May 29, 2003
550 years ago today the
550 years ago today the last part of the Roman Empire fell with the sack of Constantinople. Think about that. 1453 was less than 40 years before the discovery and Evangelization of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
The great Cathedral of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Holy Wisdom Cathedral (Hagia Sophia in Greek) was desecrated and turned into a mosque. At least now it is no longer a mosque, although it still bears vandalism in Arabic and is not a church either. Constantinople now is known by the preposterous name of Istanbul (which is Greek for "to the City") and is still run by the Turk. They Might Be Giants are wrong. It is not just the Turks' business. It is not the Turks' business at all.
Sad to say there is a Latin role in the sacking of Constantinople, even, dare I say it, a specifically Italian role. First we have the Latin Church ignoring calls for help from Eastern Christians who were on the front in a war that continues to this day. We did finally come around and mount a fairly spectacular defense of Christendom in the First Crusade (and the next Two Crusades, as well as in the Reconquista of Iberia), but it was too little, too late. Two thirds of Christendom had been conquered and converted by the swords of the followers of the doctrines of Mohammed. Then, because of the betrayal of the Byzantines by the Venetians, the Byzantines were weakened and unable to resist.
Both the East and the West have paid for this event in blood, but the burden has been tragically higher on the East, so far. The West has yet to learn from the mistakes of abandoning our Eastern brethren. In the last decade we ensured that the snares of Mohammed will last for many years in the cradle of Christian monasticism, Kosovo (please note that I do not think that Milosovic is an honorable man, but we betrayed the Serbian people, as well as all Christians when we handed Kosovo to the followers of the doctrines of Mohammed).
But there is a light on the horizon. The cocktail of Nestorianism, Iconoclasm, Arabian mythology and tribalism that Mohammed either created or received from a demon is on its last leg. These followers of Mohammed reached their intellectual peak around the e 10th Century (more or less, we can debate this one for quite awhile). They cannot wage war without our weapons (I remember being struck by a picture of multi-billionaire Osama bin-Laden looking very pleased with himself as he was firing a rifle, although there is no way his people could have made that rifle). In order to survive in the numbers they have they require our liberalism, our food, our technology. Just like they did when they encountered Roman philosophy during their expansion, when their own philosophy is lacking, they turn to ours. Their understanding of God allows no more advancement in knowledge than they achieved in their first 200 years.
When the collapse gets momentum history will never have seen a major movement fade so quickly (well, the collpase of Commie-ism may give it a run for its money). It may not be in our lifetimes, but it will be by our grandchildren’s day.
On a regular basis we make fundamental mistakes with dealing with the challenge they pose. We assume that they think like us, when they don't. As a culture (not as individuals) they are incapable of a poker face. In fact they are playing poker with their cards facing us. Not only are they displaying them to us, but they cannot see them all themselves. Only we are too busy with our noses in our own cards to look. They are desperately trying to see our hand, and we are too busy studying our own hand to see theirs, which is held up in plain view. When we want to know what they think we throw some money at a few indoctrinated Marxist scholars who give us useless information. When their leaders tell us exactly how they see the world we assume that they are posturing.
Part of the problem of the West is that we have, since the French Endarkenment, maintained, as a culture, the notion that religion is not much more than a club. We assume that the followers of Mohammed think this way too. They don’t. We shouldn’t either, by the way, and we will talk about ways that we should look to the followers of Mohammed as examples.
When the followers of Mohammed critique the West they are mostly spot on. We have let our culture sink to an incredibly low level. With rampant abortion, pornography, consumerism, suburban isolationism, absurd individualism, factory farming, sky-high divorce rates, tremendous neglect of religious duty, drug abuse, usury, sodomy, oppression of the poor, robbing workers of their just wages, so forth and so on, we cannot take the completely high ground here. If we look into Scripture, we must see the many examples when God used an army of barbarians to punish His people. And this is the key to how I see the Holy Father’s warnings against our rush to war. If, instead of relying on our own strength, we as a nation spent that energy shutting down abortuaries, stopped subsidizing factory farms, praying the Rosary, etc., then the Holy Father might have seen that we were ready to take on this foe. But I can understand his lack of enthusiasm for the Global March of the Consumerists. (There is more on this particular thread on Mark Shea’s Blog).
Certainly God not only endorsed but helped His people in time of need, WHEN they appealed to him, repented of their sin, and resolved to amend their behavior. Can we as a culture hope to defeat the Infidel if we are trying to beat them so that we can inflict Planned Parenthood, Playboy, and Walmart’s on them? Can we win when we are led by heretics (I am asking this honestly – even though Bush professes orthodox Christology, I am not so sure with Ashcroft – does anyone know? But even with orthodox Christology, are these people so caught up in Puritanism that they are unable to do the job)? Also, do we have the humility to see the good in the religion of Mohammed? The piety, the reverence, the honest attempt to follow God’s will, the concern towards the poor, modesty in dress, control over one’s sexual impulses, etc. There is plenty we can learn from them. They have their faults, some of which are well-known, some of which are not, but their determination to adhere to what they believe is the will of God is admirable.
It would be much better if we were not at war with them, but as long as they believe in the doctrines of Mohammed, and take said doctrines seriously we will be at war with them or we will be subjugated by them. We must work for peace through dialog. And, we must clean our own house and turn away from the crassness, the consumerism, the culture of death that has much of our society in its grip.
I supported the recent war, but because we, as a nation must trust our leaders on sensitive national security measures. If the President says there are weapons of mass destruction, we need to trust him. But now, Herr President, du bist jetzt dran. Das Spiel ist in dein Hand. It is up to the coalition to show that this was a just war, part of the ancient war for the very survival of the West. It is too early to give up and call President Bush a liar, but it might be time to start drumming our fingers on the desk. If those weapons existed, it is getting close to the deadline for producing them.
So remember the fall of Constantinople. But also remember the West’s role in this tragedy. Examine where this war is today, and what our role is today.
St. Michael, Pray for us!
St. James, Pray for us!
St. Francis of Assisi, Pray for us!
St. Dominic, Pray for us!
All Holy Martyrs, Pray for us!
Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us!
Blessed Mary, Seat of Wisdom, Pray for us!
Blessed Mary, Queen of Heaven, Pray for us!