Remembrances for August - 2025

 

Dear friends, if you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day they reposed.  Many thanks.

But one may ask:  ‘What good does it do to pray for the departed?’  An answer is offered here:  https://orthochristian.com/130608.html

Along with prayers and hymns for the departed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6je5axPodI

1 August

Rev James Henley Thornwell, one of the most formidable theological writers of the South.  You may read some of those writings here:

https://archive.org/details/collectedwriting01thor

3 August

Miss Flannery O’Connor, one of Dixie’s best writers, fiction and non-fiction.

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/flannery-oconnor-1925-1964

4 August

Robert ‘King’ Carter, one of the most influential men of colonial Virginia, and the builder of the historic Christ Church in 1730.  His great influence would continue through his descendants, one of whom is our papa, Robert E. Lee.

https://www.christchurch1735.org/about/the-church/meet-the-carters

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19474872/robert-carter

https://christchurch1735.org/virtual-tour/

8 August

Lucy Pickens, the Queen of the South, considered the most beautiful woman of Dixie.  Her virtue did not lag behind her physical beauty.

https://southernorthodox.org/queen-lucy-queen-mary/

16 August

Robert Johnson, an extraordinarily talented blues guitar player from Mississippi.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/what-makes-this-musician-great-robert-johnson/

16 August

Elvis Pressley, the King.  Need we say more?

https://www.graceland.com/biography

21 August

John Taylor of Caroline, Virginia, an underappreciated agrarian political philosopher.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/john-taylor-republicanism-liberty-and-union/

24 August

Jerry Clower, one of the South’s finest comedians.

https://www.wideopencountry.com/jerry-clower/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3573/jerry-clower

26 August

William Byrd II, a colonial Virginian of many attainments.

http://westover-plantation.com/about.htm

30 August

Gen John Bell Hood, one of Lee’s best lieutenants, he gave his left arm and right leg for the cause of Southern independence.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hood-john-bell

Also, to celebrate some of the saints of August from the South’s Christian inheritance of various lands, use either of these links:

https://southernorthodox.org/orthodox-saints-for-dixie-august/

https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2020/09/happy-feast-for-saints-of-august.html

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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!

‘The Reconstituted West’

 

Western Europe, once rich

In the Grace of God –

 

Her soil made fertile,

Her waters made pure,

By the blood and bones

Of fearless martyrs

And confessors bold;

 

Her people ruled with truth

And justice and meekness,

Spirit-anointed kings

Cooperating

With apostolic bishops;

 

Saintly mothers and fathers

Birthing saintly sons and daughters

A lineage

Of righteousness

Lasting for generations;

 

Holy monks and nuns

Filling the empty wilds

With the warmth of praise

For the Holy God

And love for man and beast –

 

Western Europe,

For a long span of time,

Was a clear mirror, reflecting

The beauty of Heaven.

 

But the fickle will

Of man, free to choose

Good or ill, through subtle

Craft of demon spirits

From dark, infernal realms,

Began once again

To incline to evil ways.

 

Taking the sharpened

Sacrificial knife,

 . . .

The rest is at https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/the-reconstituted-west/.

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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!

‘Will Trump Make Secession Great Again?’

 

He almost did that in 2016.  This incident in Oregon got memory-holed pretty quickly, but it is indicative of just how precarious the union of the States really is:

‘Two days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, two Portlanders have submitted a petition for a 2018 ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from the United States. On Thursday morning, Jennifer Rollins, a lawyer, and Christian Trejbal, a writer, filed the Oregon Secession Act. "Oregonian values are no longer the values held by the rest of the United States," Trejbal said over the phone Thursday. Those values? "Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness," Trejbal said, "plus equality." "Obviously," he said, the ballot proposal "came about partially in response to the election results on Tuesday." "But," he added, "it's been developing over time." Trejbal said that he and Rollins are hoping to start a serious conversation in Oregon about what it would mean to peacefully leave the United States. They opted for 2018 to give Oregonians some time to really think about what seceding from the union would mean. Some Californians have already expressed interest in seceding and the language of the Oregon proposal includes the option to bring other states into a "Constitutional Convention." Trejbal said that joining forces with other states like Washington, California and Nevada is "a viable way to go forward." These states, he said, "could all get together and form a nation that uphold the values that we share"’ (Lizzy Acker, ‘After Donald Trump victory, Oregonians submit ballot proposal to secede from the union’, oregonlive.com).

The initiative was quickly withdrawn, only lasting one day in public life.  And yet President Trump’s ability to shake up and break up the union has not dissipated.  And this time, in 2024, the discontented parties may well be pro-life States, for Donald Trump has begun touting an abortion-friendly campaign message to win the ‘woman vote’:

‘Former President Donald Trump has signaled a shift in his stance on abortion, vowing to ensure “powerful exceptions” if elected in 2024, in what appears to be an attempt to appeal to women voters.

‘In recent statements, Trump expressed opposition to Florida’s six-week abortion ban, calling it “too short” and saying “there has to be more time.” When asked about Florida’s Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, Trump indicated he would vote for “more than six weeks,” as previously reported by Resist the Mainstream.

‘Nonetheless, it appears Trump is again trying to appeal to women voters by vowing a more moderate approach to abortion.

‘ . . . Trump’s shift comes as the Republican Party has moved away from its long-standing position of advocating for strict abortion limits. In July, the party abandoned this stance, reflecting the complex political calculus surrounding the issue in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal.

‘As the 2024 election approaches, Trump’s evolving position on abortion highlights the delicate balance Republican candidates must strike between appealing to their conservative base and attracting moderate voters, particularly women.

‘The issue remains a contentious and divisive one in American politics, with both parties seeking to frame their opponents as extremists while positioning themselves as reasonable on the matter’ (Anthony Gonzalez, ‘Trump Makes Major Shift in Abortion Stance, Vows ‘Powerful Exceptions’ for Women’, resistthemainstream.com).

In 2016, Leftist Oregonians decided they didn’t like the prospect of living under a revivalist Trump presidency and took some initial steps to leave the present union and form a new one.  In 2024, or in some year not too distant from this one, pro-lifers in Midwestern and Southern States may well decide they don’t like the prospect of living under a pro-abortion federal president who pressures them to loosen their abortion laws (whether that is Trump or someone else) and take steps of their own to leave the union.

That will hinge on how strong the Christian Faith remains in those States.  From her earliest days, the Church has condemned the murder of unborn children.  The Didache (also called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), a first-century Christian text, reads, ‘[D]o not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant’ (2:2, ccel.org).  Many other citations could be given from Church Fathers over the years.

Christians realize something more is at work in abortion than the Enlightenment ‘right’ of a woman to do what she wishes with the little baby growing in her womb.  It is an intensely religious act, one instigated by the demons and intended to destroy mankind and to dishonor God, Who made man and woman in His own image:

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/09/garlington-will-trump-make-secession-great-again-in-2024/.

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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!

Book Recommendation: Judging Athena

 

Angels make an appearance in Southern literature from time to time.  Southern poetry of the early and mid 19^th century (e. g., Edgar A. Poe, Paul H. Hayne, Louisa McCord) seems to feature them most often; in many of those cases they appear to be imbued with the attributes given to them by the non-Christian Romantics of that time.  The latter were fascinated by the supernatural.  They had a strong yearning to encounter the spiritual world after the soul-drought they had experienced because of the scientific ‘Enlightenment’.  Their interactions with angelic beings (whether imaginative or otherwise, whether with actual angels or with their fallen brethren) gave them a way to do that without at the same time recognizing the Holy Trinity as the True God.  Spirit-beings became false gods for them to worship.

Perrin Lovett, a contemporary Southern author, takes the angel motif and puts it to a much better use in his newest novel Judging Athena.  Through one New England man’s encounter with an angel (in the guise of a woman), the reader is given a glimpse into truer angelology, one that unfolds through an innocent love story.

Southern novels for many years have been heavily marked by violence and cursing.  This story is refreshingly different.  One is able to enjoy mundane things like the taste of pancakes, or walk amongst the summits of Orthodox theology, showing how husbands and wives contribute to the salvation of one another, without unnecessary shocks to the soul.

Returning to Mr Poe, his combination of melancholy and beauty is one of his most powerful contributions to literature.  Mr Lovett’s use of this device elevates it to new heights at the end of his story:  The tragic beauty of those scenes sears the heart with descriptions that the reader will not soon forget.

Judging Athena is a truly redemptive and rewarding novel to read.  We recommend it to all.

Available from Shotwell Publishing.

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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!