Afterword: Seventy Years on

We mentioned last time that St Seraphim of Sarov (+1833) was a good representative of the humble, self-forgetting Russian soul.  His conversation with his disciple Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Ghost helps further illustrate the true Russian heart:

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/wonderful.aspx

What we did not mention was who would make a good representative of Puritan, Lincolnian America.  We would suggest another figure of the 19^th hundredyear for that, Walt Whitman (died 1892).  His poem, ‘Song of Myself’, a long, bloated piece of obnoxious narcissism, is the perfect picture of American pride and self-worship, the perfect contrast to the life and teachings of St Seraphim (and Orthodox Russia in general):

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version

Again, the peoples of the South and the rest of the world must choose with whom they wish to stand.  The choice should be fairly easy after reading the above two works.

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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!