 U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (4th District, La.) said something in reply to the furor that erupted over his commentary on Little Demon that deserves some commentary of its own:
The implication is that it is just fine to have explicitly evil ‘entertainment’ being broadcast over the public airwaves as long as Christians have the ability to voice their objections to it. But this raises a very serious question: What is the highest aim of our society? Maintaining an amoral freedom with no responsibility to any traditional religious values? Or a society where as many people as possible know the freedom that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Body the Church? If we choose the first, we undermine the Church as well as many of the freedoms that we have enjoyed for centuries. Without the principles of Christianity acting as guardrails in the marketplace of ideas, if Christianity is simply one of many voices in that marketplace, other principles will become dominant, and they won’t be as generous and merciful as what we have known heretofore. Mary Harrington acknowledges that this is already unfolding in the West:
If we choose the second option, aiming for a society of Christians, then that will necessarily entail us putting limits on what can enter and move about freely in the marketplace of ideas. Whatever undermines the Church would have to be excluded or strictly limited; shows like Little Demon would have to be banned. Louisiana, thanks be to God, actually took a good step in the direction of Christian limits of the marketplace by passing and enacting Rep. Laurie Schlegel’s HB 142, which ‘would create a “civil cause of action against commercial entities that publish and distribute material for minors on the internet that don't verify the age of their users first.” In other words, Louisiana parents would be able to sue entities that distribute sexually explicit material for damages if the entity failed to take legitimate steps to verify the age of its users.’ In the debate surrounding this law, the same question of primacy arose: Is the marketplace itself the highest good, or does the marketplace exist to serve some higher principle? The La. State Legislature and Gov. Edwards (surprisingly!) responded correctly in favor of the latter:
The passage of HB 142 is praiseworthy, but the questions raised above remain largely neglected. There can be no doubt, however, that the rich fruits of a Christian culture – the virtues (love, joy, peace, patience; forgiveness, second chances; fearlessness in the face of death; etc.), the arts (hymns, architecture, paintings, literature, and more besides), and the Saints – do not grow from the wild tree, the morally neutral and unregulated market. If we want those blessings, we must cherish and nurture the Church more than the nihilistic free market. There are countries in the world that are doing exactly that, like Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary. We hope the rising generation of leaders here in the States, and in the South especially – which has shown more faithfulness to Christianity than the other cultural regions of the U. S. – Rep. Johnson (La.), Gov. DeSantis (Fl.), Attorney General Landry (La.), Treasurer Moore (W. Vir.), J. D. Vance (Ohio), and others, will pay special attention to leaders like Orban and to Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, whose speech in honor of Orban will make for appropriate closing material for all of us to dwell further upon (via the good folks at Chronicles):
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 Folks in the States got another big hint recently of the totalitarian direction Washington City is headed with the raid on President Trump’s home in Florida. Southerners who remember even a sliver of their history will understand that this is simply the post-Lincoln federal government reverting to type, as a review of the rule of the Yankee General Benjamin Butler in New Orleans in 1862 alone illustrates. But if folks need other examples of what lies at the end of this sort of injustice, we offer one from the much-suffering nation of Georgia from the 20th century under the communists:
This is the kind of benevolence that is waiting for Southerners and others in the States who do not give their allegiance to the Leftist/globalist/Marxist elite who have taken over Washington and many other powerful institutions in the [u.] S. And while it is important to remain engaged in the existing political processes so that we can do what good we can in that arena, politics is ultimately only the outer manifestation of deeper spiritual processes. We are not, therefore, going to defeat our inhuman, transhumanist, Marxist opponents simply with constitutional amendments, with revisions to the law code, and those kinds of things. To overcome a demonic ideology, we must use weapons commensurate with the battle, which is at its root a spiritual battle. Therefore, our main weapon will be the very thing that annihilated the power of the devil and his demons over mankind: the Holy Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its power has been manifested over and over again in history:
St Ephraim the Syrian (+373) urges Christians to always do the following:
And perhaps most to the point is this account from the life of St Oswald, King of Northumbria (+642):
A similar spirit was within the Southern army as they fought against the invading Northern revolutionaries, as recounted by Richard Weaver in The Confederate South, 1865-1910 (later published as The Southern Tradition at Bay):
In other words, holiness matters. Not the prideful arrogance of the Yanks and their near-of-kin, the globalists, that masquerades as holiness, but true holiness – the kind that arises when the Grace of God penetrates even into the muscles and the bones, to use the words of one of St John Chrysostom’s prayers. And we carry it with us when we go about our business in the world, and even into the military battles we fight, and with it we are able to conquer our foes:
This we also see again and again in Church history – the presence of holy men and women, or their prayers, or the presence of some other holy object, turning the tide in battle for the Christians. Archimandrite Kirill added to what he said above about the Holy Cross:
All of this fits quite well into the Southerner’s religious milieu. Quoting Professor Weaver again:
Mundane politics will have its role to play in freeing the South from wokeness, Yankee imperial dreams, and the rest of those harmful ideologies and systems, but by itself it is quite impotent. Only when the Southern people, armed with the Holy Cross of Christ, full of His Grace, carrying the icons of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, singing the Psalms and other hymns – in our homes and in our churches, in our neighborhoods and about our towns – only then will we be able to crush the demons who provide the strength of Dixie’s enemies. And that will enable victories on the other fronts of our battle: cultural, political, etc. To our enemies and other outsiders, we may well look ridiculous, weak, and foolish as we do these things. However, the Holy Apostle Paul reminds us of something we must never forget: ‘ . . . the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men’ (I Corinthians 1:25). Deo vindice! Notes:
1 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org  Christ Church in Weems, VA We have perhaps imbibed a little too heavily of the libertarian likker here at the South of late, believing naively that when a need arises, ‘the market’ will spontaneously act to meet that need. This is not an ironclad law by any means. Especially when it comes to the creation and preservation of a people’s culture, strong leadership that is willing to undergo hardships and sacrifices, rather than acquiesce to the soft seductions of monetary profits and related interests, is often needed. Serbian and Southern history again intertwine to illustrate this for us. We begin with Stefan Lazarevic (+1427; also called Stefan the Tall), the son of the Great Martyr at the Battle of Kosovo Polje, Prince Lazar (+1389). Serbia had been crushed by the Muslim Turks; if decisive action were not taken, Serbia’s Christian identity itself was at risk of being lost. Thankfully for the Serbian people, the very young Stefan did not shrink back but took upon himself the difficult task of putting the shattered pieces of the Serbian ethnos back together again:
A parallel may be seen in the way Dixie had to pull herself together after falling to the Yanks in the War:
But a leader’s work does not end simply because the clash of swords has ceased. The well-being of a people is not secure without the protection and enhancement of their cultural edifice. Just as a man needs a home to dwell in, so a community of men needs a culture to live within. St Stefan’s example is helpful and very multifaceted:
We see the same activity in the older generations of the South. Robert ‘King’ Carter of colonial Virginia, and his father, John, built the famous Christ Church in the 17th century, which still stands. Nineteenth-century Louisiana produced two notable examples of cultural crafting in Francois Valcour Aimé and Charles Gayarré. Among the acts of Mr Aimé are these:
About Mr Gayarré, we find that he contributed the following:
As these and other examples show, a beautiful culture does not arise from ‘spontaneous free market forces’ any more than a beautiful, orderly cosmos arises from the random collision of individual atoms. Focused, determined leaders willing to sacrifice their fortunes and energies, confront grief and pain, and so forth are essential. But the allure of money, comfort, ‘fun’, and other such modernisms (not to mention the lies of Yankees and others about Southern culture) has dissipated the ability of Dixie’s folk to perpetuate the leadership needed to build and maintain such a culture. It is all the more imperative, then, to look back into the past – our own, as well as that of other Christian countries like Serbia – to draw inspiration and practical lessons for the difficult task of re-establishing a vibrant Christian culture in our beloved Southland. A great champion of Georgian national autonomy, Mr Ilia Chavchavadze (+1907; canonized as St Ilia the Righteous in 1987 by the Georgian Orthodox Church) identifies the three fundamental strands of a people’s cultural tapestry and then asks a pertinent question about them:
This is precisely the question we must ask ourselves as Southerners.
 There is a towering figure in the nation of Georgia’s recent history whose life is tremendously meaningful for Dixie. Mr George Sadzaglishvili (1855-1918; after receiving the monastic tonsure, he was given the new name Kirion) was the son of a Georgian priest. After his schooling he was active in educational and Church circles, but his most intense interest early in life seemed to be uncovering and preserving the history and folklore of the Georgian people:
The South has figures like Bishop Kirion who have worked tirelessly to reveal and strengthen Southern culture: Frank Owsley, Mel Bradford, Richard Weaver, Cleanth Brooks, Donald Davidson, and others. This connection makes what Bishop Kirion accomplished for Georgian independence all the more relevant for us here in Dixie. Having along with others demonstrated the uniqueness of the Georgian culture, and her freedom in the past in governing her religious life, Bishop Kirion made a bold declaration to restore Georgia’s ancient prerogatives. But his actions resulted in a bitter defeat:
Like the South, Georgia’s first attempt at restoring her old freedoms was repulsed quite harshly. But that did not stop Bishop Kirion and his allies, nor should it stop the South. And their persistence, with God’s help, would eventually bring about the desired end:
The address of Bishop Kirion at his enthronement as Patriarch has the ring of Southern tenderness to it:
The significance of Georgia regaining her religious independence now becomes manifest: It was the step that made political independence possible –
Religious separation of Southern Christians from their Northern cousins (the formation of the Southern Baptists, Southern Methodists, etc.) likewise preceded the first political Southern secession. And yet, for all the joy in Georgia over her newly regained freedom, dark times loomed just beyond the horizon, brought about by the same sort of communist revolutionaries with whom the Southern people are now squaring off against:
Dixie must likewise be ready to face deadly threats of this kind, if God willing, we also regain a measure of independence. Nevertheless, the story of Patriarch Kirion and Georgia has a happy ending. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgian religious and political independence was recovered once again, and
If the South would achieve what Georgia has, the steps to doing so are given to us in the foregoing: -First is the recovery of Dixie’s cultural patrimony and its reintegration into our lives to the extent possible. Those we mentioned above – Owsley, Weaver, et al. – have done much of the hard work in this field for us. -Second is the establishment of a unified Church in the South, unique in some way (or ways) that sets it apart from congregations in the sister States. For this we will need figures like Rev James Henley Thornwell, Sts Kirion and Ilya, and others of their kind. But they will only appear after we have climbed the first step. -With those two accomplished, the ground will then be quite ready for the third and final step, political independence. The accomplishment of all three would be pleasant indeed, but there is a hierarchy of value at work here. Of the three goals, the first two are far more valuable than the third, and the second the most valuable of all (‘What can a man give in exchange for his soul?’, asks the Lord Jesus). If we can obtain the first two but not the third, let us rejoice in that. But the Lover of mankind also says that if we ask, we shall receive. What the gift will look like in the end, we do not know; only let us not grow weary in asking that we, like Georgia, may attain all three goals from the hand of the Merciful God, Who is well able to grant the boon, as we prepare ourselves for the work that we must undertake in cooperation with Him in this great endeavor. Note: All quotations are taken from this source:
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/06/27/205447-hieromartyr-kirion-ii-catholicos-patriarch-of-all-georgia  For four grim years General Lee And his boys in grey fought heroically Against a ruthless foe in defense Of the Southern land. Many, going thence, Died a grievous death, bodies torn by cannon shell And musket ball, writhing in blood and spittle. Many, also, those who survived such an encounter, At the cost of a limb, an arm hack-sawed at the shoulder. Knowing hunger, knowing thirst, knowing dreadful cold and heat; Hard ground for a bed, marching often with bare feet. For such acts of self-sacrifice, their memory Should be forever praised by their progeny. But across the South, corruption has set in, And hearts are hardened against their patriotic kin. In a perverse ritual of mockery, Hailed as a supreme act of manly bravery, The limpid press of a legislature’s voting machine To erase their names from public honoring! To the faithful sons and daughters of Dixie, to them it falls To remember their names and shining deeds in the halls Of their homes and in the rooms of their hearts, Praying rest for their souls and healing for a culture torn apart.  It is disheartening to see the ongoing destruction of the monuments erected to honor our Southern forebears. There is, however, a bright ray of light shining in Serbian history that should give Dixiefolk hope for our future. The story begins several hundred years ago, with the repose of St Savva, the beloved archbishop and patron saint of Serbia: After his death in Trnovo, Bulgaria on January 14, 1235 Saint Savva was buried in the Cathedral of the Forty Martyrs. On May 6, 1237 his relics were carried in procession from Trnovo to Mileshevo Monastery in Serbia. When the casket was opened, the relics were found to be incorrupt, and produced an ineffable fragrance. In 1253, the Serbian Orthodox Church glorified the holy hierarch Savva as a Saint. Because of the intense love of the people of Serbia for their archpastor, he became a source of inspiration for the Serbs after the Muslim Turks conquered their land: Following the Battle of Kosovo on June 25, 1389, the Serbian nation fell under the Turkish Yoke. During this period the Serbs continued to visit the tomb of Saint Savva, asking him to give them the strength to endure the oppressive persecution they suffered at the hands of the Turks. His icon was placed on their flags, and the faithful turned to the Saint for encouragement, consolation, and healing. Here the parallels with Southern history begin to come into view, as Southerners, during the dark days of Lincoln’s war and in the aftermath, were often consoled, encouraged, and uplifted by the news or the presence or the recounting of the deeds of the patriarchs they loved ardently, like Lee, Forrest, and Jackson. In their efforts to quell the resistance of the Serbs, the Turks made the decision to burn the holy relics of St Savva: Following the Battle of Kosovo on June 25, 1389, the Serbian nation fell under the Turkish Yoke. During this period the Serbs continued to visit the tomb of Saint Savva, asking him to give them the strength to endure the oppressive persecution they suffered at the hands of the Turks. His icon was placed on their flags, and the faithful turned to the Saint for encouragement, consolation, and healing. Likewise, those who hate the South are attempting to undermine what remains of our yearning for independence by destroying the memorials of our heroes. Yet the Turks’ burning of St Savva’s relics did not have the desired effect: Instead of becoming despondent, the Serbs were inspired to even greater love for Christ, for Holy Orthodoxy, and for Saint Savva. Although the Saint's relics had been destroyed, the people continued to venerate him, and to remember the burning of his relics every year. Not only that, but the people of Serbia went further, and built a grand and glorious cathedral in honor of St Savva, a project that was not accomplished without difficulties: After national independence in 1879, there was a proposal to build a memorial church in honor of Saint Savva. In 1895, the three hundredth anniversary of the burning of Saint Savva's relics, plans were made to build a church on the site where his relics were burnt. A temporary chapel was constructed the following year, but it was not possible to build a large cathedral until after World War I. In 1927, Patriarch Barnabas announced a competition for architects to submit designs for the cathedral. In 1935, architects were chosen and construction began. Southerners should take heart from all of this. Yes, things look bleak right now, as the Yankees and scalawags do their best to imitate the Turks, destroying the physical monuments dedicated to our people’s great men. But there is no reason to believe that we, with God’s help, cannot be victorious in the end, rebuilding the memorials of our forebears in a more glorious form just as the Serbs did for St Savva. But we must take note: It was a long process, with several setbacks. We, and our children, and their children, and so on, must be ready to encounter and endure obstacles on the path to the restoration of our Southern ethnos. A famous saying among the Serbs grew out of the cruelty of the Turks’ burning of St Savva’s relics: ‘Sinan Pasha lit the flames, Savva's body burned, but Savva's memory and his glory did not burn.’ May it be said one day of the South, Yankee vandals with their bars and cranes Dixie’s generals and their soldiers broke and crushed, But their memory and their shining honor In their madness they did not scathe nor dent. Notes:
All quotes above come from this essay: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/04/27/100127-the-burning-of-saint-savas-relics For pictures and more details about the splendid St Savva’s Cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia, follow these links: http://www.serbia.com/church-saint-sava-orthodox-heart-belgrade/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Sava  President Joe Biden represents in many ways what Dixie is not. One of his oft-repeated refrains is that the united States should lead the world in some sort of ideological contest between democracy and autocracy, as though there were no other ways of organizing politically than around the ideas of disconnected, autonomous individuals and the absolute rule of a single, all-powerful strongman. The South by herself is proof that there are other legitimate kinds of political structures – in our case, it is a broad participation in political life combined with a deference to an aristocracy of proven virtue (rather than rule by a self-anointed, ‘educated’, Gnostic elite as at the North). But the Biden obsession with democracy/individualism gives birth to even more dangerous ideas than those involved with political forms; it leads to confusion about even the most basic facts of human nature: that there are only two sexes, man and woman. A comment of his on Twitter in 2020 removes all doubts about this: ‘Let’s be clear: Transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time. There is no room for compromise when it comes to basic human rights.’ Alas, this is the way it goes with Yankees (and not just them, but also with their offspring/fellow-travellers – assorted coteries of scalawags, globalists, transhumanists, and the like), wedded to a notion of Progress that extols change for its own sake without any identifiable stopping point or end goal to temper its ‘creative destruction’. This derangement has reached such an absurd level that the Silicon Valley Yankee Mark Zuckerberg is literally inviting everyone to become a demiurge in his digital simulacrum of reality called the metaverse. This contrasts vividly with what Mr Luke Brown, in his prize-winning essay, notes about the South: ‘[Dr Russell Kirk] said the South had “impulses” in a “distaste for alteration”, a “determination to preserve…society”, and “a love of local rights.”’ Great as they are, these impulses have been and remain under relentless assault from the united forces of Big Government, Big Business, and woke religion. They are in serious need of shoring up lest they collapse and disappear completely. Where can we turn for help in this essential work? To a family that will be unfamiliar to some: to the Maccabees, whose lives are recounted in the books that bear their name in the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures. The Maccabees – Matthias, Judas, John, Simon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and John Hyrcanus – were kinsmen who led a small band of Jews against the mighty empires of Egypt and Syria in the 2nd century before the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. The rulers of those two latter empires at various times attempted to either exterminate the Jews or to change their customs. But through the faith, integrity, and boldness of the Maccabees, they failed each and every time. Thus, for Southrons, they are invaluable guides and examples for us as we try to defend our own lives and inheritance from extermination by evil powers. In one of their encounters with Antiochus, it is related that 41. Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42 and that each should give up his customs. 43 All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. 44 And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, 45 to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts, 46 to defile the sanctuary and the priests, 47 to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, 48 and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, 49 so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances. 50 "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die." 51 In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city (I Maccabees 1:41-51). Now, anyone who has even a lick of knowledge about the South after the War will recognize that this destruction of culture is precisely what has been going on in Dixie also via the Yankees et al. But we have had few who will defend it with any vigor. It was the same with the Jewish people in the time of the Maccabees. But God gave them help. When faced with the extermination of their way of life given to them by God through the Patriarchs, the Law, and the Prophets, their God-inspired leaders answered with ringing words that should inspire all faithful Southerners: 17 Then the king's officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: "You are a leader, honored and great in this city, and supported by sons and brothers. 18 Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those that are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts." 19 But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: "Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments, departing each one from the religion of his fathers, 20 yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers. 21 Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances. 22 We will not obey the king's words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left" (1 Maccabees 2:17-22). Very much like the leaders of the New South, Matthias was offered great wealth and honor from the haters of the God-given covenant, but unlike those vile, dishonorable traitors, he did not accept the soul-destroying bribe. He hurled it back at them in a valiant spirit of defiance. Would that Dixie’s leaders would do the same! And when confrontations came as a result of their refusal to acquiesce to their own cultural suicide, the Maccabees were unafraid, placing their hope in God, which was not disappointed: 17 But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, "How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today." 18 Judas replied, "It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few. 19 It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven. 20 They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us; 21 but we fight for our lives and our laws. 22 He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them." 23 When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him (1 Maccabees 3:17-23). While we have no need at present to fight any physical battles, nevertheless, how many of us quail from any other kind of confrontation with enemies of the South due to their perceived might in our eyes? How many of us are even able to resist the allure of modern entertainment rather than immersing ourselves in something from our own rich cultural patrimony? Let us take courage from Judas and the other the Maccabees, who, ‘committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his men to fight nobly to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth’ (2 Maccabees 13:14), accomplished great things for Israel. Dixie, with the rest of the world, has entered the Lenten season, a time when we increase our spiritual endeavors that we may be fully prepared to encounter the Risen Lord on Easter Sunday. This is the perfect time for all Southrons to familiarize ourselves with the heroic life and deeds of the Maccabees, and to put their faith and courage into practice in our own lives as we seek to hold onto the inheritance handed down to us by our forebears. All the while let us pray to God that we may be granted leaders like those we once knew – Hill, Stuart, and the rest – leaders like Simon and Jonathan Maccabeus and their kinfolk, who will help us attain those salutary and essential elements of a praiseworthy society – unity in beliefs and purpose and trust in and worship of the All-Holy Trinity – so that one day, if it pleases God, we will see our enemies driven out from fair ol’ Dixie.  Glory to God Who helps us in many and varied ways! A writer from Armenia has described the problems of his native land and how she can begin to solve them. Without knowing it, however, he is speaking to us here at the South as well. Here is the relevant portion of his essay:
The South, like Armenia, was once a land renowned for her leadership in various fields in the united States, but after a devastating war and various reconstructions and reeducations, she has grown weak and timid and looks for help and deliverance from outside herself – to a President, to the federal Supreme Court, to the ‘star power’ of a celebrity, and so on. But as Mr Ayvazyan says in his essay, that is not the proper place to look. Southrons, like the Armenians, must look within for answers to our problems. This will be more difficult for us than in the past. Before, we had a class of Christian country gentlemen and ladies who could give us good leadership. Today, what is left of them is too busy jostling for a seat at the Great Barbeque put on by the powerful in Washington City, Los Angeles, and other political and cultural centers dominated by globalists/Yankees. More than ever, the plain folk of the South must band together, cultivate new leaders from amongst themselves, and ‘work hard for the homeland’. But isn’t this just what Jefferson and his disciples told us to do? Dr Clyde Wilson writes,
The federal government exists; we do not care much for it, but let us try to use it to our benefit even while we work to either drastically change it or separate from it altogether. But, per Jefferson and the Armenian example, our main work must be closer to home, at the State and local level: organizing, building, reaching out, connecting, so that we can be free from the parasites who use us to fight their wars, play in their football circuses, and perform atrocious country music songs for them. The example of Russia in the 1300s offers us a great deal of hope that we can accomplish this:
The country of Georgia in the 11th and 12th centuries under the leadership of the holy King David IV likewise overcame incredible odds to gain her freedom from the Turks.
Inspired by them and by the example of our Southern forebears; with prayers to the Saints of our people; with hope in God; Dixie will also reclaim her independence.  Southern history is full of semi-legendary figures – from explorers and settlers like John Smith and Daniel Boone to unconquerable warriors like Francis Marion and Bedford Forrest to centaur-cavalrymen like J.E.B. Stuart. But what are we doing with these riches? Unfortunately, not a lot. Johnny Cash shows what is possible. His ballad ‘The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer’ about the half-mythical folk hero John Henry is one of his finest works. The graphic novel recounting the deeds of General Patrick Cleburne is also praiseworthy. And there are some excellent poems scattered here and yonder. But more needs to be done. Dixie’s young folks especially are ‘gobbling poison’, in C. S. Lewis’s words, for lack of true sustenance, turning in increasing numbers to alternative sexual identities to try to give meaning to their lives. They need the Gospel first of all, of course, but mankind has been constituted in such a way that he also needs roots, stability in a place and in a tradition, in order to be a whole, healthy person, body and soul. We need to find new ways to pass on the Southern inheritance to our children and to Southrons of all other ages. This inheritance is being suppressed, but Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent years in the Soviet gulag and witnessed the unbelievable destruction of Russia’s thousand-year-old Christian culture, gives us reason for hope. While Russia was living in the midst of that nightmare, he was able to say, ‘When “the overly straight shoots of Truth and Goodness have been crushed, cut down, or not permitted to grow,” then perhaps the “whimsical, unpredictable, and ever surprising shoots of Beauty will force their way through and soar up to that very spot, thereby fulfilling the task of all three”’ (The Solzhenitsyn Reader, Wilmington, Del., ISI Books, 2006, p. xxxvi). And that is what has happened in Russia, where Communism has been overthrown and a return to tradition is well underway. Through new works of beauty, the South can also preserve and renew her heritage. It is to Mr Solzhenitsyn’s fellow Russian Christians that Southerners can turn for a remarkable example of how this has been accomplished in another country, of how the influence of folk legends can remain strong over an extraordinarily long period of time. Several hundred years ago, Ilya (Elijah) Muromets lived and died. He is recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Church, and the legends about his life form a wonderful tapestry that extend into many fields of the arts. An encyclopedist has written, For nearly a millennium, tales of Ilya Muromets have been passed on from generation to generation. In traditional fables he is a wise elder, whereas in the most recent cartoon – Vladimir Toropchin's “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” – he is a dynamic and rather muscular young man, determined to gain the favours of a voluptuous blonde (a princess, of course). Films, cartoons and even video games have been dedicated to his eventful legendary life. All of these unlikely representations are united by one determining feature: physical and spiritual integrity, dedicated to the protection of the Homeland and People. We do not have to confine depictions of our Southern heroes to traditional mediums. Films, cartoons, video games, internet videos – any canvas should be welcomed, as it is with St Ilya in Russia. The encyclopedist goes on to say, What follows, according to the tales, is an avalanche of great exploits and victories. Ilya Muromets single-handedly defends the city of Chernigov from invasion by the Tatars and is offered a knighthood by the local ruler, but Ilya declines to stay. In the forests of Bryansk he then kills the forest-dwelling monster Solovey-Razboynik, who murders travellers with his powerful whistle. Ilya Muromets becomes the greatest defender of Rus against all of its enemies, both real and fictional ones. Similar things could be said of Lee or Jackson in their battles with the Yankee enemy who was better armed and more numerous than they were. Yet no one has bothered to write even the first symphony in their honor, expressing their great deeds in music, though Ilya of Murom has one. The Christian fantasy writer and deacon Nicholas Kotar shows how Ilya’s legends have spread beyond the borders of Russia into other lands (Germany, Scandinavia). Have not a fair number of Southerners also become well-known in places outside the South (Poe, Faulkner, O’Connor, Welty)? Surely our myth-makers could craft something from that – misty legends of story-tellers who travel o’er the seas to captivate entire places with the power of their words. The traditional Southern mind, being soaked in Greek and Roman classics, could likewise make use of the myths from those lands, combining them with our legendary figures. Forrest storming Hades to save Tennessee from an invasion of furious shades instigated by the hateful, bloodthirsty Hera? General Lee visited by the Graces in the mountain forests of Virginia, receiving a promise of their watchcare over him during the War? Some mythical figures could stand on their own as well. In Southern literature, Aeneas is an archetype for the South as a whole, a man who transplanted his culture from Troy to Rome, just as the South did from England to Virginia. The possibilities in this vein are tantalizing, especially considering how a Greek mythology-based video game, Hades, has just been awarded the first Hugo Award, heretofore primarily given for sci-fi and fantasy literature, for a video game. The Southern mind could no doubt do some interesting work in this field if it so desired and if the Lord so willed. But we do not mention mythology lightly. It is important to utilize the elements of it in our re-presentation of Southern heroes. Dr Boyd Cathey, writing about Hollywood’s better Western films, makes a key point: Perhaps it is the need to rediscover an American past that, after all, may be partly mythic, but mythic in the very best and most honorable sense of that word. Indeed, did not John Ford in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” have his newspaper editor tell Jimmy Stewart: “This is the West, Sir; when legend becomes fact, print the legend”? Myth speaks to people in a special way. C. S. Lewis makes the point over and over again that it conveys truth in a manner that bare facts cannot: The idea of myth was an important one for C.S. Lewis, especially with regard to his conversions to theism and Christianity, and his later apologies for the Christian faith. Lewis came to define myth in perhaps a non-traditional manner, writing that “Myth in general is not merely misunderstood history… nor diabolical illusion… not priestly lying… but at its best, a real unfocused gleam of divine truth on human imagination” (Miracles, 138). Thus, one must understand that what Lewis refers to as myth is not some cleverly narrated story but truth wrapped in narrative which can, when properly understood, convey great truths to its readers. The South will need to make wise use, then, of myth and myriad other materials to keep her heroes alive and relevant for each new generation. Ilya of Murom is a perfect illustration of how this can be done. The South will probably always be most comfortable with words, written, spoken, or sung, but we should not let that be a hindrance to the creative spirit within her in re-telling the stories of our noble men and women. Great dedication and sacrifice will be needed (forming film or video game studios, guilds for painters, etc.), but when we consider that the alternative is the bleak, sterile world of globalization, or the idolatry of Yankee Americanism/consumerism, then we should happily take upon us the arduous labor for the sake our forebears, the patrimony they have bequeathed to us, and the generations who will follow us here in Dixie. |