My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE UNCEASING PERSECUTION OF
CHRISTIANITY OVER THE CENTURIES
Christian persecution has never ceased over 21 centuries worldwide. It has taken different forms and means but it has been conducted systematically and deliveradly. Our Orthodox Church records the persecution of Christians throughout its long history, from the early days of the Roman Empire to the modern era. The tradition commemorates countless “martyrs,” or witnesses who gave their lives for their faith. Historical records of this persecution are found in sources like the Synaxaria and Menologia, which are liturgical books similar to martyrologies.
Major examples of persecution over 21 centuries include:
Beginning with the first three centuries under the pagan Roman Empire and Emperors when Christianity was considered an “illegal religion” by the Roman authorities. Christians were persecuted, imprisoned and tortured for not worshipping the Emperor as a deity and for refusing to offer sacrifice to the imperial pagan gods. Notable periods of persecution occurred under Emperors like Decius (249-251 A.D.) and Valerian (253-260 A.D.), who specifically targeted Christian clergy. The Orthodox Church venerates countless early martyrs who were killed during this era for the faithfulness to their God and Savior Jesus Christ
From the Fifteenth to the twentieth centuries under the Ottoman Muslim Empire. Following the fall of the Queen City of Byzantium, Constantinople, to the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the year 1453. For 400 years Eastern Orthodox Christians were enslaved and could not practice their Christian faith, churches were closed, many were forced to convert to the Muslim faith, Christian children were kidnapped and raised as Muslims known as generoseries, They were subjected to heavy taxes also known as the “head taxes” for if the Christian refused or could not afford to pay it would be beheaded. They suffered forced expulsions, and massacres. The Greek genocide, which included the Pontic genocide from 1914-1922, resulted in the systematic killing and forced displacement of thousands of Orthodox Christians. The Greek Orthodox Church records many “New Martyrs” who suffered under the brutal and barbaric rule of the Turks.
During the twentieth century under the Communist Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc and Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 inaugurated a period of militant state ATHEISM that brutally repressed the Russian Orthodox Church and people. Tens of thousands of priests, bishops, monks and nuns were executed and millions of Orthodox Christians were persecuted, imprisoned in Siberia, summarily executed during the monster Stalin’s purges. Churches were leveled and totally destroyed and properties were seized and propaganda campaigns were used to turn the populace against the Christian clergy and believers. Even after Stalin, campaigns of persecution continued in the 1950s and later, the number of active churches was drastically reduced. The persecution extended beyond Russia to other communist countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Albania etc. with varying degrees of intensity and methods.
Then in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in the Balkans we witnessed the breakup of Yugoslavia led to renewed persecution of Orthodox Christians, particularly the Serbian Orthodox Church. In Kosovo, hundreds of Serbian monasteries were destroyed by ethnic Muslim Albanians after 1999. Kosovo for the Serbian Orthodox Church and Christians was considered to be the center for many ancient Orthodox monasteries and for all Serbian Orthodox Christians a “new Jerusalem.” The Muslim Albanians were charged with human rights violations which were documented resulting to discrimination.
In our modern era in the Middle East and worldwide the Orthodox Church in the Middle East has faced ongoing persecution, leading to a significant exodus of Christians from the region. Extremist groups have specifically targeted Orthodox Christians, along with other Christian denominations, in countries such as Iraq and Syria and recently in Israel. The wider persecution of Christians worldwide continues with reports from organizations like Open Doors detailing high levels of persecution and discrimination against Christians in many counties, including India, Indonesia, and even in the U.S.A. where prayer was removed from schools, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, morality, values, and traditional Roman Catholic Christians were considered as a threat and therefore their churches to be infiltrated by the authorities. The American head of Turning Point, a young Protestant Christian, was assassinated by an extremist and radical.
Western, Northern and Eastern Europe were considered Christian countries since most of the population were comprised of Christian people for centuries. However, currently Christianity has been reduced to a minority religion in Western and in some places in Northern Europe. In Britain and in Ireland many Christian churches have for various reasons ceased to be used for worship and instead are used for office space, distilleries, museums and even to be used to learn how to play golf for those interested. The European Union decided to open immigration to people from the Middle East, and Northern Africa, mainly Muslim countries and flooded Europe with them. This decision has had an immense impact on the Christian population of these countries who already feel the loss of their ethnic identity and Western- European culture. Other factors are the secularization of the U.S.A, and Europe and legalization of Abortion, prostitution, homesexuality, the demise of the traditional family unit, the dramatic increase in divorces, the reduction of marriages, the reduction of the number of children from Christian couples and of course the lack of interest in practicing their Christian faith. In Italy and Greece all teaching of the Christian faith has ceased and all Christian symbols have been removed from the classrooms. All of the above have been instrumental in undermining Christianity and creating a Godless world and society, known as ATHEISM! In the absence of Christianity we witness an increase in violence, murder, anarchy, perversion, and nihilism.
All Christians must be constantly vigilant and aware of what is happening around them and generally throughout the world. Christians must practice their Christian faith daily by praying, worshipping, and implementing in their lives the divine teachings of Christ and to especially remain faithful to our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, and to His Holy Church.
__________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 