A Chilling Message From the OCA's Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo)
AGG
As some of you know, a groups of us were recently in Damascus and attended a
conference at the Islamic Institute. David Goa, Fr Philip Erickson, a small
group of other people and I were there. While I had to leave early, before
the last series at the conference, in order to participate in a number of
conferences in Romania, the Islamisation of Europe was discussed during
conferences in Romania.
Since returning home, I have continued researching the matter in order to
make it the subject for some of my presentations in the autumn at a number
of universities and Orthodox parishes down East in America.
There are three salient facts that are abundantly clear, and that we should
be aware of. Hopefully they might change some of our attitudes about what we
are doing in the Orthodox Church, and especially in the OCA.
1. Within 20 years, Europe will be a collection of Islamic states.
2. Within 10-15 years, active Moslems are likely to outnumber active
Christians in Canada.
3. Islam is preparing for a serious-minded and well financed missionary
activity in the West.
The demographics are radically on the side of Islam. They do not have to
convert even one person in order to be able to dominate Europe. People in
Western cultures are reproducing at a rate below 1.5; Moslems living in the
West are reproducing at a rate of 4-6, even 8. Christians have abortions,
Moslems do not. Christians have small families: on average, 1 or 2 children;
Moslems have large families, on average 6 to 8 children. Moslems maintain
their traditions, most Christians do not. Commitment and attendance at
Mosques outstrips that of Christian commitment and attendance in Church.
Meanwhile, Orthodox Christians exhaust a great deal of energy in petty
infighting; many hierarchs, particularly in Eastern Europe, have almost no
personal contact with their flocks. Many hierarchs and clergy are arrogant
and condescending toward the faithful. No one in the Islamic world is
talking about abolishing or shortening Ramadan, but many in the Orthodox
world are talking about abolishing some fasting periods, shortening others.
Moslems maintain the appearance of their faith, while many Orthodox clergy
are embarrassed or ashamed to be seen in public looking like Orthodox
clergy. Moslems maintain the tradition of stopping to pray at the given
times several times a day, while Orthodox Christians are seeking to reduce
the already scant time we spend in the Divine Services. One could go on with
such comparisons, but the point has to do with commitment, discipline and
self-control.
Faith can only be challenge by faith; commitment can only be faced with
commitment. We, as Orthodox Christians cannot offer anything that will
counter a committed Islamic missionary effort while we are occupied with
petty self-interest, with "defending MY turf" against other Orthodox clergy.
On the international level, the efforts of some to re-create a shadowy form
of the Byzantine Empire is quite destructive. The divided state of the
Orthodox Church today, world-wide, and the internecine power struggles
undermine and weaken the Orthodox Christian witness. Self-interested fear of
each other on the local level can only make the problems we face more
systemic and pervasive. Moreover, they are a betrayal of the Gospel and of
the faith.
I simply ask that all make themselves more aware of this challenge and that
we struggle, primarily with our own selves, to overcome our own pettiness
and find a greater unity of spirit and purpose. Instead of having a
delusion of "competition," we should be sharing the resources that each has
to offer, and strengthening the commitment of our selves and the faithful.
Everyone has some ability to offer, and we need to be willing to share our
"self" with all for the sake of the Gospel and in order to face, with a
unity of love for Christ, the challenges that are so rapidly arising before
us.
In Christ,
Archbishop Lazar, Ret., Orthodox Church in America
and Abbott of All Saints Monastery (New Ostrog), Dewdney, British Columbia,
Canada
Alexander Arnakis
<OCA_...@Corn-on-the-Cobbs.af> wrote:
>
>1. Within 20 years, Europe will be a collection of Islamic states.
>
native Europeans. I fear that this pushback might be fascistic in
nature. If the Moslems and other illegal migrants can't feasibly be
deported, we may see another European genocide. Mark my words. I was
just in Greece, which has a big illegal alien problem, and some of the
most gentle, Christian people I talked to were saying things such as
that the migrants should be put on leaky boats, taken out to sea, and
drowned.
>2. Within 10-15 years, active Moslems are likely to outnumber active
>Christians in Canada.
>
What does this mean? "Active Moslems" already outnumber "active
Christians" in western Europe, but this is a function of the
secularism of the natives, not of comparative nominal religious
affiliation.
The trend is to have less active religiosity across the board. If the
Moslems are behind the trend, due to their primitivism, it temporarily
skews the statistics. But even Moslems (who find themselves in the
West) are not immune to the prevailing cultural influences. 2nd- and
3rd-generation Moslem immigrants, like every group before them, will
tend to assimilate and join the culture. The mosque is as alien in the
West, particularly in America, as is the Orthodox church. People, to
the extent they are religious at all, will graviate to the Protestant
megachurches.
>3. Islam is preparing for a serious-minded and well financed missionary
>activity in the West.
>
The Saudis are welcome to waste their money. The Islamic message
doesn't resonate with people who are not already within the Islamic
cultural sphere. The so-called "Black Muslims" of America are an
aberration.