Orthodox and American

Today we celebrate the 234th Anniversary of the Independence of our country. For the first time in history, on July 4th 1776, a group of wise, ethical men came together and established a country based on law and representation. This never happened before. For the very first time, there was no king or nobility. Power was not given to one man or a few families or a "tribe." It was distributed to people who were willing to take responsibility for the people and the land — political power was not given to royalty nor to the military.

Before coming to America, the Orthodox Church was always used to being in a country where there was a king. America is the first place where the Orthodox Church ever experienced a democracy. The Byzantine Empire had an Emperor. Russia had a Tsar ("Tsar" is just the Russian word for "Caesar"). Greece, for a long time, had a Sultan (and later, after independence, various kings of dubious quality). Our own people in the Carpathians had an Emperor — Franz Joseph, and before him Maria Theresa (of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

The Orthodox Church has always had a lot to say about how Christians should act toward government. Christians should pay their taxes. They should pray for their governmental leaders. They should fulfill their duties. Soldiers should serve with honor and courage. Citizens should be patriotic.

These things were said to Christians in the pagan Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Muslim Ottoman Empire, the Roman Catholic (and very anti-Orthodox) Austro-Hungarian Empire, even the communist and atheist USSR. Government — even led by bad men — was seen as a necessary structure that restrained evil and disorder. St. Paul the Apostle and all the Fathers make this fact crystal clear.

When our people came to America, we were given something for the first time in our history. We were offered the chance to vote. We were given the chance to participate in democracy. We could run for political office. We could make governmental decisions.

This is new for us. We Orthodox have been in a democracy now for only about 100 hundred years — and that is very, very new in Orthodox history. Never before had we such freedom to disagree intellectually with our government. Never before had we the ability to choose between candidates. Never before had we the chance to run for office and to serve.

We've always been drafted (or "conscripted") for military service: but never before have we been asked to agree or disagree with the nation's war policy. We've always been taxed, and many times unfairly: but never before have we been able to debate tax rates and government spending so openly. Our Orthodox has always been regulated by the State — even in Russia, the Tsar had too much influence in Church matters (Peter the Great dissolved, on his own, the Moscow Patriarchate in 1721): that is not the case in America. In Europe, our culture and ethnicity were regulated and even discouraged by the Austro-Hungarian government: here in America, we can have as many Rusyn (or Greek or Russian or Serbian or Syrian, etc.) classes and festivals as we want.

We Orthodox should be thankful for the freedom and opportunity we have in America. We Orthodox should also take up the responsibility that freedom demands.

This is important to remember. From the very beginning of America, freedom was always seen hand-in-hand with responsibility. Freedom of speech meant freedom of political opinion, always seasoned by courtesy and respect: not the coarse vulgarity of gutter language and pornography that curses us today. Freedom of religion meant that the State would not sponsor a National Church: it did not mean that the Church was prohibited from public life — as many secularists are trying to push for today. The right to bear arms meant that every citizen was encouraged to hunt game for his table and to protect his family from violence and villainy — it was never meant for the private possession of assault munitions and urban warfare.

The freedom of democracy demands the individual discipline of responsibility. This responsibility, in turn, requires a good knowledge of American and World History. Orthodox Christians need to know a lot more about the land and the heritage of the country they live in, in order to be faithful American Orthodox Christians. Read good books on American History. Watch Ken Burns' PBS series: The Civil War in particular. Watch the John Adams mini-series from HBO. Go visit Fort Necessity on Route 40, or the World War II Memorial in DC. Become responsibly informed about political discussions, but turn down the irresponsible gadflies that seethe on both extremes (turn off anyone who yells or spits into the mike).

The freedom of democracy demands good, classic conservatism. I do not mind saying that this is what I am, simply because I think that it is insane to trust the State for salvation (a horrible mistake that is made by socialists and fascists alike). On the other hand, Conservatives have been historically cautious about commerce and business: corporations should not have political power, because they must always look at the bottom line — and profit, while being good for business, is bad for politics since it can only be materialistic, and will often lead to outright immorality (remember: someone must be making a lot of money from R-rated primetime TV and filthy acts like Lady Gaga). Americans should remember that the aristocracy and large business interests have been ever the ones who pushed for the loosening of morals (like pornography and abortion) and an absence of protective regulation. Just as socialism (and statism) has little to do with Orthodoxy, so also does libertarianism find much in Orthodoxy that offends.

Alex du Tocqueville and Thomas Jefferson (along with Adams, Franklin, Monroe and others) agreed that American democracy depends on citizens learning about good traditional ideas of civilization, and about how we all arrived on these beautiful shores, survived and built a nation.

It is frightening that in a recent survey of American adults, 26% of could not say what nation America declared independence from. Most of this 26% were adults aged 35 and up! Some of this 26% guessed with answers like "China" or "Japan"! This lazy ignorance is immoral. It is also dangerous. We are always in danger of losing our gift of freedom: and that danger rises geometrically with ignorance, lack of discipline, and consumerism.

We Orthodox Christians have been blessed by God with the gift of America. Turn that sentence around, and it is just as true: America has been blessed by God with the gift of Orthodoxy. We Orthodox Christians have a lot to offer America. We have a memory of the Apostles and the Fathers — and of their teachings — that should help our country know right from wrong. We should be able to help our politicians and friends know the difference between lonely wisdom and popular foolishness. We should be able to take the long view, and to know how to conserve the eternal things, the values that are really good and beautiful. We should be able to show by example how to live a disciplined life that rises above the insanity of anger, pride, lust and gluttony. We should be able to serve as courageous soldiers, honorable politicians, independent and well-informed citizens who take care of people and the land. We should be able to speak without immature vulgarity, with respect and courtesy. We should be able, more than anyone else, to be real American men and women, who remember how to act as graceful ladies and decent gentlemen of God. We should be able to pray for our beautiful Country and her leaders — whether we agree with them or not — St. Paul, after all, commanded his contemporaries to pray for their governmental authority, and that one was Nero. We, who are really not persecuted at all (compared to the experience of the early martyrs), should be able to pray for those we did not vote for.

We should be. But here is the difficulty: America desperately needs Orthodox Americans to be Orthodox. Unfortunately and tragically, we Orthodox are always tempted to be less than this. We are tempted to be drawn toward the lesser strains of American society — its consumerism, is addictions to entertainment and popular cultural and political fads. In fulfilling our mission to America, we must reject the temptation of making our Orthodoxy too American. The Church is not and cannot be a pluralistic secularized democracy: that is good for the nation, but never the Apostolic Church ... it is bad for the nation if the Church becomes like the nation!

This is the dangerous potential that we face in discussions of Orthodox unity in America: secularism is such a dangerous peril that I think that we have not matured enough, not nearly enough, for independence as a single American jurisdiction. We have simply not learned how to be "American Orthodox" yet. "American Orthodoxy" means a lot more than speaking only English, and it certainly does not mean importing a democratic political system into Church leadership. Neither does it mean imitating American Protestant structures, or having anything to do with them (certainly not, God forbid, membership in the National Council of Churches: any appearance of this, in particular, is a disqualifier). I will pray fervently for this process of the Episcopal Assembly: but for my part, I would rather wait, learn and serve, and pray.

This is the mission of American Orthodoxy today. This is what America desperately needs. Uncle Sam needs you and me, as Orthodox Christians, to wait piously and obediently, to learn and serve, and to pray.

Comments

[Visibilium]

Competing jurisdictions make sense until Orthodox figure out what it means to be American Orthodox. I'm patient.

Orthodox societies have been organized as republics and limited monarchies, but the more absolutist governments are the ones that have been more visible and therefore thought to be more characteristic of Orthodox simfonia. Gee, how come I don't feel flattered by that caricature?

Aristocracy and big business are precisely the characters that have pushed for regulation to exclude competition from scrappy arrivistes. Free markets impose the responsibility on the aristocracy and established businesses of defending their societal position through competition. Keeping wealth requires work. Don't believe me? Ask the Rockefeller Family Office whether its hands are full managing the assets.

[Fr. Jonathan]

Yes, they are separate issues. But in these current unification discussions, independence is the subtext.

"One jurisdiction." The "one" part is something that no one can dispute. But "jurisdiction" is another thing altogether, since the meaning of this word is ambiguous. Does it just mean "administration," that is, of programs and institutions?

Or does it go beyond the conventional meanings and reach toward more traditional (and apostolic) understandings. How about unity in apostolicity? A jurisdiction that is one in catechism, prayer and mission?

[John]

Independence and a single jurisdiction are surely separate issues. Whether and to what extent the church should be independent means little to me. But it is very important that it come under one jurisdiction.

[Fr. Peter]

well said. May God bless America!

[David B]

Wonderfully said, Father. Thank you.