One of the favorite American complaints (conspiracy theory) is that Emperor Constantine ruined the Christian Church by bringing it into the government. For instance, Stanley Hauerwas claims:

This change in status of what it meant to be Christian, according to Yoder, called forth a new theological development, “namely the doctrine of the invisibility of the church.” Before Constantine, Christians assumed as a matter of faith that God was governing history even in the person of the emperor, but they knew that God was present in the church. After the Constantinian establishment, Christians knew that God was governing the world in Constantine, but they had to take it on faith that within the nominally Christian mass there was a community of true believers. No longer could being a Christian be identified with church membership, since many “Christians” in the church had not chosen to follow Christ. Now to be a Christian is transmuted to “inwardness.”

On another website, the following claim is made:

The devil still wanted to destroy the Church, but persecution was not the way to do it. Instead he came up with a much better plan. Instead of attacking the Church from the outside he would corrupt the church and destroy it FROM THE INSIDE. The devil’s new strategy was very simple: “IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM!” Don’t fight them, just shake hands with them and JOIN THEIR TEAM! Infiltrate their ranks! Let’s see how this strategy worked! …

What was the result of Constantine’s new approach to Christianity? Since being a Christian was the popular thing to do, MANY JOINED THE BANDWAGON! Thousands of heathen joined the church! Suddenly it seemed like the whole world was crowding into the church. Many of these people were Christians in name only. Can a person “name the name of Christ” but not really be a true Christian (see 2 Timothy 2:19)? …

As you can well imagine, many heathen customs and practices crept into the church. The pagan images and statues were still honored, but they were given “Christian” names such as Peter or Mary. Artemis (Diana) worship was changed to Mary worship. Also Isis, the Egyptian goddess was easily transformed into Mary. Worshippers of Isis called her “the Great Virgin” and “Mother of the God”. Some surviving images of Isis holding the child Horus are in a pose very similar to that of some early Christian Madonnas (showing Mary holding the infant Jesus). Heathen temples were consecrated and changed into churches. Heathen feasts were given Christian names. It was just the same old paganism or heathenism under a new name! The church had not conquered the world. THE WORLD HAD CONQUERED THE CHURCH! Paganism had put on new clothes but it was the same old paganism.

But, here is the problem. All too many American Evangelical Protestants would quickly subscribe to some version of the above views. They look at Church history and quickly use every negative item of history to show how damaged the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church became. Church history becomes the proving ground for how evil it is to connect Church and State. More than that, Church history becomes a convenient excuse for doing away with whatever doctrines and/or practices you disagree with. After all, it was Emperor Constantine who forced “those” doctrines upon the Church.  I have always been amazed at how a Church that defied persecution up until Emperor Constantine so quickly gave up all its moral and theological stances in order to gain governmental advantages.

So what is the problem? We are in a time in American Church history when American Evangelicals are doing just what they complained led to the downfall of the Church. Notice that now there is an emphasis on the necessity of approving laws that will establish Christian morals as part of the nation’s legal code. (Note that these morals happen to agree with only one certain conservative political viewpoint, but they are labeled as THE true Biblical viewpoint.) What troubles me is that the same people who are insisting that these laws must be passed are still blindly insisting that Constantine ruined the Church. That is, while they are arguing that the mixture of Church and State is necessary because this is a Christian nation, they are also arguing that the mixture of Church and State is completely wrong when it supposedly happened back in Constantine’s time.

What they are not acknowledging is that whenever any group of believers in a particular religion achieve a certain mass, they have the political power to mold the society so that it will reflect their beliefs, both by forbidding what they find objectionable (abortion) and promoting what they find acceptable (the care of widows and orphans). Modern American society is in conflict. And, just like in Constantine’s time, there is a strong, and overt, pressure for the government to approve laws that support the morality of what politically conservative Christians claim is the predominant view of the majority of the citizens of this country.

I actually have no problem with that. That is the natural course of development that happens when a minority religion becomes the majority religion. But, here is that to which I object. I am fully and totally tired of those politically conservative American Evangelical Protestants who will still rail against Constantine and preach on Sundays about how what Orthodox Christians cherish is simply the result of some type of pagan conspiracy led by the devil. Frankly, they are in the process of repeating what they claim happened in Constantine’s time. So, why do they continue to claim that Constantine (and the devil) changed the Church without acknowledging that if that is true, then they must also claim that their own movement is a movement which also allows the world (the flesh, and the devil) to mold the Church? Somehow everything that happened in the years after Constantine is the world (and the devil) molding the Church. But, nothing that has been happening over the last 30 years in the USA is American political conservatism (and the devil) molding the American Church (both Catholic and Protestant).

Do you see the contradiction?

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For those of you who are Orthodox, the oldest icons show monks wearing hoods. The modern veil that a monk wears in Orthodoxy is a direct descendant of the hood.

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The post below was published on the Orthodox Christian Network where I publish a blog a month

===========

When I comment on current affairs, even if I am careful not to mention any political party or affiliation, I am more and more often challenged with the statement that I am engaging in politics. I have noted that other clergy and, yes, even our own OCN (Orthodox Christian Network) are beginning to encounter that challenge more and more. Inevitably, because bishops, priests, and deacons preach, teach, and talk about reaching out to those less fortunate or speak about life issues or actively engage in social ministry of some type or even lead some marches (such as Metropolitan Jonah who is strongly involved in pro-life activities), this type of challenge is becoming a regular part of our lives. “Father, you are engaging in politics and you should not do so. You should just preach the Gospel.”

To add spice to this discussion, you should know that at least one of our Orthodox jurisdictions in America has specifically instructed its priests to not engage in politics. I suspect that I know what they meant, but, given the current climate in the USA, I can see how that restriction could be misinterpreted and misused. You see, the accusation of a religious person being involved inappropriately in politics is a very old and dangerous one. Let me take you back through some events documented in the Holy Scriptures and let you see for yourself.

The foremost event was the trial of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Look back at the Scripture. In the Gospels, it is recorded that Pontius Pilate did not agree to the crucifixion of Our Lord until it was pointed out to him that the Sanhedrin would report Pilate to Caesar for not executing a person who claimed to be a king. “We have no king but Caesar” was the cry that sent Our Lord to his doom. His cousin, John the Forerunner, was executed for an act that had political overtones, the condemnation of a ruler for violating Jewish law by marrying his brother’s wife. This happened in the Old Testament as well.

The Prophet Jeremiah was accused of treason. Let me give you a long quote from the Book of Jeremiah:

“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”

After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”

“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

The accusation of engaging in politics and/or the accusation of treason has a long history. It is one of Satan’s dearest tricks. Accuse a prophet or a pastor or a priest or a bishop or Our Lord Jesus Christ of politics/treason and you can silence him. That silence accomplishes Satan’s purpose because it prevents God’s voice from being spoken into a situation.

On 26 March 1965, Time magazine published a photograph of Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory marching on the Selma march along with Martin Luther King and to his immediate right. He was at that time primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. By his action, he put the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese firmly on the side of changing the existing “Jim Crow” laws as being a violation of Christian belief. Needless to say, he, too, was accused of engaging in politics rather than simply speaking God’s truth into a practical and, yes, political situation. Nowadays he is simply seen as a hierarch who walked in the steps of the saints.

Other Orthodox hierarchs, priests, deacons, and lay people have engaged in actions which have political import. And they were right to do so. Yet many of them faced, and continue to face, the accusation of engaging inappropriately in politics. It is a charge that was successful in imprisoning Jeremiah, murdering John the Forerunner, and sending Our Lord to an unjust death. And it is a charge that continues to be successfully used to this day.

You only need to read today’s Christian magazines, journals, and blogs to see how often the charge of engaging in politics is used to try to silence or disrespect the views of a hierarch, priest, or deacon (or of a non-Orthodox Christian who is trying to say that something is wrong). But, unless such a person is advocating a particular candidate, or even perhaps a particular party to the exclusion of all other parties, then it is unlikely that the person is engaging in politics. That is what I believe that the jurisdiction that forbids politics to its clergy is trying to say. And they are correct when they say that. I fully support that jurisdiction in forbidding their clergy to engage in politics.

But, let us be careful lest we try to stretch what that jurisdiction has said to mean that clergy may not say anything that is offensive politically to some Orthodox Christian. Hierarchs, priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, etc., are not called to make all feel better. We are called to be God’s voice to his Creation. Does that mean that we are always correct? No, it does not! Some weeks, I would settle for feeling like I am 50% correct. But, it does mean that we attempt to speak faithfully, knowing that we may be accused of wrongful behavior in order to neutralize our words.

So, let us choose to lay aside the accusation of politics, unless the person is engaging in the obvious support of one particular political party or one particular political candidate to the exclusion of all others. Let us choose to listen to that clergyman or layperson, refusing to entertain in our minds any suspicion of politics or accusation of inappropriate behavior. Only then will we have a hope of hearing God’s word to his Creation. The clergyman or layperson may not be correct, but we will never be sure until such a time as we refuse to accuse and take the time to listen.

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The story line on 9 Chickweed Lane continues. Unplanned pregnancies, particularly when the woman is left alone are difficult. But for many of those ladies, years later they look back and wonder how they could ever not have wanted the child who is now grown. Yes, I do realize the pain and hardship of being a single mother. My mother was widowed when I was seven and my sister was four. I know how hard she worked, back in the days when there were few, if any, government programs that would help in any substantial way. I know that some women crack under the strain. I know all that.

But … look again at the comic above. ‘Nuff said.

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On 9 Chickweed Lane the discussion about an unplanned pregnancy continues. The author has not yet revealed what is the future for the pregnancy, but he is being very good at pointing out some of the dynamics of what really happens here in the USA. The discussion above is true to life for more than one issue. I can remember some of the early fights for equal rights for women. In those fights, it almost became mandatory for women to stop being stay-at-home moms in order for them to prove that they were truly liberated. Positive lip service was given to the women who chose to stay at home, but one could tell that, like the woman above, there was no regard given to that choice.

Sadly, among some opposing that, nowadays there is an opposite of that which is small movements that women must be stay-at-home moms or be somehow not considered to be truly good moms. At the extreme of that is “quiverfull” movement which argues almost the opposite of the lady above. They argue that a woman must get pregnant, as the Lord allows, because he desires families who have a “quiver full” of children and that blessedness is found in that. If the woman above assumes that a “modern” woman needs to exercise her right to an abortion, the “quiverfull” movement assumes that God wishes large families and does not approve of any birth control, even natural family planning.

Notice that in either case, the woman pictured above or the quiverfull movement, a woman truly has no choice and there are no gray areas. Before someone comments, let me point out that the Orthodox Church is against elective abortion and would not be against some forms of family planning.

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On a regular basis I have e-mails forwarded to me that purport to tell some true story, most often about a political personage with whom that person disagrees. Once in a while it is about some other personage that is supposed to teach a moral story, but those are fewer. Rarely, some form of health advice or warning about a putative health problem is forwarded. And, periodically I receive the odd compassionate tale that teaches some type of feel-good moral, which is promptly ruined by an ending that claims that you are not a true friend, or a true Christian, or a truly compassionate person unless you forward this e-mail. Frankly, those are only the e-mails that make it through my internet provider’s spam filter. There are hundreds of e-mails a day that I do not see. Once in a while I dive into the cesspool of the server’s spam filter to see if it missed any true e-mail. I usually come out of that dive feeling dirty, given the subjects of all too many of today’s spam e-mails.

But what all the e-mails that I do receive have in common is that they are 99% false. Even when the basic story is true, there is usually a twist at the end that turns the story from truth to a deliberately crafted lie. But, in most cases even the basic story is not true. I used to spend time, a couple of years ago, going to Snopes.com to check out various of the e-mails. [There are other equally good sites.] I think I can only remember one e-mail whose information was fully true. Many of them had a degree of truth in them, enough to make it as a half-truth, which allowed the lie to be even more convincingly swallowed.

Let me give you an example of a true story: Bottle Bombs

But now, let me give you some examples of false stories: Debt Free America Act, Dhimmitude, Corona beer, Nieman-Marcus cookie recipe.

So I find myself in the same position as the deacon above. Dealing with people all the time, I have no doubt that people are fervent in their belief that what is on the Internet, or the latest conspiracy theory, is absolutely true. It is so true that they will not even listen when you point them to reputable debunking sites such as Snopes or point them to reputable news stories that debunk what they have just said. It is all irrelevant because everyone else but their cherished false belief is wrong and/or lying to deliberately stop them from seeing the truth.

Sadly, many of these people are also good Orthodox believers (I will let you all speak about your own group.). And, yet, when I would counsel them from the Scriptures or from the Church Fathers, they will promptly turn around and come up with the most incredible reasons why that advice or that Scripture or that quote from the Fathers could not be accurate. And they belong to my own faith group! Suddenly they become experts in church history or modern psychology or any other reason that allows them to duck out of responding to the ancient faith. Ultimately many of them choose to continue the lifestyle that caused the problem that brought them to talk to me in the first place.

And so, as Scripture itself points out time after time, “. . . and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” Many of us are in the position of believing false Internet stories while rejecting true wisdom from Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Or worse, we make political or product-buying or safety-related decisions based on false Internet stories while refusing to make lifestyle decisions based on Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. To paraphrase Our Lord Jesus Christ, it should not be so among us.

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Have you ever heard of or read any stories about Canadian illegal aliens who are inappropriately residing in this country? Of course you have not. But, that is a reality in several states of the United States. Canadians have no problem coming into the USA, nor do they have any problem driving with their Canadian license, or an international license, nor are they asked for a resident alien visa if they are stopped for any reason whatsoever.

Yet, it is well known that there are high numbers of Canadians living in various parts of the USA without a residence visa. In an article from 2008, one new media outlet comments:

Since 2000, the number of Canadians living in New York City has more than doubled to over 21,000, myself included. In Manhattan alone, we make up the eighth-largest population of foreign-born residents. And there are between 70,000 and 99,000 unauthorized Canadians nationwide, according to the Urban Institute, a research firm that estimates figures based on population surveys. Although no one tracks the number living illegally in New York, the city continues to be a draw for my northern brethren.

But, of course, no one is worried about Canadians. As the author of the article comments of one Canadian, “With her blond hair and perfect English, she doesn’t look like the poster child for illegal immigration. She didn’t get here by scaling a wall or paying off Coyotes. But her blue eyes and slender cheek bones represent a new face in the city’s immigrant population: Canadians.”

But, it is hard to estimate the number of Canadians living illegally in the USA. After all, any Canadians in the USA who do not hold a job (retirees) would not really show up. And, it is doubtful that they would ever be found out as long as they would keep renewing their driver’s licenses in Canada. I have family in Miami. When I visit there, it is will known that Miami Beach has many Canadians who live there without any problem being caused to them.

So, why do we not hear about illegal Canadians? … Take a guess. My guess carries a rather negative opinion of Arizona, Alabama, and some other states previously involved in judging people by the color of their skin.

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OK all you theological geeks. To which argument for the existence of God is the above comic referring? No, you cannot answer with “Intelligent Design.” Give me the actual philosophical name for the argument that is pictured in the above comic. For instance, is the above comic an example of the: cosmological, teleological, ontological, anthropic, transcendental, argument from degree, will to believe argument, or the argument from reason?

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And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a funny thing. It is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you’ve seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. One of the possible symptoms of PTSD is avoidance. It can include:

• Emotional “numbing,” or feeling as though you don’t care about anything
• Feeling detached
• Being unable to remember important aspects of the trauma
• Having a lack of interest in normal activities
• Showing less of your moods
• Avoiding places, people, or thoughts that remind you of the event
• Feeling like you have no future

Can you see Elijah as suffering many of those symptoms? After all, he had “experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.” But, what I want you to notice is how God “treated” him. First, he gave him some clear and simple directions, eat and travel. Second, he sent him out to a quiet place by himself. God actually helped Elijah to avoid, “places, people, or thoughts that remind you of the event.” But, then God worked with Elijah to restore his confidence. He used any of several methods. At first, he simply has Elijah travel by giving him some simple orders. That is, he did not give Elijah any choices, but guided him to silence and isolation. Then he quietly gave Elijah some experiences that gently showed him that Elijah’s perceptions were not accurate. Then he listened to Elijah, after asking him at least one question (note that we do not know whether there might have been additional questions, Scripture often abbreviates events). We have no record of whether there was any additional conversation between Elijah and God on this occasion. It appears that God maintained a certain degree of client/counselor privacy in the recounting of this event.

But, at the end of that conversation, God quietly restores Elijah to service. In fact, one might suspect that he gives him the assignments simply to show Elijah that he is still trusted by God and still able to do the work that God desires him to do. I find this story wonderfully and personally reassuring. Like most people, I make mistakes; I wonder about myself; I go through periods when I think that God just might be better off without me. This story helps to remind me that God’s viewpoint and attitude are ever so much different from anything I can imagine. Elijah’s story says to me that God is not a judge waiting to discipline me for what I have done wrong, but a Healer who will do what is necessary to bring me to wholeness. Mind you, let’s be careful here. Surgeons are quite willing to cut into a patient and to cause future pain, if that current cut and future pain mean that the body as a whole will be better off than the body was before the surgeon cuts. That God is a Healer does not mean that we will not experience pain. But it does comfort us that, even when we experience pain, that God is there to ultimately heal us.

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What the comic says is accurate. Less than half of currently serving USA servicemen and servicewomen think that we are likely to succeed in Afghanistan. But, we have a definition problem in the USA. The person on the left asking the questions is a reporter from an ostensibly neutral network. Nevertheless, as you can see up above, the reporter is anything but neutral. In fact, he already has an embedded definition of patriot on his mind. What is a patriot? Anyone who shouts USA USA USA the loudest, who is convinced that the only reason we lose wars is because politicians back home go soft, and who believes that leaving under almost any circumstance but that the country we are in is a duplicate of the USA approach to government is a loss. Anyone who believes that the war has reached a point of negative returns, who believes that we are losing the locals, who believes that it might be time for us to pull out is not a patriot. The only person who was given a small pass on this definition was Ron Paul, who states precisely what the “non-patriot” states, but whose other stances are so clearly conservative/libertarian that no one dares accuse him of not being a patriot.

Father Orthoduck sees the above as being one of the main problems to a resolution of any of various matters in this country over which arguments have broken out. As long as we have a segment of the country whose definition of patriot does not allow for any questioning of policies on any issue which they have declared by fiat to be a patriotic issue, so long will we have this untenable turmoil, which is reflected all the way up into the halls of Congress. Though many conservatives decry any attempt to compare the current situation to Viet Nam, Father Orthoduck is beginning to think that it may have begun to resemble that. Just like when Father Orthoduck was drafted to serve during the Viet Nam conflict, we have wars that are becoming increasingly unpopular, a segment of our population that is becoming increasingly vocal about patriotism and the necessity to remain there regardless of possible outcomes, and a culture that is split into at least two warring factions.

No, there is no “peace” movement, but there was a short-lived Occupy movement. But, just like the late 1950′s through 1970′s, there are accusations of Marxism (so-called communists in the 1960′s, so-called socialists today), there are accusations of lack of patriotism, and the politics are divisive and counter-intuitive. “Security” has become and issue, with one side arguing that any measures the government wishes to have under the rubric of “security” must be allowed. And, just like the 1960′s, one side argues that spending must be cut on anything other than defense, while the other side argues that defense must be cut, but not anything else. It is beginning to look as though that period had spawned a doppelganger which has come to life today.

The trouble is that the period back then led to some severe cultural changes, and a very rough ride, from the late 1960′s through 1980. The cultural changes thus far have been an increasing conservatism in some segments of the population–think Spiro Agnew–but with probably a cultural explosion about to happen which will try to pull the country the other way. Father Orthoduck would counsel that you strap on your seatbelts, even rougher weather ahead.

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