We Can Do It!
J Howard Miller
1942
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After its rediscovery in the 1980s, this US World War II poster became an iconic depiction of “Rosie the Riveter“… oh, yes, the US won World War II under the Socialistic New Deal, not under Neoliberal “Trickle Upon” Voodoo Economics… I just thought that you’d like to know that…
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The Church situation here in America is seemingly quiet. I would urge all not to be lulled by this. This is the proverbial “calm before the storm”. One proof of this is that the two Romanian bodies just issued the formal terms of their reunion. Those who wish to wade through it all can find it here. Of course, Herman Swaiko came out with a statement brimming with braggadocio. “We have to give approval to this before the Romanian Archdiocese can leave”. Indeed. When pigs fly, sir. The Romanians have decided on departure, and if Herman attempted to stand in the way, he would be steamrollered. The loss of some 24 percent of the OCA shall certainly cause comment at its next Sobor in October in Pittsburgh. If not, that shall cause even more trouble than if there’s a stormy session. If Herman uses sneaky parliamentary manoeuvres as he did the last time (using such stalking horses as Leonid Kishkovsky), or, attempts to finesse the seating of delegates, the chances of parishes or entire dioceses going over to ROCOR is very high. If there is a desire to “save” the OCA, then, Herman must either resign or be removed by the Synod of Bishops. The chance of either event happening is so slight, one can call it nil for all practical purposes. Therefore, this route is closed to us, realistically. However, we can still do it. The situation is not hopeless. When the OCA collapses, it won’t be the collapse of the Church; it’ll be the final gasp of a body that has been in rebellion for the past forty years. Many recent converts are unaware of this; they’re unaware of the actual events of the last two generations. Before we speak of my optimism concerning Christ’s Church on this continent, we should touch on the topic of “young eldership”. A scholar from outside the Church made an interesting observation lately. I wish to share it with you.
“Some people are like butterflies that go from flower to flower, going from religion to religion, and, frankly, they don’t get that deep into any of them”, said Rev Tom Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
This hits the nail on the head, especially for the Again lot, the AOCANA convert mafia in general, and the pseudo-intellectual arrivistes who cluster about SVS. Such sorts are the majority of voices on the internet today, and one would think that Orthodox Christians went about quoting Scripture and the Fathers in an Eastern version of Protestant proof-texting. One of the things that we must do in order to clean out the Augean Stable that is American Orthodoxy is to pull such sorts down to earth. Ideally, such should be prohibited from publishing. Better yet, they should be reminded that they are babies in the faith, and that they need to learn the ABCs before they can read even “A cat sat on a mat”, let alone Milton or Shakespeare.
To end this section, what strikes me is that such people refuse to heed more grounded believers when we tell them of the mistakes of the past, in an effort to warn them. We’re told to “move on”, “forgive and forget”, and “don’t be judgemental”. That’d be fine, if these people had faced the same storms as some of us have (those who remember the “jurisdictional wars”, the silly conceits of the Ustinovshchyna (parishes of the ROCOR INSIDE Russia-ridiculous!) and l’affaire Mayfield know what I mean). However, it’s an attempt to bring Therapeutic Positivism into our midst, and these poor souls don’t realise that they are spiritual “Typhoid Marys”. We need to close their mouths for their own good, so that they can learn what Orthodoxy truly is (a ten-year process, at least). This caveat regarding ignorant converts notwithstanding, I’m OPTIMISTIC concerning the future of the Church. The OCA performed an invaluable service. It showed us what didn’t work, and did so in graphic terms so vivid that even the slow learners can grasp it. Its failure is so obvious that it’s left most faithful with the realisation that the only way forward is to go back home. It’s the moment when the Prodigal understands, “the least of my father’s servants live better than this”. I believe that most Orthodox clergy and faithful have come to this point. When one makes the resolve to return, when one has committed oneself irrevocably to this path, that’s more important than the actual first step. For if there’s no resolve or commitment, the first step’s never made.
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Nursing Sister Vivian Bullwinkel (1915-2000), distinguished Australian World War II heroine
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Let me tell you a true story to illustrate what I mean, and this can be taken as an allegory for the faithful of the OCA. During World War II, a woman named Vivian Bullwinkel was an Australian army nurse. She was stationed with the forces in Malaya in 1942 at the time of the Japanese invasion. When the British Imperial forces were forced to retreat, Sister Bullwinkel and 24 other nurses were evacuated on board an old steamer. It was sunk by the Japanese near Banga Island and the nurses fell into enemy hands. The Japanese forced the nurses to march into shallow water and they fired at all of them until they were all dead. Or, so it seemed… Vivian Bullwinkel was still alive. She managed to lie doggo and pretended to be dead, so, the Japanese troops left. She crawled off and hid on the island for a short time. She had to give herself up to the Japanese after a short while, but she had to conceal her wounds, for if it became known that she was the sole survivor of the massacre… I needn’t continue. She survived the horrors of the Japanese POW camps and lived to testify against her tormentors. Indeed, Ms Bullwinkel lived a full life until her death at the age of 85 in 2000.
That is what the faithful and loyal clergy (I don’t mean the apparatchiki here) are like. They’ve been battered and left for dead. They aren’t. They’re merely lying doggo to prevent further damage from Herman and his minions. Just as Sister Bullwinkel did, they’re alive, and they’ll stand again to testify against their tormentors when the time comes. Again, just like Sister Bullwinkel, they’re going to live full and fruitful lives after it’s all over. We know that an attainable unity is within our grasp. It isn’t the dreamy and utopian “pan-Orthodox unity” of the Again lot. It’s the hard and concrete unity of going back to our respective Mother Churches. This isn’t a step backward, it’s a step forward. Because of the confusion of the past two generations, it’ll take us quite a long time, quite possibly a century or two, to repair it all. All that we can do now is to start digging the foundations. Our great-great-grandchildren may live in a united Orthodoxy in America, but they’ll only do so if we reject the prelest of immediate “union” offered by Modernists and immature converts. We must roll up our sleeves and get down working at a task that we’ll not see complete on this earth. Unity isn’t a dream, but it’s a labour that’ll take generations to bear fruit. I’m ready, are you?
WE CAN DO IT!
Barbara-Marie Drezhlo
Tuesday 24 June 2008
Voices from Russia 
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