One of the founding American principles is that one need not agree with his government to love his country. Despite several instances in which our government has hurt, rather than helped, Orthodox Christians at home and abroad, I am thankful, as an Orthodox Christian, to have been born in the United States.
Unlike other parts of the world where the Orthodox Church is always under persecution, at least we, in the United States of America, have the freedom to believe and worship as Orthodox Christians. Isn't that a profound blessing, especially considering the history of our Church? Over the years, many Orthodox Christians, from all over the world, have come to America in search of freedom and opportunity. I am proud that my grandfather, a soldier for the Greek army in World War II, came to America in hope for that freedom.
Furthermore, the United States has served as a protector and liberator of Orthodox Christians around the world. Would Nazism and Communism, the two greatest threats to our Church in the 20th century, have been defeated without the United States military? That same courage and resolve which destroyed totalitarianism is now leading the fight against radical Islam, history's most vicious enemy of the Orthodox Church. I believe that America, despite its flaws, has a unique place among nations as a friend of Orthodoxy.
Unlike other parts of the world where the Orthodox Church is always under persecution, at least we, in the United States of America, have the freedom to believe and worship as Orthodox Christians. Isn't that a profound blessing, especially considering the history of our Church? Over the years, many Orthodox Christians, from all over the world, have come to America in search of freedom and opportunity. I am proud that my grandfather, a soldier for the Greek army in World War II, came to America in hope for that freedom.
Furthermore, the United States has served as a protector and liberator of Orthodox Christians around the world. Would Nazism and Communism, the two greatest threats to our Church in the 20th century, have been defeated without the United States military? That same courage and resolve which destroyed totalitarianism is now leading the fight against radical Islam, history's most vicious enemy of the Orthodox Church. I believe that America, despite its flaws, has a unique place among nations as a friend of Orthodoxy.
