The
Native Americans have rarely been treated well by the European immigrants who
have come to North and South America (the Russians, Samuel de Champlain, and
William Penn being a few rare exceptions).
Tens of millions of the Natives died after their arrival, a mass death
that hardly ever registers even a peep of concern from Evangelicals and other
American Supremacists who are otherwise obsessed with African slavery. But this is likely because they view the
Native Americans as pre-Modern deadweight holding back Blessed Progress from marching
forward and establishing the Millennium:
All presidents since
George H. W. Bush in 1990 have designated the month of November as National
Native American Heritage Month. This November, Trump added another federal
government observance to the month of November: “National American History and
Founders Month.” This observance honors the white European settlers who
introduced to the “New World” the genocide of 65 million native peoples,
stretching from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. Lowry discounts this
genocide by claiming it resulted in a “stupendous boon,” as far as the United
States in concerned.
--Wayne Madsen, https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/14/trump-ignites-war-on-native-americans-from-the-arctic-circle-to-tierra-del-fuego/
Never-ending
guilt over African slavery, and the need to atone for it, can be used as a
heavy iron rod to smash into pieces traditional Christian societies like the
South and replace them with deracinated individuals in the mold of the
Puritan-Yankee homo economicus.
No such utilitarian use has apparently been found for the Native
Americans, so they are consigned for eradication, whether slow or fast.
That
such a lot has been chosen for them is evidenced anew by the recent
construction of oil pipelines that run through their lands and waters, spilling
thousands of gallons of oil periodically that poison their food and water
supplies:
Furthermore,
the spirit of ‘Conquistador Christianity’, as Wendell Berry has termed it, is
alive and well in the ways in which ‘Western Christians’ (i.e., those who have
fallen away from the Orthodox Church) interact with the Native Americans today
(when they deign to do so):
Earlier, Jeanine Añez,
tweeted, “I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous rites, the city
is not for the Indians who should stay in the highlands or the
Chaco”. That says it all, where Bolivia is headed, unless – unless another
people’s revolution will stop this nefarious course. Ms. Añez apparently has
since removed the tweet.
One of the internal
drivers of the ‘golpe’ is Luis Fernando Camacho, a far-right multi-millionaire,
from the Santa Cruz region, where the US have supported and encouraged
separatism. Camacho, a religious bible fanatic, received support from Colombia,
Brazil and the Venezuelan opposition – and, of course, he is the US henchman to
lead the ‘coup’ internally.
As Max Blumenthal from
“The Grayzone” reports,
“When Luis Fernando
Camacho stormed into Bolivia’s abandoned presidential palace in the hours
after President Evo Morales’s sudden November 10 resignation, he revealed
to the world a side of the country that stood at stark odds with the
plurinational spirit its deposed socialist and Indigenous leader had put
forward. – With a Bible in one hand and a national flag in the other, Camacho
bowed his head in prayer above the presidential seal, fulfilling his vow to
purge his country’s Native heritage from government and “return God to the burned
palace.” Camacho added “Pachamama will never return to the palace,”
referring to the Andean Mother Earth spirit. “Bolivia belongs to Christ.”
--Peter Koenig, https://www.globalresearch.ca/bolivia-color-revolution-new-surge-latin-american-independence/5695175
These
acts of chauvinistic hubris will only serve to alienate the peoples of North
and South America from the Church, especially the Native Americans. But, thanks be to God, He is calling both
Natives and Western Europeans into the Orthodox Church through the prayers and
quiet, humble acts of His saints, some of whom are from the Native tribes.
One
of these is our Holy Mother Olga of Kwethluk, Alaska, who reposed on November 8th,
1979. Through her earthly life and now
her wonder-tokens (miracles), the love and power of the Holy Trinity are being
made manifest in the world. This is how
the Church will grow and spread once again in the Americas: not through the brute force of a Charlemagne
or a secretly CIA-directed and -funded denominational missionary crusade.
Would
it not be a remarkable act of God’s Providence, that, despite their
centuries-long mistreatment at the hands of ‘superior Westerners’, it could be
the lowly (in the world’s eyes) Orthodox Native saints like Mother Olga, Peter
the Aleut, and others who bring light and freedom to the spiritually blind and
bound (and proud) Protestants, Roman Catholics, and post-Protestants of the
Americas; and thereby imparting wholeness and harmony to their various political
communities as well?
Holy
Mother Olga, pray to God for us sinners!
Matushka Olga Michael, wife of
the departed Archpriest Nikolai O. Michael from the village of Kwethluk on the
Kuskokwim River in Alaska, as described in Fr. Michael Oleksa's book, Orthodox
Alaska, was neither a "physically impressive or imposing
figure." She raised eight children to maturity, giving birth to several of
them without a midwife. While her husband was away taking care of many other
parishes, she kept busy raising her family and doing many things for other
people. One is reminded of the story of Tabitha in the book of Acts (9:36-ff)
when hearing that "[i]n addition to sewing Father Nikolai's vestments in
the early years and crafting beautiful parkas, boots and mittens for her
children, she was constantly sewing or knitting socks or fur outerwear for
others. Hardly a friend or neighbor was without something Matushka had made for
them. Parishes hundreds of miles away received unsolicited gifts, traditional
Eskimo winter boots ('mukluks') to sell or raffle for their building fund. All
the clergy of the deanery wore gloves or woolen socks ... [which she] had made
for them" (p. 203). While fulfilling many of the other tasks (like
preparing the eucharistic bread) that are often assumed by other priests'
wives, she also knew the hymns of many feast days, including Palm Sunday, Holy
Week and Pascha in Yup'ik (her Eskimo language) by heart. After, miraculously
surviving an initial bout with cancer when it seemed that nothing could be
done, she eventually succumbed to a return of the disease, preparing herself
for death which took place on November 8, 1979 with great courage and faith.
It appeared that the normal
snow and river ice of that time of the year would prevent many people from
attending her funeral. But, the weather uncharacteristically changed and a
southerly wind helped to melt the ice and snow allowing parishioners from the
neighboring villages to make the journey to Kwethluk. "Hundreds of friends
... filled the newly-consecrated church on the extraordinary spring-like day of
the funeral. Upon exiting the church, the procession was joined by a flock of
birds, although by that time of year, all birds have long since flown south.
The birds circled overhead, and accompanied the coffin to the grave site. The
usually frozen soil had been easy to dig because of the unprecedented thaw.
That night, after the memorial meal, the wind began to blow again, the ground
refroze, ice covered the river, winter returned. It was as if the earth itself
had opened to receive this woman. The cosmos still cooperates and participates
in the worship of the Real People [i.e. the name native people give to
themselves] offer to God" (p. 205).
However, it is not just her
story that has been so special and life changing to others, but the actual
encounter with her presence that has taken place in remarkable ways. One woman,
originally from Kwethluk but now living in Arizona, had a dream in which
Matushka Olga appeared, assuring her that her mother would be alright because
she was coming to join her in a bright and joyful place. This woman did not known
her mother was sick at the time, that she had been rushed to Anchorage, and
that she would soon die. But the next day she received news of her mother's
emergency evacuation and rushed from Arizona to Alaska, comforting her mother
with the news Matushka Olga had brought her about her eternal destiny. The
woman died in peace and with her daughter without the shock and grief that
would have certainly ensued if the dream had not reassured her.
Another woman, after viewing a
picture of Matushka Olga, experienced a "compassionate, loving, gentle,
and very real—very accessible presence."
The most detailed account comes
from an Orthodox woman who, as in the previous example, had suffered for many
years from the consequences of severe sexual abuse experienced as a child. This
is her testimony of meeting Matushka Olga:
. . .
The rest is at http://orthochristian.com/86554.html .
--
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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