Monasteries, monks, & monuments – part 2

Below is Hieromonk Gabriel’s response to the letter I sent to Hermitage of the Holy Cross Monastery. In his heartfelt and forthright message, we are given some explanation and clarification regarding his “Of Wrath and Righteousness” essays. Much of this is positive news, especially that Brother Gabriel is indeed for Confederate monuments staying up unmolested in the public square. He even assured me in a subsequent email that he loves the South deeply, as do all the fathers at the monastery.

But all this does lead me to a few remaining questions: why is it like pulling teeth to get Christians of goodwill to speak up for the Southland and her symbols? And why is it the default position that the South (both at present and heritage-wise) be the whipping boy no matter the issue? I know the former is a hard sell these days, but the latter really is a pretty easy path for intellectually honest Christians to take. There’s no need to wade through tired tropes in order to get at the heart of the matter. Just stop working under the progressive paradigm.

Lastly, if you’re a Christian who wants to evangelize to BLM-Antifa, why don’t you simply do that? Go to them. Be in the presence of the demonic and preach the Good News to them. Explain that they’re surrounded by dark forces and that Christ is the light. Tell them they’re being led to the slaughter by godless forces, but Jesus is the Lamb, and that they need not seek a new religion built upon sin, but should rather embrace the ancient, life-giving, unchanging faith of Orthodox Christianity. None of these positions has to be mutually exclusive.

Lastly, I told Fr. Gabriel that forgiveness isn’t necessary. I am thankful for his reply and his consideration of my perspectives, while he certainly made me think about a few nuanced positions. And my hope is that your comments to our discussion will be “food for thought” for us both – always a good thing.

Dear Rebecca,

First and foremost, I sincerely and honestly beg your forgiveness for the offence I caused you through my article. I tried to write the article with some degree of gentleness and neutrality in order to reach as many people as possible with its main message, to wit: regardless of our political beliefs and persuasions, our Christian faith teaches us that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God,” and that the only way to help our country lies not in rage toward the wrongs of others, but in our own personal repentance, forgiveness, prayer, and love.

However, after I received several responses it became clear that my poor choice of words led some people to believe that I was advocating the removal of Confederate monuments. This was not at all the case, and I tried to clarify my language in that regard (as you noticed). What I was advocating was a willingness to hear what others have to say, to consider their points of view; this is what I meant by
“consider removing them.” As I said, I later realized based on the responses of others that this phrasing sounded like I was saying we should remove them (though even the first version of the article included my statement that I was not taking a position one way or the other), and so I changed it to read “enter into a discussion” regarding them.

Considering one another’s point of view is certainly a street that should run both ways: as I wrote even in the earliest version of the article, “there are points on both sides to be considered.” I mentioned that many (if not all) of the protestors against monuments have been taught that the Confederacy was simply about the preservation of slavery. I believe this idea is false, yet the fact that many people believe it is an undeniable fact, and I know of no way to remedy the situation that does not involve discussion, and to simply ignore the grief and anger that these people feel is likely to merely further radicalize them. Therefore I originally wrote that we should consider their desire to remove them – again, not meaning that we should automatically give in to this desire.

On the other hand, many of the Confederate leaders were beyond doubt men of great faith and virtue, and there exist many important and compelling reasons to honor them of which (as you wrote) so many people are totally ignorant. And truly, I myself do honor a great many of these men, and realize that regardless of whatever sins they may have committed, nevertheless I myself will almost certainly never equal them in their virtues. I also believe that a great many of those who fought for the Confederacy did so to defend their homes, not to perpetuate slavery.

But again, I know of no way to remedy the situation in which we find ourselves that does not involve a discussion. Perhaps my hope that such discussion might at least in some cases bear good fruit is naïve. Yet I feel that we ought to try, to give one another every chance to give an account for what we each believe, rather than simply assuming the worst about each other and walking away.

All that aside, I did call the destruction of monuments by mobs “deeply disturbing,” and myself referred to the monuments as “the honored dead.” I went on to warn of the dangers of lawlessness, citing examples of the “cancel culture” which you also in your letter provided many further examples of – and which are without doubt of the most grave concern. I wrote about all these things as “the dark side” of the movements reacting to Floyd’s death.

I deliberately avoided mentioning the organizations BLM/Antifa not because I have some hidden sympathy for them (I assure you fervently that I do not), but because especially at the time of the article there were many people (including some Orthodox people) who, while not involved in those radical organizations, wanted to work toward making America a better nation, and were therefore considering participating in protests or even condoning riots. And again, in my article I was trying to point them towards Christ, towards acquiring the Spirit of Peace, towards personal repentance and a disposition of forgiveness and love, and thereby to point them away from riots and radical ideologies.

BLM especially at that time was problematic to speak about directly since many people supported the statement “black lives matter” but had no idea of the radical ideologies being put forward by the organization Black Lives Matter. Again, I was not trying to somehow hiddenly support them, but to focus not on anyone’s opinion about an organization or even a set of political beliefs, but rather on Christ and on His own response to injustice – meek and humble forgiveness, love, and prayer.

To address further some of your specific points: I did not at any time postulate “systemic racism.” Nor did I at any time claim that only “certain people” must repent of national sins – I believe that we must all repent for our failures to love one another as Christ loves, and there is not a single American who is exempt from such repentance. No part or people in this country is without something to repent of, nor is there any part or people in this country who have not been wronged. It is not that I am “willing to see a good and a bad side in BLM-Antifa” – I reject both of these organizations as profoundly anti-Christian in their states aims, beliefs, etc.

However, I do see a good and a bad side in the reaction the nation as a whole had to Floyd’s death – the desire to make our country a place where all are treated fairly is good, the decision to somehow try to accomplish this with violence and lawlessness is both bad and hopeless. And I certainly am not unwilling to see good in the South. I never meant at all, in any way whatsoever, to demean the South, Southern culture, or Southern people. I sincerely and with my whole heart ask forgiveness for having caused you to believe that I did.

Nor am I by any means unconcerned with the progress of the Revolution in the world as a whole and in our country in particular – I have written extensively about this in many of the articles on my blog, which I think make abundantly clear that I am not trying to secretly further the aims of revolutionaries. I did not choose at that moment this summer to focus on an intellectual analysis of the dangerous trends of modernity or how they came into play in the Floyd protests and riots, since I judged (perhaps wrongly) that the particularly fractious and divisive forces rearing their heads in our country were better countered by a call for all of us to love one another unconditionally and to forgive whatever wrongs have been done.

Though I am extremely concerned over the direction we are heading as a society, yet I am also very concerned we are no longer giving each other the benefit of the doubt, that we are reflexively lumping all sorts of people together and assuming that all of them share the most vile beliefs and intentions of our most radical opponents. If I had taken that moment to condemn everyone involved with the protests over Floyd’s death, no doubt I would have been condemning some true and dangerous enemies of the Church and of our country.

Yet I believe I also would have been condemning many Americans of good will, some perhaps confused, many no doubt misinformed … but nevertheless of good will, who would have then seen the Church as an opponent of their desire to love their neighbor in the best way they knew how. So I tried to be gentle, to give people the benefit of the doubt, and again and most importantly to point to Christ and not political movements as the only solution to sin and unrighteousness.

Yes, we must be aware of what is going on. Yet we must also be aware that each and every soul is someone for whom Christ died, and for whom we ought to be willing to go to any length to save and to bring to Christ. Like you yourself, as a youth I was once seduced by some of these poisonous ideologies. Yet the Church did not reject me, but reached out with gentleness and forgiveness and began to heal me of my many sins and follies. I was trying to do the same in my article, for those who were willing to listen.

Yet I know that all too many of my own sins and follies still remain. I know I have made and continue to make many mistakes. Perhaps my article was written in a way that was wrong and foolish, but I can assure you it was not written with malevolence toward anyone, including the Confederacy and the South.

For all my sins and errors which have affected you in any way, whether through my article or otherwise, I sincerely and with my whole heart beg your forgiveness. If you have any suggestions on how I might correct myself,  I would be most grateful to hear them.

In Christ,
Fr. Gabriel