"The nature, not merely of human affairs but of all things, is in part intermediate, and consequently a wise man, an informed man, will never absolutely commit himself. One loses face when one has committed oneself to a specific, definite future course of events.... A person in the Orient who puts himself in such a position is covered with shame, because he has disregarded what the East teaches man to believe is one of the most elementary facts about human experience and of the nature of things generally: namely, their indefiniteness and their contingency.
This belief also makes the traditional Orient suspicious of moral codes that lay down determinate, specific lines of conduct which must hold valid under all circumstances. Determinate things in the world are transitory. Hence, any rules based upon them can never be expected to hold good in all circumstances; and consequently the dying of man or sacrifice of human beings for determinate, concrete, moral precepts shows a lack of religious as well as of philosophical and scientific wisdom"
P:10 Quoting from F.S.C. Northrop
"A society which contains millions of millions of mechanical slaves and a mere two thousand million humans - even if it happens to be the humans who govern it - will reveal the characteristics of its proletarian majority. In the Roman Empire the slaves spoke, worshiped, and loved according to the customs they had brought with them from Greece, Thrace, or other occupied countries. "The mechanical slaves of our own civilization retain their characteristics and live according to the laws governing their nature... in order to make use of their mechanical slaves men are obliged to get to know them and to imitate their habits and laws. Every employer has to learn something of the language and habits of his employers to be able to give orders.... we are dehuminzing ourselves by adopting the way of life of our [mechanical] slaves... the first symptom of this dehumanization is contempt for the human being. Modern man assesses by technical standards his own value and that of his fellow men; they are replaceable component parts. Contemporary society, which number one man to every two or three dozen mechanical slaves, must be organized in such a way as to function according to technological laws. Society is now created for technological, rather than for human requirements. And that's where the tragedy begins."
"Men are suddenly being forced to live and behave according to technological laws that are foreign to them. Those who do not respect the laws of the machine - now promoted to social laws - are punished. Man, living in a minority gradually develops into a proletarian minority. He is excluded for the society to which he belongs but in which he can no longer be integrated. As a result, he grows an inferiority complex, a desire to imitate the machine and to rid himself of those specifically human characters which hold him at a distance from the center of social activity."
P:44-45
That evening the peasants gathered together in the priest's yard. They had come to ask for his advice. The Russians were already in the neighboring town. The townspeople were fleeing into the villages. Rumors of appalling atrocities were circulating: of women raped and hanged, of men shot dead in the streets.
Father Koruga came out on the veranda. The peasants all seemed troubled and uneasy.
"Strangers have become rulers of the land," he began. "They are even worse than their predecessors, because they are foreigners. But true Christians know that all dominions on this earth are hard to bear. The only real kingdom is the kingdom in heaven."
"Should we take to the forests and continue the struggle against the invader?" asked a young peasant. "What do you advise us to do?"
"The Church can never exhort men to fight for the conquest of worldly power."
"Does the Church, then, advise us to stretch out our hands in readiness for our chains?" demanded the peasant. "Does the Church expect us just to fold our arms, and stand and watch while our women are being raped and our homes burned down? Surely the Church cannot ask that of us? And if it does, then we are no longer with the Church."
The young peasants agree with him. The priest remained calm.
"Jesus Christ taught that men should submit to temporal authority. You will answer that the new rules of Romania are cruel and foreign. I know that. But the strangers who governed the land where the Son of God was born were cruel pagans, too. Remember the thousands of children slaughtered in Judea on King Herod's command after the birth of Jesus Christ. That dominion was indeed cruel, no less, perhaps, than the Communist regime. But Jesus did not rebel against it, nor did he incite others to rebellion. He said: 'Render unto Caeser the things that are Caeser's and strive to attain the kingdom of God.'"
"And you, Father, will you say prayers in church for Stalin?" asked the young peasant. "If you do, it means that you are praying for Antichrist. And we will never set foot inside your church again."
"If the rulers of the country commanded me to pray for Stalin, as I have been doing for the King, I will comply. Stalin is an atheist, I know. But atheists are human beings, for all that. Their souls are heavy with sin because they have strayed from the paths of the Christ. It is the duty of a priest to pray for the salvation of men's souls and above all for the souls of great sinners."
"You can pray for Stalin if you like, but you'll never see us in church again," said the peasant, whose name was Vasile Apostol. He went on in a hostile tone: "And if we go into the forests to fight for freedom and humanity, against the Bolsheviks, will we, too be prayed for on Sunday?"
"The priest shall pray for those who fight in the forests and in the mountains, not only on Sundays, but morning and evening, every day of the week, because the lives of those who fight are always in danger and therefore they stand in need of the prayers of the priest and of the mercy of the Holy Mother of God." A hush fell on the crowd.
"If you ever pray for us in church, you will be shot," said Vasile Apostol.
"That is not a reason why I should stop praying for you. Christians have no fear of death."
"We are going into the forests, " said Vasile. "Before we leave we should like you to bless us and celebrate Holy Communion for us. We don't know whether we'll ever come back. WE are going to fight for Christ and the Church."
"If you fight for Christ and the Church with the sword you will be committing a great sin," said the priest. "You would do better to stay at home. The Christian Church and faith are not upheld by the might of war."
"We are going to fight for Romania, which is a Christian country, " said Vasile. He began to divide the peasants into groups. Most of them, the best men in the village, had decided to take to the forest. There were also some women and boys among them. They knelt down on the grass in Father Koruga's yard. He read out a prayer from the veranda and then came down and blessed them one by one.
"Please give me your blessing, too," said George Damian, kneeling before the priest. "I am going with them to fight for humanity and freedom."
"The Church bestows its blessing upon all who ask for it," said the priest. "So long as your deeds spring from true love, you need have no fear of sin. You are on the right road."
George Damian kissed Father Koruga's hand, as the peasants had done, and then joined the groups which were heading for the forest.
In side the house the priest's wife was weeping. P208
This belief also makes the traditional Orient suspicious of moral codes that lay down determinate, specific lines of conduct which must hold valid under all circumstances. Determinate things in the world are transitory. Hence, any rules based upon them can never be expected to hold good in all circumstances; and consequently the dying of man or sacrifice of human beings for determinate, concrete, moral precepts shows a lack of religious as well as of philosophical and scientific wisdom"
P:10 Quoting from F.S.C. Northrop
"A society which contains millions of millions of mechanical slaves and a mere two thousand million humans - even if it happens to be the humans who govern it - will reveal the characteristics of its proletarian majority. In the Roman Empire the slaves spoke, worshiped, and loved according to the customs they had brought with them from Greece, Thrace, or other occupied countries. "The mechanical slaves of our own civilization retain their characteristics and live according to the laws governing their nature... in order to make use of their mechanical slaves men are obliged to get to know them and to imitate their habits and laws. Every employer has to learn something of the language and habits of his employers to be able to give orders.... we are dehuminzing ourselves by adopting the way of life of our [mechanical] slaves... the first symptom of this dehumanization is contempt for the human being. Modern man assesses by technical standards his own value and that of his fellow men; they are replaceable component parts. Contemporary society, which number one man to every two or three dozen mechanical slaves, must be organized in such a way as to function according to technological laws. Society is now created for technological, rather than for human requirements. And that's where the tragedy begins."
"Men are suddenly being forced to live and behave according to technological laws that are foreign to them. Those who do not respect the laws of the machine - now promoted to social laws - are punished. Man, living in a minority gradually develops into a proletarian minority. He is excluded for the society to which he belongs but in which he can no longer be integrated. As a result, he grows an inferiority complex, a desire to imitate the machine and to rid himself of those specifically human characters which hold him at a distance from the center of social activity."
P:44-45
That evening the peasants gathered together in the priest's yard. They had come to ask for his advice. The Russians were already in the neighboring town. The townspeople were fleeing into the villages. Rumors of appalling atrocities were circulating: of women raped and hanged, of men shot dead in the streets.
Father Koruga came out on the veranda. The peasants all seemed troubled and uneasy.
"Strangers have become rulers of the land," he began. "They are even worse than their predecessors, because they are foreigners. But true Christians know that all dominions on this earth are hard to bear. The only real kingdom is the kingdom in heaven."
"Should we take to the forests and continue the struggle against the invader?" asked a young peasant. "What do you advise us to do?"
"The Church can never exhort men to fight for the conquest of worldly power."
"Does the Church, then, advise us to stretch out our hands in readiness for our chains?" demanded the peasant. "Does the Church expect us just to fold our arms, and stand and watch while our women are being raped and our homes burned down? Surely the Church cannot ask that of us? And if it does, then we are no longer with the Church."
The young peasants agree with him. The priest remained calm.
"Jesus Christ taught that men should submit to temporal authority. You will answer that the new rules of Romania are cruel and foreign. I know that. But the strangers who governed the land where the Son of God was born were cruel pagans, too. Remember the thousands of children slaughtered in Judea on King Herod's command after the birth of Jesus Christ. That dominion was indeed cruel, no less, perhaps, than the Communist regime. But Jesus did not rebel against it, nor did he incite others to rebellion. He said: 'Render unto Caeser the things that are Caeser's and strive to attain the kingdom of God.'"
"And you, Father, will you say prayers in church for Stalin?" asked the young peasant. "If you do, it means that you are praying for Antichrist. And we will never set foot inside your church again."
"If the rulers of the country commanded me to pray for Stalin, as I have been doing for the King, I will comply. Stalin is an atheist, I know. But atheists are human beings, for all that. Their souls are heavy with sin because they have strayed from the paths of the Christ. It is the duty of a priest to pray for the salvation of men's souls and above all for the souls of great sinners."
"You can pray for Stalin if you like, but you'll never see us in church again," said the peasant, whose name was Vasile Apostol. He went on in a hostile tone: "And if we go into the forests to fight for freedom and humanity, against the Bolsheviks, will we, too be prayed for on Sunday?"
"The priest shall pray for those who fight in the forests and in the mountains, not only on Sundays, but morning and evening, every day of the week, because the lives of those who fight are always in danger and therefore they stand in need of the prayers of the priest and of the mercy of the Holy Mother of God." A hush fell on the crowd.
"If you ever pray for us in church, you will be shot," said Vasile Apostol.
"That is not a reason why I should stop praying for you. Christians have no fear of death."
"We are going into the forests, " said Vasile. "Before we leave we should like you to bless us and celebrate Holy Communion for us. We don't know whether we'll ever come back. WE are going to fight for Christ and the Church."
"If you fight for Christ and the Church with the sword you will be committing a great sin," said the priest. "You would do better to stay at home. The Christian Church and faith are not upheld by the might of war."
"We are going to fight for Romania, which is a Christian country, " said Vasile. He began to divide the peasants into groups. Most of them, the best men in the village, had decided to take to the forest. There were also some women and boys among them. They knelt down on the grass in Father Koruga's yard. He read out a prayer from the veranda and then came down and blessed them one by one.
"Please give me your blessing, too," said George Damian, kneeling before the priest. "I am going with them to fight for humanity and freedom."
"The Church bestows its blessing upon all who ask for it," said the priest. "So long as your deeds spring from true love, you need have no fear of sin. You are on the right road."
George Damian kissed Father Koruga's hand, as the peasants had done, and then joined the groups which were heading for the forest.
In side the house the priest's wife was weeping. P208
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