www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall the british are coming! the british are coming!

Dear Alex,

I would like to respond to your following quotes:

Quote

The point is simply that the abolition of slavery at the instigation of William Wilberforce and his Christian parliamentarians was based on the Scriptures and Christian principle.

Economic concerns mattered not to Wilberforce and it didn't matter to Simcoe in Upper Canada.

So the whole cotton-pickin' southern US economy has really no bearing on this!

What you stated above is foolishness. The Southerners were very devout, and certainly Thomas Jefferson and George Washington didn't believe in slavery. Yet to do anything about it would have caused anarchy and would probably have been catastrophic...as happened later on during the reconstruction.



True! The Souths economy was also dependant on slaves.


True! But at least we voluntarily sacrificed for WW I and WW II, in order to save Europe from itself. Then again as far as Britain is concerned, if we take only Ireland into account, the money sent by Queen Victoria was equivalent to her one week's wage, and the butter alone, (not to mention meats etc.), shipped from the Protestant nobility in Ireland to England during the famine, was two thousand pounds a week.


Uhhh! The Ayatollah Komeini was living in France, and highly supported by the French before triumphantly going to Iran. The Shah of Iran caused his own downfall when he had a party for his country's anniversary that in cost, out did every party in history. Please don't blame us for that one.

As for the Queen, I respect her highly. She is a real queen in every aspect. Do you know that no one is allowed to eat once she finishes her food? Can you imagine how slow the poor woman has to eat in order for others to finish before her. Now that is suffering! At least for me it would be.

God Bless,

Zenovia

heh!....Some of us can read English and we actually pay attention to Canadian news, particularly with respect to Catholic culture, and that includes Orthodoxy, and OICR, and I don't think I'd start braggin' too much yet on that great unified Canadian culture.

M.

Dear Mary,

No one said Canadian culture is unified. Its strength is its diverse character and the Crown is something that has always protected the rights of various individual religions and cultures.

Just ask the Quebec separatists who have always sworn allegiance to the Crown and have said that separation would be a "fait accomplit" if they had to swear allegiance to the Canadian flag.

We know you people in the south can read English . . . how much of it you understand is another issue . . .

Alex

Given the rapid promulgation of hate-speech legislation in England, Canada might want to elect a Crown Prince next time just in case...heh!

Don't go loosin' yer temper on me now. Politics 's too serious t'be taken seriously!!

M.

Dear Mary,

Not at all!

When it comes to politics and politicians . . . you know, that stuff about "curTAILment!"

Someone just now told me this: "If the devil lost his tail, where would he go to get another one? To the liquore store - it's where they 're-tail spirits . . .'"

Alex

Dear Alex,

I like your jokes. Hee, hee, hee!

God Bless,

Zenovia

Alex,

Yay! I'm glad you're saying that Mary the Queen of Scots should be canonized! For she is the true Queen of Scots with the love of Catholicism.

For a long time, I feel like I'm a true Scotsman because I'm not a Protestant.

Say, isn't it true the England will soon let Scotland have its own Sovereignty? (as being apart from the United Kingdom)???

Then, if that's the case, let us become Apples to throw out the Oranges! (Orange Protestant group) Heheh.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Hi again, Alex,

I just saw a blurb on CNN about Northern Ireland soon getting it's own Sovereignty apart from England.

I wonder what that will lead, considering it's rough history on Protestant and Catholic battles.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

It was not "sovereignty" that was decided by the warring parties in Northern Ireland. The territory still remains a British province.

The Protestant majority and the Catholic minority merely agreed to share governance (executive powers), with Democrat Unionist's Protestant Ian Paisley as the "First Minister" and IRA/Sinn Fein's Catholic Martin McGuinness as "Deputy First Minister," with the same and equal powers. The rest of the Cabinet comprise of designees of the parties with elected representatives in the National Assembly based on percentage.

The historic agreement is bookended by both Ireland's PM Ahern and the UK's PM Blair, who were present at the signing!

My thanks to Alex - it's always nice to be appreciated. Your experience with the consul general is not unlike Pope John Paul II's experience with the present republican regime in Vienna - the president declined to attend the beatification of Blessed Charles, and it was made clear that the republican regime took the strongest possible exception to the beatification. I had not previously understood that secular republicans claim sort of right to determine who gets into Heaven!

Moreover, if any country wishes to be considered a genuine democracy, there is no possible objection to a monarchist movement which uses only peaceful means to advance its goal.

Other candidates for glorification among the Saints should certainly include Queen Mary Tudor, who beggared herself in an effort to restore at least something of the plunder to the monastics (and thanks to whom the English Benedictine Congregation, still in existence today, survived the Reformation). James II was not the brightest king in Christendom (his brother was known as the wisest fool in Christendom), but both he and his brother died well.

The Church of England actually canonized Charles the First, aka King Charles the Martyr - the only canonization by the C of E since Anne Boleyn's daughter usurped the throne. Oddly enough, he does not appear in the English MIssal.

As for Ireland, besides King Francis there are at least three other serious candidates for our long-vacant throne (and it is true that historically there was no physical crown - though I believe the English had one made for the purpose - perhaps it's the one that was used for the coronation of Lambert Simnel in Christ Church Cathedral).

Today's farce at Stormont is nothing more than an exercise in conflict postponement.

Fr. Serge

Dr. Alex,

Khrystos Voskres!

When have you ever not intended a pun?

God Bless You,

Dr. Eric

Case in point.

Yes, our rights come from God, without the benefit or detriment of a monarch.

Now if we had a Queen Isabella of Spain or King Jan Sobieski of Poland, I might feel differently. Might.

"Separation of church and state" is not in the Constitution. What we face is badly taught and badly interpreted law regarding the role of religion in the United States and what constitutes a "state-sponsored church".

While Canada permits parents to choose the schools their children attend (and where their money goes towards that purpose - the last time I read) most American States do not, thanks to the Blaine Amendment many states enacted in the 19th century. James Blaine was a prominent Republican in those days and the GOP was home to the anti-Catholics then.

Whereas.....
The Government of Canada permitted the Playboy Channel into the True North before allowing EWTN - this, from a nation with a higher percentage of Catholics than the USA. Both EWTN and Salt & Light are permitted only over digital cable or satellite, not regular cable, per Canadian regulations. Canadian Catholic radio stations? Well, maybe in Toronto, if you can pick up 104.7 FM from Buffalo.

My wife has good friends that live in Richmond Hills (originally from Colombia, like my se�ora who have invited us for years to come visit them. We�re coming this summer and looking forward to it.
I enjoyed Toronto immensely the last time I was there in 1997.

God Save The Queen!

(while I cue up Stars and Stripes Forever
Hurrah for the flag of the free.
May it wave as our standard forever
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

Dear Mr. Clean,

Ah, I work for the provincial representative for Richmond Hill!

A small world!

Canada is half Catholic and the problem is that we are a very liberal Catholic country. We were never under Protestant seige being surrounded by a Protestant majority (the Anglicans up here considered themselves to be "Anglo-Catholic" and therefore every bit as Catholic as Roman Catholics) - and thanks to that, your Catholicism is very traditional and very strong, I get that sense every time I visit the Grand Republic to the south!

And I do fly the American flag on July 4th. On other days, I fly the original American flag, with the thirteen stripes and the Union Jack in the corner, rather than the stars.

I understand that George Washington himself preferred the flag with the Union Jack since it prominently displayed the Cross of his patron saint, St George!

When our Lieutenant Governor, John Simcoe, was fighting in the American Revolution, a group of Patriots came out of the woods and then, when they saw Simcoe and his men, turned to run. Simcoe's men raised their muskets to fire on them, but then Simcoe's voice rang out, "Don't shoot men in the back - it's not CIVILIZED!!"

The next day, an American Patriotic soldier rode into Simcoe's camp under white flag and handed Simcoe a note which said, "Sir, thank you for not shooting us in the back - yours sincerely, Gen. George Washington."

That note is still extant!

God bless America and our two nations!

Alex

Bless, Father Archimandrite,

I salute you and your erudition, as always!

As you know, Bl. King Charles the Martyr is honoured privately by Western Orthodox and Fr. Stephen Walinski of the Antiochian Orthodox Western Vicariate in Nebraska (now retired) actually had a shrine with an icon of the King in the back of his Church. I have written an Akathist to King Charles the Martyr that has been published by the Anglican Society of King Charles and, as I understand it, is used for private devotion by both Anglicans and Western Orthodox.

King Charles I always referred to himself as the "defender and guardian of the Orthodox Church of England" and asked that Archbishop William Laud identify candidates for the episcopate of the Church of England with either a "P" beside their names for "Puritan" or an "O" for "Orthodox." He always chose the "O" candidates . . .

Some of this MIGHT explain the closeness between himself and Patriarch Cyril Lucaris who adopted points of the 39 Articles etc. John Henry Newman is the one who has provided an interpretive context for the 39 articles that makes for fascinating reading!

King James II's relics were found to be incorrupt in a monastery to which he retired after failing to raise another army to fight the Orangemen. There was a movement to introduce his Cause at Rome and a local devotion to him. Also, Anglican converts to Catholicism in the 19th century tended to maintain their veneration for King Henry VI and King Charles I, as did Ronald Knox AND John Henry Cardinal Newman. Pope John XXIII did approve of the renewal of the Cause of King Henry VI and I am the first Canadian member of his Society - the good Pope allowed all members of the Society to refer to the king as "Blessed King Henry" in public functions and to light a candle in front of his picture is called "King Henry's Light . . ."

Certainly, I would support a Royal Ireland and the return of her Ard Righ and the lesser Ri!

May the Saints of Holy Eire protect her always!

Kissing your right hand, I again implore your blessing,

Alex