Orthodox Christianity is under attack - please pray

Very good article. Nothing I can disagree with, for as long as I've followed politics (well before I was a Christian), there was no way I could support what the West has been doing to Orthodox Christian countries - and the way the West has supported terrorists time and time again.

I'd also like to add that the so called 'revolutions' in Georgia and the Ukraine were blatently illegal, and they've shown their true colours.

Georgia attacked innocent civilians, Russian peacekeepers, and when Russia moved in to protect the innocent and push back Georgian aggression, the West called foul.

In the Ukraine, the West's pupput, President Yushenko, has actively supported schismatics and uniates, has undermined the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church whenever he could, and is actively trying to join his country to NATO despite the fact the vast majority of Ukrainians oppose NATO. Thankfully, it's looking as though Yushenko and the Orange coalition are history.

I'm an American citizen. Forgive me. Over here, it is very difficult to find the truth. From my standpoint, it seems almost impossible to really arrive at the truth on any issue even using Western and Eastern media sources. Russia's got that Nashi thing going on, for instance. You can't claim that Russian media is any better than U.S. media. There are more examples, I only provide one here.

A situation example, Georgia and Russia, I see that Georgia had no right to do what they did to Russia under the post WWII agreements. However, I also see that both countries are moving into towns and killing civilians that do not seem to be specifically military targets. The opinion I hold at this time is that neither country deserves any outside aid. I only fear Russia instigating a Georgian genocide (not that the Georgian government didn't provoke it).

So, what I mean to point out is that, I see people from other countries come with some certain biases and ideas about the U.S. and other countries which affect how they approach international politics. I see also that Americans, while comming at international politics from another angle, are just as delusioned. So who do I listen to? Too me, it is nearly impossible to sift the truth out of all the lies. The Truth is so tangled up in lies produced in the East and West both that getting the pure Truth out is comparable in difficulty to try to separate bismuth impurities from lead (this is a very difficult proceedure).

Believe me, I am doing my best over here to make wise, informed decisions. I believe a lot of Americans try their best to educate themselves. Still, it is not easy. I just hope that people from other countries around the world would recognize that their own media is not untinted by their country's politics and agendas either. It is too easy to point fingers at everyone else while failing to do the necessary self-examination of whats going on within your own boarders.

My approach thus far is to pray over every vote I participate in and every cause I consider joining, and hope that I am involving myself in something beneficial and productive for all. I make the best of what information I can gather from around the world on issues I can play a small part in.

Please forgive my ignorance and situation. If anyone has for me any suggested foreign media sources, I am all ears. I hope that any poor decisions I act upon do not cast doubt in anyone's mind that I am doing my best with what I have. I will to remain as devoted as possible to Christ according to the strength He has given me, though I am undeserving of His Grace.

Peace be upon you all,
Josiah

Pray for me, a terrible sinner who has not remained unaffected by the harmful atmosphere of the Western world.

Josiah14 said:

Please forgive my ignorance and situation. If anyone has for me any suggested foreign media sources, I am all ears. I hope that any poor decisions I act upon do not cast doubt in anyone's mind that I am doing my best with what I have. I will to remain as devoted as possible to Christ according to the strength He has given me, though I am undeserving of His Grace.

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The BBC is generally pretty decent. I usually check them out and Reuters, as well as a few sites in French...

I don't know if you have found this site, yet, but it also has some information that I did not know. You are correct that we are dummied down in the West as far as the truth in Europe, and especially Russia.

http://www.kosovo.net/

AxionEsti said:

I don't know if you have found this site, yet, but it also has some information that I did not know. You are correct that we are dummied down in the West as far as the truth in Europe, and especially Russia.

http://www.kosovo.net/

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DO NOT even get me started on Kosovo!



I can not say how many people are so blatantly ignorant of the hypocrisy with that place! It just... ARGH! The US government may as well shoot its own feet over that mess!!!

A few of those points bear answering those... as much as I wish to be respectful of other's perspective, it would be wise for others to do likewise. There is a fair amount of hypocrisy from someone who criticizes the West for accepting it's media's propoganda, and then accepts propoganda from the anti-West Russian Nationalists.

On the missle defense shield: Russia is trying to do the same thing. In particular, the West wants to put one up in Poland - a nation which Russia has BRUTALLY imperialized in the recent past, which is Catholic and has no desire to associate with the politically, ethnically and religiously different Russians, and which needs the West to defend it against Russia's overt nationalistic aggression.

If you doubt that Russia has designs on reclaiming the Warsaw pact areas, note its overtones of aggression towards Georgia and Ukraine (seen above).

Ukraine, likewise, has a distinct history from Muscovite Russia, though their church's have a common origen. If the Ukraineans decide to joine Russia, so be it, but if Russia decides FOR them that they ought to join Russia, I would stand against that.

Laws do matter to the West. We have, among the cultures of this planet, as healthy a respect for law as any other (excepting, perhaps, the Japanese). Russia should deal with its own corruption before pointing the finger. Not that we are perfect, but this kind of racism is really uncalled for.

Blaming the West for the failures of Russian Sovietism seems rather silly. Was there a conflict? Yes. But for crying out loud, the Russians themselves were using sword-rattling rhetoric that made it sound like they wanted the world to have their style of repressive, militantly-atheistic, communism.

How FAST the Church forgets that the West's "raping" of Russia (its economic conflict with Sovietism) is PRECISELY that which has led to the reinvigorating of the Orthodox Church.

How FAST the East forgets that it was the command-economic policies which gutted Russia's GNP. The USSR in the 1980's NEEDED reform, and it wasn't the West that caused it. It was Russia. Russia began its own process of reform. Can you blame the West for supporting reforms designed to de-nuclearize the world, encourage religious freedom in a land red with the blood of martyrs from the previous century...

The West isn't perfect. But neither is Russia. All of this is so charged with racist nationalism that it precludes real dialogue. To be blunt, we face the same problems. Saber rattling and making blanket statements like the ones in the OP get us INTO cold wars, not out of them.

For the record, I STRONGLY disagree with this being in St. Basil's corner. This is NOT the opinion of the Orthodox Church entire. It ought to be placed in St. Justin Martyr's corner or the main forum. Inquirers and those asking questions of our faith don't need to see this kind of politicking.

Russian nationalism does NOT equate to Orthodoxy. You can be Orthodox and Western, Orthodox and Russian, Orthodox and ANYTHING.

Let us cease these absolutist, discussion killing habits and start seeking common ground, before these two nuclear powers come again to the brink of killing us all.

Lord, have mercy.
Macarius

Pravda (Russian: Правда, "The Truth") was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.
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During the Cold War, Pravda was well-known in the West for its pronouncements as the official voice of Soviet Communism
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After the paper was closed down in 1991 by decree of President Yeltsin, many of the staff founded a new paper with the same name, which is now a tabloid-style Russian news source.
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The new Pravda newspaper and Pravda Online are not related in any way, although the journalists of both publications are still in touch with each other. The paper Pravda tends to analyze events from a leftist point of view, while the web-based, tabloid-style newspaper often takes a nationalist and sensationalist approach.
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The newspaper of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is also called Gazeta "Pravda".

Thank you, Macarius, for saying what I could not because all of this information is not on the tip of my tongue. I just know that problems exist practically everywhere.

Deacon:For peace of the whole world, for the stability of the holy churches of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
People:Lord, have mercy.

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From the Divine Liturgy. The wisdom of the saints never ceases to amaze.

Could the moderators please move this to an area for debate?

Thanks!

May I suggest just starting a new thread in the debate area on this?