The Good Shepherd Solution

Kaisar recently wrote a good article about the relevance of Julius Caesar, and we hope he will not mind us borrowing the form of his essay’s title for our own use.

But it is from an essay by Padraig Martin that we will quote from initially. He wrote in his post of July 4^th, 2023:

Generally, the most successful revolutions occur when a large body of combat trained persons feel disenfranchised by the current regime and they enjoy leaders who can set aside their egos to lead in a measured way. Such revolutionary leaders are rare. In fact, they are almost impossible to find. For every one George Washington, there are thousands of Stewart Rhodes.

Self-sacrifice: this is a virtue that is essential for any uprising against an unjust power. Without it, and without the love that animates it – love for God, kinsmen, land, culture, etc. – there would be nothing to generate and sustain the energies necessary to face the hardships of confrontation and war with the enemy power. These virtues are woefully lacking in Southern ‘leadership’ today, even amongst those who are typically more well thought of, like a Gov. DeSantis of Florida. Men like him, U.S. Sen. Cruz of Texas, etc., are not willing ‘to lay down their lives for the sheep’ (St. John’s Gospel 10:11), they are not willing to suffer and die for the well-being of other Southerners.

It is imperative, if we are to have a successful uprising against an evil ruling class in the DC swamp and elsewhere, that these virtues be inculcated in our people, particularly our leaders, the aristoi, by learning about Southern leaders who possessed them, like a Gen. John Bell Hood of Texas, men who literally lost arms and legs fighting off the Yankee invaders but who then valiantly got back onto the saddle to continue the fight rather than retire from the war, though they were well entitled to do that.

Particularly important and nourishing in this regard are the lives of Christian martyrs and confessors, those with the purest love for God and country. One in particular stands out: St. Tsotne Dadiani, from the country of Georgia, a country which was baptized into Christ in the 4^th century.  Here is his story:

Saint Tsotne Dadiani, a virtuous military leader and the prince of Egrisi, lived in the middle of the 13th century.

During that time Georgia languished under the yoke of Mongol oppression.

After the death of Queen Rusudan, the Mongols began to exact exorbitant fees from the Georgian princes, and they established compulsory military service for their Georgian subjects. The situation became unbearable, and the Georgian nobility planned a massive rebellion against the invaders.

Having assembled at the peak of Mt. Kokhta (in the Meskheti region of southern Georgia), rulers from all over Georgia agreed to assemble the troops in Kartli and attack on a single front. Tsotne Dadiani and the ruler of Racha were the first to muster their armies. But there were traitors among them, and the Mongols learned of the conspiracy. They surrounded Mt. Kokhta, arrested the rebels—save for Tsotne Dadiani and the ruler of Racha—and led them away to the Mongol ruler at Anis-Shirakavan.

The prisoners denied every accusation and asserted that the purpose of the gathering on Mt. Kokhta was to collect the tribute that the Mongol authorities had demanded. Infuriated at their insurgency, the Mongols stripped them bare, bound their hands and feet, smeared them with honey, threw them under the scorching sun, and interrogated them daily about the gathering on Mt. Kokhta.

Having heard what had transpired, Tsotne Dadiani became deeply distressed and took upon himself the blame for this tragic turn of events. Escorted by two servants, he journeyed voluntarily to Anis to lay down his life and suffer together with his brothers. Arriving in Anis and seeing his kinsmen doomed to death, the prince promptly undressed, tied himself up, and lay down next to them under the scorching sun.

The disbelieving Mongols informed their ruler about the strange man who had willingly lain down beside those who were condemned.

The ruler summoned him and demanded an explanation. “We gathered with a single goal—to collect the tribute and fulfill your command. If it was for this that my countrymen were punished, I also desire to share in their lot!” answered the courageous prince.

Tsotne’s chivalrous deed made a dramatic impression on the Mongols, and every one of the prisoners was set free.

. . .

The virtues of Saint Tsotne Dadiani are known to all throughout Georgia. His heroism and integrity are an example of faith, love and devotion to every generation, and the faithful of every era have honored his holy name.

Great are the deeds inspired by faith in God! Yet it is here that we stumble into a disagreement with the good Mr. Martin. In the same July 4^th essay, he praises Pres. John Tyler for his statement extolling a very strong religious individualism: ‘The former President (and my fellow William & Mary alumni) stated simply: “Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man’s conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God.”’

It is impossible that a people without a shared religion will be victorious in the long run over their enemies.  Religious diversity is a weakness, not a strength. There would be no St. Tsotnes, no St.-Queen Tamars, nor any of the other mighty, sacrificial, saintly leaders of Georgia without their intergenerational unity in the Faith. The reading for the Feast of All Saints of Georgia gives some confirmation to this:

Having examined the history of Georgia and the hagiographical treasures attesting to the faith of the Georgian nation, we become convinced that Heavenly Georgia— the legion of Georgian saints, extolling the Lord in the Heavenly Kingdom with a single voice—is infinitely glorious. It is unknown how many cleansed themselves of their earthly sins in merciless warfare with the enemy of Christ, or how many purified their souls in unheated cells through prayer, fasting, and ascetic labors.

To God alone are known the names of those ascetics, forgotten by history, who by their humble labors tirelessly forged the future of the Georgian Church and people.

St. George of the Holy Mountain wrote: “From the time we recognized the one true God, we have never renounced Him, nor have our people ever yielded to heresy.”

A decree of the Church Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi states: “We will not depart from thee, the Catholic Church which bore us in holiness, nor will we betray thee, our pride—Orthodoxy—to which we have always been faithful, for we have been granted the honor to know thee, the witness of the Truth Itself!” This relationship to Orthodoxy is the cornerstone of the life of every Georgian believer.

The faith of the believer is not an isolated effort, restricted between himself and God alone. At the very least, it involves his forefathers and mothers who have struggled and suffered and died to preserve that Faith unchanged, and who have handed it to us in our generation. And if we are concerned about the communal life of our country, then it will also involve our neighbors, too, and our children, grandchildren, etc.

Let us here in Dixie keep in step with the holy saints of the past, particularly the Holy Fathers of the Ecumenical (Universal) Councils, and uphold the unbroken Christian tradition they have preserved and transmitted, so that we will not be lacking in the fire of Faith necessary to fight for our God and country, and to lay down our lives for them if needed:

In decisive moments of Church history, the holy Ecumenical Councils promulgated their dogmatic definitions, as trustworthy delimitations in the spiritual battle for the purity of Orthodoxy, which will last until such time, as “all shall come into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph. 4: 13). In the struggle with new heresies, the Church does not abandon its former dogmatic concepts nor replace them with some sort of new formulations. The dogmatic formulae of the Holy Ecumenical Councils need never be superseded, they remain always contemporary to the living Tradition of the Church. Therefore the Church proclaims:

“The faith of all in the Church of God hath been glorified by men, which were luminaries in the world, cleaving to the Word of Life, so that it be observed firmly, and that it dwell unshakably until the end of the ages, conjointly with their God-bestown writings and dogmas. We reject and we anathematize all whom they have rejected and anathematized, as being enemies of Truth. And if anyone does not cleave to nor admit the aforementioned pious dogmas, and does not teach or preach accordingly, let him be anathema” (Canon I of the Council of Trullo).

-By Walt Garlington