Fruit from the Tree of the American Empire, Part III: Chemical Weapons Use

If, as the Elite like Sen Lindsey Graham and Sec of State John Kerry said, Assad’s Syria deserved to be bombed for his army’s alleged use of sarin gas (which it didn’t use; it was instead a staged attack by the al-Qaida rebels, as has been verified by an assortment of witnesses, journalists, and so forth), then what does the American Empire deserve for its continual and large-scale use of such weapons?  ‘. . . and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again’ (St Matthew’s Gospel 7:2).

Should the day of wrath come, let us pray that those seeking retribution will show discernment between the supporters and the opponents of our criminal government.

Wesley Messamore, who published his list on www.policymic.com, first referred to the US military dumping of 20 million gallons of chemicals on Vietnam for nearly a decade of war which ended in 1971.

“Vietnam estimates that as a result of the decade-long chemical attack, 400,000 people were killed or maimed, 500,000 babies have been born with birth defects, and 2 million have suffered from cancer or other illnesses,” he wrote.

Messamore said the US military used white phosphorus – a horrific incendiary chemical weapon that melts human flesh – in 2004 in the Iraqi city of Fallujah against Iraqi insurgents.

Fallujah residents and US soldiers revealed in a televised interview how the “US government indiscriminately rained white chemical fire down on the Iraqi city and melted women and children to death.”

Other examples of the Empire’s use of chemical weapons:  http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/09/no_author/10-chemical-attacks/

Fruit from the Tree of the American Empire, Part II: The CIA

It is far more than a spy agency.  Here is a small sample of its sordid acts at home and overseas:

The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. (1)

CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition. First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal: “We’ll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us.” The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination. These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing dictator. The CIA trains the dictator’s security apparatus to crack down on the traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder. The victims are said to be “communists,” but almost always they are just peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses follow.

This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious “School of the Americas.” (It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.) Critics have nicknamed it the “School of the Dictators” and “School of the Assassins.” Here, the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including the use of interrogation, torture and murder.

The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an “American Holocaust.”

. . .

Late 40s

Operation MOCKINGBIRD — The CIA begins recruiting American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a major CIA player. Eventually, the CIA’s media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service and more. By the CIA’s own admission, at least 25 organizations and 400 journalists will become CIA assets.

. . .

1964

Brazil — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Castelo Branco will create Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police who hunt down “communists” for torture, interrogation and murder. Often these “communists” are no more than Branco’s political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads.

1965

Indonesia — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA has been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being “communist.” The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects.

Dominican Republic — A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.

Greece — With the CIA’s backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece.

Congo (Zaire) — A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.

The complete timeline may be read here:  http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/10/no_author/a-timeline-of-cia-atrocities/

Fruit from the Tree of the American Empire, Part I: Bloodthirstiness

As it is with the Elite rulers, so it is with their underlings and apprentices.

--American citizens are treated worse than the conquered peoples of Iraq (the survivors, that is; see more on Iraq below).

‘. . . even in Iraq the standard operating procedure at checkpoints is not to point guns at vehicles unless they are known to be suspect. Apparently, Americans now have even less rights than the citizens whom their empire occupies.’

American at a Police Checkpoint in Sacramento:

(Image: AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randall Benton)

Iraqi at an American Military Checkpoint in Iraq:

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Source:  http://www.infowars.com/ap-photo-checkpoint-cops-point-guns-at-americans-heads/

--People are mercilessly gunned down by out of control police.  A recent example:

‘Andy Lopez Cruz was shot seven times in 10 seconds by a Sonoma Co., Calif. sheriff’s deputy as he walked down the street with a plastic replica rifle.’

Source:  http://www.infowars.com/gun-grabbers-blame-toy-guns-and-airsoft-guns-for-police-shooting-of-13-year-old/

--Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are now dead thanks to the healing hands of the Yankees’ Messiah Nation (i.e., the American Empire) and her supporters at home and abroad.  This does not even take into account the destruction of the ancient Christian churches and communities that resulted as well.  Lord, have mercy on us who supported this act of evil.

Almost half a million deaths in Iraq between 2003 and 2011 were caused by war and occupation, according to new research. The figure is around four times bigger than most previous estimates.

An estimated 460,000 deaths in Iraq from March 2003 to mid-2011 were caused by violence during the war with the US and the subsequent occupation by coalition forces, according to a statistical research published in PLOS (Public Library of Science) Medicine journal, an open access source.

Source:  http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/10/russia-today/half-million-iraqis-dead%e2%80%a8/

Healing with Familiar Southern Foods - Onions

Here are a few benefits to get you started, from Mike Barrett's article at Natural Society:

• Better Oral Health — This may seem odd since onions can cause bad breath, but chewing raw onion is known to improve the strength of the teeth and fight off bacteria which can cause tooth decay. Chewing some raw onion for 2 or 3 minutes could kill most germs in the mouth.

• Prevents Colon Cancer — A particular plant-derived flavonoid in onions, called quercetin, boosts the immune system while preventing the development of tumors. One study found that combining chemicals found in onions and turmeric reduced both the size and number of precancerous lesions in the human intestinal tract.

• Anti-Bacterial and Anti-Microbial Ingredients — Sulphides and thiosulfinates help to prevent illnesses such as E. coli, bacillus subtilis and salmonella.

The rest may be found here:  http://naturalsociety.com/health-benefits-of-onions/

OXI Day and the South

It is generally well known that the Old South highly regarded ancient Greece - her poets, historians, philosophers, etc.  To this we ought to add an admiration for more recent Greek men and women.  For on OXI (pronounced ‘Ahki’) Day, 28 October 1940, the Greeks rejected Mussolini’s demand to station his troops in Greece:

On October 28th, 1940, the Italian ambassador to Greece, Emanuele Grazzi delivered an ultimatum from Benito Mussolini to Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas. The ultimatum was demanding the entry of the Italian army and the occupation of Greek territory.

. . .

When Metaxas was faced with this demand, he delivered an unequivocal response in French, (the diplomatic language of the day) “Alors, c’est la guerre.” This brief phrase, “Then, it is war,” was quickly transmuted into the laconic “Oxi” [which means ‘No’ - W.G.] by the citizens of Athens.

. . .

Metaxas addressed the Greek people with these words:
“The time has come for Greece to fight for her independence. Greeks, we must now prove ourselves worthy of our forefathers and the freedom they bestowed upon us. Greeks, fight now for your Fatherland, for your wives, for your children and the sacred traditions. The struggle is now for everything!”

In response to this address, the people of Greece spontaneously went out to the streets singing Greek patriotic songs and shouting anti-Italian slogans. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers, men and women, in all parts of Greece, headed to army recruitment offices to enlist. The whole Greek nation was united in the face of aggression.

Meanwhile, Italian forces entered Greece through a rough, wild terrain- the steep Pindos Mountains. There they met fierce and unexpected resistance.

Source:  http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/10/27/oxi-day-iconic-images-of-greece-in-wwii/

This is an example that the South should bear in mind (along with the courageous example of our own forefathers and mothers) as the American Empire lurches more and more towards outright totalitarianism at home and abroad. 

But we cannot trust simply in our own efforts.  The Greeks also are wise in celebrating the Protection of the Theotokos on the same day as OXI Day (which is celebrated on 1 October in other parts of the Orthodox world).  To the Mother of God we must also turn:

From time immemorial, the Church has celebrated the Most-holy Theotokos as the patroness and protectress of the Christian people, who, by her intercessory prayers, implores God's mercy for us sinners. The help of the Most-holy Mother of God has been clearly shown numerous times, to individuals and to nations, in peace and in war, in monastic deserts and in densely populated cities. The event that the Church commemorates and celebrates today confirms the Theotokos' consistent protection of Christian people. On October 1, 911, during the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise, there was an All-night Vigil in the Blachernae Church of the Mother of God in Constantinople. The church was full of people. St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ was standing in the rear of the church with his disciple Epiphanius. At four o'clock in the morning, the Most-holy Theotokos appeared above the people, holding her omophorion outstretched as a protective covering for the faithful. She was clothed in gold-encrusted purple, and shone with an ineffable radiance, surrounded by apostles, saints, martyrs and virgins. St. Andrew said to Blessed Epiphanius: ``Do you see, brother, the Queen and Lady of all praying for the whole world?'' Epiphanius replied: ``I see, Father, and am struck with amazement!'' The Feast of the Protection was instituted to commemorate this event, and to remind us that we can prayerfully receive the unceasing protection of the Most-holy Theotokos in any time of difficulty.

Source:  St Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue from Ochrid for the day of 1 October, accessible at http://98.131.104.126/prolog/October1.htm

PLEASE NOTE:

This translation of the Prologue is copyright © 1999 Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America and is hosted on the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America.

This version includes not only the Lives of the Saints, but also the Hymns of Praise, Reflection, Contemplation and Homily sections for every day, just as Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic wrote it in the original Serbian text. This first, complete version in English was translated by Reverend T. Timothy Tepsic and Very Reverend Janko Trbovich.

This internet publication is intended for the private use of people of good will and cannot be copied, published, or used in any other form without the written consent of the Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America, the copyright owner.

May God save our souls and our Southland through her invincible might.

Our Great Need for St Alfred Today, Part II: A Significance That Shall Never Wane

Glory to God and His blessing upon all on the Feast Day of St Alfred the Great!

We invite you to read the words Father Andrew wrote in his editorial for Orthodox England (see below), for what he speaks of England could generally be applied just as well to the South, which is in many ways England planted anew in North American soil as M. E. Bradford, G. K. Chesterton, David Hackett Fischer, and others testify.

The other nations composing the Southern ancestry have been and will continue to be emphasized, but today we ask all to focus on the elder root of the Southern tree, England, and her best king and the South’s patron saint, King Alfred the Great.  From him, our father among the saints, comes great hope.

*****

‘St Alfred the Eternal-King of the English’

By Father Andrew Phillips

Your lord sits high in the saddle,

A broken-hearted king,

But our king Alfred, lost from fame,

Fallen among foes or bonds of shame,

In I know not what mean trade or name,

Has still some song to sing;

‘The Harp of Alfred’,

The Ballad of the White Horse,

G. K. Chesterton, 1911

EVERY age has found a different reflection of and a different need for St Alfred; it is as though his significance were eternal and that significance has progressively been revealed to us as time has gone by and as our need for an example has developed.

Thus, the English of St Alfred’s Kingdom found in him our first national King, a warrior champion and defender of the realm, who overcame division and united his realm, one who came from the provinces but became national, a monastic founder and a patient almsgiver – England’s Darling and England’s Shepherd. Soon they found in him also the Truthteller, a model of proverbial wisdom in kingship and shrewd lawgiver. Then they found in him a saintly miracle-worker as well as a national hero.

Later, once they had others to compare him with, they found in him the only King who was worthy to be called Great, bold in arms but also learned in the Divine. More recently, they found in him a model of imperial rule, dispensing wisdom and justice to his various peoples. And what of us, what do we find in this saint among kings, ‘what song has he still to sing’ to our own age? In our darkening times, we recall perhaps the words of ‘The Vision of the King’ in the poet’s above recalled epic:

I tell you naught for your comfort,

Yea, naught for your desire,

Save that the sky grows darker yet

And the sea rises higher.

Night shall be thrice night over you,

And heaven an iron cope.

Do you have joy without a cause,

Yea, faith without a hope?

And now we can answer that we do have joy with a cause and faith with hope. For, inevitably, we also recall the prophetic words of the Great King applied to our own time in the poet’s ‘The Scouring of the Horse’ in the same epic:

And though they scatter now and go,

In some far century sad and slow,

I have a vision, and I know

The heathen shall return.

Despite the truth of this foretelling, we do not fear. There is no need for our thoughts to grow overly dark. Let us recall the King’s words in his addition to the translation of ‘Boethius’: ‘I say, as do all Christian men, that it is a Godly purpose that rules, and not fate’. This means that we should not fear or be daunted by the present rising tide of faithlessness and so evil in our land – there is a Divine purpose even in the darkest of times. As the poet also wrote in ‘Ethandune’ from the same Ballad of the White Horse:

And Alfred born in Wantage

Rules England till the doom.

What do we today find in the great and holy King? We find in him a reflection of the Eternal truth of the Eternal One, the everlasting words of the Word, for that which is true will remain unto the ages and ages; Alfred can never be taken away from us because, like all saints, he is a reflection of the Eternal One Himself. And it is for this reason that in him is the birth of the English nation, but also our rebirth, and therefore our hope.

Hymns to Saint Alfred (also by Fr Andrew; edited by W.G.):

Hearkening to Christ,

thou camest forth from thy flood-girt fastness

to overcome the heathen and lead them forth to holy baptism.

Thou didst build churches, strongholds, shires and swift ships,

restoring the law of God and making thyself beloved of all.

O wise King and glory of free England,

who reignest in the Winchester of the heavenly England,

thou who didst vanquish heathendom through Christ,

establish anew the Orthodox Faith in thy land

that we may glorify God,

Who alone made thee great.

Today the wise Alfred glorifies Christ among his faithful people

and so builds a House of Wisdom.

Therein he puts to shame all the heathen,

showing the Cross to be the greatest weapon of kings against all enemies.

Pray for us, O righteous one, and build a House of Wisdom among us today

that there we may glorify Christ anew.

For this great battle standard has appeared for our sakes and for our salvation.

Source:  Orthodox England, Vol. 17, No. 1, Sept. 2013, pgs. 1-2, accessed 12/25 Oct. 2013 at http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/mag/oe17_1.pdf

Why Ask the Saints of Heaven for Help?

Answers from two righteous men:

What does the daily invocation of the saints signify — of different ones each day, during the whole year, and during our whole life? It signifies that God's saints — as our brethren, but perfect — live, and are near us, ever ready to help us, by the grace of God. We live together with them in the house of our Heavenly Father, only in different parts of it. We live in the earthly, they in the heavenly half; but we can converse with them, and they with us. God's saints are near to the believing heart, and are ready in a moment to help those who call upon them with faith and love. — Saint John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

Holiness is not simply righteousness, for which the righteous merit the enjoyment of blessedness in the Kingdom of God, but rather such a height of righteousness that men are filled with the grace of God to the extent that it flows from them upon those who associate with them. Great is their blessedness; it proceeds from personal experience of the Glory of God. Being filled also with love for men, which proceeds from love of God, they are responsive to men's needs, and upon their supplication they appear also as intercessors and defenders for them before God. — St. John Maximovitch

From the web site http://www.abbamoses.com/ as it appeared on 12/25 October 2013.

Our Great Need for St Alfred Today, Part I: The Downward Spiral

As the South and most other parts of Western European civilization drift away from their Orthodox Christian roots, we are witnessing a return of the brutality of the Dark Ages of Europe when Goths, Vikings, and other demonic-inspired peoples ravaged the lands of our Christian forefathers.  To give but one example:

#7 One of the clearest signs that American society is decaying is the fact that groups of kids are banding together and agreeing to commit absolutely horrible crimes.  We have seen this with the “flash mob” robberies that are plaguing many cities, but what is even worse is when groups of kids band together to commit violent acts.  In Pennsylvania recently, a group of teens cheered on attackers as they beat up a 15-year-old girl…

Speaking exclusively to CBS 3, a 15-year-old high school student, whose identity we are concealing, described a terrifying attack by a gang of at least nine teenage boys as she was leaving an Interboro High School football game Monday night.

The teenage victim described first being taunted by the attackers, who followed her down a neighborhood street, cursing and spitting at her, before she was repeatedly kicked and punched, suffering at least one blow to her head.

The attackers even tried to throw her in front of a passing vehicle and nobody tried to stop them…

The victim says as at least two of the teenagers pummeled her, the others cheered them on shouting, “Come on, let’s get her!” At one point, the victim says, the gang tried to throw her under the wheels of a passing car, which swerved, narrowly missing her.

Source:  http://www.infowars.com/12-shocking-clues-about-what-america-will-look-like-when-the-next-great-economic-crisis-strikes/

These are the kinds of murderous people St Alfred confronted in his own kingdom in the 9^th century A.D.; and these are the kinds of people he successfully overcame and had baptized into the Christian faith.

How great is our need to call upon St Alfred, the Holy King of England, the South’s patron saint, to pray for us:  that we would have the wisdom and strength to be victorious over such men.  And not only over men intent on harming the body but also over those whose desire is to confuse the mind and harm the soul.

All this he is well able to do, for during his life he was pious and wise, strong and humble, a great God-pleaser.  And now in Heaven, he has boldness before Christ our Immortal King and God to intercede for us.  How foolish it would be for us to spurn his mighty help!

But if we are so full of pride that we turn our hearts away from our holy kinsman and intercessor St Alfred, trusting in and clutching at the filthy rags of our righteousness, the South may be sure that she will not return to an innocent and childlike paganism as she falls further and further away from the Christian Church.  The New Paganism, as Hilaire Belloc saw all too well, is merely a prelude to Satanism (Essays of a Catholic, 'The New Paganism', Rockford, Ill., TAN, 1992 [1931], p. 12).  When one turns his back on the full revelation of Truth - that is to say, on Christ - this is all that is left to him.  For rays of Christ’s light did indeed shine in the Old Pagan religions, however corrupt they had become.  How then would the South be able to tolerate such Light as she plunges headlong into Satanic darkness?

Do not trust in your own goodness, Southron, but confess that you are crooked and wicked.  Humble yourself, and honor those whom the Lord has honored.  Plead with St Alfred to pray for us, his descendants, that we would truly be a God-honoring people, that salvation would come to our land.

Beware the Trans-Pacific Partnership

The latest supposed free trade treaty is nothing of the sort:

The Obama administration has been negotiating the TPP in secret for more than three years. Unlike past trade agreements, the text of the TPP is classified and members of Congress have restricted access to it. If they do read the text, they are not allowed to copy it or discuss any specifics of it. However, more than 600 corporate advisers have direct access to the text on their computers.

. . . the TPP goes far beyond a trade deal. Only five of the twenty nine chapters contain provisions related to trade. The other chapters consist of provisions related to patent protections, investor state rights and finance deregulation, among others. The TPP is a backdoor corporate power grab to advance the stalled WTO agenda. Or as Sachie Mizohata writes in Asia Times, “The TPP is a Trojan horse, branded as a ‘free trade’ agreement, but having nothing to do with fair and equitable treatment. In reality, it is precisely ‘a wish list of the 1% – a worldwide corporate power’. “

. . .

Countries negotiating with the United States need to realize that if the TPP becomes law they will be under the thumb of Monsanto, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wal-Mart and other US-based transnational corporations.  They will have lost their sovereignty. Rodrigo Contreras, Chile’s lead TPP negotiator recently up and quit to warn people of the dangers of TPP highlighting how big financial institutions will dominate their governments and how the TPP “will become a threat for our countries: it will restrict our development options in health and education, in biological and cultural diversity, and in the design of public policies and the transformation of our economies. It will also generate pressures from increasingly active social movements, who are not willing to grant a pass to governments that accept an outcome of the TPP negotiations that limits possibilities to increase the prosperity and well-being of our countries.” The TPP will destroy the sovereignty of the nations who agree to its terms.

The destruction of sovereignty includes the United States.  One of the most egregious outcomes of the TPP, if it passes, is the way it will undermine our national sovereignty as well as the ability of state and local governments to pass laws.  All laws will have to be brought into compliance with the TPP. This means that public institutions like schools and hospitals can no longer give preference to buying local products and consumers may be barred from knowing whether the foods we buy contain GMOs. It means the “Buy America” laws will be illegal so Americans will be forced to spend their money on foreign products that create a massive trade deficit.  And if we pass laws that interfere with expected corporate profits, those laws can be challenged in a special court, an international trade tribunal that operates outside of our legal system and that is staffed largely by corporate lawyers on leave from their corporate jobs.  There will be no appeal to traditional courts from these rigged trade tribunals.

Source:  http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-trans-pacific-partnership-we-wont-be-fooled-by-rigged-corporate-trade-agreements/5352612

Do what you can to oppose this monstrosity while there is still time, or the South and our sister States will be all the closer to openly pledging allegiance to the flag of Chase-Sony-McDonalds-etc. (which is secretly what the American Empire’s flag symbolizes now - loyalty to corporate domination, not to the Church, the fatherland, the traditions, etc.).

For more information, please have a look at these sites:

A short slide-show type presentation:

http://www.flushthetpp.org/

Another in-depth look at the TPP:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15353-transpacific-partnership-will-undermine-democracy-empower-transnational-corporations

Preparing for the Feast of the South’s Patron Saint

On 26 October 899 A.D., the Patron Saint of the South, the Holy and Right-Believing King Ælfred (Alfred) the Great of England, reposed in the Lord.  In preparation of his great and holy feast day on Saturday, 26 October, let us hear about his life and honor him for his achievements.  This fourteen minute BBC radio broadcast is a fairly good overview:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pzrhm/The_Essay_AngloSaxon_Portraits_Alfred_the_Great/

Though, as might be expected, it takes a somewhat skeptical, secular view of his reign.

Also, there is rather a lot of praise for Charlemagne/the Carolingians.  For a corrective to this, please have a look at what Father Andrew Phillips wrote not long ago in ‘Our Mission’:

It was under the Carolingian regime at the end of the eighth century that Western Europe first began the long process of abandoning the Incarnation, that is, of abandoning Sacral Orthodox Christian Civilisation. In its place it would put the disincarnate dualism of iconoclastic clericalism on the one hand and the secularised State and society on the other hand. For by clericalising the Church, making it into less than the Church under the illusion of making it into more than the Church, a Super-Church, the State and the rest of society were gradually desacralised. The illusion of spiritualising the Church by imposing celibacy on the clergy meant disincarnating the Church from society, thus creating secularism.

As we have said, the first movement to desacralisation can be seen under the Carolingians. This took place through their rejection of the Holy Spirit’s incarnational role in sacralising the material world, that is, through the Carolingian Trinitarian filioque heresy and its resulting iconoclasm. Fortunately the Carolingian Empire collapsed and the part of Western Europe subject to it remained in communion with the Church for another quarter of a millennium. Unfortunately, the Carolingian project was revived by Carolingian-descended, Germanic popes in the middle of the eleventh century and its next stage appeared as papism. And since then the desacralising apostasy has continued inexorably.

For the rest, please visit this site:

http://www.events.orthodoxengland.org.uk/our-mission/

So listen to the broadcast with a grain of salt and take away what is good and true.  Then, with a sober mind and contrite heart, let us cry out:

Holy Saint Alfred, pray to God for us sinners in the South,

The offspring of your people of England!

As you restored the Christian faith in your kingdom

After defeating the Viking invaders,

So deliver us from the enemies of the all-holy Trinity

And lay the foundation of holiness

In the midst of this our crooked and unworthy country,

Among your little children who have gone astray,

O Blessed Alfred, our ever-caring and watchful father,

By your holy prayers.

A Good Example for Young Women

It is a formidable task in this degenerate age to find good role models for the young ladies in our lives, be they friends or relatives, whose souls are still being formed.  In this respect, the lives of the saints are all the more valuable to us. 

The Holy Martyr Zlata of Meglin, Bulgaria, is but one example of a righteous and courageous life we could share with them.  While many in the South do not face a physical threat like that of the marauding Turks (at the present - though not too many generations ago they did; and perhaps we should be ready for the return of such bands as Christianity dwindles in influence), still the subtle pressure of renouncing Christ (if not in words, then in deeds) remains.

Let us learn from and honor this holy one who contested for Christ in the same year that our forefathers were unfortunately buried in the mundane, wringing their hands over the question of Adams or Jefferson for President.

Zlata was born of poor peasant parents (who also had three other daughters) in the village of Slatina, in the province of Meglin. She was a meek and devout girl, wise in the wisdom of Christ and golden, not only in name but also in her God-fearing heart. Once when Zlata went out to get water, some shameless Turks seized her and took her to their home. When one of them urged her to become a Moslem and be his wife, Zlata fearlessly replied: ``I believe in Christ and Him alone do I know as my Bridegroom. I will never deny Him, even though you subject me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces.'' When her parents and sisters found her, her parents said to her: ``O daughter, have mercy on yourself and on us, your parents and sisters; deny Christ in words only, so that we can all be happy, for Christ is merciful. He would forgive such a sin, committed due to the necessities of life.'' Her poor parents, sisters and relatives wept bitterly. However, the noble soul of St. Zlata resisted such diabolical snares. She answered them: ``When you counsel me to deny Christ the true God, you are no longer my parents or my sisters. I have the Lord Jesus Christ as my father, the Theotokos as my mother, and the saints as my brothers and sisters.'' The Turks then cast her into prison for three months, flogging her every day until her blood soaked the ground. Finally, they suspended her upside down and lit a fire, to suffocate her with the smoke; but God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in suffering. At last they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus, this brave virgin gave her soul up to God, and went to dwell in Paradise in the year 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes for a blessing.

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Holy Great-martyr Zlata of Meglin

The Turks tortured St. Zlata of golden heart,

Tormented her to death for Christ the Living God.

Golden Zlata wept not, nor did she waver,

But surrendered her whole heart to the Lord of Heaven.

The tears of parents and sisters were in vain:

Zlata sought delight through sufferings, true delight-

The delight that Christ prepares for wise virgins,

The joy that the Bridegroom bestows upon faithful brides.

The cage of the body of Zlata the Golden was destroyed,

And her soul was freed from its fragile prison.

Zlata rose up to Paradise, joyful in soul,

Taking her place among the royal, holy angels.

St. Zlata, once a poor peasant girl,

Is now glorified in Paradise as a queen.

Source:  St Nikolai Velimirovich, Prologue from Ochrid, for the day of 13 October:

http://98.131.104.126/prolog/October13.htm

PLEASE NOTE:

This translation of the Prologue is copyright © 1999 Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America and is hosted on the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America.

This version includes not only the Lives of the Saints, but also the Hymns of Praise, Reflection, Contemplation and Homily sections for every day, just as Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic wrote it in the original Serbian text. This first, complete version in English was translated by Reverend T. Timothy Tepsic and Very Reverend Janko Trbovich.

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