Link to article I respond to: http://www.pravmir.com/cant-pray-new-martyrs/
I am going to start this entry with a few statements which need to be remembered as this is read. I do not wish to attack the author of the article that prompts this response, for we all have levels of comfort for who we feel we can pray to and who we can not. For example, I have a very difficult time praying to any of the patristic fathers, as I am so uneducated and indeed am almost anti-formal education, as I feel my desire to liaise with them would fall far short of what is expected of me in terms of knowledge of the faith and their teachings as well. I also have a hard time praying to any saint who I deem controversial in this day, so Blessed Seraphim Rose makes me very uncomfortable to talk to. I find it much easier to pray through saints who may not have had much knowledge, but had experienced God in ways unfathomable to both many believers and unbelievers alike. These Saints include St Mary of Egypt, St Xenia of St Petersburg, and even with his better education, St Seraphim of Sarov. However, none of these saints can truly be considered martyrs.
If you have read my blog in the past, or know me personally, then you are very well aware of my closeness to one of the New Martyrs; in fact, he may be called the FIRST new martyr, and indeed is described as the First Hieromartyr of the Bloshevik Yoke, St John Kochurov. I feel indeed that, without my knowledge and with skillful prayer, he guided me back to the Orthodox Church when I had never attended one until I was in my late 30's. When you read the history of his work in Chicago, with his work in bringing Roman Catholics back to the Orthodox Church, I feel he was always at work on me to bring me where I belonged. I certainly can not prove this empirically, but I do remember, just before I was admitted to the Orthodox Church in August 2010, praying through my patron, St Lawrence of Rome (also a martyr, by the way), to guide me to a saint with connections to North America that would protect me and whose life I could be inspired by. There was no hesitancy in the answer I received; St John of Chicago. Being a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan myself seemed to "seal the deal" as it were, for until this prayer was answered for me, I never had known anything about him.
One point the author mentions in his article is quite accurate and can not be countered; that is a martyr is always alone leaving nothing behind behind for disciples (St John Kochurov, however, did oversee the construction of a cathedral in Chicago that is still used to this day, so that isn't always the case, though to find writings of his is near impossible). What the author may fail to realize, however, is that as we walk this spectral existence, in many instances, many of us do indeed walk without the benefit of our fellow man, having only God as our strength to carry on when those who do not trust in Him may well have given up. As a young man, I had few acquaintances, less friends, and was constantly picked on for being different than many in my school and my age. God never did this to me, though. God was always there for me, even after many times I wasn't there for Him. Christ's arms were always open to me. He understood. He understands. He always will, for who else in history truly changed the entire world, alone, but Him?
To walk this world alone requires a courage that many will see as an eccentricity. I didn't always like the same music as my peers, or the same sports as my fellow classmates. In fact, I was always more interested in religion and faith than I was math and science. Those interests are hard for an academic to deal with when their job is to guide me to academia. It is even more difficult for a young person whose family does not share that same interest in God, the faith, and spirituality. It is difficult for a teenager to go to church, even thirty years ago, but it is even more difficult for that teenager to attend services alone without the presence of his or her parents and siblings. Yet, this is exactly what I did. If it were not for the best friend I had growing up and his family, there is a good chance I would NEVER have gone to church at all.
As the culture is changing in the USA now, Christians are being marginalized at best, and softly persecuted now at worst (try being a service worker and telling a prospective employer you need Sunday mornings off for services, for unless you are applying to Hobby Lobby or Chic-Fil-A, you have almost no chance of getting hired). Your peers will tell you not to say these things (even some who profess the faith) and get the job first, or even tell you to give up services. If we make that choice, are we truly witnessing to the faith? Are we truly living the faith? Are we trusting God in the manner we should?. Forgive me for being judgemental, but to me, the answer is a resounding NO. I can bear witness to this trust; every time I have refused a job that will not allow me my religious freedom as guaranteed by the US Constitution, God has guided me elsewhere and I have found everything I need. Those times in between are indeed difficult, but why does God provide for me, someone who is so wretched that I deserve nothing from Him other than a good scolding?
Some Americans believe that the persecution of Christians is coming to America in a manner similar to what happened under the Bolsheviks and is currently happening in the Middle East. The signs are there that it is indeed possible, and the hostility towards Christians is indeed growing in the USA. It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future, but if history is any indicator, it is indeed on its way. What is one of the first things that you do to someone who you want to punish, or persecute, or bully? You isolate them. You make them feel like they are alone. You make them feel like no one else cares about them, that they are a waste of oxygen, and that they should just disappear. Are Christians going to be treated any different if persecution comes to pass in the USA? No, they won't. They won't have jobs, they won't have defenders, and they won't have protections. They will be taken from family and friends, they will be isolated, and they will be made to despair so that they will, hopefully, eventually conform to the state. If you don't believe me, read a book called "The Gulag Archipelago".
Again, I wish not to criticise the author of the article I respond to. I only wish to respond why I find such comfort in the martyrs. You see, a common misconception about martyrdom is that to be a martyr, we die for the faith. On the contrary, martyrdom is not dying for the faith, but bearing witness to it, and if need be, bearing it alone when nobody around you cares enough about you to stand up for your God-given right to live and worship Him. I don't want to die like a martyr; like the author of the article, I hope to die of old age surrounded by people who love me. I have no fear, however, of living like one, for God, Christ, His Saints, and ALL the martyrs of the faith, are there praying for me and working on my behalf to insure my spectral needs are met. I need nothing, and no one, else in this struggle.
