The Biden regime’s declaration of Easter Sunday as the Transgender Day of Visibility has outraged a multitude of people. It is rather long and florid in contrast to the short and perfunctory edict written in honor of Easter. In the former, the regime encourages the perpetuation of the trans epidemic in the States:
Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation. Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive. They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves. . . . Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.
If the people in the Biden regime really cared about trans-inclined people, they would not be telling them to embrace this disordered passion of theirs, but to quell it, to overcome it, to conquer it. There is a wonderful saint of the Orthodox Church to whom they (the LGBT folks) can turn for inspiration and help in that effort: St. Mary of Egypt (+6th century, celebrated 1 April and on the Fifth Sunday of Lent).
The story begins when a monk advanced in the spiritual life, Elder Zosimas, because of his prideful thoughts over his progress, was told by an angel to go to the Jordan River in order to learn humility:
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Zosimas, you have struggled valiantly, as far as this is in the power of man. However, there is no one who is righteous (Rom 3:10). So that you may know how many other ways lead to salvation, leave your native land, like Abraham from the house of his father (Gen 12:1), and go to the monastery by the Jordan.”
One year, as he went into the Jordanian wilderness along with the rest of the monks for their Lenten endeavors, he encountered St. Mary:
He walked into the wilderness for twenty days and then, when he sang the Psalms of the Sixth Hour and made the usual prayers. Suddenly, to the right of the hill where he stood, he saw a human form. He was afraid, thinking that it might be a demonic apparition. Then he guarded himself with the Sign of the Cross, which removed his fear. He turned to the right and saw a form walking southward. The body was black from the blazing sunlight, and the faded short hair was white like a sheep’s fleece.
Her clairvoyance revealed to St. Zosimas that she was greatly blessed by God: ‘“O Mother! It is clear that you live with God and are dead to this world. You have called me by name and recognized me as a priest, though you have never seen me before. . . .”’
Likewise, her miraculous manner of praying:
“ . . . fulfill my unworthy request, Mother, and pray for the whole world and for me a sinner, that my wanderings in the desert may not be useless.”
The holy ascetic replied, “You, Abba Zosimas, as a priest, ought to pray for me and for all, for you are called to do this. However, since we must be obedient, I will do as you ask.”
The saint turned toward the East, and raising her eyes to heaven and stretching out her hands, she began to pray in a whisper. She prayed so softly that Abba Zosimas could not hear her words. After a long time, the Elder looked up and saw her standing in the air more than a foot above the ground. Seeing this, Zosimas threw himself down on the ground, weeping and repeating, “Lord, have mercy!”
He begged her to tell him about her life. Despite her hesitation, St. Mary obeyed his request. It is here that LGBT people should pay special heed, for St. Mary reveals how those with passions that mercilessly control them can be conquered, how their lives can be transformed into something entirely beautiful and pleasing to God:
She replied, “It distresses me, Father, to speak to you about my shameless life. When you hear my story, you might flee from me, as if from a poisonous snake. But I shall tell you everything, Father, concealing nothing. However, I exhort you, cease not to pray for me a sinner, that I may find mercy on the Day of Judgment.
“I was born in Egypt and when I was twelve years old, I left my parents and went to Alexandria. There I lost my chastity and gave myself to unrestrained and insatiable sensuality. For more than seventeen years I lived like that and I did it all for free. Do not think that I refused the money because I was rich. I lived in poverty and worked at spinning flax. To me, life consisted in the satisfaction of my fleshly lust.
“One summer I saw a crowd of people from Libya and Egypt heading toward the sea. They were on their way to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. I also wanted to sail with them. Since I had no food or money, I offered my body in payment for my passage. And so I embarked on the ship.
“Now, Father, believe me, I am very amazed, that the sea tolerated my wantonness and fornication, that the earth did not open up its mouth and take me down alive into hell, because I had ensnared so many souls. I think that God was seeking my repentance. He did not desire the death of a sinner, but awaited my conversion.
“So I arrived in Jerusalem and spent all the days before the Feast living the same sort of life, and maybe even worse.
There in Jerusalem St. Mary’s life made a dramatic turn, thanks to another Holy Saint Whose life has been getting attention from The Spectacle podcast lately – the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
. . .
The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/04/garlington-escaping-the-lgbt-briar-patch-an-orthodox-view/.
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Thanks to the folks at the Reckonin’ site for posting the essay about St Alfred the Great and his role as Dixie’s patron saint:
https://www.reckonin.com/walt-garlington/patron-saints-in-christendom-and-at-the-south
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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!
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