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It Is Good to Be Here
Ancient Faith Ministries ^ | May 18, 2020 | Fr. Stephen Freeman

Posted on 05/18/2020 9:32:53 AM PDT by Carpe Cerevisi

A few days ago, after hearing a very distressing bit of social news, I found myself saying, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” It was a voice of despair and sadness. The occasion had been a public altercation in which a stranger spat at a woman. It was the sort of thing that belongs among the lowest of human actions. But it happened.

My topic is my own reaction. I found my mind tossed about, looking for comfort or escape. At the end of the day, I shared my thoughts with my wife and said aloud, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” I was taken aback by my own words. The goodness of creation had disappeared in a dark act of senseless anger.

My distress was also a cry for something better, to be free of the darkness. The truth is that the darkness was slowly drawing me down. Our social strain is manifesting itself in many ways, many of them revealing the profound disease that underlies our culture. And this is nothing new.

In 532 A.D., in Constantinople, over the course of a week, large parts of the city were destroyed by rioting and fires (including an earlier Church of Hagia Sophia). This was in the early years of Justinian the Great’s reign. To read the story of this event is to enter a part of Byzantine culture often overlooked or ignored (particularly by the Orthodox). The city had deep divisions between two semi-political sports-factions, the Blues and the Greens. Sports riots were quite common. The factions also had connections to various nobles and senators with designs on the empire. Justinian was at a low point in popularity.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.ancientfaith.com ...


TOPICS: History; Orthodox Christian; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: byzantium; culture; despondency
Latest blog post from Fr. Stephen Freeman.
1 posted on 05/18/2020 9:32:53 AM PDT by Carpe Cerevisi
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To: Carpe Cerevisi
People have always be idiots and fools. Nothing has changed.

However, we have the media and they believe that they must impart EVERY, SINGLE SOLITARY BIT OF BAD NEWS IN THE WORLD, no matter how trite, inane and unnecessary it might be.

For the media there IS NO GOOD NEWS. The only time you MIGHT hear good news is when a Kansas TORNADO misses a school.

2 posted on 05/18/2020 4:52:46 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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