Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Lord’s Words about Swords; Thoughts on Veterans’ Day


Today Mr Bryan Fischer (https://afr.net/podcasts/focal-point/2019/november/tillerson-and-kelly-tried-to-save-the-country-by-undermining-trump/) repeated his belief that Christ’s words in St Luke’s Gospel 22:35-8 are an encouragement to Christians to bear arms:

[35] And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.
[36] Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
[37] For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
[38] And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

However, this is not the judgment of the Holy Fathers.  They say it means something different:

The sword (v. 36) is not to be understood literally (compare vv. 49-51), but refers to the living word of God in the battle against sin (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).  St. Ambrose adds an additional meaning:  that giving up one’s garment and buying a sword refers to surrendering the body to the sword of martyrdom.  Because the disciples were thinking of swords literally, Jesus abruptly ends the discussion with the words, “It is enough,” or better translated, “Enough of this!” (see Dt. 3:26; Mark 14:41).

--The Orthodox Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, 2008, p. 1410

We must be careful of too literal an interpretation.  The Holy Scriptures are by no means an easy thing to understand. 

However, this does not mean self-defense is altogether ruled out by the Holy Scriptures, only that the justification comes from elsewhere rather than from this passage in St Luke’s Gospel (the inconsistency shown by Fr Oleg in his statement notwithstanding):


***

Veterans’ Day as celebrated by Protestant Evangelicals of the American Supremacist type was quite revealing this year.  It shows how far from Christian norms they have got; indeed, how much they view ‘America’ as their Church.  They were adamant that veterans be remembered, thanked, celebrated, exalted.  But neither on this day nor on any other do they praise the holy saints of the Orthodox Church like they do the ‘patriots of America’, who in effect have taken the place of the holy Christian martyrs and saints on their calendar.  One will hear plenty about Lincoln’s birthday or Reagan’s birthday, but not one iota about the feast days of St Gregory Palamas, St Anthony the Great, or most any other of the holy saints and angels (Sts Patrick and Valentine being the two exceptions, and even their days are woefully kept by most ‘loyal Americans’).  Today, 11 November, was an especially glaring omission.  For today is the Feast Day of St Martin the Merciful of Tours, one of the greatest saints of the West:

In signs and in miracles you were renowned throughout Gaul. / By grace and adoption you are a light for the world, O Martin, blessed of God. / Almsgiving and compassion filled your life with their splendors, / teaching and wise counsel were your riches and treasures, / which you dispense freely to those who honor you.

As a devoted man of God, you proclaimed His mysteries, / and as a seer of the Trinity, you shed your blessings on the Occident. / By your prayers and entreaties, O adornment of Tours and glory of all the Church, / preserve us, O Saint Martin, and save all who praise your memory.



If the American Supremacists really cared about upholding Western Christian culture, they would have mentioned St Martin in some way.  But they care only for their distorted, deformed version of it, so they did not.

The American Empire may wear a few Christian trinkets on the outside, but it is far from Christlike on the inside.

--

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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