<\/a>Andrew Estocin asks:<\/strong><\/p>\n Father JJ, how do you see this internal contradiction playing out with regards to the riots and unrest in Greece? The GOA has never addressed the moral and social underpinnings of these problems. Is the GOA so captive to the fantasy narrative of the Greek Community in America that it is unable to engage on these issues? Athens burns but the party at the Ritz Carlton in Florida goes on. How do you celebrate Greek Independence day at the White House when your homeland is in the midst of a social and economic collapse? If 79th Street does not pay more attention it find that people will turn on the GOA leadership very quickly as being overpaid and out of touch while common people suffer. Honestly, though I wonder what the real reason is for the GOA not even acknowledging Greece\u2019s problems. Its amazing the disconnect between the idea of being \u201cGreek in America\u201d vs. being \u201cGreek in Greece\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fr. Hans Jacobse responds:<\/strong><\/p>\n Andrew, there is truth to the assertion that culture preserves faith, and it also true that the Hellenic ideals helped create the bedrock of Western Civilization. These facts are undeniable. Moreover, Hellenism, properly understood, does indeed foster a deep appreciation for the Greek contribution to Western culture. <\/p>\n What’s missing today in almost every engagement with real issues and problems however, is the Gospel — the “disconnect” as you put it. The Gospel is what shaped Greek culture, but it must also vivify every generation so that the culture can remain Christian. If the Gospel is not preached, the deep insights and knowledge conferred through the culture from one generation to the next gets reduced to folklore. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” becomes the definitive statement of what once was a very vibrant Christian civilization. <\/p>\n All peoples and institutions can operate on historical memory for only so long. The Communist assault on the Russian Orthodox Church showed us that it takes only one generation to cripple the Christian cultural legacy almost to the point of death. If the debilitation is the result of a slow drift as it is in Western Christendom, then it may take a generation or two longer but not much more. Look at England’s slide into moral and civic confusion since WWII. For that matter, look at our own.<\/p>\n The way out of our cultural morass and the path to ecclesiological clarity (and thus courage), is through a recovery of the Gospel. That recovery however, never happens outside of an immediate cultural context. In our case the defense of human life is that context since the question of the inherent value of life is at the heart of all our problems (Fr. Mark Hodges stated it beautifully<\/a>). Put in theological terms it means that we have to reach deep into our tradition and bring forward the anthropological constructs into the modern cultural context (and the Orthodox have the most developed anthropology of any Christian communion). All the big cultural questions: sanctity of life, homosexuality, marriage, divorce, contraception, even economics deal with what it means to be a human being. <\/p>\n When Archbishop Iakovos went into retirement, something changed. Constantinople became the center of governance and the mission of the GOA was redefined. Apb. Iakovos had his flaws (gifted leaders often have deep deficits) but his focus was always America, as he showed when he joined Martin Luther King<\/a> in Selma, Alabama. He was the first major Christian leader to endorse King, and because of him others followed suit. The King family is still grateful to the Greek Orthodox for it. <\/p>\n Now however, the GOA exists to defend the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and because Constantinople is weak and under siege, it must also satisfy those on whom Constantinople is dependent such as the Greek government. This fosters an excessive dependence on Greek Orthodox politicians at home who exercise influence on the State Department and other organs of American government, enough so that the violations of the moral tradition in their civic life is never mentioned. This has the effect of bolstering the secular forces that seek to undermine Christian institutions on the outside, but it also fosters a timidity, or worse, compels intimidation toward anyone who dares challenge those forces, on the inside. <\/p>\n That’s also why you see support of such things as global warming or other secular apocalyptic movements. Support of global warming was an attempt to counter the criticism that the social critique of Greek Orthodox Christianity was lacking. Anyone who understands how secular apocalypticism works in the larger culture however, already knew that the global warming scenario was manufactured. Secular apocalypticism always is. Its purpose is to create urgency for policies that will prevent the predicated collapse. It was just a matter of time before it was exposed as a fraud just as the Paul Erlich’s “Population Bomb” and Rachel Carlson’s “Silent Spring” were in past decades. <\/p>\n