Category: books

Book Review

What Really Happened in Wuhan

by

Sharri Markson

Harper Collins. 2021.

As of this writing, the American media is focused on portraying a seventeen year old as a villain (facts be damned) and is intent on destroying his life. Meanwhile, real villains such as the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army (Chinese military), the World Health Organization, and American “scientists” such as Anthony Fauci and Peter Daszak are ignored. But then what are the deaths of five million people around the world and the disruption of life compared to one kid who failed to be “woke”.

Where to start in reviewing this book? There are many atrocities brought about by the Chinese government and military as well as by western collaborators of the Chinese. The French helped build the notorious lab at Wuhan and the American scientists like Fauci and his collaborators funded it. What was supposed to be a lab in which nations would collaborate for the benefit of mankind (what a laugh) was seized by the Chinese government. The Chinese still received American taxpayer money generously donated by Fauci and Peter Daaszak, the head of Eco health alliance.

As far back as 2014, responsible scientists drafted a letter opposing gain of function research which fanatics like Fauci have spent years championing. Scientists warned that such research could lead to a pandemic or biological warfare. Some scientists even warned against publishing information about gain of function research as terrorists might seek to use such information for attacks.

In 2014, the Obama administration ordered that all funding for gain of funding research be stopped citing the risks. In 2017, “Doctor” Fauci ordered that funding be resumed. President Trump was not informed that funding was being resumed. Nor was Health Secretary Alex Azar informed about this. Fauci took matters into his own hands and remains unaccountable to anyone up to the present time.

In early 2020, as the Trump administration sought to take measures to defend America from covid, Fauci failed to inform the President of his activities regarding gain of function research. Fauci is not a hero as the media portrays him, but a fiend. Fauci arrogantly opposed Trump’s plans to stop all flights to and from China.

As late as February 2020, Fauci was saying he did not think covid would lead to a pandemic. The World Health Organization was also morally complicit in this horror show because of its ties to the Chinese government. What is particularly infuriating is that many scientists denied covid came from a lab and originated from the work of humans (as opposed to originating from nature) because Trump suggested covid came from a lab.

One Australian scientist came to believe that “wet market” cited as the origin of covid was false. He believed it came from the Wuhan lab. When he sought to publish his theory, he was worried about being labelled “racist” (the scientific community has gone woke) or even worse being accused of agreeing with Trump.

This is remarkable journalism at work featuring extensive interviews with prominent scientists, diplomats from several countries, and extensive documentation. Very important are the activities of honorable Chinese scientists and journalists who have “disappeared” because they tried to warn the world about what was happening early on.

In October 2019, athletes from around the world gathered in Wuhan for the military world games. Many of them got sick and have come to believe they may have had covid before any one knew what covid was. A month earlier, the website for the Wuhan lab began removing articles about its research activities suggesting an immediate coverup of the leak.

Religious and governmental institutions receive scrutiny for morally corrupt and decadent coverups. The same standards applied to them should apply to the scientific community. “Doctor” Fauci and others who were involved with the Wuhan lab need to be removed and to be held accountable for their actions.

It is very clear that the Chinese government has successfully influenced the American scientific community. For five years, we have heard about a non existent conspiracy involving the Russians. It is China, not Russia that has established a deadly influence over the United States.

Fortunately, there are still good journalists around such as Sharri Markson who have their priorities in order and are letting us know what is going on.

Book Review

True Raiders

by

Brad Ricca

Saint Martin’s Press. New York.

2021.

“True Raiders” brings to mind the great Stephen Spielberg film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in which the heroic Indiana Jones competes with the Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments that God had given to Moses. The Ark had great power according to the Old Testament.

In 1909, a group from Great Britain visited the Holy Land with the intention of finding the Ark of the Covenant. Previous to embarking on their trip the members of this group discussed the financial (!) value that the Ark would have. Like the French archeologist and the Nazis in the film, this group seemed to have been oblivious to the spiritual significance of the Ark of the Covenant.

An international incident was triggered when the leader of the group and others proceeded to dig under the Dome of the Rock. When this news got out, there were riots throughout Ottoman Palestine. The whole effort was a debacle.

It is a very interesting and readable book. What comes across from an Orthodox Christian interpretation of these events is that God cannot be accessed any other way than through faith. In the Spielberg film, a French archeologist tells Indiana Jones the Ark is a radio to talk to God.

Such a view is blasphemous and really misguided. The group in the book appeared to be nice people but failed to comprehend the line between spirituality and secular history. The Ark is not and cannot be reduced to a mere historical artifact.

One can find God only through prayer and worship in Church. Archeology and history are good things but only up to a point. The sacred should never be confused with the secular.

A case in point is how some people treat icons. Some people treat them as “art” when in reality they are door ways to heaven helping us to worship God. As for the Ark of The Covenant, the best case put forward comes from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Oriental Orthodox) which claims it has the Ark in one of their Churches.

The Ethiopian Church has a priest-monk who is specially trained to keep watch over the Ark. The Ethiopians deny access to any and all people by suggesting those unworthy to approach will die. The reverential treatment given to the Ark by the Ethiopians is greater evidence of having the Ark than any secular claimants.

The 1909 group admitted their failures to find the Ark. In more recent years there have been others claiming to have found the Ark. None of the claims are convincing. The serious attitude of the Ethiopians is impressive and worthy of more respect than any other claims.

Still, the book is a very good and interesting read.

The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden

by Peter Bergen

Simon and Schuster. 2021

Peter Bergen is a genuine expert on the middle east and Islamic terrorism. His new book about Bin Laden makes for excellent reading. This is comparable to Youssef Bodansky’s pre-9/11 biography about Bid Laden that was called “Bin Laden The Man Who Declared War On America”.

There is a good deal of information about Bin Laden’s life, his religious views, and politics that motivated him to become the world’s most notorious terrorist. There is interesting background about his family who were actually secular people. A family picture featuring his brothers and sisters shows the girls without any head coverings.

Bergen reveals that Bin Laden overestimated the abilities of his jihadists in the Afghani war against the Soviet Union. Bergen says the expulsion of the Soviet Union resulted from American support. Bin Laden believed that his group was instrumental in defeating the Soviets, and believed Al Quada (formed in Afghanistan in 1988) would defeat the United States as well.

Bin Laden was responsible for terror attacks against the United States in Somalia in 1993. He was responsible for bombing the American barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996. He and Al Quada were also responsible for the bombing of two American embassies in Africa in 1998.

Despite this growing campaign of terror the Clinton administration in 1996 turned down an offer from the Sudanese government (where Bin Laden was living at the time) to turn him over to Washington. The Clinton administration believed they had no legal basis for taking the proven murderer and terrorist into custody.

But the Clinton administration was not alone in screwing up. The Bush administration which took office in January 2001 did not consider Bin Laden a high priority. Bergen reveals the Bush administration was obsessed with invading Iraq. Assistant Secretary of Defense did not understand why the US should have been interested in one man.

Following the 9/11 attacks, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others worked to find a connection between Al Quada and Iraq. One of the most appalling failures of the Bush administration was in failing to kill Bin Laden in Tora Bora near the end of 2001. Bergen says the US failed to send more troops to ensure the death of the mass murderer. Bin Laden got away but Al Quada was at least decimated.

Until 2003, when the overthrow of the Iraqi government after the invasion that was ordered by the Bush administration gave Bin Laden’s group the opportunity to rebuild itself. The failures of both the Clinton and Bush administrations should be recalled today at a time when the Biden administration has blundered in Afghanistan.

Taken in context, screwing up the fight against terrorists seems to be the rule and not the exception. The Clinton administration permitted Bin Laden and Al Quada to grow in strength. I remember those days vividly as we were all preoccupied with Bill Clinton’s sexual proclivities with Monica.

The Bush administration failed to kill Bin Laden and then decided to go nation building in Afghanistan and Iraq. If there is anything the Bush and Clinton administrations had in common is that their cabinets all believed their own bullshit and propaganda. The Biden administration is more realistic in its rhetoric regarding Afghanistan but stupidly withdrew from Afghanistan in a way that permitted the Taliban to secure an unconditional victory.

The Obama administration’s success in tracking down and killing Bin Laden is recounted here. It is an instance when the Obama administration performed very well. This book is an excellent and informative read about the life of one of the world’s most evil terrorists.

Book Review

The Ecclesial Crisis in Ukraine and its Solution According to the Sacred Canons by Metropolitan of Kykkos and Tylliria Nikiforos, Cyprus

Holy Trinity Seminary Press. 2021

His eminence Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos, a hierarch of the Church of Cyprus has published an important work on the Church crisis in Ukraine. His eminence addresses several aspects of the Church crisis. His eminence discusses the history of the Church of Ukraine and how it was transferred from the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Russian Church in 1686. His eminence does a masterful job regarding the history of the Ukrainian Church which was until 2018 part of the Russian Church without controversy.

Other aspects of the Church crisis that are addressed include the delicate matter of how a Church achieves autocephalous status. His eminence rightfully emphasizes the importance of the authority of the universal Church through an ecumenical council to establish an autocephalous Church. His eminence points out that the Ecumenical Patriarch may only act to recognize a Church as autocephalous if it has been approved by the universal Church.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate insists that it has the right to hear appeals from throughout the Orthodox world. His eminence asserts that the Ecumenical Patriarch has no such right. Furthermore, his eminence makes clear that the Patriarchate of Moscow was fully justified in breaking communion with Constantinople.

His eminence addresses the issue of who is the head of the Orthodox Church. Jesus Christ is the head of the Orthodox Church and not the Ecumenical Patriarch. His eminence also emphasizes the importance of the conciliar tradition of the Orthodox Church.

As with many other writers and commentators on the Church crisis, his eminence makes reference to the well known geopolitical interests that have served to trigger the events that brought about the crisis. Unfortunately, this issue is mentioned only in passing and is not addressed. Regardless, this is a very important publication regarding the Ukrainian Church crisis coming from one of the most important bishops in the Greek speaking world.

His eminence makes references to church history and canon law, and affirms the righteousness of the Orthodox position which is held not only by the Russian Orthodox Church but by most of the Orthodox world. This is a publication that is solidly Orthodox and which will hopefully contribute to awakening the Greek Orthodox world from its slumber.

Book Review

The Holy Apostles

A Lost Monument, a Forgotten Project, and the Presentness of the Past.

Margaret Mullett and Robert G. Ousterhout, Editors

Dumberton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

2020.

“The Holy Apostles” is an excellent volume of essays published by scholars focusing on the long destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. During the centuries of the Byzantine Empire, the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople contained the relics of Apostles, Saints, and Christian Emperors including Constantine and Justinian. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it became for an extremely brief period the Patriarchal Cathedral.

Patriarch Gennadios was permitted to use the Church following the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. The Patriarch subsequently decided to abandon the Church and to move the Patriarchate elsewhere. Large numbers of unfriendly Turkish settlers were moving into the area and there was a body found on the premises which was perceived as a threat. Furthermore, the Patriarchate did not have the funds necessary to maintain and preserve the Church.

Tragically, the Church was destroyed and converted into a Mosque. The Fatih Camii Mosque presently stands on the ruins of the long lost Church. Fortunately, the Church of the Holy Apostles survives in the memory of historians and scholars who have contributed time and effort into examining the Church.

There are excellent and informative essays by scholars who recount the history of the Church and the relevance of the Apostles of Christ (for whom the Church was named) in the theology of the fathers of the Church. Scholars have taken the time to study historic descriptions of the Church and have attempted to give us an idea of what the Church of the Holy Apostles looked like. They have done so by visiting and photographing existing Churches which resemble the descriptions of the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Photographs are produced of the still standing Church of Saint Irene in Constantinople and other Churches that may bear a resemblance to the Church of the Holy Apostles. This text is really an excellent effort undertaken to study the Church of the Holy Apostles. It is very informative and it is good to see that one of the most important Churches in the history of Constantinople has not been forgotten.

At the present time, the condition of Hagia Sophia is steadily worsening. One day, scholars may be working on a project about Hagia Sophia. With Hagia Sophia, there are at least photographs and videos that can be studied to teach future generations of the beauty and splendor of Hagia Sophia.

History never really ends. Five and a half centuries ago, Sultan Mehmet II demolished the Church of the Holy Apostles. Today, President Erdogan of Turkey presides over the ruination of Hagia Sophia.

Book Review

Unmasked by Andy Ngo

Center Street. 2021

Andy Ngo is a real journalist in an age when the twenty four news cycle has transformed reporting into entertainment. “Unmasked” is a masterful piece of journalism written by the foremost expert on the Marxist organization known as “Antifa”. Andy Ngo spent several years covering Antifa and sought to warn America about its nefarious revolutionary agenda and its propensity for violence.

Andy Ngo was even beaten by members of Antifa while covering one of their public demonstrations in 2019. The best chapters in this book are the first two which recount last summers riots in Seattle and Portland. In Seattle, militants seized control of a small portion of territory and occupied it for several weeks.

During the period when a part of Seattle was in effect occupied territory, Anifa militants imposed their own form of rule over unwitting citizens who were effectively trapped. The Seattle Police Department which sought to impose the rule of law was blocked from doing so by the orders of Mayor Jenny Durkan. Similarly, when Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters engaged in the destruction of private and public property in Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler ordered the Police to stand down.

Not only did these Mayors order the Police to stand down, they engaged in public denunciations of the Police. Appallingly, the Mayors refused to impose order and permitted violence to go unchecked because of their perceptions that the rioters were politically progressive. As such, these two Democratic Mayors abandoned individual rights and the right to safety for individuals caught in the middle of the riots for ideological reasons.

True democrats (as in democracy, not the Democratic Party) understand that tolerance for violence and pogroms are immoral and barbaric. Medieval Europe and Tsarist Russia saw the sponsorship of anti semetic pogroms. Nazi Germany in 1938 instigated the anti semetic pogrom known as “Krystaalnacht”. The Turkish Republic in September 1955 organized a pogrom against the Greek minority that included Armenians and Jews as targets.

Andy Ngo has done an outstanding job not only as a journalis in recounting the horrors of the summer of 1920 and the years preceding it, he has done the work of a historian by recounting the history of the entire movement that took the name of “Antifa”. The name “Antifa” stands for anti fascist and the movement originally began in Germany during the 1920’s. At least in those days, it was a legitimate anti fascist movement that fought Hitler’s stormtroopers.

Between the German Antifa and the Nazi Party, there is no question that the Nazis were by far the greater evil. The present version of Antifa however cannot legitimately claim to be anti fascist. As Andy Ngo recounts, Antifa calls everyone a fascist or a racist.

Andy Ngo points out that the mainstream media have ignored and downplayed the violence and extremism of Antifa. This review is written over a month after the assault on the capital by extremist supporters of Donald Trump. The media loses its credibility to criticize Trump extremists when it refuses to condemn extremists from the left such as Antifa.

“Unmasked” is a superb book about political extremism and radicalism. It is an excellent and absorbing account of what has transpired in America during the years that preceded the summer of 2020 and after. Andy Ngo who is a Vietnamese American has distinguished himself as one of the most important journalists in America.

“Unmasked” is a well researched book and a truly shocking expose.

Book Review

The Orthodox Church and Independent Greece 1821-1852 by Charles Frazee

Cambridge University Press. 1969

This book is an excellent companion piece to Steven Runciman’s “The Great Church in Captivity” (reviewed here https://thedoubleheadedeagle.blog/?p=1360) which was published one year earlier. Observers of present day ecclesiastical affairs in Constantinople, Greece, and Ukraine may be reminded of events that are presently playing out in our own day. From the inception of Greek independence the great powers began interfering in the internal affairs of Greece.

From the very beginning the western power of the day (in this case Great Britain) meddled unceasingly in Greek Church affairs. Frazee’s book recounts the problems that arose when the Church of Greece was declared “autocephalous” from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1833. It is easy to forget that the Patriarchate has had legitimate grievances. Indeed, the autocephaly of the Church of Greece from Constantinople was uncanonical in 1833 much like the “autocephaly” that Patriarch Bartholomew attempted to bestow to Ukrainian schismatics in 2018 was uncanonical.

There are many ironies regarding the position that Constantinople finds itself in today and the position it found itself in during the period of 1833 to 1850. Constantinople today is the aggressor against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church whereas in 1833 the Ecumenical Patriarchate was the victim of the western powers. There is also one identical cause both for the schism that took place between the Greeks in 1833-1850 and for the schism that has taken place in the Orthodox Church today and that is Russophobia.

It has been forgotten by everybody that the Ecumenical Patriarchate was allied with and was supported by the Russians during the nineteenth century. It is for this reason that the British and the German advisors to the Bavarian (Roman Catholic) King that was imposed on Greece demanded the autocephaly of the Church of Greece. One of those German advisors at the court of the young King Otho was Georg Von Maurer. Frazee writes,

“A second danger was seen by Maurer in the threat of Russia to Greece. It was obvious to all, according to him, that Russia was interested in expansion at the expense of the Ottomans and that the Orthodox populations in the Balkans could be used by that country as a means to reach her goal. Many of the Greek clergy were devoted to Russia and would support Russian ambitions in this area. The Tsar could easily use the patriarchal appointments as a means to control the Greek church, Maurer contended, so that the only way for the new state of Greece to withstand this pressure would be to have a synod independent of Constantinople”.

This assertion of the German Georg Von Maurer has been echoed in our own day by American officials such as “Ambassador” to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt who likewise accuses the Russians of attempting to control the Orthodox Church. The hypocrisy of western officials is identical. Von Maurer and his colleagues in Greece proceeded to do to the Church of Greece exactly what they were accusing the Russians of doing! Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo along with “Ambassador” Pyatt instigated the schism in Orthodoxy by interfering in internal ecclesiastical matters for political purposes and did exactly what they were accusing the Russians of doing!

One crucial difference between the Church crisis then and the Church crisis now has to do with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Church of Constantinople then was the victim of an injustice and Patriarch Anthimos IV who presided over the Church of Constantinople was a pious and holy man who would be known as a defender of Orthodoxy and whose signature appeared on the famous encyclical of 1848 that refuted Papal claims. Patriarch Bartholomew today claims Papal like authority and has colluded in the dismemberment of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Following the declaration of “autocephaly” for the Church of Greece in 1833, an anti ecclesiastical campaign was undertaken by the German King and his advisors. Over four hundred Greek Monasteries were closed. The septuagaint version of the Old Testament was prohibited, Byzantine style iconography was banned and replaced by western religious “art”, and Churches were built in a Protestant style without the Byzantine domes.

An Orthodox reader of this book is sure to be outraged as I was when I first read it back in the early 1990’s. It is perplexing to see how it is that today’s hierarchs in Constantinople and Greece seem to have either forgotten the unpleasant history of 1833 to 1850, or are simply ignoring it. The similarities between what transpired then in Greece, and what is now happening in Ukraine are unmistakable.

In the name of anti Russian hysteria, the Orthodox Church is being exploited and used as a political prop by the godless western elites just as the Church was used in the nineteenth century to undermine the Russians. In the nineteenth century, there was Greek opposition to what was happening, just as there have been signs of opposition in Greece to the recognition of the Ukrainian schismatics by the Greek synod at the behest of the American Department of State.

In the nineteenth century, a great monk by the name of Christophoros Papoulakos openly preached against the Roman Catholic King and his advisors. In recent months, Greek faithful in the city of Patras defended their beloved Cathedral of Saint Andrew which contains the relics of the holy apostle by preventing visiting “bishops” from the schismatic entity in Ukraine from concelebrating the liturgy.

The Frazee book is an excellent book that deserves to be reexamined by all Orthodox Christians (especially Greeks) in light of the present crimes being perpetrated against the Orthodox Church by the great western power of the day.

Book Review

The Great Church in Captivity A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople From the Eve Of The Turkish Conquest To The Greek War of Independence

by Steven Runciman

Cambridge University Press. 1968

The late Steven Runciman was a real historian and scholar. He was an expert on Byzantine history and Orthodox Christianity. He was also an avid Philhellene who loved the Greek nation. He authored masterful works such as “The Fall of Constantinople 1453” and the three volume “A History of the Crusades”.

Steven Runciman stands out in an era when academia has been infiltrated and corrupted by ideology. The works of Steven Runciman were based on historical research and the gathering of facts and evidence. “The Great Church in Captivity” is arguably the most influential work in the English language on the history of the Patriarchate and the Greek nation under Ottoman Turkish rule.

The book features a lengthy and not insignificant background to the history that preceded the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Church history and theology are explained in the run up to the fall of the City. The heart of the book arrives with the aftermath following the Turkish conquests.

Runciman vividly describes the character of Sultan Mehmet II and the Monk George Scholarios whose reputation as a scholar the conquering Sultan was fully aware of. When the City fell, Scholarios was taken as a slave but was freed by the order of the Sultan. The Monk Scholarios was not only a learned monk but a conservative theologian who had been a fierce opponent of the Council of Florence in 1439. The Sultan decided to grant the Greek Orthodox Church a certain degree of autonomy and Scholarios became the first Patriarch under the Ottomans.

The new Patriarch took the ecclesiastical name “Gennadios” and took on the task of rebuilding the Church and its Synod. The Patriarch had the difficult task of negotiating the terms of relations between the Church and the Ottomans. A very difficult task but one in which the new Patriarch carried out to the best of his abilities.

It was certainly made clear by the Sultan that the Greeks were to be second class citizens. At the same time, the Greek Church was given autonomy which the Patriarch embraced as a means of survival. With the Greek nation now condemned to endure Turkish rule, the Patriarch gained whatever concessions he could which meant religious freedom (in a limited capacity) and limited self government.

The Church would handle baptisms, divorces, and the collection of taxes from its Greek faithful. In return, the Patriarch and the Bishops committed themselves to discouraging revolution. These were the best terms possible at that particular time.

Over the centuries, the Ecumenical Patriarchate exercised a great deal of power and influence over not only Greeks but Orthodox Serbs, Bulgarians, and Rumanians whose autocephalous Churches were shut down and placed under Constantinople’s authority. During the eighteenth century, the Patriarchate came under the influence of the Phanariots, wealthy and powerful Greeks who dominated the Church and used their influence to impose Greek hierarchs on the Rumanian and Slavic Churches. This misguided and foolish attempt to “hellenize” the non Greek Churches poisoned relations between the Greeks and the Rumanians and Slavs.

Runciman covers much ground in his history of the Patriarchate. The most interesting chapter is entitled “Constantinople and Moscow” which recounts the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church during these difficult centuries. In 1448, the Russian Church had revolted against the Ecumenical Patriarchate as the latter had accepted the Papal demands at the Council of Florence in 1439 and declared itself autocephalous.

After Patriarch Genndadios became Patriarch, Constantinople was restored to Orthodoxy. By 1589, Patriarch Jeremias II was invited to visit Russia by Tsar Feodor. The Patriarch agreed to recognize the Metropolinate of Moscow as a Patriarchate and so Moscow became the fifth ranking Patriarchate after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Patriarch Jeremias II was able to win the diplomatic and political support of the Russians.

Runciman writes, “Jeremias thus makes it clear that he recognizes Russia’s claim to be the third Rome politically but not ecclesiastically.’ Patriarch Jeremias was a shrewd Patriarch who wisely chose to pursue warm and friendly ties with the Russians. The policies of Patriarch Jeremias should be the basis for the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s policies toward the Russian Church. As is known now in our own day, the Ecumenical Patriarchate pursues policies opposite those of Patriarch Jeremias.

Runciman sheds light on the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s understanding of events in the west. The Patriarchate became aware of the Protestant reformation. Lutheran theologians contacted Patriarch Jeremias who subsequently broke off dialogue on the grounds that the Lutherans were not receptive to the message of Orthodoxy.

Runciman covers other ground as well. Policies of Turkish repression are not ignored. At the outset of the conquest of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia was taken away. The Greeks were initially permitted to maintain the second most important Church that of the Holy Apostles. Due to the poor condition of the Church, Patriarch Gennadios moved the Patriarchate away from hostile Muslim settlers to a more friendly Christian area. The Patriarchate would move several times and would arrive at its present location at the Phanar in 1599.

Over the course of centuries, several Patriarchs were executed for treason. The most infamous was that of Gregory V in 1821. The executions of Patriarchs demonstrated the fragility of relations with the Ottoman State. One of the most tragic Patriarchs was Cyril Lukaris who was murdered by the Turks in 1638.

Lukaris was a brilliant theologian and spiritual leader who was the victim of politics. At the time of his Patriarchy the Roman Catholics were waging war on the Orthodox in Ukraine (an event that is still happening). Cyril Lukaris adopted a staunch anti Papal attitude and blinded by his ferocious hostility to the Papacy became subject to the influence of Protestant diplomats at Constantinople. In our own day, the Ecumenical Patriarchate continues to be the victim of unscrupulous foreign diplomats.

Both Roman Catholics and Protestants vied for influence over the Patriarch. The Patriarch sadly came under the influence of the Protestants and promoted Calvinist doctrines that were in conflict with Orthodoxy. Controversy in Orthodoxy erupted and the Greek Bishops and faithful revolted against him. The Sultan being concerned over the destabilizing effects of the controversy among the Orthodox ordered the murder of the Patriarch.

There is also a chapter on the state of the Greek Church outside Constantinople. In parts of what are now modern Greece, many of the priests were deprived of the learning and qualifications that their counterparts in Constantinople enjoyed. Many priests were semi literate and poorly educated and the spiritual state of the people in these parts of Greece was very poor.

Over the centuries, generations of youth belonging to Greek and other Christians in the Empire were lost after they were forcibly recruited into the janissaries. The Janissaries were the elite fighting force of the Ottoman Empire. Boys were taken from their families, converted to Islam and sent off on their careers to serve the Sultan. The janissaries were an utterly destructive force on all the Christian populations.

No review can do justice to Steven Runciman’s fine and influential book. Runciman’s book is very sympathetic to the Patriarchate and examines all parts of the Patriarchate’s complex history under Ottoman rule. Both religious and diplomatic policies of the Patriarchate are examined. The book ends by recounting the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence and the execution of Patriarch Gregory V.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate is a glorious institution full of immense spirituality, history, and civilization. No one can read this book and be unmoved by its tragic plight since 1453. The Patriarchate was fortunate during its darkest period in 1453 to have a superb theologian, scholar, and diplomat such as George Scholarios take the throne.

George Scholarios may have saved the Patriarchate and provided much spiritual solace and diplomatic efforts for the well being of the Greek nation during a time of darkness. The Ecumenical Patriarchate would be fortunate today to be governed by the wisdom and abilities of Patriarchs Gennadios and Jeremias.

Book Review

Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier

Regnery Publishing. 2020.

“Irreversible Damage” is written by Abigail Shrier who writes for the Wall Street Journal. This book of investigative journalism is particularly enlightening as the “mainstream” media will not address this subject. The subject has to do with girls (some as young as thirteen years old) believing themselves to be “transgendered”.

Shrier recounts the influential role that both social media and youtube have played in convincing girls that they are transgendered. Furthermore, schools and Universities have contributed to undermining parents by encouraging these girls to adopt male names and identities without informing their families. Shrier has conducted interviews with both defenders of “transgenderism” and critics.

There are numerous interviews with distressed parents whose daughters went off to Colleges and Universities and subsequently proceeded to “transition” on the advice of “mental health councillors”. These stories are profoundly disturbing. Most disturbing is the hidden role played by women who have transitioned into men on Youtube who encourage their very impressionable female viewers that they are “trans gendered”.

Social media is cited as a particularly destructive influence. In some cases girls who thought they were transgendered changed their minds but found themselves under pressure by “friends” on social media not to change their minds. There are at least two mothers mentioned in this book (one who is now a member of a group that combats the trans movement) who felt it necessary to move across the country in order to remove their daughters from the influences of their friends and the schools which have been tainted by pro trans “social progressives”.

The book is very balanced and recognizes that some people have in fact benefitted from having surgery and changing genders. But, these people are very few in numbers and the author suggests that the large number of girls around America who consider themselves “trans” is a cause for alarm. Examples are made of therapists who indulge minors in their belief that they are trans and no efforts are made to be critical or objective in the interest of preventing girls from making mistakes that cannot be reversed.

The book is fascinating reading and will leave many with utter disgust at the way that young women and girls are being exploited by social and political activists in twenty first century America.