Donald Trump is now back in the White House after the usual inaugural ceremonies, complete with the nauseating ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ which, for those who do not know, was written by a Yankee (Julia Ward Howe) and contains graphic imagery of Yankee soldiers crushing the blood out of the veins of Dixians in the War, part of the ‘just retribution’ of the former upon the latter for daring to leave the ‘unbreakable union.’ That is beside the blasphemy at the end which equates the death of Yankee soldiers who march through the world bringing ‘freedom’ to the captive nations to the death of Christ.
The boisterous, joyful singing of such a puke-smelling abomination at Trump’s swearing-in provides abundant evidence that the South is very much a captive people within the Yankee American Empire, much like the countries of Europe and Asia that were forced into the Soviet Union. Our people and our culture are denigrated for the sake of a ‘greater good,’ the prosperity and power and growth of the American Empire.
That is the bad news. There is good news, however. The many ethnoi that were absorbed into the Soviet superstate survived decades of harsh repression, of atheist brainwashing meant to erase their cultural inheritance and make them New Men of the Marxist Revolution. Those who opposed the cultural genocide and the preservation of their patrimony were few, and they suffered greatly for their efforts. But, helped by God, they were successful over the beastly ideology against which they contended.
One notable and praiseworthy example from among them is St Ekvtime of the Christian country of Georgia, which is named precisely for a Christian saint, St George the Great-Martyr (+3rd century), whose Feast Day is celebrated 23 April. St Ekvtime was born in 1865 (an interesting ‘coincidence’ that this is the year Dixie began her long captivity) and early in life he dedicated himself to preserving and bolstering the ancient songform of Georgian chant.
He would later become a monk and a priest, but then the dark times of communism descended upon Georgia. Nevertheless, he remained undaunted in his dedication to preserving Georgia’s Christian heritage, especially her old songs, despite the manifest dangers he faced:
In 1917 Fr. Ekvtime was ordained to the priesthood by the same Bishop Giorgi. In the terrible year of 1921, immediately after the Communists seized power in Kutaisi, the authorities deemed Fr. Ekvtime untrustworthy and arrested him. But, according to God’s will, he was released due to the lack of evidence against him. In this ungodly era, the clergy and monks of Gelati Monastery came to expect abuses and persecutions each day. But the faithful hieromonk Ekvtime persevered in his work, gathering hundreds of ancient Georgian hymns for eventual publication according to Western notation.
In 1924 the Communists destroyed the Cathedral of King Davit the Restorer in Kutaisi. Later that year they shot and killed Metropolitan Nazar of Kutaisi-Gaenati and the clergy who served under him. The hysteria had reached its peak. Fr. Ekvtime planned to leave Gelati Monastery and to move the ancient manuscripts with which he had been working to a more secure location. At that time thousands of travelers were killed on the road between Kutaisi and Tbilisi, but Fr. Ekvtime safely transported himself and his cartload of manuscripts from Kutaisi to Mtskheta, a short distance from Tbilisi.
He was untiring in his labors, bequeathing literally thousands of songs to his people:
In 1929 Fr. Ekvtime was relocated to Zedazeni Monastery outside of Mtskheta. He brought the ancient music manuscripts with him to his new home, concealed them in metal vessels, and buried them beneath the earth. Six years later, in November of 1935, he turned over thirty-four volumes of music containing 5,532 chants and several theological manuscripts to the State Museum of Georgia.
And yet, for all of that, St Ekvtime ended his life in difficult circumstances:
After the repose of the elder Saba (Pulariani), Fr. Ekvtime was the only monk remaining at Zedazeni. Fr. Ekvtime’s spiritual children, the nuns of Samtavro Convent, cared for him as he grew older. In the winter of 1944 the nun Zoile (Dvalishvili) and several others went to visit him at Zedazeni and found him lying enfeebled in bed.
After a short time, Fr. Ekvtime peacefully gave up his soul to the Lord. Fr. Ekvtime was buried in the yard of Zedazeni Monastery, near the church sanctuary.
Honorable recognition of his immensely beneficial labors came only after his death and the fall of the godless communist regime:
The ancient school of Georgian chant is preserved up to this day primarily as a result of Abbot Ekvtime’s fearless labors. Saint Ekvtime (Kereselidze), like Saint Ekvtime of Mt. Athos for whom he was named, dedicated his life to the enrichment of his mother Church. Like Saint Ekvtime Taqaishvili, the “Man of God”, he gave his talents and energies to the preservation of Georgia’s unique spiritual heritage. He was a monk-ascetic and a scholar who prayed fervently. (Several of his theological treatises are preserved at Samtavro.) From his youth Saint Ekvtime was for others an example of virginity, humility and patience.
On September 18, 2003, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church declared Ekvtime (Kereselidze) worthy of being numbered among the saints. The Synod called him “Ekvtime the Confessor,” thereby recognizing his confession of the Faith and his vital role in the preservation of the rich tradition of national liturgical song.
Dixie under the Yankees, like Georgia under the Soviets, is currently being crushed by anti-Christian ideologies: humanistic progress, Mammon, and the like. But, as St Ekvtime and his fellow-workers like St Ilia and others show, it is possible to successfully resist – to successfully preserve one’s culture – until the evil regime burns itself out, until its lies become so contradictory that the Empire collapses.
As much as we can, then, imploring the aid of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, and the saints of our forefathers like St Alfred the Great, St Honoratus, and all the rest of that glorious host, as well as saints like St Ekvtime who have fought and won similar fights, let the Southern remnant do everything we can to gather up and protect our Christian history and culture (songs and all the rest of it) until the American Empire collapses under the weight of its inglorious lies, sins, and vices.
Yes, the American Empire appears to be resurgent in the world, but we live by faith, not by sight. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Walt Garlington is an engineer turned writer living in Dixieland. His writings have appeared in a variety of places, and he maintains a site of his own, Confiteri: A Southern Perspective. The photo depicts the ancient St Martin’s Cross on the holy island of Iona, one of the cradles of Christianity in the West (courtesy of this site).
I was mingling with friends and relatives in the stands at a local H.S. football playoff game the Friday following “Veteran’s Day,” 2024. A game my status as a veteran got me into free, so there was that. Anyway, at halftime the band (which isn’t that great to start with) were playing “patriotic” songs that were literally putting the fans to sleep. Several persons in my group (abt 20 people) vocally complained of this, whereupon I said to the group, “if it is the director’s purpose to get attention and a spirited response from the crowd, he needs to have his kids play “Battle Hymn.” They’re all too brain-dead to know the lyrics and what they alluded to, but it has a rhythm and a beat that would wake up the dead if that were possible.”
My wife and I were watching reportage from outside a Washington D.C. jail following Trump’s pardon of the J6 protestors several nights ago. There were dozens of J6er supporters in the crowd who kept breaking into chants exclaiming, “USA, USA, USA!, and singing the national anthem. I finally tired enough of this that I started yelling the words to “I wish I was in Dixie,” and “Well I’m a good ol’ rebel” at the TV whenever they would break into chant and song. The ignorance and downright stupidity of such people literally boggles the mind sometimes!
I’m old enough (and so are you) to remember when, in or about 1992, Georgians were trying to gain their independence from the USSR. An American reporter asked President Clinton what his position was on the matter, to which Clinton replied that as far as he and the United States were concerned, the matter had been settled forever on the American continent in 1865. I didn’t like that goofy sumb*tch before he said that, but I hated him afterward.
Excellent work, Mr. Garlington, Sir! Keep it up.
“Untiring in his labors” will be the recipe for all of us as the madness and deception escalates.
Wow ,
Thanks!
Identity Dixie,
Writers!
Sincerely!
Codreanu’s someone I think to whom you could really relate. I’m not Eastern Orthodox, but I greatly admire him!
“We perhaps find ourselves in a more favorable condition than nationalist movements in other countries which have to struggle against either a variety of religious confessions, or the universalistic character of a supra-national Church. The Orthodox Church is instead a national one. Hence the possibility for politics and religion to intertwine and to develop heroism, not merely in the name of worldly glory and one’s patriotic duty, but also in the name of divine mysticism. p. 82. In Germany the situation is made even more difficult by the religious schism that has led to a multiplicity of religious confessions and by racialist-heathen tendencies that oppose Christianity without being founded however on any genuine principles or authentic spiritual tradition. p. 69. I see the true destiny of our people as lying, not in time, but in eternity. Political achievements, culture, struggles, and national greatness are means, not ends in themselves. The ultimate goal is not life, but resurrection.” p. 82.
Corneliu Codreanu, ‘The Prison Notes’