An Orthodox
priest murdered by the Soviets, Father Pavel Florensky, wrote a few words that
are very relevant for the West today:
‘In its
extreme, the state of Pharisaism is a spiritual delusion, where a certain state
becomes an idol. At the same time it is a very close imitation of
what is genuine. And once a person has entered into this circle,
there is no way out, since even an errant prayer gives joy and a feeling of
satisfaction, while feeding all the other feelings, pride, conceit, arrogance,
etc., so that the more his soul is filled with this tinsel glitter, the greater
will be his desire to pray and the more obstinate he will be in his error and
convinced of his righteousness. And only a miracle, which is what a
deep fall usually is, can open his eyes and show him how far he has gone in his
error. This helps to explain the aphorism of Amvrosy of Optina,
which he stated as a rule for young monks: “Do not be afraid of any
sin, even fornication; rather, be afraid of fasting and prayer (At the
Crossroads of Science & Mysticism, Boris Jakim, ed. & trans.,
Kettering, Ohio, Semantron Press, 2014, pgs. 114-5).”’
This is a
very accurate description of the current state of the West, which is trapped in
the prideful delusion that the various ideologies she has spawned – liberalism,
Papism, Protestantism, transhumanism, etc – are the most flawless constructs
with which the world has ever been blessed.
And this arrogance causes her to force these false and harmful teachings
and ways of living onto other peoples.
A perfect
incarnation of this deluded Western attitude is found in the life of Thérèse of
Lisieux (1873-1897), a young French woman canonized by the Roman Catholic
Church and highly venerated by its members.
She is described rather glowingly in an essay by Dr Cicero Bruce:
‘ . . . [O]n the occasion of Thérèse’s profession of faith . . . ,
Thérèse wrote a customary letter addressed to the Eternal Groom, in which she
implored “Jesus, my Divine Spouse,” to allow her to die a martyr: “Give me
martyrdom of heart or body, or rather give me both.” Her wish was apparently
granted, for after having lived as a Carmelite for less than a decade, Sr.
Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, also known as the “Little
Flower,” died on September 30, 1897, after a brief life of 24 years and a
prolonged illness from tuberculosis, the agonizingly painful torments of which
she refused to alleviate with readily available morphine, preferring the
“narcotic promise of Christ,” as Harrison puts it, and believing, in Bro’s
words, “that the least of her sufferings, offered with love, could save a
soul.” Twenty-six years after her death, Thérèse was beatified, and, in 1925,
her sainthood was proclaimed in the speediest canonization to date in the
history of the Catholic Church.
‘ . . . Bro
depicts the life of a magnanimous soul whom Pope Pius X called the “greatest
saint of modern times,” a soul whose passion for Christ was so violent that she
“threw her whole life off-center,” and whose recorded words and deeds “move us
off center and oblige us to find our bearings once again” in the whirl of
time.’
This is the
view of Miss Thérèse in the contorted view of the West: She is an angel, the ‘greatest saint of
modern times’. But how does she appear
to those who have not departed from the way of the Apostles? Dr Alexei Osipov, a professor of theology and
an Orthodox Christian, shows us her true nature in his essay ‘Why Are We Orthodox?’. He says,
‘Yet another illustration of
sanctity in Catholicism is Therese of Lisieux ("The Little Flower,"
or "Of the Child Jesus"), who, in 1997, the centennial of her repose,
was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by the "infallible" decision of
Pope John Paul II. Here are several quotes from the spiritual biography of
Therese, who only lived to the age of twenty-two, which eloquently witness to
her spiritual state (The Story of a Soul [Paris,
1996]).
‘"During a conversation
before my tonsure, I gave a report of the activities I intend to undertake in
Carmel. ‘I came to save souls, and first of all, to pray for
priests.'” Not having saved herself yet, she came to save others!
. . .
The rest is
at https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/west-sick-thinks-she-healthy .
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
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