was known as a time of fighting tooth and nail for one’s faith.
The Church glorifies peacemakers, but the Church also glorifies warriors. We don’t have nearly enough of the latter to hold the line in today’s world.
“…if heroes like the Maccabees were accepted and well known as scripture”
The first and second books of the Maccabees are not only contained in the LXX, they were in the Apocrypha originally printed as part of the King James Bible. The stories were so well known that Handel could write a successful oratorio on Judas Maccabaeus. But that was then…
See, the conquering hero…
That particular tune was also intended as a tribute to William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, victor of the Battle of Culloden. He was so popular in England they named a flower after him. They called it Sweet William.
The Scots named another flower after him.
This one was called Stinking Billy.
Orthodox Christianity just doesn’t fit into our Postmodern world. We are judged to be Russia loving, homophobic, mysogynists entrenched in male dominated hierarchy, with out-dated notions such as heterosexual marriage and sanctity of life. … and we stubbornly refuse to be educated and enlightened.
That’s pretty much it.
Exactement.
This is the era of identity politics, and the GOA/C’ple seems to be happily playing its role of the “Greek Orthodox identity” that the western secular elite want it to have.
The rest of us who identify as Orthodox Christian but who reject the grave error that C’ple has fallen into therefore must fit into the “Russian Orthodox identity” that these same western secular elites have defined, even though this identity group for us makes no sense and these elites have no idea what they’re talking about.
There is no identity group for the “American Orthodox Christian who is not Russian but who disagrees with C’ple’s actions in Ukraine and who rejects the schismatics.” We don’t exist. Thus, we get grouped as the “Putin-loving anti-American wannabe-Russians” identity group, the only other identity group for Orthodox Christians that the western secular elites believe exists.
This is, of course, laughable. I’m a more than 20 year active officer in the US Army (still serving), and to lump me in with the anti-American group is insulting. I identify foremost as an Orthodox Christian, but to our contemporary federal government and State Dept, I cannot exist. To them, the only ‘appropriate’ group for the American Orthodox Christian is to be with C’ple.
This is among many reasons why I overwhelmingly reject identity politics. They care not about you but about what “group” they want you to be in, for political power purposes.
In the West and in America especially, we Orthodox Christians are not immune from the forces of identity politics.
It is interesting that Mr. Jatras’ article has brought out a plethora of angry back-biting trolls on this website who are attacking him. Very telling.
From Jim Jatras:
Re Hegumen Ambrose and ” alas: the money was literally stolen from the dinner table of the persecuted Serbian minority in the enclaves ” — respectfully, this is inaccurate. In fact, the money allegedly stolen was not from “dinner tables” but from international funds earmarked for restoring church property damaged by the Albanian Muslims — with strings attached that local Albanian Muslim firms would do the (substandard) work, presumably so they could destroy them again — but Vladika decided to use the money instead to lobby against US policy, with me as the chief lobbyist. See in detail in English and in Serbian: http://www.savekosovo.org/?p=9&leader=0&sp=599 If corruption charges are true, why have the NATO/EU quisling authorities in Belgrade never brought Vladika to trial? As for the people I should consult, I know one of them quite well. He used to be very close to Vladika Artemije and to me, until he decided, along with some others sadly, that resistance was futile and that assimilation into the Borg was the only way to save what could be saved. Also, unfortunately, there were issues of personal grudges and rivalries among the Serbian bishops (yes, Virginia, bishops are human and they have those too!) That’s unfortunately a key reason, along with the worthlessness of the major figures in the Serbian government, who are Washington’s, Brussels’ and Soros’s puppets, why the Holy Synod cannot admit it erred, since it reflects on personalities who, like all of us sinners, hate to admit having done wrong.
Re MAGA for life, “The U.S. State Department is trying to Make America Great Again. “: does he do stand-up comedy somewhere? I worked a quarter of a century in the national security apparat (State Department and US Senate), a/k/a the Swamp. Until 1991 I was known as an anti-communist zealot (believe me, quite a rarity in those days, especially at State, where you could count them on one hand!). After 1991, I was again out of step because I was opposed to our turning America into a new Soviet Union as an ideological power seeking world domination. Let me assure you: not a single major appointee in the Trump administration’s foreign policy and national security apparat (some of whom I know personally) is Trump supporter or even shares his campaign views. They are all either nomenklatura hacks, neocons, Bush retreads, or Sorosites (or do I repeat myself?). I won’t here get into a lengthy speculation as to why that is, just note that it is. If you want proof, just look at the snakes and back-stabbers, for example Fiona Hill, slandering Trump at the House impeachment hearings. (Impeachment BTW is a coup not just against Trump and the Constitution but against the American ethnos: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/12/21/we-live-in-hysteric-times-what-trumps-impeachment-really-means/ )
As for Lance and Retired CPA: The fake Americans running the USSA love to portray themselves as champions of “democracy, human rights and free markets” (compare to USSR’s “peace, progress, socialism”). It’s easy to point to the bad things in other countries – corruption, venality, brutality, etc. – and say that’s the mote we need to dig out of their eyes. (Like the Soviets did: “ – and we must never forget plight of American negro, which, as is known, is worldwide skendel!”) And if anyone (like me) says it’s none of our business, we have no right to impose “our values” (like feminism, LGBT and the rest of the godless agenda) – “our”? – the criterion is never what gives us the right to impose godlessness, it’s always the imperfections of our targets. So there’s corruption in Georgia or Russia? Iran and North Korea are tyrannies? Venezuela is pit of socialist mismanagement? Well, that certainly gives us the right to impose regime change! Money and blood are no object! After all, it’s not as though our borders need to be controlled or anything … And if you disagree, you’re just a shill for Ivanishvili (not Ivanashvili), or Putin, Maduro, Kim, Rouhani, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Assad, etc etc. Sorry, I don’t buy it. I’ve seen too much of this horror from the inside. I know too many of these people. They wouldn’t know an authentic American, not to mention Orthodox Christian, value if it walked up and bit them on the butt – and if they did recognize it, they’d be against it. It’s deplorable (not in the good way) what our country has been turned into and painful to admit that US policy has adopted as its operating principles the very thing patriotic Americans always thought we were struggling against, including terrorism (we’ve consistently used jihadists as proxies for decades, starting in Afghanistan, then Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya, and still today in Syria and (probably) China and Myanmar – but now Congress, with no sense of irony, wants to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/12/russia-state-sponsor-of-terrorism.html) and “religious freedom” (which is another concept that has been perverted and weaponized – with my original well-meaning but misguided assistance. Mea culpa: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/05/11/my-role-in-weaponizing-moral-equivalence-and-religious-freedom/ Worst of all, this neo-Bolshevik mania is carried on with a recklessness unparalleled in modern history, with the structures erected during the first Cold War having been systematically dismantled. With whatever might have been Trump’s 2016 impulses to abandon the policies of the past quarter century having been neutralized, the danger of a major conflict is much, much worse than people might suppose. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/04/06/war-with-russia-is-not-inevitable-keep-repeating-that/ May God help us, because no one else will.
A sober, accurate analysis. Thank you, Jim
Thank you Jim for your insights.
From the Saker blog
NATO persecutes the Orthodox Church (again!) and risks civil war
The news from Montenegro is bad, and getting worse by the hour. Its until quite recently apathetic and compliant population is up in arms. The cause of the unanticipated disturbance would probably seem incomprehensible to most denizens of the post-Christian West. It is the rubber-stamping by the regime controlled Parliament of an unprecedented law enabling the government to seize churches, monasteries, and other real estate assets belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church which were built or acquired before 1918 and register them as its own property, unless the Church can “prove” that it owned them before that date. To make the scheme crystal clear, the legislation Parliament approved on December 27, after a tumultuous session, classifies all pre-1918 ecclesiatical assets presumptively as state property.
Oh yes, at this point it is not a bad idea to mention that since a couple of months ago Montenegro has been a NATO member, a status we are told is synonymous with commitment to certain “values,” whatever those are. Since the two go hand in hand, Montenegro is also slated to become a member of the European Union (replacing Britain, perhaps?), with all the human rights, freedom of conscience, and the rule of law baloney associated with it.
With that context in mind, we recall our April 10, 2019, column “Europe’s last not-so-comic opera dictatorship.” There, we pointed out that “it seems that in one respect Marx may have gotten it right, after all. To paraphrase one of his insightful thoughts, what in 1905 in Vienna [the debut of Lehar’s operetta “The Merry Widow”] began as operatic entertainment, now, in 2019, repeats itself as a sinister farce.” Since April, the sinister farce has turned positively ominous, and blood has already been shed in the decidedly unmerry Montenegro.
To further contextualize current developments, we also recall the following observation from our April analysis: “[NATO tyrant Djukanovic] anticipated Ukrainian russophobes by initiating a ferocious government-sponsored identity altering campaign, in an attempt to deny Montenegro’s Serbian heritage and to reinvent it as a separate nation. Equally precociously, though a declared unbeliever, he set up a Montenegrin ‘Orthodox Church,’ having it registered sacrilegiously as an NGO at a police station. And, of course, he lost no time ‘privatizing’ every state asset he could lay his hands on, which in practice meant reassigning ownership to one of his front men or cronies.”
Until literally a few days ago, few took seriously Djukanovic’s repeated threats to enact the offensive religious confiscation law. But with perfect infidel timing (on December 27, between the Western and Orthodox Nativity feasts) Djukanovic kept his outrageous promise. After granting opposition deputies all of three hours to “debate” the confiscation bill, thus complying generously with EU and NATO rule of law standards, Djukanovic signaled to his parliamentary minions to get it over with, and they did. As the measure that deeply offended the sensibilities of the bulk of the Montenegrin population was railroaded into law, pandemonium broke out in the legislative chamber. Deputies who opposed the measure were forcibly ejected by security and subsequently detained by the police. As of this moment, deputies Andrija Mandic, Milan Knezevic, and Milun Zogovic are still incarcerated, their parliamentary immunity scarcely an impediment for Djukanovic’s “rule of law” tontons macoutes. If any readers have a problem with that, they may address their concerns to Ambassador Nebojsa Kaludjerovic, Embassy of Montenegro, 1610 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009, United States, email: usa@mfa.gov.me. Be polite please, burdensome as that task might be.
Predictably, Western presstitute media lied through their teeth about the gathering storm in Montenegro. AP’s mendacious report that “trying to block a vote, the pro-Serb lawmakers hurled what appeared to be a tear gas canister or a firecracker and tried to destroy microphones in the Parliament hall” was a regurgitation of the regime’s own self-absolving propaganda.The outraged populace, led by its Orthodox religious leaders, took to the streets in all major population centers in Montenegro to protest the seizure of church property. In an interview given on December 17, days before the atmosphere heated up to the point of producing widespread street clashes, Serbian historian of Montenegrin descent, Aleksander Rakovic, prophetically warned that “Montenegro is on the threshold of civil war.” His prophecies are being fulfilled at this moment in Djukanovic’s abysmal realm, as an Orthodox bishop was viciously beaten by the tontons macoutes, ending up in the hospital with severe fractures, and youthful demonstrators played cat and mouse games with the tyrant’s police until the late hours of the night. In Belgrade, students, veterans and other citizens gathered in large numbers in front of the Montenegrin embassy to voice their protests and demand that Montenegro’s improbably named ambassador, Tarzan Milosevic, be declared persona non grata and expelled. The Orthodox Church in Montenegro has ordered church bells to ring every two hours in mournful protest until Orthodox Christmas on January 6.
Politically savvy readers have correctly guessed that the only person inexplicably missing in this imbroglio is the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, who only a few months ago was heard to say that “there is no nation on the earth that pushes human rights of religious freedom any more than the United States.” (The ambassador’s poor syntax may be excused and disregarded; his self-congratulating point is still clear.) If leading Western embassies accredited to Djukanovic or their NGOs made any adverse comment, that was not recorded by the media.
I’m waiting with baited breath to read the next issue of Christianity Today, where I’m sure we will read a brilliant expose on how Orthodox Christians in Montenegro are being persecuted.
As a veteran of the US Army who joined during the first war with Iraq under the first President Bush (even though I didn’t do it to build his New World Order, but to help oppose Hussain and others like him as I rationalized to myself back then), I am sickened to see my beloved America become what I joined the military and swore an oath to oppose.
When I was young back in the 70s and 80s we grew up believing we were the Christian West opposing the Evil Soviet Antichrist Empire of Atheist Communism and used to say “Better dead than Red.” Go Rambo!
I can’t believe that I have watched my beloved City on a Hill become the Red Beast of Antichrist and now I watch Russia turn into the defender of Righteousness (though still imperfect and far from holy when compared to the Kingdom of Heaven). I still have my doubts and concerns about Russia and its leaders, but if one puts aside all the propaganda spouted by our media and politicians, it is not hard to realize who is serving the devil today and pushing his agenda upon the world.
For those “patriots” of the west, whether you are an Obot or a Trumpster or in between, whether you oppose MAGA or give your heart and mind to MAGA, whether you are an honest investigator or just a troll, I encourage all you readers to read “The Anglo American Establishment” by Carroll Quigley and “The Fire in the Minds of Men” by James Billington and you will understand the historical background to what has happened in the west and why the Western “flame of freedom” has turned into “Strange Fire” rejected by the God of Hosts.
Before I continue, let me say to all before the attacks begin, that I am no Saint and have no credentials to brag about. I am the lead sinner and have no holiness to claim reason for you to hear me out. But, the truth I speak does not get negated by my sinfulness. Foolish are you who assault me without educating yourselves on the information I mention or choosing to negate my words by discrediting me. I’m just a sinful jackass speaking my mind. For what it is worth, to him who has ears…
For those of you ignorant of the books and men mentioned above. Quigley was one of Bill Clinton’s favorite mentors and yet even he warned Americans of what was taking place early last century when he published his book. Obviously Clinton didn’t agree with Quigley’s warnings but rather championed what Quigley opposed.
Billington’s book was referenced by President Bush Jr in his second Inaugural Address and missed by the overwhelming majority of the world that listened. After you read these 2 books you will understand how the West has fallen and you will also understand how both political parties in the USA along with their candidates for office are sold out to the devil they say they oppose, “in the name of Jesus.”
I do not want to argue with trolls or devout followers of Trump or his opposition, but I do want to warn you all to honestly consider your reasons for supporting him or them. None of them are what they pretend to be!
Today’s West, led by America, is blind and dumb to history and truth sad to say. As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed of Israel in his days, we are stupid and brainless in the West and blind with our allegiance to falsehood. Charles Finney is rolling over in his grave. I’m sure some “Orthodox” will attack me for using Finney, but even he stood up to the corrupt U.S. government of his day and called them out for doing what our politicians are doing today.
As much as I’d like to believe Trump is what he cons his followers into believing he says he is, if one stops listening to his hypnotic tweets and speeches, the dots are easily connected.
For my first submission of evidence of how stupid and brainless we in the west have become, especially “christians” (including Orthodox) who somehow think Trump is the answer to America’s prayers, let me mention that one word that is no longer allowed to be spoken and brings out the vehement roar from those who have accepted their new programming and submitted to their new Antichrist Master. That word is Zionist.
Can you hear the stampede? Hear they come. Worse than being a homophobe is being someone who dares to call out Zionists, regardless if those Zionists are not Jewish. (Interesting how so many Jews oppose the Zionists but get silenced and swept out of site so those ignorant won’t see or hear them.)
Why is Trump NOT the savior many wish or believe he is? Because he is 1000% a Zionist. Before the fury begins flaming my way, let me suggest all of you use the sources of those who originated Zionism and the very word itself. Before you sling the bigot word at me and champion the newly passed Executive Orders and soon to be International Laws outlawing such speech I now espouse, be sure you do your research and have an honest discussion with me. If you are going to imprison me or slander me, at least be honest about your definitions and words.
Start with the words of the Zionists themselves. Do your research and you will understand that Trump is no friend of Christ, but rather the champion of Antichrist. Didn’t say he is the Antichrist, but I do say he is no different than his predecessors in what he truly is. They are just playing king of the mountain with the Empire.
Not enough time or room for all that can be covered, but a few things I’ve seen mentioned in this and previous blogs I browsed today come to mind.
In no particular order, just the order that I recall them and think of them.
First name that comes to mind after VP Biden and his son is Pyatt. The fact that Trump has not exposed all those behind the Ukranian coup starting with Pyatt and Obama shows that his “seeking to expose corruption in Ukraine,” is a sham and truly what the Democrats accuse him of. As much as I despise the Democrats, especially that witch Pelosi, (I’m a life long Republican) Trump’s interest in Ukraine are most definitely for himself and not “truth and righteousness.” The Impeachment show is nothing more than their Game of Thrones or King of the Mountain gaming each other.
Why is Pyatt still in Greece? Why are none of his associates exposed for what they did in Ukraine? Why is he allowed to remain in Greece? Because Trump is not opposed to the swamp like he has convinced his followers that he is. He is a con artist.
Forgive me for not recalling the exact names and dates. I’m getting old and my mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be. But I recall from my readings of some of the Church Fathers back when I had more time to do so and wasn’t working as much as I am now, that I think it was Justinian the Apostate that sought to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. I’m sure someone will correct me if I got the wrong Emperor, I don’t mind being corrected. If I am not mistaken this concerned some believers and a certain leader (I forget his name at the moment) told them not to worry about it and told them God will not allow for such to happen until the time of Antichrist.
This past century we have seen the Zionists finally arise and via the Balfour Declaration obtain legal right to their new State of Israel. Since then we have heard many a preacher back when I was a kid warn of what was on the horizon to today where we hear many a preacher (and politician) proclaim how great this is and that God is with Isreal (even though most Israelis are atheist according to the Messianic Rabbi who informed me of this years ago) and that if you oppose Israel you oppose God himself.
We have just witnessed the very first President to actually move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and are watching other countries follow suit. This President is now the Champion of Israel and defender of Jews and enemy of bigotry. Remember, this same President told us at the GOP convention at the astonishment of all present as they hesitantly clapped for their new Champion when he proclaimed his support for LBGTXYZ, which appears to be one of the modern day “signs” of Antichrist being imposed upon the world “or else they will not be allowed to buy and sell” globally. No, I’m not saying it is the mark of the beast, but it sure appears to be one of many marks of the beast more and more each day. Be honest, can you really disagree?
As a matter of fact as I stumble upon this blog while watching a nice show about Pizzarias in Italy, my 12 yr old son and I are assaulted with commercials propagating same sex marriage and homosexuality. My wife homeschools them for various reasons, one of which is to avoid them being indoctrinated with the LBGXYZ mantra being imposed upon our culture today. But now we can’t even watch television without being assaulted by it today. Where will I be able to move to to escape this “Soviet Gayness” being opposed upon us now? But I digress.
I have listened to Senator Cruz (actually have a picture of him with me and my kids from when I went to listen to him at a campaign rally in 2016) espouse how those who do not support Israel do not have his support along with many politicians and preachers today.
I have grown weary of listening to Pastor Jeffress of Dallas get on Foxnews and proclaim how Trump is God’s man and that God has given him a blank check to do as he pleases include wage war. Amazing! Amazing! and Appalling!
I cannot believe how quickly my beloved America has become so dark and evil by God’s definitions. It’s not about MAGA economics. Will you sell your soul for a better economy? How sad.
Hillary is not in jail. Epstein’s clientele are not exposed and brought to justice. Obama’s people are still everywhere still doing what the “Deep State” Anglo American Establishment seeks to accomplish…build their Anglo American Zionist Empire. This is the spirit of Antichrist and Trump is just a much a part of it if not more so.
For more to investigate, Trump has just recently declared (against International Law) that the Golan Heights belong to Israel. Look deeper. Who is on the advisory board of Genie Oil which is on the Golan? Names not allowed to be mentioned, specifically the Zionist Champion Rothschild name.
As noted on Wikipedia’s site, “Genie Energy’s Strategic advisory board is composed of Dick Cheney (former VP of the USA), Rupert Murdoch (media mogul and chairman of News Corp), James Woolsey (former CIA director), Larry Summers (former head of the US Treasury), Bill Richardson (former Governor of New Mexico, ex-ambassador to the UN and US Energy Secretary), Michael Steinhardt, Jacob Rothschild, and Mary Landrieu, former US Senator from Louisiana.”
Things that should make every MAGA American go “hmmmm?” Anybody wonder how Trump got so much free campaign press in 2016 from Fox News courtesy of Rupert Murdoch? Geesh, does one really have to have a whole brain to see the dots connecting. Let’s not forget that Ivanka dated a Rothschild before marrying her current Jewish husband who is very close friends with Israeli leaders.
But who cares? I think God cares and will hold all accountable.
When I first discovered Orthodoxy I began reading the writings of St Athanasius. It was back when the Ukraine and Syria were making the news under Obama’s Puppet Regime. A young lady in the parish I was attending had friends and family in and from Syria. She enlightened me to things our media would not and will never tell us. One thing all Western “christians” need to ask themselves is “why do the Christians in Syria fight for and with the “evil dictator” Assad? Things few will honestly ask and answer in the west.
Just shut up and follow orders and accept your new LBGTXYZ Zionist empire citizen!
I was amazed at the parallels I was witnessing in Syria with what St Athanasius was dealing with in his days via the Orthodox Arians. How much more so are those in the Ukraine and Montenegro today?
In America we cherish our Freedom of Religion and oppose tyrants who oppress others. Yet, what happened before our very eyes and with our tax money and our votes? We the People of the USA just backed a new Ceasar in the Ukraine (Poroshenko) and rally behind our Congressmen, President, and military as that Ceasar, with the help of the Anglo American Establishment “pulled an Arian” on the Orthodox in that country, proclaiming that all must now “pinch incense” to the new “Bishop” of the Ukrainian Church blessed by the Ruler of the Phanar and all who have denounced truth.
Amazing! We the People of American Exceptionalism and Democracy opposed to tyrants and for religious freedom have imposed a Ceasar and State religion on another state. Can you believe this? Can you justify this?
God forbid! Though he was not Orthodox, as I stated earlier, Finney is rolling in his grave and would be the first in line to call out this heinous hypocrisy in our land. Will Trump and his false prophet Jeffress lead the charge? Nope. Don’t count on it.
Before Trump took office, Chistmas of 2016, Senators McCain and Graham were leading a pep rally at a Right Sector rally in the Ukraine pledging the backing of the USA! I thought we defeated fascism back in WWII? Seems we don’t mind it after all. Go Right Sector! Go Ceasar! Go Antichrist! We got your back. We are America!
Let’s not forget that before Hillary slept while our Ambassador was murdered in Benghazi, McCain, Graham, along with their little apprentice Rubio were there leading the meetings to destabilize the middle east and run the guns to Syrain “rebels.” But who cares. Republicans can do no wrong, right?
It’s a game of King of the Mountain amongst our politicians as they compete against each other on who will decide on the policies of the Anglo American LGBTXYZ Zionist Empire.
Hmmm. So many thoughts. So little time. I could talk about the Brzezinski family and their connections. How the sons have carried on the scepter of their father, one in the Ukraine and the other in the North Atlantic, leading the charge against the country they hate most, Russia. But who cares? As Daddy Brzezinski made clear in his books, We the People of the Western Empire are just a mass of hedons who need to be be led by the elite who know what is best for the Empire.
I could talk about the Oligarchs who ransacked Russia after the fall of Communism and via the drunk western hack named Yeltsin wheeled and dealed with the Western powers and became filthy rich and powerful in their service to their new masters in the west, until a guy named Putin came along and disrupted all of that. What an evil guy, that Putin!
Now, our western media plays the oligarchs as Putin’s stooges and ignores the Clinton Foundations atrocities and financial geopolitical activities. Nope. The Empire will never allow those things come to light and to justice. Nope. The Russians were our stooges, so they thought when Obama came to power. Damn that Putin for messing up the Empire’s plans.
Now we have the Chinese paper Tiger growing claws that can actually hurt the Empire. Forget how the Technocrats via the Deep State think tanks, NGOs and government offices helped to build the Technocratic Chinese Empire. Americans aren’t interested in that, neither is Trump. Nope, we got us a Trade War, and weezu gonna win it, because we are MAGA.
This trade war with China isn’t about better trade, it’s about global finance. And Zionizm isn’t about standing with God via Israel, it’s about making Jerusalem the capital of the world and building a new temple. Only a matter of time, whether we see it under Trump or after him. But it is soon and it is real.
I’m sure I forgot something I should have included, but does it really matter? What can I do about it? I’m a slave to my debts and trapped in a land I cannot escape as I see darkness fall darker and thicker. Where could I go to escape anyway. Russians might attack me because I’m not Russian or Russian Orthodox. My fellow Americans will attack me for being a “Ruskie lover” and opposing the Mighty MAGA and whoever follows.
But who cares?
Just shut up and follow orders and accept your new LBGTXYZ Zionist empire citizen!
Lord have mercy.
Citizen of AntiChrist West,
Beautifully said! Amen, amen, amen!
Mike
I rarely read long posts, but as you were polite enough to speak coherently and structure your post conveniently into paragraphs:
Axios
It is a peculiar sensation to be lectured by one’s elders that salvation would be denied us unless and until we submit ourselves to a tribe that hates and has always hated us. I likewise know that my ancestors did not fight in wars so that their progeny could be sexually abused and disfigured in the name of (parenthetical) Progress and Justice.
I do not serve the people who call themselves Jews, neither do I serve the Hellenes nor any particular Volk. By His will, my allies in the current era are those who by Grace threw off the yoke of revolutionary globalist atheism. Absent any internal phyletist appeals (that is, lacking a personal historical ethnic o/Orthodoxy to which I may cling), I am free to judge, by my own flawed sense of discernment, the trees in the orchard by their fruit.
Best of luck with your salvation. May the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, the sinner.
-Max D
Thank you for your excellent points, citizen. Unfortunately, in the U.S. it seems a vote for “Pro-Life” and/or “Pro-Family” is also a vote for modern Zionism. Internationally, most of the Zionist support in the world comes from conservative Christians in the U.S. who are voting “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Family”. These “conservative” political movements in the U.S. are like hamster wheels going nowhere, and yet as a political group they are the main political thrust and support that enables the bloody Zionist expansion.
Very well said, sir.
When the muse strikes again, submit your essays to George via the email on his contact page. Something like this should be a featured article. Many share your frustrations.
Gus, it’s rather sad if you ask me. Once the West was indeed the pinnacle of civilization, now it is a moral abyss.
Think of it from a purely secular/historical viewpoint: what significant achievement (besides the space program, which was momentous) has America pulled off in the last 50 years?
Perhaps Hollywood could produce a new blockbuster:
“How The West Was Lost”.
The plot is simple: HUBRIS, NEMESIS and (waiting for) KATHARSIS
LOL! I’d add: Hollywood, ACLU, SPLC, ADL, government “workers” unions, govt schooling, NCC, etc.
PS, CoAW, Gail very much speaks for me. Thank you for this thoughtful post.
PSS. It was Julian the Apostate who financed the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Julian the Apostate. Thought I had it wrong. Thanks for the correction. And thanks for allowing my comment to post.
Our pleasure!
Excellent post, sir. Welcome onboard.
Truly he has come to the right place, it seems.
Albion perfide, as always…..Stone of Scone, etc.
Was Julian good, or was he ain’t?
‘Perfide Albion?’ Peut-etre.
Mais…
The Irish don’t know what they want, but will fight anyone to get it.
The Welsh pray on their knees and on their neighbours.
The Scots keep the Sabbath and anything else they can get their hands on.
But the English? They are a race of self-made men; thereby saving God the bother, or the blame.
[PS: for the avoidance of offence to the easily offended, snowflakes etc, I am a Scot of both Irish and English descent and as I type I am wearing a Wallace Tartan Kilt (my mother’s tartan – and ‘Wallace’ means ‘Welshman’) so I’m allowed!]
Hopefully, we will be able to make a return trip to Scotland someday! I would gladly go to Glasgow and meet you. (Your treat at a tavern of your choice!)
I should love to entertain you to a ‘swally’ (Glaswegian for refreshment: usually alcoholic; rhymes with ‘pally’, not ‘brolly’, as who cares about the rain when the water of life is pouring?)
Let me know when you are coming 🙂
Will do! It depends on my employment situation but a man can dream. BTW, it’d be my second trip to Scotland. Lovely country. With the Stone of Scone now returned to its rightful place, perhaps the Stewart line can be placed back in power. 😉
Sadly, the Jacobite Cause is dead. Duke Franz has nae chance of reviving it. Its finest epitaph was written by Robert Burns. Google: ‘Youtube The Corries Ye Jacobites By Name’ to hear a superb rendition.
I used to wear a Jacobite tartan kilt, but it is now no longer a political tartan. It’s a memorial.
My own people were from the North of England, Kendal and Carlisle and thereabouts, with lots of Scots mixed in. My dad and grandad were born in British Columbia and I was raised on PacificNW highland games. We are said to be McLarens by way of Patersons, and so that’s the tartan we use.
As for the Scots, this is my Bobbie Burns favorite:
“The good old rule sufficeth them, the simple plan:
Let him take who has the power,
And let him keep, who can.”
Brendan,
Saw the thread between you & George about a tentative meeting in Glasgow. I’m Orthodox & my daughter is moving to Glasgow in coming months, God willing I’ll visit her, and my middle name is Gordon from my mothers side (I’m 1/4 Scottish, 1/4 English).
If you’re open to a swally together, not sure how continued communication might occur outside of this. Leaving ball in your court for now
John
Are you or have you ever been in The Dalles, Oregon? :-
If this is true, Bartholomew is clean off his trolley…
1) ‘The Phanar’s head believes that the schism in Ukraine was made by the Russians rather than Filaret, moreover, they did not do anything for 30 years to overcome it.’
https://spzh.news/en/news/67484-patriarkh-varfolomej-perelozhil-vinu-za-filaretovskij-raskol-na-russkih
2) ‘According to the Phanar’s head, Filaret was deposed
only because he asked for autocephaly.’
https://spzh.news/en/news/67481-glava-fanara-filareta-russkije-nazvali-raskolynikom-a-lyudi-jego-ocheny-lyubyat
Otherwise known as desperately seeking a narrative. Are your trousers on fire, your All-Holiness? I see smoke rising from your cassock.
“…millions of Ukrainians who did not want to be in the same Church with the Russians…We brought millions of people to the Church, he assured.”
Hmmm… what Church would that be?
Bartholomew abandoned the Church to lead a faux church. The church with the small “c” that is not Russia. In fact, that was the whole point. To isolate Russia and cut it off.
As usual, La Sheppard is correct.
All I know is that pitchers and catchers report in 42 days. Major League Baseball Spring Training begins. There is hope every where.
Big changes this year: relief pitcher’s must either pitch to three batters or finish an inning.
Down side the MLB umpires have agreed to negotiate using robots to call balls and strikes. Earl Weaver must be turning in his grave. First instant replay now AI balls and strikes. His head would explode not being able to run out on the field and argue with umps. At least his MLB record for most ejections from a game will never be challenged.
Gee, if we turn every thing over to robots it would ruin every beauty pageant — no more longing for world peace.
Baseball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SB16il97yw
The single greatest speech in US cinema delivered by the most consummate actor the US has ever produced. Who used to stutter until he was in his early 20s
Think about replacing “baseball” with The Church.
Dammit, Michael! That movie’s last scene (as well as Rudy) never fails to get me to shed a tear!
To all: Happy New Year!
Unfortunately this Balkanization of Church will remain for as long as Orthodox peoples kiss western behind. Orthodox peoples have an inferiority complex and worship the values and morals of western societies. I never understood this. At the end of the day people will apostasize and abandon Orthodoxy altogether and I cant blame them for doing so.
I wouldn’t be so dreary as that. Folks like Jay Dyer are doing serious evangelism that may replace some dead weight in our parishes.
But you are right, the most troubled times in Orthodoxy have been during times of kissing Western behind, from the fall of Constantinople after the false union at Florence.
But the Lord chastens those he loves. Sometimes God’s abandonment is the best reminder that He is there.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Jay Dyer’s work, but I worry that all of these young guys are converting to Jay Dyerdoxy and not Orthodoxy. He has a particular prism for approaching the faith and you’re not going to get that from your average American Orthodox in the parish. I think a lot of these guys might get disillusioned by the normiedox and end up looking elsewhere.
I’m not on social media, but I sometimes read his Twitter feed and I see lots of fresh catechumens doing ‘apologetics’ online. It’s not good for beginners to be doing that. The spirit of edgy and confrontational online Orthodoxy is not one that’s going to get you through the GULags.
It’s definitely not for everyone, but it’s obviously speaking to a subset of people, like Zoomers who may be ripe for abandoning Christ altogether when all they see is gayness, shallowness, and hand holding. He does have the blessing of his bishop, but I do get your point about the fickleness of young zealots. I think it’s good he directs people to attend a local parish, and that even a liberal Greek one is better than nothing. I see him striking a balance there.
The church does need more manly responses to this world’s questions, as well as bold apologists. The soft and delicate approach has to be balanced.
I started following Jay quite a bit after my conversion to Orthodoxy and I agree with you. He and Jordan Peterson (who obviously isn’t Orthodox or even Christian) have done a lot for Orthodox evangelism and bringing people, especially young men, into the Church who may otherwise see the effeminate version of Christianity that is being spread
Peterson is a fraud, probably controlled opposition, and a ‘gatekeeper.’ I HATE it when Orthodox clergy wax lyrical about him. It shows how far they have strayed from Orthodox phronema.
Basil, like you, I too believe that Peterson, like most cultural phenoms is “controlled opposition”. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t provoke thought or speak the truth.
My own philosophy –at this point in my life–is that you fight with the army you got, not the one you want. Peterson, like Yiannopoulos and Candace Owens, is doing much damage to the modern secularist mindset and for that, I’m grateful.
I don’t know what ‘controlled opposition’ is, not being up-to-date on the lexicon of the conspiracy-minded. But many folks here wouldn’t recognize an ally even if the cavalry came over the hill and drove the Comanches away from their circled wagons.
To some it’s just Orthodox and Enemies….trouble is, half the Orthodox are ‘enemies’ also….
There are no friends and no one is honest in the world of spy craft
As Long Charlie (De Gaulle) said:
“No nation has friends. Only interests.”
Henry K subsequently stole both the quote and the policy.
“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” is from Palmerston https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Temple,_3rd_Viscount_Palmerston
Kissinger was instrumental in the journals “National Interest” and “American Interest”, however.
But that is the eastern way. Luttwak ‘s Byzantine Grand shows Byzantium ruled for a millenium not with power but with the Holy Dialectic of the Trojan Horse. All the Just War of Original Sin prefers to kill you than to lie to you. Seriously, what is more Christian, killing or lying?
Interesting how Brzezinski and Kissinger founded NI but then AI when Nicholas Gvosdev took over the former.
My apologies. After I initially hit the post button I noticed that the spacing of the paragraphs were not there so I went back in to edit the spacing (missed a few), but when I hit the done button it said my post was marked as spam and it disappeared, which made me mad to say the least. So I left the spam comment and told myself to no longer bother with your site if I stumbled upon it again. I left the above comment to make sure you saw it out of my frustration. Forgive me brother. Blame it on the WordPress! ugg. Feel free to delete this spam section if you wish to avoid confusing others. Or leave it if you wish. It’s your blog. I’ll respond to Gail via email on the topic of my post. Thx.
After all that, I can understand why. Great piece. Some stuff does wind up in spam for various and sundry reasons that make no sense, but we go in there and pull out the good stuff. I’ll delete the other comments.
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MY READER(s?)
FROM GLASGOW AT NEW YEAR 🙂
Happy New Year, Brendan!
Happy Hogmanay, Brendan. Enjoy cold and wet (I assume) Glasgow.
I heard lots of interesting things about your city from our mutual monastic acquaintance.
If you can see the hills in Glasgow, it’s going to rain.
If you can’t see the hills, it is raining.
Today, I can see the hills…
And Happy New Year’s/Hogmamay to all!
And to you all from Bulgaria.
Честите нова година, Χρόνια Πολλά.
H_a_p_p_y____N_e_w____Y_e_a_r__ !
Happy new year!
You, too, Antiochian Son!
I know it’s a sad thing to do on new yr’s day but I just read up on Karloutsos biography. Phew!! ? WHAT A BUSY BEE HE IS! Not enough hours in the liturgical day, even at the Hamptons.
He must be a specialist on money…. Oops sorry, Food banks!! And times of flight from NY to Istambul. Carbon foot print indeed.
George, aside from the speech, my favorite scene is when the doc leaves the Field to save Ray’s daughter knowing he will not be able to go back.
Yes, and of course the climax is when father returns and plays “catch” with his son. The best…
Indeed, but each of the other events are part and parcel to that moment. That internal inter-connectedness is what makes it such a great movie. Not coincidentally there is a bit, just a small bit, of the Passion Story in there too. Complete with it’s it’s own Judas figure, his brother-in-law, Mark. “Just sign the papers Ray”
I can just see Pompeo, the Pompous saying that to the EP, like Wormwood whispering in King Theodan’s ear.
“Just sign the papers, your grace, and all your problems will disappear and you will be great.”
Zbigniew Brzezinski spawned the Ayatollahs, Pak Zia and Taliban against Russia.Bill Casey got the Saudis to crash oil to bring down the USSR in Afghanistan.It seems Putin has learned the lesson.Both Iran and North Korea border Russia. Whenever the price of oil goes down, Putin kicks them into action. This is why we must break up Russia into five separate Countries.
Who is this ‘we’?
…said Tonto to the Lone Ranger! Yeah, Jerry, why don’t you sign up for that?
The Holy Planet of America! To air out the Moist Moldy Mokosh Magog! Justice is what I seek, Kemosabe. (Deuteronomy 16:20) From the Great Beyond a vision told me a great warrior would help me on my quest.
Interesting how Brzezinski and Kissinger founded NI but then AI when Nicholas Gvosdev took over the former.
Below please find an article from today by The Associated Press in The National Herald.
Serbian Orthodox Church Protests “Suffering” of Serbs in the Balkans
By Associated Press
January 8, 2020
https://www.thenationalherald.com/278691/serbian-orthodox-church-protests-suffering-of-serbs-in-the-balkans/
Below please find an article by The Associated Press, in today’s The National Herald.
Pompeo Visits Ukraine, Meets with Metropolitan Epifaniy
By Associated Press
January 31, 2020
https://www.thenationalherald.com/283383/pompeo-visits-ukraine-meets-with-metropolitan-epifaniy/
My email to https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ :
While we value separation of Church and State in the USA, it is deeply disturbing to me to see your support of State Dept interference in the internal religious affairs of other countries, specifically the Orthodox Church and Ukraine, with Pompeo meddling in the Churches of Greece, Alexandria, etc. to make this happen. It would be like using the State Dept to prop up a fringe Catholic group that wants to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. You’re losing the votes of swaths of Orthodox Christians who are historically conservative and vote Republican. The Greek Orthodox Christians are more moderate and largely vote Democrat anyway (notice most Greek politicians in the US are Democrats) and aren’t going to jump ship because you’re supporting the Greek patriarch in Istanbul.
To who are you directing this comment, John? George is the LAST person who believes there should be State Dept interference in the internal religious affairs of other countries!!!!
Gail, please calm down.
John is simply giving us a copy of an email he sent to the White House.
i.e., preemptive mitigation, lest someone down the line draws that conclusion.
Johann, exactly!
Brendan,
1) This link is not a copy of anything John sent to anyone. It is a link to email the White House. There probably is no letter.
2) George didn’t write the piece in question; Jim Jatras did.
3) Although George loves this country, George HATES the fact that our State Department is meddling in the Church and leveraging Bartholomew to isolate Russia, and anyone who has attended a “George 101” class knows it.
4) George supporting Bartholow is equally preposterous.
It’s not a question of being “calm.” This guy knows better to get this so wrong. It’s all BS.
All,
It was an email I sent to the White House via the link I provided. The text of the email was the body of my post. My thought was to raise questions with our elected reps (I ended up writing my congressmen as well, changing the attempted compelling points for the Dem reps). The idea is that as American citizens we have the power of the pen to protest the government interference attempting to destroy the Church by virtue of propping up the EP and applying pressure to various countries to fulfill his popish wishes. That’s all.
Yes, most letters to reps don’t get read. But why not try? Why not write to the networks and their “investigative” shows as well? And no Gail, I’m not messing with y’all.
John, it’s good to hear from you. I didn’t think we would. When I clicked on the link you provided, nothing was there.
The problem with your post is that you think George opposes your POV. As a matter of record, he has been critical of the State Department for leveraging Batholomew and meddling in the religious affairs of other countries under the guise of “religious freedom.” It is the freedoms of the canonical Church that are getting stomped on! To Pompeo, “religious freedom” is a means of isolating and further demonizing Russia, although I’ve heard from various sources that at one point Pompeo was very interested in the Orthodox Church (as in becoming Orthodox). I wonder when he is going to get the memo that Bartholomew doesn’t speak for the 300M Orthodox he claims. Nowhere close to that number. 2/3s of the Church resist him and they will not go down without a fight. It surprises me how many people have bought into Pompeo’s lunacy.
I have no problem with writing letters to the government. I’ve done it. I wrote to Trump about skyrocketing healthcare costs and how the only way to get rid of the spend (for diabetes, high blood pressure, COPD, etc. that result in hospital admissions where all the money goes) is to change the eating habits of Americans who don’t have access to high-quality, healthy food to boost their immune systems through their internal microbiomes. (It’s a “thing!” Look it up. I can help you if you’re interested. I’ve got healthier lab stats than women half my age.)
P.S. I can’t even refer to Bartholomew as an “ecumenical” anything anymore because that title belongs to a patriarch who actually wants unity within the canonical Church. Bartholomew wants schism so he can separate himself from Russia whom he thinks is after his ecumenical throne. Or so Wikileaks has said. https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-is-using-fentanyl-as-chemical-warfare-experts-say_3067392.html?utm_source=Epoch+Times+Newsletters&utm_campaign=0c30b03c46-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_03_04_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4fba358ecf-0c30b03c46-239058513
You can’t be running to the United States with your problems because we will solve them in a way that you could never imagine and lean on you to help us in the process.
So note to Bartholomew: Who Let the Dogs Out? Woof, woof, woof, woof. You did, Constantinople.
Very well said, Gail. Thanks for setting the record straight.
John, if I may, it’s gotten to the point where I find it extremely difficult to refer to the EP as anything but his name. The damage he has done to the Orthodox Church is incalculable. Right now, the best we can hope for is that war doesn’t actually break out.
Gail, this is really bewildering. I’m sorry, but I think you are completely wrong in what you wrote to John, “The problem with your post is that you think George opposes your POV.” He wrote nothing of the kind. You have totally misread his original post and seem to have doubled down on your original misperception.
As he and others have already explained, he included the link for sending e-mails to the White House along with the text of what he had written. It is very clear to me and to others that John wrote nothing that suggests that he thinks that George opposes his point of view.
By writing an e-mail to the White House, as useless an exercise as that may be, John has actually done more than many of those of us who comment on this site.
Blimbax, Basil, et al. John responded to George’s post where he wrote: “While we value separation of Church and State in the USA, it is deeply disturbing to me to see your support of State Dept interference in the internal religious affairs of other countries, specifically the Orthodox Church and Ukraine, with Pompeo meddling in the Churches of Greece, Alexandria, etc. to make this happen. . . ”
There was no letter to this effect in the link (try it so you’ll believe me). So, it was not clear to me to whom his comment was directed when he used the word “your. . .” So, I asked him to whom his comment was directed. This is a reasonable question given the link was not working. I then reiterated that George would be the last person to agree with this if he was in fact saying this about George. It was SO “not George” it concerned me to see it under his post.
John wrote back and clarified his remark. I told him I was glad and said something along the lines of what George’s position was, again, in case someone read John’s original statement, under George’s post and came away with the same misperceived conclusions. You have no idea what goes on behind the scenes when people are unclear about what you write, especially when there are many, many people out there who would like nothing better than to take something out of context to discredit you. I was protecting the blog, which I own, BTW, and George, as he is the voice of this blog. I have every right to do that.
John then corrected the misunderstanding which I appreciated. I again reiterated George’s position just to make sure that if anyone read his original remark we could refute it. I also said something to the effect that I applaud writing to the government and gave him an example where I had done the same thing. It was another poster who said it was a waste of time. He’s entitled to his opinion. It is not my opinion, however.
I am unclear about what it is that I can do to make this better for you, John, or any other person.
You can ask him but don’t think John misunderstands what happened. The link he thought would make everything clear was not working. That happens in the world of technology. John clarified his post was a reiteration of something he wrote to the White House which I thought was great, as I’ve done the same thing.
John made his true feelings known.
George is protected.
I don’t see where John walked away from this exchange thinking anything was directed at him, personally, or that any more needs to be said. John, if you’re out there and feel misunderstood, hurt, concerned about what I said, please bring it to my attention.
***
I’ve got to tell you, (this is to Blimbax, Basil and Tanya (may your comment RIP): I’ve been in the trenches with you day in and day out and you should KNOW me by now. If you are worried about John, I would have expected you to say something to the effect that, “Gail is not someone who just jumps down people’s throats. She is direct and she honest. If you feel slighted in any way, I would encourage you to contact her.” – Lord knows I’ve defended all of you when there have been misunderstandings. Guess we don’t know each other as well as I thought.
Thank you, Gail. As usual, you write cogently and to the point. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings.
Let me reiterate: I am appalled that our State Dept is getting involved in another country’s religious affairs. On principle alone. However let us be honest, our State Dept is doing so in a transparent way in order to deepen the schism in Orthodoxy. That is simply unconscionable.
Thank you, Brendan. That’s correct.
Dear Gail,
It’s an email John sent to the White House, most are never read (save the ones with threats) when written by adults. Some of the emails from the kids are used for opportunistic messaging, political purposes. “Hi, I’m 12 years old and in the landscaping business, can I mow the White House lawn? I Beat Anybody’s Price”
Trump likes such emails and considers them “winners”, John’s email is not a winner, it’s a “whiner”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX0sFgECSv4
Thanks, Matthew. Frankly, I don’t think there’s a letter. This guy is messing with us.
John is attempting to create a snowball effect by first writing an email to the White House detailing his concern over State Department policy to the Orthodox Church. Then he hopes that others (the little guys of the world) who become aware of his email will do likewise and put pressure on a President who claims to represent the little guys of this world to get the State Department policy changed. While Matthew is correct that most such emails are never read, if enough arrive from core voters they will be read.
But Matthew says only the ones with threats are read. Well, what does: ‘You’re losing the votes of swaths of Orthodox Christians who are historically conservative and vote Republican’ sound like in this context? Particularly if sent by numerous core voters – and the more the merrier?
How do I know this is what John is attempting? Because I (and others) did precisely the same thing when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown attempted a coup d’etat in the UK in 2006 with the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill which (if passed as it stood) granted any Government minister the power to make, amend, repeal or replace ANY primary or secondary legislation simply by writing an order – without the need for troubling Parliament. In other words, this was an Enabling Act whose only difference from the one which gave Adolf Hitler plenary powers in 1933 was that the Nazi Act had to be renewed every five years (and was – even during WWII) whereas the UK one only needed passed once – and that was it. The claim was that it was necessary to remove petty red-tape restrictions on business. Yet, it gave power to abolish the Monarchy, the Treaty of Union, Scots Law, establish a Supreme Soviet…etcetcetc.
By helping create such a snowball effect as John is after, a number of ordinary people (including myself) put such pressure on the system that the bill was amended to remove the worst aspects and restrict it to business matters.
One year after the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act passed into law, the Daily Telegraph newspaper conducted an investigation to discover how many regulations afflicting business had been removed under the provisions of the new Act. The answer was precisely zero – ie: none whatsoever; which suggests that this was not the real object of the exercise and that we were right to object to and oppose the Bill.
On this matter, I will conclude with an observation from William Pitt the Younger:
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
Brendan,
Precisely! The snowball effect. I just did a poor job of setting it up in my original post. Something got lost between the idea in my head and what I ended up typing, which was, uh, too “minimalistic,” creating holes for all sorts of assumptions to fill on the readers’ part (sorry about that). In short, I still believe that we little people can make a difference, and you’ve provided a great example.
blimbax,
Also great points.
Gail,
Glad you now take my original post as intended. For the record, I agree categorically with George’s views of the occupier of the ancient Constantinopolitan throne. Thanks to this blog and other sites you’ve pointed to, I have a saddening but more thorough appraisal of the said throne really for the last 100 years. And if I may elaborate: Just as I think it was God’s allowing the world media to blow open the Roman Catholic pedophilia cover ups for the moral failure of that religious body to cleanse its ranks, just as God allowed the Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, etc. to successfully attack Israel when they fell away from God, so I think that now we see God’s hand allowing the Church to endure its present schisms because of the failure of C’ple’s peers to put the Constantinople patriarchate in check beginning at least a hundred years ago with Metaxakis, rather turning the other cheek if you will, letting C’ple do more and more outrageous things subsequently, since after all, it’s another jurisdiction and ethnic group, until now his peers are practically shamed on the world stage into having to take a stand. Just my $0.02.
It would have been better if you had enclosed the text of the email
in inverted commas (quotes) after the colon following the link.
Modern minimalistic punctuation can be misleading.
At best it lacks clarity. At worst it subverts meaning.
Not really related to this thread but it seems as if Democratic operatives are using the botched Iowa caucuses as an excuse to do away with state by state voting especially in the small, backwater states as it is time to trash such archaic election systems and go for a national popular vote primary. That in turn will pave the way for a national popular vote Presidential election. Get rid of that pesky little thing called the electoral college and finally rule over the deplorables in all those small archaic backwater places like Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc.
Below please find an article from Friday on the Orthodox Times website.
Home > Orthodoxy > Patriarchates > Patriarchate of Serbia
Tens of thousands of faithful demonstrate in Montenegro
Feb 07, 2020 | 13:34
https://orthodoxtimes.com/tens-of-thousands-of-faithful-demonstrate-in-montenegro/
Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Times website.
Home > Orthodoxy > Churches > Church of Ukraine
Metropolitan Epifaniy: As an autocephalous Church we are now responsible for our works and our decisions
Feb 10, 2020 | 20:14
https://orthodoxtimes.com/metropolitan-epifaniy-as-an-autocephalous-church-we-are-now-responsible-for-our-works-and-our-decisions/
Below please find an article from Thursday, February 6th, on the Pravmir website.
Hierarch of Serbian Orthodox Church Speaks on Situation in Montenegro
Source: DECR
PRAVMIR.COM TEAM | 06 FEBRUARY 2020
http://www.pravmir.com/hierarch-of-serbian-orthodox-church-speaks-on-situation-in-montenegro/
Below please find an article from Thursday, February 6th, on the Orthodox Times website.
Home > Orthodoxy > Churches > Church of Ukraine
Honorary Patriarch Filaret was removed as Holy Synod member
Feb 06, 2020 | 09:34
https://orthodoxtimes.com/honorary-patriarch-filaret-was-removed-as-holy-synod-member/
Thank you, Greatly Saddened. Attention should be drawn to this. It is pretty sad when a group of schismatics (hopefully not forever) demonstrates more wisdom than the “Mother Church.”
https://orthodoxtimes.com/honorary-patriarch-filaret-was-removed-as-holy-synod-member/
https://freebeacon.com/politics/bernie-beats-biden/
Methinks State Department policy is about to get a revision. Trump has not been able to cozy up to Putin as nicely as he would like due to the internal political situation here. That’s about to undergo a massive change.
Three parties:
Democratic Party – if Sanders takes it, it will be the Democratic Socialist Party
One of two alternatives: A Socialist Party (if Bernie bolts) OR a country club Liberal Party (feminism, LGBT, race, etc.) if Bernie takes the Democratic Party
The Republican Party – re-envisioned as a classical Conservative Party (i.e., jettisoning economic libertarianism and neo-conservatism), which should be the dominant party for the foreseeable future.
Remember where you heard it first.
George,
Just toss the article I sent you. It’s old news. The real question revolves around the breakup of the Democratic Party, in what direction or directions the various interest groups go, the percentages of who is where when the dust settles.
The liberals are about to get a crash course in what Marxists are really like in the real world when they have leverage and it’s gonna be ugly.
Cheers
Oh, I misspoke above when I wrote this:
“. . . country club Liberal Party (feminism, LGBT, race, etc.)”
I got ahead of myself. The blacks stay with Bernie, not the country club, as will the Latinos. Trump will peel off some of both groups but neither one of them has any real interest in feminism or LGBT. Both groups are much more comfortable with class warfare.
One should never underestimate race as a motivation in the machinations of men.