Christ assured Mother Julian that love was his meaning, that love was the meaning of his Name, not war. Christ’s sixteen showings to Mother Julian were a ‘Revelation of Love,’ not proof that imperial Rome had won the war by crucifixion. Christ’s fire of love, unveiled to Richard Rolle of Hampole, was a ‘melody of love and a mending of life,’ not war called a military operation in the name of ‘Russian innocence.’ The ‘Hymns of Love’ of Saint Symeon the New Theologian inspired Holy Hesychasm in Russia, not war dressed up to look like a peaceful military operation, causing not preventing genocide. Holy Orthodoxy is all about love, not war, exposing lies and misinformation that enslave it when it is reduced to being one of Russia’s autocratic, ideological justifications for war. The heresy of ‘Russian innocence’ is victim talk that conceals belligerence as well as fear, not Holy Orthodoxy revealing love. In the confusion of nihilism, lies parody truth, dividing what love conjoins. Ultimately, the liar is known by the lies told to conceal the lies, demonic temptations well known to elders and saints in the desert, who abide in the City of God.
When demons of war spread lies in times of war, they conceal themselves in perverted language that parodies Christ’s meaning of love. Confusion rules when division reigns, concealing satanic perversions of love under the guise of cyber weapons of war. Familiar to saints, these deceptions are well known to elders, who warn the desert against war dressed up to look like love, autocracy using Christ to impose antichrist wherever turning turns. Love is still Christ’s meaning, not satanic perversions of love, misusing language to substitute lies for truth. The old-fashioned frauds of demons are now the rage in cyber wars and fraud crimes, sold by the politics of oligarchy as the principle product of populist autocracy. Democracy fails when love’s glory is destroyed by satanic lies, no-one noticing that love had just lost a battle in the war. Mother Julian’s showings, like Saint Symeon’s Hymns, bear witness to the ‘Revelation of Love,’ even when nihilism reigns, usurping love’s glory. Holy Orthodoxy is neither of the east nor of the west, neither Russian nor Byzantine, both sometimes innocent and sometimes guilty in the culture wars that confuse and divide, bearing witness to Christ’s meaning, which is love.
When satanic parody reigns, Holy Orthodoxy abides in God’s reign of glory in heaven until wisdom descends again as the Holy City of God. Patriarchs and simple folk may be deceived by the lies of populist autocracy, but the reign of glory abides patiently in their midst. Love’s meaning remains Christ’s holy intention, not the many subtle inversions and satanic parodies. Everywhere democracy is imperfect, in many ways, but trusts truth not lies, preferring improving imperfection to totalitarian perfection annihilating difference. Holy Orthodoxy protects democratic institutions because it remembers Christ’s meaning and mending is love, making melodies of love out of desperate cacophonies of war. No wars can destroy the love that inspires the heart to mend the world with melodies of love, nor silence wisdom songs of love’s holy glory. Russian stillness sings Saint Symeon’s ‘Hymns of Love,’ not kleptocratic songs of war-mongering propaganda, unless the autocratic heresy of Russian pseudo-innocence intervenes. Even then, Holy Orthodoxy remains the revelation of love on the desolate streets of destroyed cities, bearing courageous witness to God’s glorious reign of love.