HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

A CALL FOR CHRISTIAN REFLECTION, REMEMBRANCE, RETURN AND REBUILDING ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

As fireworks bloom across the skies and families gather beneath fluttering flags to mark the anniversary of American independence, the Orthodox Christian gaze turns not merely toward temporal celebration, but toward spiritual reflection. For those of us in the Western Orthodox tradition, rooted in the Ancient Church of the West, steeped in the English Christian heritage, and nourished by the faith of our Anglo-Orthodox forebears, this day is not only a civic festival, but a moment for anamnesis, the holy remembrance that leads to repentance and renewal.

America, in her origins, was not a godless experiment. However flawed and entangled with Enlightenment excess and colonial ambition her founding may have been, she was also conceived by men (some devout, others merely sympathetic to Christianity) who presumed the moral and metaphysical truths of the Gospel. The architecture of our liberty was framed upon a belief in the dignity of man made in the image of God, the sovereignty of Providence over nations, and the moral ordering of society beneath a higher Law. It was imperfect, but it gestured upward. Today, that upward gaze has largely been lost.

The Fourth of July thus calls not merely for gratitude, but for penitence...

We in the Orthodox Church, especially those faithful who labor in the vineyard of the West, must recognize this moment as an opportunity not to wave our banners blindly, but to call our nation to remembrance. Remembrance of her sacred trusts. Remembrance of the Gospel once broadly known on these shores. Remembrance of the biblical vision that once shaped her laws, her family life, and her cultural forms. And remembrance, too, of the deep well of the English Christian tradition (Catholic, Apostolic, and Orthodox) out of which many of the virtues America once honored had sprung.

The early English Church, planted by Roman missionaries but watered also by Celtic and Syrian streams, offered to the world a vision of holiness, balance, and Christian society. Her saints - Alban the martyr, Bede the historian, Aidan the missionary, Cuthbert the wonderworker, Edward the Confessor, and so many others - embodied an Orthodoxy not in conflict with the West, but native to it. Her liturgies once sang the praises of God in majestic Latin and later in venerable English. Her theology, before schism and deformation, echoed with the voice of the Fathers. Her polity once united spiritual and civil order under the Cross, not the dollar or the ballot box.

It is to this patrimony that we must return, not as Anglophiles, but as sons and daughters of the Apostolic Faith once delivered to the saints: here, on this continent, in this time of confusion and division.

The liberty we celebrate today was never meant to become license. The independence declared in the Year of Our Lord 1776 was not a rejection of God’s rule, but a protest against tyranny. It was done, however haltingly, in the name of divine rights. But what is freedom apart from the Truth that makes men free? What is a republic if its moral fabric is torn? What is national prosperity if the soul of the people is lost?

We cannot rebuild America merely by legislation or activism. True renewal must begin in the Church: with the restoration of sound doctrine, reverent worship, and holy living. We must catechize our children not into political ideologies but into the creeds of the Church. We must rediscover the fasts and feasts of the Christian calendar, not just the secular holidays of consumption. We must call men to repentance, to purity, to fatherhood, and to spiritual war against the powers of this present darkness.

On this Fourth of July, then, let us give thanks to God for every mercy He has poured upon our land, for the saints whose prayers sustain us still, and for the freedom we have to worship. But let us also mourn the sins of our people: the slaughter of the innocent, the breakdown of the family, the exile of God from public life, and the deep wounds of pride, greed, and unbelief.

Let us pray that America might yet be reclaimed for our Holy Faith. Not for some nostalgic past, but for the Kingdom of God.

Let us labor as faithful witnesses of that Kingdom, not by retreating from our land, but by bearing the light of Orthodoxy into every corner of it.

Let us be Western Orthodox not in name only, but in conviction, recovering the treasures of the English Church. Let us remember the deep theology of Anselm and Eadmer, the beauty of Sarum and York, the courage of the martyrs, and the vision of a society where Church and people are one Body under Christ our Head.

Let us be Americans not by clinging to civic pride, but by taking up the holy burden of intercession, penance, and prophetic hope for this people. Let us put trust in God, in His mercy, can bring life even to a valley of dry bones.

And may we do all this in the spirit of Christ, not as partisans, but as priests of a royal priesthood, praying for our rulers, blessing our enemies, and sanctifying our land by the bloodless sacrifice of the altar.

COLLECT

O Almighty God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hast appointed the bounds of their habitation: We beseech Thee to look mercifully upon these United States; forgive us our many sins, turn the hearts of the people unto Thee, and restore among us the knowledge of Thy law, the love of Thy truth, and the fear of Thy holy Name. Grant unto our rulers wisdom, justice, and humility, and unto Thy Church boldness, holiness, and peace; that the Cross of Thy dear Son may once more be lifted high in this land, and that the whole people may be led into the way of righteousness and life everlasting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.