‘A Final Ray of Light’

 

Thick hordes of demons gather

In the aerial realms to hide

The Light of the Spiritual Sun –

The Ascended Logos of God

And Son of Theotokos Virgin,

United forever to human flesh –

To inaugurate the time of the final,

Fatal deception among Adam’s race.

Darkness descends upon the world,

And man, blind, without discernment,

Stumbles, to their great satisfaction,

Falling further, sinking deeper,

Into the abyss of destructive acts.

 

But Divine Light has not been extinguished

Utterly in the earth; it still shines

Brilliantly from the bodies and souls

Of holy men and women, the solace

Of all those suffering the demons’

Torments.  They shriek in a twisting

Agony of rage at the sight,

The Grace streaming from this tiny remnant

Still a burning flame that sears the sinful,

Unclean spirits, driving them in their envy

And anguish to a fevered madness,

Longing to murder the pure lamps of Light.

 

And so they seized you, Brother José,

The Chosen of the Mother of God,

A final ray of Light shining

Upon the dying world, and with all

The furious hatred of the devil’s kind,

They beat and mutilated you

Until Christ God called your soul to His side –

Desperate that repentance and humility

Be driven from the world forever,

And the wonder-working Iveron Icon,

Destroyed.

 

                        How spectacularly have they failed!

The body they maimed and killed has become

An even brighter light than before,

A source of more miracles, fresh consolations,

Increased sanctification.  The Iveron

Icon also has returned, gladdening

And strengthening the faithful Orthodox.

 

You were victorious, Great Martyr José,

But the corrupting poison of the serpent

Spreads throughout the world, the dry husk

Of civilization decaying in the dusk.

Gird us for the final hour,

When spiritual invalids

And demon-possessed, with glassy eye

But flinty step, will attack us

With their torture tools to break mind and body,

And kill us if our souls they can’t convert.

May the blood of Christians not be lacking then!

Nor few be the martyrs’ relics!

That the parched earth, withered by unrighteousness,

May be refreshed, and clothed in splendid verdure,

To welcome fittingly the Savior

When once again He comes, to close the age.

***

An abundance of details about the holy New Martyr Jose Munoz-Cortes (+30-31 Oct. 1997) is available here:

https://eadiocese.org/josemuozcortes

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

Remembrances for November

 

Dear friends, if you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day they reposed.  Many thanks.

But one may ask:  ‘What good does it do to pray for the departed?’  An answer is offered here:  https://orthochristian.com/130608.html

Along with prayers and hymns for the departed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6je5axPodI

10^th – Lott Carey, Colin Teague:  Both were slaves in Virginia who purchased their freedom and then became missionaries in West Africa.

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/lott-carey-11630295.html

https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/taylor/taylor.html

https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/t-u-v/teague-colin-collin-teage-c-1780-1839/

14^th – Booker T. Washington, a prominent leader in the postbellum South

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/booker-washingtons-bucket/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1073/booker-taliaferro-washington

15^th – Ambrose D. Mann, a colorful character who worked in the Confederacy’s diplomatic corps

http://www.chab-belgium.com/pdf/english/Mann.pdf

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74906039/ambrose-dudley-mann

15^th – Roy Clark, a talented musician and comedian, perhaps best known for his work on the TV show Hee Haw

https://countrymusichalloffame.org/artist/roy-clark/

20^th – John Lejeune, a Cajun fellow who had a big impact on the uS Marine Corps.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/the-greatest-of-all-leathernecks/

22^nd – Mary Boykin Chesnut, a valuable author and historian of the South

https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/chesnut/bio.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8574/mary-boykin-chesnut

23^rd – Louisa McCord and Marion Montgomery, a couple of very versatile and talented writers

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/a-lady-champion-of-free-trade/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9685397/louisa-susanna-mccord

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/marion-montgomery-1925-2011

Also, to celebrate some of the saints of November from the South’s Christian inheritance of various lands, follow this link on over:

https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2019/12/happy-feast-for-saints-of-november.html

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

St Alfred’s Day 2021

 

We wish you all a merry day as we celebrate the South’s main patron, St Alfred the Great of England!  May God have mercy on Dixie through his prayers!

With love for God, thou didst rise up from thy fen fastness at Athelney to fight the heathen as a valiant warrior of Christ, then turning to spiritual warfare, thou didst restore thy land, rebuilding the Church, trampling down demons, baptizing the heathen, and granting words of wisdom, learning and laws to all.

--http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/pdf/servs/Alfred.pdf

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

‘Ireland’

 

A peerless crystal city,

Transparent to Ireland’s

Natural beauty, gleaming

Green and blue; sub-civitas

Of Greater Jerusalem;

Rich colony of Christendom

Shining in the splendor

Of Holiness – This they fashioned

With their sacred hands:

Kevin of far-famed Glendalough,

Eoghan of Kilnamanach,

Teacher of belovèd Kevin,

Kieran of Clonmacnoise,

Who reposed so young,

And the entire luminous choir

Of the Irish saints.

 

For generations

That city was ablaze

With the Glory of the Gospel,

And shining souls

From Irish shores

Spread that Light to many

Other lands.

 

                        But after scores

Of years, other men, some unknowing

And unwise, others full of guile

And cunning, arose in Erin.

The saints they banished

To caverns underground

And ruled in their name

But not in their spirit:

Stern, angry, rigid, and perverse.

With grimy hands

And blackened hearts,

They remade the Irish Church,

Happy and beautiful

In Christ and His saints,

In their own image:

Dark, morose, opaque.

 

The Holy Spirit,

Radiant Center

Of that holy place,

Has fled in dismay,

Leaving only the appearance

Of life, but not the thing itself.

And now a great collapse

Has laid bare the depth

Of wickedness and depravity

For all to see.

 

But amidst this wreckage

Hope arises once again.

From their exile

The saints have been released.

Free once more to move

Among the people,

They begin to heal

The devastated souls

Of their fellow Gaels.

 

Yet trust is small,

And the task is great.

But these are more

Than mortal men:

They are God-bearers,

Breathing Grace and Love.

To be in their presence

Is to be with God,

To stand in Heaven.

And there all things

Are possible:

Wild animals become tame,

The leaves of the trees sing songs,

Angels become visible,

Agèd birds become young,

Willows bear apples,

Blind eyes receive sight.

 

With the help of the saints

The scars of the Irish,

Bitter and betrayed,

Will fade.  And the people,

Reunited with their saints,

After their long catastrophe,

Will renew their land in beauty.

***

For lives of some Irish saints:

St Kevin

https://orthochristian.com/80048.html

St Kieran

https://orthochristian.com/73745.html

More –

http://oodegr.com/english/istorika/britain/history_irish_church.htm

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

Offsite Post: ‘We Need a Vaccine-Mandate Litmus Test for Politicians’

 

We hear about litmus tests in politics all the time, but right now we need to insist firmly on a new one:  Any elected official in the State of Louisiana who does not support and/or implement a ban on vaccine mandates should be voted out of office next time his name appears on a ballot.

Far from bringing any resolution and healing to society, these mandates are ripping it apart in a number of ways. 

First, they are killing the economy.  Stories are popping up all over the place about employees striking or quitting or being fired over mandates by governments and corporations:  police, army, navy, airline pilots, nurses, even bus drivers.

With so many people becoming or staying unemployed, it doesn’t take the gifts of a prophet to predict that the wheels of productive activity will slow considerably and that current supply chain problems will grow worse because of mandated injections.

Second, they are turning people against one another.  One of the Orthodox bishops of Australia and New Zealand, who took the name of the great St Siluan of Mt Athos (+1938), spoke powerfully about this in an open letter he wrote:

 

I am compelled by my conscience as Bishop of the faithful entrusted to me, to address by way of this open letter my deep concerns regarding the situation our Nation has spiraled into during this current health crisis, which we fear is becoming more of a crisis of humanity than that of health itself.

 

The Latin proverb Homo homini lupus est, "A man is a wolf to another man," has tragically found its new form and expression in today’s crisis as: "Homo homini virus est! Man has become a virus to his fellow man" in this ever-changing world and dystopian looking society. This is not hyperbole; it is happening right now around us. Just look at our workplaces, formerly places of collegiality and friendship, now rapidly digressing into segregation, suspicion, bullying and ridicule of those who have not yet received the green ticket!

 

A vivid example of this was presented to me by one of our faithful in possession of a medical exemption, who has been labelled a health risk by their colleagues and has ever since been treated with contempt and discrimination, as if they were a leper, a walking virus.

 

This type of behaviour would previously be deemed unacceptable, however in the ‘new normal’ of today’s dystopian society it is subtly encouraged through media hysteria which is fueling mass psychosis, in which fear and anxiety, mistrust and segregation have become the new Gospel!

Is the same not happening here in Louisiana, where we are made to distrust, fear, and even hate those who will not take a COVID shot?  But this is antithetical to the freedom God has called us to exercise.  Bishop Siluan continued:

 

No blackmail or coercion, including that of vaccination is morally acceptable. Without freedom of choice there is no humanity. Orthodox Christianity professes that the human person is created in the image and likeness of God and that the central quality or attribute of this Image is the gift of free will, the ability to make an informed and free choice.

 

For example, following Christ in the Orthodox Church is ontologically significant because following Christ leads to formation, i.e., human transformation and completion = perfection = salvation. However, through the lens of Orthodox soteriology this is a synergetic act(ion) which entails a free disposition on humanity’s part. Christ himself says: “If anyone DESIRES to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Christ leaves us with a choice, does not cancel out human freedom to choose, does not impose salvation.

 

St Iranaeus also echoes this: “…because God made man a free agent from the beginning, possessing his own power, even as he does his own soul, to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with God, but a good will towards us is present with Him continually. And therefore does He give good counsel to all. In man, as well as the angels, He has placed the power of choice…” (St. Iranaeus, Against the Heresies, IV, 37, I). This should not be equivocated to an anti-vax position, but rather one of informed consent, also considering any ethical concerns that those of faith might have.

Third, the COVID shots, as shown now by the statistics of various government agencies and other respected researchers, are not working as advertised.  Daniel Horowitz lays out some of the numbers for us:

 

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2021/10/garlington-we-need-a-vaccine-mandate-litmus-test-for-politicians/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!