“Instead of lies, we should only be forthright, as St. Paul says:
‘Therefore, putting away falsehood let everyone speak the truth with his neighbors’ (Eph. 4:25).”
— “These Truths We Hold — The Holy Orthodox Church:
Her Life and Teachings“*
St. Tikhon Seminary Monastery, 1986
My last essay Stirring the pot critiqued Dr. Aram Sarkisian for bearing false witness against me and a slew of other Orthodox folks (including a seminary) in a recent “scholarly” screed published by Fordham University. In this followup, I’ll dig a bit deeper into the casual breaking of the 9th Commandment done by many laity and even a few clergy when the neighbor happens to be a Dixian. And I hope to show how this lack of love, dare I say, even outright hate toward neighbor shown by some proves precisely why I think the Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship is so vital.
A devilish dialectic
I’ve echoed this same comparison before in Russian lessons for Dixie, saying that the “bogeymen narrative serves two purposes: to crush traditionalist opposition to the PC status quo and to set up the scapegoats who, with all their backwards notions of faith, family, and roots, are just standing in the way of enlightenment and evolution. The road to establishing the new-world order is paved with bricks of the archetype, upon whom the revolutionary masses trample on their sprint straight to hell.”
Ironically, there are intelligentsia like Aram who are making a name for themselves and a pretty penny to boot on the backs of the bogeyman. Another is Dr. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, the rising star of institution-backed “experts” on fake hate.
Sarah may be wide-eyed, but she’s a deceptive gal who has a penchant for defining lying as “anthropological method” and Southern Orthodox as “fascists.” She’s slicker’n owl shit, as my hillbilly-proud mother-in-law might say.
Click here and scroll down to Sarah’s bio in the navigation bar to read more about her “fieldwork” allegedly uncovering the “far-right, religio-political” extremism occurring particularly in the “American South, Appalachia, and the Ozarks” and particularly within Russian Orthodoxy. Southern-phobic and Russophobic: you can just hear the giggling and glasses clinking during self-congratulatory toasts at the apparatchik cocktail parties!
No wonder the National Endowment for the Humanities gave Sarah a grant. (And one wonders why there was a neocon cabal conspiring against pro-Southern scholar Mel Bradford when in 1981 Reagan wanted to appoint him as head of the NEH.) Man, talk about systemic racism!
The cultural-Marxist darling has had it in for “Southern Orthodox” since before the launch of the fellowship website. In fact, her first book due out in March is built upon the thing she hates most: Southerners who are Orthodox.
Take a gander at this exchange from early November. Robert P. Jones, author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” broadcasts his propaganda, and the ironically named and well-funded Recovering Truth project at Arizona State University (of which Sarah is a postdoctoral fellow) retweets it. Predictably, she then propagates the gaslit anti-Southern narrative, so I had a little fun with it.
Common-sense people may be able to see through these ideological attacks, but PC gatekeepers like Aram and Sarah have fooled a disturbing number of Orthodox Christians. I’ve written about this “Cathedral” phenomenon previously in “A ‘Christian’ cosplay coup d’état,” and Monomakhos and I discuss it in my most recent podcast.
Sarah is already being quoted by her comrades at the SPLC where she claims that “far-right extremists … have taken an interest in the Orthodox Church, particularly among men.” That’s a serious claim when made by a subversive organization that holds way too much institutional power while pretending to an arbiter of justice. It can also be deadly.
Sarah adds that she can “see increasing interest from radicalized males (those who consider themselves white nationalists, America First groypers, neo-Southern secessionists etc.) in Russian Orthodoxy, in the Tsar Nicholas II, and in Vladimir Putin.” Coddling elitists whose careers are based upon casting Christians as “political apostates” in order to save “democracy” is why Fr. John Whiteford says that “Orthodox America has a cultural Marxist problem.” Sounds eerily familiar to US foreign policy, don’t it?
Karens, Kevins, … and clergy?
A disturbing pattern I’ve noticed since the publication of the hit piece is how little people seem to grasp the gravity of what journalist Glenn Greenwald describes as the “cynical and dangerous weaponization of the ‘white supremacist’ label” that pervades “dominant elite discourse.” It’s shocking how “casually and recklessly this accusation is tossed around,” and how many people either turn it into an occasion for quietism or prelest, or both.
Out of the hundreds of articles I’ve written in my five years of blogging at Dissident Mama, why would Aram link to “What is life without honor?” At first I thought it was lazy research, but then it dawned on me: because there are photos of my children and even my mother in that essay. This isn’t a random act by a “loving steward.” It was a threat. This is how the Antifa-academic network incites violence toward anyone who dissents to their malevolent madness.
Isn’t it strange how people will publicly participate in discussion then cast judgement on others who do the same, all while acting like rhetoric is some sort of sin? Counterfeit virtue for thee, and urging silence for me is the only folly happening here.
Another kind of purity spiraling can be seen below. It’s often pushed on American Orthodox by foreigners who have immigrated here. Maybe this is why so many of them have such a fondness for the puritanical-progressivism. It fits right in with the high regard they have for themselves.
Behold, two examples of hate for the Dixian. At left below, a scalawag calls the fellowship “parasitic.” I don’t know this man personally, but my guess is that he thinks only people who fit “neatly” into his “deluded [pro-globohomo] political boxes” deserve to hear the Gospel, whereas he somehow rationalizes that redemption of the archetype’s soul is political. That’s the level of brainwashing we’re dealing with here, folks.
At right above is Kevin’s response when I asked him what was so “terrific” about Aram’s secular poison couched as “journalism.” His retort perfectly encapsulates the Yankee elitism and vanity that Southerners have been suffering under for so long. So palpable is his lack of self-awareness (read: moving to the South and then calling “extreme” proponents of the very culture in which he has embedded himself) and his utter disregard toward the natives. My stance isn’t political; it’s familial.
But just how do I know Kevin’s back story? Well, my family and I were his fellow parishioners for 3 and a half years. After my chrismation, I sung alto right beside his wife in a parish choir in which he was head director. My family brought the two of them back a gift from Russia after our visit there in 2018-2019 because we always had a good relationship with them. I’ve been to Kevin’s house for a choir practice/party, and he invited my husband, sons, and I to attend one of his performances at the college where he teaches.
And all those times I wore a ring bearing the image of Gen. A.P. Hill, my highest-ranking Confederate ancestor, which never seemed to bother him. Why? Because he has no clue about real American history.
Kevin also has no clue about civility or compassion. After all, isn’t it a sad testament of the woke renovationism within the Church that it didn’t even occur to Kevin to say to Aram, “Hey, I know Rebecca in real life, so maybe you should be careful about the aspersions you’re so easily casting upon a whole slew of people you’ve never met. I may not want to be a part of this new fellowship, but that doesn’t mean that evangelizing to Southern folks, who I’ve lived among for decades and have been nothing but hospitable to my family, are just as in need of the Gospel as anyone else.”
Now wouldn’t that have been the Christian thing to do? Alas, there’s little love for the Dixian.
The day after Charlottesville 2017, my husband and I invited our then-priest over to our house. We always wore our hearts on our sleeves about our love of Southern culture and home, our honoring of ancestors, and our concern with the erasure of Southern history. But this was a watershed moment and we were particularly troubled by the knee-jerk and ill-informed proclamations of fellow parishioners taking to social media to assure anyone and everyone how in opposition to Nazism they were. So stunning and brave.
So we asked him outright: “Can we be pro-Southern and Orthodox?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Do we have to buy into Southern self-hatred to be Orthodox?”
“No,” he replied. “Christianity is not a suicide pact.” Sadly, not all priests agree.
I really shouldn’t give Rod Dreher too much grief. Honestly, he handled the hit piece and news of the fellowship with way more aplomb than did some Orthodox priests. Here’s a sampling.
Fr. Photius implies that the fellowship is racist and even demands some kind of hierarchical action. Yet, slandering St. Vlad’s is a bridge too far for him. What a strange reaction coming from a priest who’s also a native Texan.
You really don’t need to “fight off” evangelizing to Dixians, Fr. Basil. We got it.
Speaking out against the lies hurled at a seminary? Check. Defending your fellow Orthodox Christians against fallacious attacks? Eh, not so much.
My last-ditch attempts to reach some sort of common ground with Frs. Basil and Photius.
I would think that of all people an Orthodox priest would see that the orgy of iconoclasm against Southerners which has been taking place for years is absolutely a cultural genocide. When the Bolsheviks destroyed symbols of Orthodoxy and the Tsar, was that not a cultural genocide and did that not lead to an existential genocide? “Oh, but the Russian Empire had serfdom, so they deserved it,” says no serious Orthodox.
Ethnic parishes, Hellenic and Russian groups, and fellowships aimed at minorities are fine. But God forbid someone thinks we should have Orthodoxy presented to traditionally minded people of the South from their own cultural milieu.
The above comment is purely a political polemic based in bad history and presentism, not the edifying words one would expect (or at least hope) from clergy. My guess is that he thinks counter-signaling will keep him safe from the Bolshevik onslaught. I would not dare say he is one of the cultural-Marxists himself, in the way he tacitly fosters the dangerous libel of white supremacy against me and so many others, all of whom I’m assuming he too has never met. My mama taught me better than that.
Rather, Fr. Basil is simply the product of the puritanical-progressive reconstruction that too many Americans fall prey to. I get it; the sectarian Lincolnian mythos really is hard to escape since it’s so entrenched in media, pop culture, K-12, and academia. Most people take the path of least resistance since it requires few risks. In fact, you’ll even get lauded for espousing it.
What I will not give Fr. Basil the benefit of the doubt on is his ghastly hubris regarding converts, and his perpetuation of the spiritual and political slavery for my children. Fr. Basil could certainly learn some gentlemanly behavior from studying Robert E. Lee, but alas, he won’t see that option as he is blinded by the gigantic plank in his own eye.
Perhaps he did actually read some of the essays at Dissident Mama and the fellowship website. But my suggestion to you, dear reader, is that you judge for yourself what is stomach-churning: My content? Or Fr. Basil’s utter disdain for Dixians, who he clearly sees as inferior.
Most clergy are men of integrity and goodwill and can be engaged with in honest dialog. However, my guess is most academics, laity, and priests truly infected by hatred of the archetype are lost causes, pardon the pun. And unfortunately, these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Let’s settle it
Maybe the Orthodox Church should have a council to settle these matters once and for all. Are Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbians, Georgians, and every people group allowed to care for “their countrymen” other than Southerners? And funny thing is: we’re the only collective that actually has real, organic diversity honoring the God-ordained Nations, not the fake and coercive kind that leftists and their progressive-piety schemes try to force down our throats.
If the council were to denounce the fellowship’s mission or codify that Dixians’ souls don’t matter, so be it. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve felt the systemic sting and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. And if the council didn’t, maybe we could once and for all affirm with a clear voice: of course all Southern lives (both temporally and eternally) matter!
A silver lining to all this hoopla is that it’s just more evidence as to why the fellowship is so necessary: because the demonized Dixian needs love and care, yet it’s abundantly clear that there are many religious folks that see him as a cancer. We must provide our Southern neighbors with an escape from this spiritual and social apartheid that is being condoned by some in the Church today and access to the healing of the “hospital.”
As a good Orthodox friend of mine wrote in response to my original Aram rebuttal, “I’m thinking that I can admit I’ve tried to understand the point of the fellowship but had been somewhat confused … until now!! And I think this Aram actually did the fellowship a great service by shedding light on my something wonderful!!! You should be so proud … I totally get it now and I think many people who may have needed months or years to stumble across it will now seek it out!”
Another silver lining of the neo-Bolshevik blather is that it further illustrates how the spirit of the age is aimed squarely at tearing down the Church. Pray. Repent. Prepare. And tread carefully out there, brothers and sisters. It’s a minefield!
“Whereas the first four Commandments reflect the Lord’s command to love God with all one’s heart, soul and mind, the last six reflect the second command of the Lord to love one’s neighbor as oneself.”* It’s really not that hard, y’all.
Comments
Doctored King was a fraud. Lincoln was a tyrant. The confederacy was heroic . The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was illegal. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was illegal. If believing all these things makes you a white supremacist then so be it.
Author
You forgot about the Immigration Act of 1965, too. As Ann Coulter wrote on the 50th anniversary of the horrid piece of legislation: “Apparently, the ‘American experiment’ is actually some kind of sociological trial in which we see if people who have no history of Western government can run a constitutional republic.” Turns out, the trial failed for freedom but was a boon for the oligarchy, just as they knew it would be. https://vdare.com/articles/ted-kennedy-s-1965-immigration-act-the-war-on-america-turns-50
What a bunch of hypocrites these Pharisees like Frs Basil and Photius are! “Lord, thank God I’m not like THOSE Southrons..” Pitiful. These are the same types that literally have no problem with Orthodoxy enculturating literally any other ethnicity. Being white, particularly a Southron, is the Original Sin of America’s new religion of Progressivism. These clerics better wise up. If the neo-Boksheviks have their way, these useful idiots would be the first against the wall. Their appeasement and virtue signaling will not save them.
Author
Well said, Mike. Silver lining of the coming gulags is you and I can say “I told you so.”
Once again, thanks for standing up to this! As you know, there’s a BIG difference between the Christian virtue of kindness and mere niceness (You know, the Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt be nice!”)! Why any of us as Christians and Southerners should just go along with this is beyond me! No, we shouldn’t be starting fights, but we shouldn’t pliantly acquiesce, either! The ground we yield is not entirely ours to yield; it’s been bought and paid for by previous generations of our forebears, and needs to be preserved for our descendants.
Author
I so love this: “The ground we yield is not entirely ours to yield; it’s been bought and paid for by previous generations of our forebears, and needs to be preserved for our descendants.” Yaaaaas! It’s not just about us. This fact is why it’s so hard for lefties and their useful-idiot enablers to understand why we resist. Everything they do is about self, whereas ours is a self-interest that includes both love of ancestors and progeny.
Holy Cow! In a mere page, you have delivered enough smug sarcasm to choke several field mules. You must be proud! I would note that, while sarcastic smugness certainly has its place as a potent intervention (think Zola and his purchase of the headline in a French daily to defend Alfred Dreyfus, “the most smoky, the most complicated spirit,” who seemed to be ocupado with “mysterious women who peddle overwhelming evidence at night.” Yeah, buddy, they only come out at night!). “J’ACCUSE!” said Zola. Overdone/overused, however, smug sarcasm can be reflective of one’s heart, disposition, and personality.
Before I “scroll past” and “let you alone,” let me say that in my mind, this “situation,” né obsession with Southern whatever (and as Fr. Alexander Schmemann would remark on such occasions, “Pardon me, but who cares?”), has absolutely nothing to do with geographic location. In my mind, what you are doing is the direct corollary of what you complain over. I would ask you, how do your ugly comments regarding commentators (and I would note I find it particularly offensive that you have engaged in the cheap trik of “investigating” them and their “background”) differ from your (sarcastic) statement:
“Isn’t it strange how people who publicly participate in discussion then cast judgement on others who do the same, all while acting like rhetoric is some sort of sin? Counterfeit virtue for thee, and urging silence for me is the only folly happening here.”
wow. Even Zola would cringe at your “rhetoric.”
Further, I would note that extensive research conducted in the previous year as to the nature of “fringe” groups in the US (again, not Southern, but rather “traditionist,” far-right associations) describe the 1st task is to create classist jingoism for the followers (e.g. “sectarian Lincolnian mythos,” “pro-globohomo,” “Antifa-academic network, blah, blah, blah). You reek. Likewise, while whining about “cancel culture,” they systematically “cancel” anyone who disagrees with their “canon(s),” not by using data to challenge “rhetoric,” but rather by discrediting, demeaning, and “exposing” opposers by data mining. Ouch, and your 2nd strike. And lastly, they ascribe to themselves the idea of “vanguard of truth,” yet are too naive and/or uninformed – or even lying – about the basic tenets of their “position” (e.g. I have argued for years that no one apparently cares that Russia has a 20-year average of 1.3 million state-sanctioned abortions per year – President Putin is a potent defender of a woman’s right to choose and sits on the largest state-provided abortion system in the world, and the Russian district with the most abortions per year (drum roll…) is Moscow (and that would be in the very backyard of the Patriarch of the silent Russian Orthodox Church). I have never met you, but the word is you can’t hit the inside fastball, inside and at the knees, and that is strike 3. Thanks for playing.
I conclude by reminding you that nowhere does the Lord speak of “traditionalists,” and this is a very real attempt to set yourselves apart from the “puritanical-progressive reconstruction” of those with more than a BA, ever word of which is political BS. What the Lord say was:
“Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” He answered and said to them ‘Did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” (Mk. 7:5-8)
And St. Paul wrote:
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all (1 Cor. 12:4-6).” “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (v.12)
My point? You cannot tell me to “scroll by” and “leave us alone” and still continue to be a part of what the Fathers describe on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the “undivided cloth of the cloak of the Lord.”
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all (1 Cor. 12:4-6).” “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (v.12)
Your long winded sanctimonious reply reeks of self righteousness and shows a total lack of understanding our culture. Which is typical. Save your diatribe for the progressives that are actually trying to alter Church doctrine.
Typical of what? Friend, all you far-right jamokes are capable of doing is following the script I described: demean & discredit, lean on the jingo, & cancel. You’re by the book ‘bro, nothing more, nothing less. I’m a “progressive” like you are competent to carry on a cogent, succinct discussion. You bore me, ‘bro. Next.
Move along then. We don’t care what you think or have to say. Worry about how all of your cradles are abandoning the Church while we are swelling Her ranks.
What exactly are you selling here, champ? As near as I can tell, you seem to be suggesting that Truth and Righteousness are measured in numbers? Seriously? Here’s a thought: get out a volume of Orthodox Church History and see the number of times the “swollen ranks” were comprised of the heterodox and the heretics; on several occasions – including the time of the notorious Council of Florence in 1441 – where the Saints wrote that they feared “the Church was lost.” Likewise, I strongly recommend the article, “The Authority of the Ancient Councils and the Tradition of the Fathers” by Archpriest George Florovsky, found in Volume I of his Collected Works, “Bible, Church, Tradition,” as your comment was plainly ignorant.
As for your comment about “my cradle” abandoning the Church, I would ask you how you interpret Matt. 18:11? Apparently, you have concluded that you are absolved from responsibility because… well, apparently just because you are enamoured with the “get lost” message you gave me. But St. Chrysostom would ask you,
“If then God thus rejoices over the little one that is found, how do you despise them that are the objects of God’s earnest care, when one ought to give up even one’s very life for one of these little ones? For even He Himself left the ninety and nine sheep, and went after this, and the safety of so many availed not to throw into the shade the loss of one. But Luke says, that He even brought it on his shoulders, and that “There was greater joy over one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine just persons” (Lk. 15:7)… though the work be laborious, though we must pass over mountains and precipices, let all things be held endurable for the salvation of our brother. For a soul is an object of such earnest care to God, that “He spared not His own Son.” (Rom. 8:32)
Hey ‘bro, I am your brother.
My last word, Friend, is that you have wrongly presumed my “politics” as “progressive” or some other BS with which you have attempted to tag me simply because you don’t like my criticism. I hate politics, period. And I am nauseated by those who comfortably and casually mix politics with our gift of the Orthodox Faith. For this much, you owe me an apology.
Author
Behold the the Yankee mindset of Stankovich. Hubris and projection as far as the eye can see, but self-awareness? Nowhere to be found. I’m actually glad he spent so much time at my website. Not only are his words just further evidence supporting my essay’s premise, but his feverish typing in crafting insults at Mike and me and being offended that I’m a journalist with a lowly degree who actually researches – gasp! – but it also upped my web traffic and search algorithms. Thanks, champ! I do wonder, though, if good ol’ Stankovich will be hurling the same “nonpolitical” jibes veiled in spirituality at the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black. Somehow, I think not.
I don’t owe you squat brother. If anything, you owe us an apology. Tend to your own household.
Author
Thanks for fightin’ the good rhetorical fight, brother! Stay tough out there in clown world and let us never allow the haters to steal our joy. After all, the devil delights in despair.
I don’t let aliens from either the Left Coast or New England (I’m willing to bet this guy is from one of those 2 areas) steal my joy or try to make me feel guilty or somehow “less Christian” because we love the Southland and want Dixie enculturated with the Truth of Holy Orthodoxy. All I have left to say about Stankovich is, “Bless his heart!”
“Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1 Peter 15:-17)
I had somehow imagined a “refutation” addressing the content of what I wrote, but all the while realistically expecting to be personally demeaned and cancelled. Good job, kids! You did not disappoint.
Your obsession with geography is silly and childish. Perhaps you recall the words of the Protomartyr and Deacon Steven, who openly castigated the “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears” elders:
“The Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
‘Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?’” (Acts 7:48-51)
That I would attempt to “steal your joy” or attempt to make you feel guilty – or feel anything, for that matter – must be one of the most ridiculous comments I have have read in a long while. I am not the “martyr-maker,”so do not employee me. I have no interest in your location whatsoever, but I do object to your claim of “traditionalist” Orthodox Christianity, as it is nothing but a contrived a distinction, and a similarly misguided attempt to “boast” like those who claimed to be “of Paul,” or “of Apollos” (cf. 1 Cor. 1:12) in order to distinguish themselves and demand special “recognition.” Likewise, I object to the divisive use of American politics in the Church as a shameful motivation that Fr. Alexander Schmemann described as “religious secularism,” characterized by the fact that “They have forgotten that peace and concord in the Church are inseparable from the Truth”:
“We should not be seduced by controversies about how to plan our Church life in accordance with the Truth, because in these controversies there burns a living anguish for the Church and its destiny, but rather by the sea of indifference among the Church populace itself which surrounds these controversies and by the skepticism with which even religious people treat these matters as “unimportant.””
To Dissident Mama, I am hardly interested in your academic achievements, but for the number of times I have read you mentioning your “lowly degree,” it doesn’t seem to me you need any prompting in your feelings of inadequacy. I also strongly suspect that much of your bravado and mean-spirited comments is derived from the same source. Trust me, I have worked as a physician in state prisons, Death Row, Administrative Segregation, and management of high-risk sex-offenders on parole – in other words, the most despicable and loathed characters in our society – that if I were “furiously typing” because of my offense at you being a journalist, you would know it immediately. Nevertheless, if you are, in fact, competent to engage in anything but insult or smug sarcasm, I invite you. But I won’t hold my breath…
Vladyka Averky (Taushev) of Jordanville:
“We dare not and should not capitulate in anything and in any way, no matter what demands may be made on us! Better to go to a catacomb position, like the Church in the USSR, than to “sell your birthright for a lentil stew”!
After all, our Church does not receive her high dignity, her rights and powers from a human state power, but from the Divine Founder of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the only one for the Church – the Supreme Power and Indisputable Authority and no one else! To Him alone our Church must be completely faithful…
Our exceptional position, as the only now completely free and true Church of Christ in the world, then obliges us to ensure that everything in our Church is flawless and irreproachable – without the slightest reproach. At least, we should strive with all our might to achieve this, try to do it. Our late Vladyka Metropolitan Anastassy often liked to recall the words once said by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, that on the white metropolitan hood every smallest speck is already visible, and this obliges the bearer to be especially vigilant over himself. We can say exactly the same about our Russian Church Abroad. We dare not leave without attention even the slightest speck to which others could point with their finger and laughing at us, say: “Look: is this a true Church? And what’s going on in it!” We dare not, should not tolerate anything shameful, anything compromising our Church…
There should be no false shepherds in the True Church!…
We must not look condescendingly and turn a blind eye to negative phenomena in our Church that humiliate her honor and dignity, but must eradicate them with all determination.”
Bless your heart.
(Southerners will understand).
In 1974, I had the great honour of meeting Vladyka Averky at the Vespers of the Rite of Forgiveness at the ROCOR Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign on 93rd St. in NYC. I had spent the day with the clergy of St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church on 96th St., and their Bishop Makarey invited me to walk the three blocks with them for vespers. This is a story unto itself… In any case, when I told Vladyka that I wanted to visit the seminary & monastery, he arranged accommodations for me. I cannot recall much of what he said to me when we had tea – I was in such awe that I could barely speak. What I do recall distinctly, however, was his kindness and a warm, gentle character. After reading the quote you provided, and my description of his warmth and character, what do you imagine he would say about the ugly, divisive, and hateful American political commentary scrambled into this post, supposedly written in defense of the Orthodox Faith we hold? “And what communion does light have with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14) And what to make of the instruction of St. Peter:
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:13-15)
We are called to carry the Good News of the Salvation of our God to any and all that will listen and receive it (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”), and a specific mission to the South, for example, at face, should be edifying and acceptable to all. But a house built on the sand of divisive American politics and messages of “scroll by,” “leave us alone,” and the creation of a contrived distinction – “traditonalist” – will necessarily fail. (cf. Matt. 7:26). You are welcome to disparage me with any jingoistic labels you wish, but we – the Church – are saved together, or not at all.
Yeah, I get that “Bless his heart” is mockery. Its impact, like smug sarcasm, however, is significantly diminished with repetition. [Free translation: “Enough already.”]
Yes, Abp Averky was a kind and warm man, I am sure. He also was one that would never compromise Truth. What do think he would say to folks trying to enculturate and evangelize their people to true Orthodoxy vs what he would say to the subversive renovationists inside the Church that are literally trying to get Her to capitulate to the World and to accept very un-Orthodox and un-Christian precepts, like queer “marriage”, “pro-choice”, transgender insanity, hatred of all things from heritage Americans, etc, etc? Do you HONESTLY believe for one minute we would be condemned and these subversives celebrated or lauded somehow? Give me a break. Accuse us of politicizing all you want, but it is these “progressivist” destroyers politicizing the Church and everything else. We have no desire WHATSOEVER to change one jot or tittle of canonical, traditional Orthodox teaching and dogma. So, accuse us all you want, but you have it all backwards, Bubba. Do you follow and make comment after comment on the Society of St Moses the Black’s website, criticizing their desire, admirable as it is, to proselytize Black Americans? Do you write letters to the editor at Public “Orthodoxy” and “Orthodoxy” in Dialogue criticizing their glib and shameless acceptance of sodomy, renovation, ecumenism, and even transgenderism? Or do you only feel the need to pick on Southrons who are Orthodox and love the Church and their culture and wish that to learn of and become Orthodox as well?
You don’t seem to grasp a very ancient principle of “natural law,” such that if a belief, an idea, an opinion, a motivation, or an action is immoral and unethical, it is always immoral & unethical, regardless of who holds or propagates the opinion, or conducts the action. This is a serious error in logic and the process of analytical thinking. This is an immature form of distraction that appeals to a childhood understanding of “fairness” that would shift the focus elsewhere in three words, “What about them?” I will not be drawn into such a discussion because from an ethical & moral standpoint, “they” are insignificant.
Apparently, in this same vein, you are building a case of my hypocrisy; a case where you are being “picked on” because of your geographic location, while others are not. I have been to the Public Orthodoxy site once, which was all it took to convince me there was nothing I found edifying, and I have never returned [you might be amused to know that I hold an advanced degree from Fordham University in Bioethics, from the days when Fr. John Meyendorff taught there]. I have never heard of the site dedicated to St. Moses, and I do not understand why you keep bringing it up.
For the record, I resigned from an embarrassingly lucrative position in my county mental health system two years ago
because I refused to address trans patients in the gender they “identified with,” as opposed to their birth gender. When I was called into HR and told I was required to participate in “sensitivity” training. I refused to comply & I resigned. My wife went berserk for a day, but eventually agreed with my decision. Letters I have written regarding gender dysphoria and homosexuality were published in the NYTimes, Washington Post, and other media (one of which put me in dialog with GLAAD, where I requested a public debate on the “science” of transgender (there is none), and I received no response, other than death threats.
Lastly, you are concluding with a variant of the simple distraction, “What about them?” that would absolve you because “politicizing” is somehow “not as bad” as progressive destruction. If you have not read the dogmatic works of Fr. Michael Pomazonsky of Jordanville, you should because they are superlative. He speaks of these Pharisaic “tricks” of rationalization and the denial of the cosmic impact of deceit, hostility, mean-spirited degradation, and the divisiveness that characterizes “politicizing.” The fact is, I did not come to this site because of “Dixie” or the South – and again I say, attempts to bring the Good News of the salvation of our God to your own region and culture is admirable and edifying. I came here because a friend of mine – an Orthodox priest who is thoughtful, educated, sensitive, analytical, fair, and a servant in the best sense of the word – was demeaned and insulted for no reason other than disagreement. This is shameful, unjustified, and an embarrassment for the Church projected to the World Wide Web.
To answer your question regarding Vladyka Averky, I believe his response would be similar to mine: a campaign that, at face, appears to be founded in good faith, but in actual practice has shown itself to be shamefully divisive. What do I believe he would say to those who would say to him, “Scroll on by, and leave us alone?” I believe he would say your foundation of anger, animosity, and divisiveness is built on sand, and is bound to fail.
I can’t help but cringe at how completely self-unaware you are. You come in here attacking DM as being smug while being a complete dick, yourself. You’re pissed because your priest friend was being an asshole online and DM exposed it. Talk about Pharisaical. You keep demeaning our homeland and ancestry by implying we’re only concerned with a “geographic location”, then you claim to support the evangelical efforts of the Ludwell Foundation (which, of course, you couldn’t care less about).
You did exactly what the people in the original post did. You saw something you didn’t like (due to your obvious anti-Southern bias) and instead of taking the high-road and just ignoring it and moving on, you decided to spend an inordinate amount of time attacking us because you obviously think your “advanced degree” and “lucrative career” make you sooo much better than us slack-jawed yokels.
Get of your friggin’ high-horse and just leave us the hell alone. And if you and your super brilliant friends don’t want your bullshit called out in public, then maybe stop calling people you don’t agree with white supremacists. You pine for Orthodox unity but came in here guns blazing without the slightest desire to see things from our point-of-view. With Orthodox “friends” such as yourself, who the hell needs enemies?
Fine. Have your precious last word. You’re obviously not going to stop this ridiculous diatribe until you do. Youre also not going to change my mind.. Your priest friend was snarky, condescending, and absolutely incorrect in his observations. Calling people Pharisees when one is literally doing what they did is also an old Pharisaical trick. So have a good day. I am done conversing with you as it is pointless. I shall shake the dust off of my feet.
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