Mr Kenneth Robbins left a comment not long ago which set us to thinking. Here is the relevant part of it:
Have you noticed that we Southerners have no leaders. We have produced great leaders since the landing at Jamestown. Where are our leaders now? We don't have any. By the renaming of military installations the removal of statutes they demonstrate their power over us. They can do what they want. We cannot stop them. Why? We are not organized because we have no leader. In my opinion we are under judgment of God, because we don't obey. . . . Folks had better turn back to God, Maybe in his mercy he will save us.
These words brought to mind some questions – How have other Christian countries in the past regained their freedom from invaders and conquerors? Are there any constants from their experiences that the South can implement in our own efforts to throw off the Yankee yoke? Let’s look at the history of a couple of countries for answers.
The Greek War for Independence – 1821
We begin in a land much loved by Southrons, the land of Greece. From the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the 19th century, the Muslim Turks treated the conquered Christian Greeks atrociously. But in 1821, the Lord had mercy on the Greeks, and they began their war of liberation (an event Thomas Jefferson knew about and thought highly of). The day it began has special significance:
The Revolutionary fighters in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire chose the holy day of the Annunciation as the symbolic start of their struggle.
On March 13, 1821 Metropolitan Germanos of Old Patras (Palaion Patron Germanos), accompanied by Greek fighters, had declared war against the Ottomans at the Agia Lavra Monastery, blessing the efforts of the freedom fighters.
March 13 is the day given by historians for this event. Yet Greeks chose March 25th as the historical day of the beginning of the war in earnest, so that the outbreak of the Revolution would coincide with the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.
The Virgin Mary is the second-most sacred figure in the Greek Orthodox Church after Jesus Himself, and the choice of the day inextricably connects Orthodoxy with the Greek War of Independence.
When Palaion Patron Germanos raised the flag with the cross and blessed it, he signified that this was not only a war for freedom, but also a war of faith.
The Greeks’ battle for freedom, then, includes the elements of seeking the blessing and protection of the Mother of God and marching under the protection of the Holy Cross.
Let us turn now to a second country.
The End of Russia’s Time of Troubles – 1612
The end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries is known in Russian history as “the Time of Troubles.” The country suffered the onslaught of Polish armies, which scoffed at the Orthodox Faith, plundering and burning churches, cities and villages. Through deceit they succeeded in taking Moscow. In response to the appeal of His Holiness Patriarch Hermogenes (May 12), the Russian people rose up in defense of its native land. From Kazan, the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God was sent to the army headed by Prince Demetrius Pozharsky.
Saint Demetrius of Rostov (September 21), in his Discourse on the Day of Appearance of the Icon of the Mother of God at Kazan (July 8), said:
“The Mother of God delivered from misfortune and woe not only the righteous, but also sinners, but which sinners? those who turn themselves to the Heavenly Father like the Prodigal Son, they make lamentation beating their bosom, like the Publican, they weep at the feet of Christ, like the Sinful Woman washing His feet with her tears, and they offer forth confession of Him, like the Thief upon the Cross. It is such sinners whom the All-Pure Mother of God heeds and hastens to aid, delivering them from great misfortunes and woe.”
Knowing that they suffered such misfortunes for their sins, the whole nation and the militia imposed upon themselves a three-day fast. With prayer, they turned to the Lord and His All-Pure Mother for help. The prayer was heard. Saint Sergius of Radonezh appeared to Saint Arsenius (afterwards Bishop of Suzdal) and said that if Moscow were to be saved, then people must pray to the Most Holy Virgin. Emboldened by the news, Russian forces on October 22, 1612 liberated Moscow from the Polish usurpers. A celebration in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was established in 1649. Even in our day this icon is especially revered by the Russian Orthodox nation.
--'Commemoration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God’
The same elements are found here as in Greece’s war of liberation: the intercession of holy men and women and the presence of holy objects.
The pattern is found again earlier in Russia’s history in her battle against the Mongol Tatars:
. . .
The rest is at https://www.reckonin.com/walt-garlington/how-can-dixie-recover-her-independence.
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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!
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