In giving
his overview
of the general lifecycle of a nation/ethnos, Kaisar made the observation that
In more ways than
one, it would be best if a nation-state could remain within the Age of
Conquests for as long as feasible. This is the best stage for sustainment,
decent lives for the citizens, decent morality, with struggle (but of a nature
that is not as difficult as the struggles of the founding or decadence), but no
weakening of the men.
In other words,
the Age of Conquests is where almost all dissidents would
like to be. It is where a sustainable system needs to reside. We cannot remove
the struggle aspect from life or we will enter the downward spiral to collapse.
We must remain in the “hard times”, but in the best stage of the hard times.
This does not mean we need to constantly be in military conflict, but we do
need to constantly be in some form of a struggle for national betterment and
dominance in some discipline, alongside a proper focus and culture. Only the
Age of Conquests can give us that.
Recognizing
how destructive unnecessary wars are for a people, how can Dixie or any other
keep from falling into the decadence the comes with peace and affluence without
warfare? The answer is found in the
Christian Faith, in the asceticism to which the Church calls all of her children
to keep vigilantly while living in the world, and particularly in monasticism,
which is a heightened practice of Christian asceticism.
Prof.
Georgios Mantzarides elaborates:
St [John]
Chrysostom is particularly emphatic on this point: "You greatly delude
yourself and err, if you think that one thing is demanded from the layman and
another from the monk; since the difference between them is in that whether one
is married or not, while in everything else they have the same
responsibilities... Because all must rise to the same height; and what has
turned the world upside down is that we think only the monk must live
rigorously, while the rest are allowed to live a life of indolence" 7. Referring
to the observance of particular commandments in the Gospels, he says:
"Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, regardless of whether he
is a layman or a monk, opposes God in the same way. And whoever looks at a
woman lustfully, regardless of his status, commits the same sin". In
general, he observes that in giving His commandments Christ does not make
distinction between people: "A man is not defined by whether he is a
layman or a monk, but by the way he thinks" 8.
Christ's
commandments demand strictness of life that we often expect only from monks.
The requirements of decent and sober behaviour, the condemnation of wealth and
adoption of frugality 9, the avoidance of idle talk and the call to show
selfless love are not given only for monks, but for all the faithful.
Therefore, the
rejection of worldly thinking is the duty not only of monks, but of all
Christians. The faithful must not have a worldly mind, but sojourn as strangers
and travellers with their minds fixed on God. Their home is not on earth, but
in the kingdom of heaven: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek
the city which is to come" 10. The Church can be seen as a community in
exodus. The world is its temporary home but the Church is bound for the kingdom
of God. Just as the Israelites, freed from bondage in Egypt, journeyed towards
Jerusalem through many trials and tribulations, so Christians, freed from the
bondage of sin, journey through many trials and tribulations towards the
kingdom of heaven.
Despite the
similarities between the married and the monastics, the monastic longs for
something more – for the full enjoyment of the Kingdom of Heaven, the
undistracted pursuit of Christ. Mother
Ephrosynia of Lesna, France, provides this quotation to illustrate the depth of
the monk’s or nun’s desire in her essay
on monasticism:
Some people are very single-minded by
nature. And there are ideas that permeate the lives of such people down to the
very last detail. Everything is beautiful, joyous and of consolation, but this
life is overshadowed for them by the memory of one thing, by a single thought:
that of Christ Crucified. No matter how bright the sun might be, how beautiful
nature, God’s creation is, how tempting far-away places might seem, they
remember that Christ was crucified, and everything is dim in comparison. We
might hear the most beautiful music, the most inspired speeches, but these
souls hear one thing: Christ was crucified, and what can ever drown out the
sound of the nails being hammered into His flesh? Describe to them the
happiness of a family life, of a beloved husband or wife, of children, but
Christ was crucified, and how can we not show the Lord that He isn’t alone, we
haven’t deserted Him. There are those that are willing to forget everything in
the world so as to stand by His Cross, suffer His suffering and wonder at His
Sacrifice. For them the world is empty, and only Christ Crucified speaks to
their hearts. And only they know what sweetness they taste still on this earth
by sharing in the eternal mystery of the Cross, and only they hear what He says
to them when they come to Him after a life full of incomprehensible hardships
and inexplicable joy.
This longing
gave rise to organized monasticism:
The monastic life, with its physical
withdrawal from the world to the desert, began about the middle of the third
century. This flight of Christians to the desert was partly caused by the harsh
Roman persecutions of the time. The growth of monasticism, however, which began
in the time of Constantine the Great, was largely due to the refusal of many
Christians to adapt to the more worldly character of the now established
Church, and their desire to lead a strictly Christian life. Thus monasticism
developed simultaneously in various places in the southeast Mediterranean,
Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria and Cyprus, and soon after reached Asia Minor
and finally Europe (Mantzarides).
And it is
within the monastic way of life that the multitudes of the nations can
experience the hardships necessary for a healthy society to exist without
resorting to military warfare with other countries:
. . .
The rest is
at https://identitydixie.com/2023/06/06/the-martial-spirit-and-monasticism/.
--
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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