Mr
William Federer gives us some:
Lord
Acton wrote to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1881:
"All
power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
. . .
James
Madison stated at the Constitutional Convention, 1787:
"All
men having power ought to be distrusted."
However,
if ‘all men are kings’, possessing absolute power to make or unmake a
government and its laws, as Mr Federer often claims, then by his own logic no
man or group of men can be trusted to govern (it would even be unjust for them
to govern), since as all-powerful they are all absolutely corrupt, and there ought,
then, to be no organized, established government at all. Thus, we must return to Hobbes’s ‘state of
nature’ of the isolated individual and the war of all against all. For where there is no trust in one’s fellow
man, there is no co-operation, and no creative work is possible; there will be only
fear and distrust of one another, hatred, violence, and destruction.
The
answer is the anointed Orthodox Christian king, the great father of the
extended national family, one who does not wield absolute power, but only that
which the ancient laws and customs of his land, the Holy Scriptures, and the
Holy Canons of the Church allow him to wield.
This is the one in whom the people may place their trust to govern them
well, just as the small father may be trusted to work for the welfare of his
little kingdom, the family. Both are
girded with the Grace of Holy Ghost for their rulership by sacraments, the king
by the mystery of anointing, the father/husband by the mystery of marriage. The ensample of the holy Orthodox tsar in
Russia is helpful in giving us an understanding of this:
Br Nathanael: What
is the essence of Russia’s tradition of sacred monarchy compared with that of
the West’s?
Abp Gabriel: In the West, the King ruled by “divine
right.”
But
in the East, beginning with Emperor St Constantine of the Byzantine Empire to
Tsar Nikolai II of the Russian Empire, by “divine grace.”
Br Nathanael: What’s the difference?
Abp Gabriel: Prior
to the Bolshevik Revolution there existed in Russia a society ruled by
“imperium and priesthood.”
This two-fold rule comes out of
the Byzantine Orthodox tradition of “Symphonia of Church and State” whereby the
emperor or “tsar” looks after the welfare of the people based on the Church’s
teachings.
The
Church, in turn, is guarded by the Tsar through a foreign policy which has as
its uppermost aim the protection and defense of the Church.
This
is why Putin, whom I have had the honor of meeting, in striving to find a
variation of Symphonia, affirmed in
his Easter
speech:
“The
Russian Orthodox Church plays an enormous role in preserving our rich
historical and cultural heritage and in reviving eternal moral values. It works
tirelessly to bring unity, to strengthen family ties, and to educate the
younger generation in the spirit of patriotism.”
Br Nathanael: But isn’t this ‘monarchist ideal’
authoritarian and oppressive?
Abp Gabriel: Not
in the Orthodox East of which Russia is now preeminent.
In
the west, as it evolved in its distortion of Symphonia, “divine right” was
absolutist and authoritarian, asserting that a monarch was subject to no
earthly authority.
But
in Orthodox autocracy, a sovereign rules by “Divine grace”—in Christ’s service—for the
benefit of the people.
“Grace”
is the charisma of
the Holy Spirit operating in humans to regenerate and sanctify and to inspire
virtuous impulses.
Br Nathanael: How does the Tsar’s “grace” differ from
believers?
Abp Gabriel: The
Tsar undergoes a regal anointing
of grace which is a Holy Mystery of the Orthodox Church.
Coronations in
Russia involved a religious
ceremony
in which the Tsar was crowned, anointed with holy chrism—which imparted the
Holy Spirit’s gift to administer rule—and formally blessed by
the Church
to commence his reign.
As
a Church sacrament, the anointing and crowning of the Orthodox monarch confers
a spiritual benefit that mystically weds sovereign to subjects.
Thus,
the Orthodox monarch does not rule by “divine right” but by the “grace of the
Holy Spirit” and is subject to the moral and spiritual teachings of the Church
of which he is accountable.
Political
power should not be placed into millions of unaccountable hands who have no
idea how to properly use it. Who can
name one voter, let alone a majority of voters, who has received any kind of
reprimand for allowing a bad policy to come into effect by his vote (whether
public censure, a fine, being barred from voting for an election cycle or two,
etc.)? Yet many are the names of the
kings who have been deposed and even killed for their bad and/or unpopular
policies. It is the
republican/representative democratic system in which irresponsible power rests,
not the monarchical.
Ultimate
political authority belongs, as the Holy Scriptures and the history of the Holy
Orthodox Church show us, not in the hands of republicans but in the hands of
Christian kings who have been specially anointed for service to God and to
their subjects. Christian kings,
therefore, aren’t the problem, although folks in the States will hear just the
opposite repeated ad nauseum this July 4th. It is in fact their restoration that will
help the nations overcome their spiritual and moral decline and their various
political crises:
Br Nathanael: Will there
be a restoration of the monarchy that would uninterruptedly resist Russia’s
persistent enemies?
Abp Gabriel: As we tire of
the world’s political corruption and cruelty, as we see the need to protect the
Church from enmity toward Russia by the Western political system and its main
stream media, we can easily recognize that only a sovereign Christ-bearing Tsar
would be incorruptible and a stabilizing force.
Only he has no need
for underhanded political intrigue, has no interest in any lobbies and cannot
be bribed, but by the very essence of his service to Christ, he
would never sacrifice the interests of his nation to her foes. The time is ripe
for such an understanding.
The more the Russian
people become churched and return to their Orthodox roots,
then could come the restoration of our most treasured sacred monarchy.
--Ibid.
We
await the return of the Western peoples to their Orthodox roots and the
restoration of their sacred monarchies as well, begging God’s help.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England,
South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð,
unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
