Χριστός Ανέστη – Christ is Risen – Христос воскресе!

Demetrios Rhompotis

Pascha is finally here, but our world, as is its wont, is in a mess! The war in Ukraine is not abating, it’s intensifying, and no end in this conflict is in sight. Two brother peoples, Orthodox Christians, are killing each other and they couldn’t even agree on a cease fire for Easter, our holiest of holidays! The Mother Church of Constantinople that gave Slavs their faith, alphabet and introduced them to civilization, is busy concocting the holy myrrh and it seems she couldn’t find the time to make a plea, even through the UN, to both parties to cease hostilities for the holidays! They probably wouldn’t have paid attention, but it would be something and it would carry special meaning.

However, the Mother Church isn’t free, for everything she has to have the approval of the Turkish authorities, including on whom she will have as Ecumenical Patriarch! According to Turkish law, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is nothing more than a local religious institution tending to the needs of the “Istanbul Romans”! And it functions under the Prefecture of Istanbul and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. No wonder then why so little if nothing is heard about this war from the Patriarch, especially as Turkey is playing both sides in the conflict, getting huge benefits at the expense of all the others.

Speaking of the …devil who wears …Pravda, a few days ago, Turkey invaded full force northern Iraq with the pretext of fighting terrorism! Of course, no international outcry, no live coverage in our infotainment channels. After all, Iraq is used to getting invaded and Turkey to invade, starting with Cyprus in 1974!

Happy Easter, friends, enjoy and maintain sanity in our insane times in which stupidity is the norm and mediocrity the prevailing order. We won’t win, but we won’t stop fighting!!!