For Tax Day: April 15, 2010

1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4. for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. 5. Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6. For the same reason you also PAY TAXES, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7. Pay all of them their dues, TAXES TO WHOM TAXES ARE DUE, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. 8. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:1-8 RSV Emphasis added)

Memory Eternal: the pious Subdeacon Eremya Jay King (Updated)

A photo, taken by Mother Charlie, from convocation several years ago. Subdeacon Eremya is on the left, Victor Mar Michael is on the right.

The following has been received from Andreas Mar Cassian, Eremya's brother-in-law:

The pious subdeacon Eremya Jere "Jay" Franklin King (17 July, 1950 - 15 March, 2010) fell asleep in the Lord this morning at about ten o'clock after a long illness. When asked earlier this morning, he was of good cheer and said that he was feeling better than he had for the last two days. His sister [Amma Caitlin Turner] heard him fall from the next room just two hours later and she went to see what was the matter. He was already gone, his long fight ended. An ambulance took his body to LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Tennessee, for examination. It was there determined that his death was from heart failure.

In accordance with his wish, his body will be cremated. Although this is not our usual custom, he held the Orthodox Christian faith in the Resurrection and explained that God will raise ashes as well as dust on the Last Day.

His funeral will be Sunday, March 21,2010 at three o'clock in the afternoon at St. Demetrios Church in Knoxville.

Instead of flowers, donations may be made in Jay's memory to St. Demetrios Antiochian Catholic Church, 2001 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville TN 37921.

May Christ our God, who by His death hath destroyed death, grant memory eternal to His servant, the Pious Subdeacon Eremya and may his loved ones who remain in this life be comforted with the peace of God, the peace which passes all understanding.

Two Prayer Requests

Just when I thought I had a blogging/commenting plan/agenda in place, life intervened.

I have two relatively urgent prayer intentions over the next few days. If you pray, I would very much appreciate immediate prayer for these as soon as you read this, then again when you remember over the next several days. Please bring these intentions to the altar, whether as priest or lay person. Please ask the Blessed Virgin and the other Saints to intercede for me, my family, and these two intentions that I have.

Just when I thought I had a plan...

From Thomas Jefferson...

An Internet Chicago friend, Frank Avila, Jr., posts the following on Facebook:

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."- Thomas Jefferson

Personally, despite all disagreement, I value friendship very highly.

A Modest Proposal...

And now, something to raise the hair on the back of the necks of readers who are "strict constructionist" when it comes to the Constitution, who believe in the possibility of interpreting same according to "original intent", and who, of course, think that God somehow ordained unrestrained free market capitalism:

"Making globalisation pay: Big corporations are using the banking crisis as an excuse for exploiting cheap labour. Is it time for a global minimum wage?"

"Just as the vast majority of developed economies from which most multinationals hail have minimum wage systems in place, it's time global corporations were made to apply similar practices in their overseas operations in poorer countries.

"In addition to an absolute rock bottom wage which they cannot go below, multinationals should be obliged to implement an indexed salary system in which workers in their overseas operations cannot earn less than, say, half of what a worker doing a similar job in their home territory earns.

"Complaints are bound to be heard about how this interferes with the efficient functioning of the free market. But I doubt CEOs and top managers would be so blase if it was their own jobs that were to be outsourced. I'm sure India and other developing countries are teeming with intelligent, capable entrepreneurs who could probably do a better job than many of our current crop of avaricious business leaders, and at a fraction of the cost.

"Besides, the free market already functions inefficiently – the rich domestic markets of multinationals are still quite well-protected fortresses. And, though we may have freer movement of goods and services than in the past, the movement of labour is severely restricted. In a truly free market, workers would go where the best-paying jobs are, rather than the jobs going to where the worst-paid workers are.

"More importantly, at its core, economics is about human wellbeing and if free-market orthodoxy fails to deliver on this, then something needs to be done to balance efficiency against ethics." (emphasis added)

On Romans 13 and Government: a post in which Fr. Ernesto tropes me

Fr. Ernesto Obregon is Cuban-American. A former "Jesus Freak" and former Anglican priest, he is now a priest of the OTHER Antiochian jurisdiction, the byzantine Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, led by Metropolitan PHILIP. Fr. Ernesto is pastor of a parish in Florida. In the following, he speaks to comments I made on another post on his blog, in which I, on the basis of Romans 13, other scriptures, and the entire patristic tradition, defend the legitimacy of government as such, in that government is divinely-instituted.

"On Romans 13 and Government"

Obviously, Fr. Ernesto and I largely agree. I differ slightly with him on two points. On the first, I think it is possible and useful to think of the so-called "American Revolution" as a ("just") war for independence rather than as a revolution per se. Second, I do think it is possible, on the basis of Augustine's "just war" theory, to posit a theory of just revolution. From "the repository of all knowledge," Wikipedia, here are the criteria usually given for just war:

Just cause

The reason for going to war needs to be just and cannot therefore be solely for recapturing things taken or punishing people who have done wrong; innocent life must be in imminent danger and intervention must be to protect life. A contemporary view of just cause was expressed in 1993 when the US Catholic Conference said: "Force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic human rights of whole populations."

Comparative justice

While there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other. Some theorists...omit this term, seeing it as fertile ground for exploitation by bellicose regimes.

Legitimate authority

Only duly constituted public authorities may wage war.

Right intention

Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose—correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.

Probability of success

Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success.

Last resort

Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted or are clearly not practical. It may be clear that the other side is using negotiations as a delaying tactic and will not make meaningful concessions.

Proportionality

The anticipated benefits of waging a war must be proportionate to its expected evils or harms.

One large theoretical problem immediately pops out of the above: the matter of legitimate authority. Anyone seeking to justify a violent revolution on Christian grounds would immediately have to deal with this question. As to the rest of the criteria, it is also immediately clear that one could not, at least from a Christian perspective, justify the incitement of violent revolution in the United States at this time. As Fr. Ernesto rightly points out, revolution is a dangerous and unpredictable way of attempting to secure one's political aims.

For all that, as I said, Fr. Ernesto and I largely agree. I do wish to underscore one area of agreement here. Fr. Ernesto writes, "the Anabaptists remind us that verbal violence is just as bad as physical violence. This is why Our Lord said that to even call our brother a fool was tantamount to murder." There is also the matter, as highlighted by Fr. Ernesto, of accurately representing our opponents' positions on issues; Christians must not bear false witness.

Fast of Nineveh 2010, January 25-27

This three-day fast, observed in both East and West Syrian traditions, commemorates the reluctant mission of Jonah to the city of Nineveh. In the story, Jonah spends three days and three nights in the belly of the "fish". Jesus refers to his own time in the tomb as "the sign of Jonah". Once Jonah gets it together and actually preaches to the Ninevites, they fast for three days and three nights in repentance, much to Jonah's chagrin. While the book of Jonah is inspired fiction, it is indeed INSPIRED, telling the story of an all-too-human prophet who is bound by the prejudices and cultural limitations of his time and place, but who is, nonetheless, a genuine prophet, and is used by God in spite of himself.

In the ACCA, the pre-Lenten season begins with the Fourth to Last Sunday of Theophany, which commemorates all departed priests. This year, this Sunday occurred yesterday. The Fast of Nineveh then occupies the next three days, Monday through Wednesday, so this Fast begins today and continues through Wednesday.

We in the ACCA have used this fast to pray especially for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ who remain in the Middle East. This year, let us also pray for those who suffer in Haiti and let us assist both in any way we can. One easy way to help ease the suffering in Haiti is to text the word Haiti to 90999. This will donate 10 dollars to the Red Cross for Haitian relief which will be charged to your cell phone bill.

Pastor John Roop writes...

...about a visit to St. Demetrios in Knoxville:

Sunday last I attended evening Divine Liturgy at a local Oriental Orthodox parish – one of a handful of places in this world I know myself truly loved in Christ. This congregation conducts a vibrant and challenging outreach ministry to the Knoxville inner-city homeless population; several dozen men and women receive physical and spiritual nourishment from the church each week.

Sunday was cold – brutally so – and several “children of the streets” sought the warmth of the church during service. One sat behind me, a chronically homeless man who has made some considerable progress in the years I’ve known him; he is now more often clean and sober than in the past. Pray God to have mercy on him. He commented –good-naturedly – on the late arrival of a homeless friend, "God, they’ll let anyone in here.” I looked around and thought, “God, he’s right. They will.” Quite a spectrum of people crowded the small church that night: politically, from far left to far right; economically, from middle class to homeless; intellectually, from sophisticated to simple and even damaged; spiritually – well, who am I to judge that? I know there were saints there, and I know there was at least one sinner, so the spectrum was represented. My friend was right: God – in God’s name – they’ll let anyone in here.

John is the pastor of Holy Trinity Ecumenical Orthodox Church, a nondenominational house church in Knoxville. The above opens a sermon he preached recently on the Baptism of the Lord - and by extension, baptism in general.

One of the aspects of baptism upon which John focuses has to do with its social implications. To be baptized into Christ means being baptized into Christ's body, "the family of God". Read it all here.

The Prophets of old continue to speak...

"Bourgeois Life and the Orthodox Mind: The Importance of the Prophets"

"The institutions of bourgeois capitalism are incompatible, at their root, with the life of Orthodox Christianity."

and

"In sum, the modern world is based on the essence of Baalism: the belief in epistemological nominalism, the manipulation of natural forces for personal gain (which, it might be added, includes both magic and science), the justification of radical class stratification, legalism and litigiousness, ecumenical religion, individualism (the necessary consequence of nominalism), “republican government,” centralization of political and financial power, the continued sacrifice of lives in the name of “progress,” the fetishization of commodities, deceit, secret societies, moral compartmentalization and luxury. This is the Enlightenment at its essence, which means it was merely a “renaissance” of ancient fertility paganism, though fetishized as progress and/or science."

and, from the Fathers:

"The Church Fathers on wealth, poverty, social justice, charity, and communitarianism"