We should pray for Turkey

There are lots of Greeks who’re speculating in nationalistic terms that the disturbances in Turkey are the harbinger of glory days for Greece. In their delusional state they’ve selected some of what was said and written by blessed Elder Païsios concerning the things to come, but do so in a partial and spiteful manner. They excise everything the holy Elder said about the necessary conditions for genuine freedom; they consider their own sanctification to be a secondary issue; and go to sleep dreaming of glory and conquests. The holy Elder was talking about Maccabean conditions and perspectives, whereas the armchair generals expect God to “reward” this country for the millions of abortions that have been performed over recent years, for the universal cult of the flesh, the pernicious blasphemy of sacred names, the magic, the record number of divorces and the other “achievements” of the Greek people.

In Turkey, on the other hand, Tayyip Erdogan, Muslim though he is, has put in place moral requirements for the prosperity of his people, such that no Greek politician even dreamt of suggesting to us. Of course, the New Age doesn’t accept any moral system other than that of the Antichrist, which is why it is in revolt. The God-bearing Fathers, who saw deep into the future, tell us that the Antichrist will prevail through revolutions, not by legitimate means. Saint John the Damascan puts it quite clearly: “He rebels and reigns”. In any case, the New Age, in that it is antichristian, doesn’t accept “any veneration or god” other than the Antichrist, who it’s awaiting.

Those who expect foreign revolutionary movements to bring better days to Greece haven’t learned from history. In 1908, the Young Turk  movement forced the powerful Sultan Hamit to submit. What followed? “Constantinople was rocked from end to end with a wave of enthusiasm, and huge public gatherings of people of all nations and religions took place in favour of equal rights and fraternity. On the streets of the capital you could see marches in which citizens of every race and religion were represented: Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, embracing one another and declaring feelings of fraternity, with the firm, heart-felt resolution to make the hatreds of the past and racial differences of no future account. All this, however, took place under the ironic smirk of the Young Turks…” (Dim. Mavropoulos, Πατριαρχικές Σελίδες [Patriarchal Pages] Athens 1960, p. 55). Just what the “ironic smirk” of the Young Turks (the ideological forebears of today’s Kemalist demonstrators) actually meant, we Greeks were to learn later in a very painful manner (Constantinople, Smyrna and elsewhere).

Who’s smirking behind the disturbances now taking place in Turkey? What are all the powerful people of this world actually preparing, those leaders who’ve reduced us to poverty and now criticize and cast doubts on Erdogan? Let’s not forget that the present Prime Minister of Turkey has restored many Orthodox churches and returned them to divine worship.

We won’t learn what’s actually happening in this game that’s going on in Turkey until it’s too late. Until then, we must pray to Christ to grant peace to the world. Peace is a basic petition in the services of the Church and especially in the Divine Liturgy. We don’t know what’s good and what’s not. Only God does.

All we do know is that “when your neighbour’s house is burning, be careful to make sure yours doesn’t as well”.