The
story of the continuing death of Christian life in the States has been
mentioned recently on American Family Radio (Bryan Fischer, Wil and Meeke
Addison, to name a few). This is an
ensample of what they are referring to:
We
are grateful that they, together with the rest of the folks at AFR, do share
information like this. The more secular
folks on the so-called Right like Limbaugh and Levin do not talk about these
things (Limbaugh, for instance, says he doesn’t ‘do church’ on his radio
program, just politics. That is
impossible: All political beliefs are an
outgrowth of religious beliefs. Thus, in
order to ‘do politics’ properly, one MUST speak of religion.).
That
said, they are their own worst enemy.
For in calling for a return to the Protestant Way, they are dooming what
is left of Christianity in the States.
Protestantism, with its heavy focus on the authority of the individual conscience
(a focus which confuses the meaning and undermines the authority of the
Scriptures the Protestants say they hold so dear), has ripped apart the ark of salvation,
the Church, as each one seeks to uphold the dogmas he has invented against
those others have invented; and has left those who come into their
congregations with little more than a few planks, a little rotten fish, and
some rusted chains to carry them safely to the harbor of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Is
it any wonder people are turning away from this offer? Just as with the structure erected by the
Roman Catholic Pope, people will eventually discover that something is amiss,
something is counterfeit, something has died, and look elsewhere to satisfy
their spiritual cravings (Europeans have been leading the way in this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/christianity-non-christian-europe-young-people-survey-religion).
What
the ‘Nones’ are seeking but not finding in Roman Catholicism and Protestantism
is in the Orthodox Church, which has not strayed from the Apostolic teaching,
as these holy elders from Optina Monastery proclaim:
I’ll say it briefly: Before you begin
showing proof in favor of the Church, you have to compare your own opinions and
beliefs with the Word of God and the teachings of the spiritual and right-believing
Church Fathers, while over anything that you cannot find such a confirmation
for it is more profitable to keep silent. What we think based on our own
conclusions is one thing, and the very truth, inviolable, confirmable by the
Holy Scriptures, is another.—St.
Ambrose of Optina
He [the Lord] commanded us to listen to the
teachers and pastors of the Church, appointed and ordained by the apostles… But
as for the one who does not listen to it [the Church], let him be to you like a heathen and a
publican (Mt. 18:17); and to the apostles He said: he who hears you hears Me, he who rejects
you rejects Me (Lk. 10:16). This is how important it is to obey the
Holy Church and its dogmas and teachings established by the Ecumenical Councils
and the authority of the great Church Fathers. —St.
Macarius of Optina
For one’s salvation it is necessary to be a
part of the Orthodox Church. At the present time, the number of sects has
multiplied… Sometimes sectarians come to me, saying, “We believe in Christ and
seek him; where is He?” “He, first of all, especially makes manifest His
glorious presence in Heaven, and, secondly, in the Church on Earth. Do you
belong to the Church?” “No, we’ve left the Church, but still hope to be saved.”
“Well, then your hope is in vain; salvation is impossible outside of the
Church.” Those who belong to the Orthodox Church are traveling to the Jerusalem
on High, that is, the Kingdom of Heaven, the right way: They sail along the sea
of life in a boat, the Helmsman of which is Christ Himself; while those outside
the Church attempt to cross the sea on a mere board of wood—which, of course,
is impossible—and perish irrevocably. —St.
Barsanuphius of Optina
Mr
Fischer is furthermore worried that rejecting Protestantism will change the
culture of the States to something other than what it has been. He is concerned that the Protestant work
ethic, the emphasis on individual rights, etc. will disappear. His worries are well-founded. For should the peoples of the States widely adopt
the Orthodox Faith, the culture will change from one obsessed with non-stop
work, making money, and acquiring goods (holdovers from the New England
Calvinist Puritan teaching that God will bless with worldly prosperity those
who are among ‘the elect’, a teaching which has infected all the regions of the
(unnecessary) union, including the South), to a culture that really is
Christian rather than one that says it is Christian but actually worships
Mammon.
The
goal of a Christian country is the union of all her people with God, the
closest union possible in this life. To
do that, it is necessary to do more than imagine ways to squeeze more and more economic
productivity and efficiency out of people and the environment. The faithful Jews of the Old Testament are a perfect
ensample. Their cycle of fasts and
feasts and resting and their laws regarding property are a rebuke to the
chaotic, unsettled, fast-paced Protestant American way of life. Would American businesses, big or small,
allow their workers to have eight days off in a row every year to spend in the
wilderness for a feast like the Feast of Tabernacles? Would the banksters of today cancel debts and
allow properties to revert to their original owners on the Day of Jubilee every
50 years? Would farmers in thrall to the
agribusiness giants be allowed to let their fields lie fallow every seventh
year? The answers, sadly, are obvious
enough.
Life
in Orthodox countries was and is simply a continuation of what we encounter in
the Old Testament liturgical cycle, with only the reason behind the feasts,
etc., changing: a life in which many
days during the year are rest days so that people can attend services for
the 12 Great Feasts, Holy Week before Easter/Pascha, various saints’ days, and
so on; and where usury and other financial abuses are outlawed.
The
Holy Elder Paisios of Mt Athos (+1994) was right when he said (paraphrasing),
Orthodox people go to Western Europe and the [u]nited States to make money and
lose their souls. A religious change
does need to come to the States; not the agnosticism of the Nones, but the True
Faith of the Orthodox Church.
--
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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