I remember when my ex-wife, and I first moved to Florida and we decided to go to Saint Augustine, which is like the oldest settlement in North America and we went to the old town of Saint Augustine and there was a Orthodox Church and we went in there and we were just moved by the devotion of the orthodox people to their Lord to our Lord, we were not orthodox both of us. The time were very far removed from Orthodox, but I think when we went there, the seed was planted it took a while for it to germinate and now a few years later I’m thoroughly wishing that I could have the transportation to go to an Orthodox church and finalize what I feel. God is calling me to be an Orthodox Christian God bless you, father Josiah I wish I was either in California or you were here in central Florida, but may God make your ministry grow in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit
I'd like to second Father Josiah's message. In 2016, after decades of watching my country fall into increasingly evil ways, I retired and left Southern California, first to live in France, then finally in North Africa. Not a day passes when I don't yearn to go home, perhaps especially since my ancestors were significant names in the founding of the the United States. Now, at 73, a homecoming is impossible due to the high cost of living in the States which my paltry Social Security is not equal to. By Father Josiah's logic, I should love the country where I now live and I do try, though the religion is rather different and the culture, ditto! To all good and true Americans, please love your country and do what you can to save it.
Father bless! I have listened to every homily and nearly every audio course produced by Patristic Nectar in the last 11 years. I consider you - more than any other by sheer volume - my personal Pedagogue. I live in the United States and I have listened to this reflection as well as your entire series on Patriotism. And in all of those years, the ONLY teaching I take issue with is this subject. That's a pretty good track record, don't you think? And, frankly, I'm still open to being taught and open to changing my mind on this as well. I'm open to believing that I am wrong. But, as yet, it has not happened. I do not hate the United States or the west in general, no matter how decadent it has become. But I have simply tried to come up with ways that I can submit to your teachings and be Patriotic, while still having reservations. Here is what I have come up with... Where I can be Patriotic: • Being thankful to God for his Providence in placing me here and now. • Living an Orthodox life and raising up godly seed to bring godliness to this land. • Praying for the peace of my nation, the salvation of her people and the godliness of her rulers. • Praying for the members of our military - for their safety and salvation. • Obedience to and support of all moral laws. • Paying required taxes. • Participating in moral civil activities. (Fireworks, block parties, cleanup days, etc.) • Voting for godly persons in elections or even participating in government (if desired). • Identifying as American and not a "global citizen". • Supporting our nation's safety and prosperity with border control and legal, orderly immigration. • Studying the history of my state and country. If this is what it means to be Patriotic, then I am! Where I cannot be Patriotic: • Saluting the flag (venerating an icon of the State). • Pledging my allegiance to the State (at least in its current moral position). • Serving in or honoring the military. (Aside from the problematic issues of women, gays, and transgenders at all levels of authority, our military has very little to do with our national safety or freedoms and more to do with overthrow, bullying and meddling in the affairs of foreign sovereign nations. In what ways it protects us from foreign invasion, of course I support it. But the 2nd Amendment and civilian gun ownership has brought about more peace in our nation and more protection of our freedoms than has our military. No one would dare attack us on our land. Bring the men home to actually protect our land and our borders and I'll happily serve and encourage others to do so.) • Obedience to immoral laws. (Laws should adhere to God's Law in all matters. I'm willing to engage in civil disobedience for these.) • Believing that America has "Manifest Destiny", is more *blessed by God*, or is *the greatest nation on earth*. (It is outrageous arrogance that we think we have to export this decadence around the world.) • Believing that our founding was somehow righteous, necessary or brought about by godly men. • Believing that our founding documents are somehow godly or Christian. • Believing that democracy is *the best* form of government. (Monarchy is how God established it for early Israel, and is also the government of the Kingdom of Heaven.) • Believing that "capitalism" is godly or righteous. (Neither is socialism or communism.) If this is what it means to be Patriotic, then I most-certainly am not!
Loving your nation (and by extension your genetic population, as they are your extended family) is very important and something people don't do anymore today. This is expressly the reason western countries have become such cesspits, because instead of being living, breathing organisms (like the church, which is what we should be imitating), they have become economic zones filled with individuals. If our families are a gift from God, then our people who are our extended families are a divine inheritance as well and we need to pray for them and turn them to Christ. Sadly this economic zone idea has given way to immigration and the idea that our people are replaceable and interchangeable with anyone, causing conflict and disregarding the created diversity of humanity, leading to what's happening in France right now. May the Lord free us from these conflicts and restore our nations.
@@jessebellino9780 In a way it is, that's why God created it, just not when we're all mushed together under one roof. That's why we have separate nations with borders and our own laws that fit our specific group of people. It's no surprise the push for the "melting pot" and interracialism comes from the same groups that push globalism and ecumenism.
I agree fully. Identity is a part of human dignity. The west is losing its uniqueness and becoming that homeland of "generic white people". Im not against foreigners at all, as long as they respect local specifics and moral rules. Immigration should be regulated to the countries needs and interest. It should never be an ideology. Both suffer the natives and the immigrants because of human greed...
Good point Father. One reason why I never joined Orthodox when I was lost was that I was American, not Greek, Russian, or any other country the Orthodox church represented.
Most of times i felt depressed when the plane was landing in my country, Portugal. Now, a few years later i know i was born where God wanted for a reason. Its a place full of natural beauties and we still have a good christian population, despite less and less. I see the good and the bad. But i love my country. Its better to pray for our countries rather than complain. Its a lesson i learned. Its not good? Pray more. ❤
As an American convert I wholeheartedly agree as to changing the naming convention of Orthodox churches, when I began attending my Greek Orthodox Church the number one question, I was always asked was some variation of "why? You're not Greek." To Americans who aren't Greek, Russian, Serbian, etc, the message that's given to them, isn't that this is an Orthodox church but rather this is a church for a specific group of people.
My grandfather died on the boat trying to bring his family of 7 children here before the country was even born. Learning about that has definitely helped me to repent of my disdain for the US.
I’m glad you clarified a lot of my own unasked questions I always thought people did horrible things out of love for their country and I kind of looked at patriotism as something evil 😬
As an American, I love my country; however, I do not love our corrupt mockery of a government. I love our constitution and our founding principals which have nothing to do with the evils perpetrated by recent regimes.
Father, I have been considering military service for a long time and am at crossroads in what to do. I have been praying but it would be very helpful to see a video on this subject. Father bless!
If it is a NATO military, please do not. You will be stained with the blood of many innocents, and will answer for it at the dread Day of Judgment. NATO is now engaged in much aggression and expansionism, on behalf of the US Congressional Hedge Fund set. Joining the US military is for no other reason than enabling the destruction of innocent people in far away lands. There is ZERO military threat to your homes and businesses that warrants a standing military of this size and scope. National Guard, maybe. But refuse overseas postings, please. The lives you save will be many, and your own as well!
It is worth it if you wish to help the people beside you in any crisis. It is not worth it if you are looking for a righteous objective or a career to really lean in to.
Absent the US actually being invaded, boycott the US military. It is now a Satanic and deoraved gangster organisation, obsessed with beating the world into submission for the American Imperial Nobility.
Wage warfare against the legions of Satan. If you want to fight for your country, then support your priest, or better yet go to seminary and become one... (if you're a male). Be God's hand to save the souls of Americans. Much better than giving your God-given body for whatever demonic puppet show they want to put you in front of. I promise you'll have all the battles you can handle, many masculine bonds, and a life of God's favor and righteousness.
Virtue and patriotism inclining, us, to love our country. This love is expressed by willingness to defend our country and its a just war, its obeying civil, authority and, by a readiness to discharge all (other duties) implied in good citizens
I’m a Catholic who is seriously considering Orthodoxy. With the way things are headed in the Roman church, the Orthodox has a very strong advantage to evangelize. As someone who comes from a church that is very hierarchical and organized, the fact that orthodoxy seems to be so divided between ethnic patriarchs in the US is very off-putting. If the Orthodox in America would unite, so many more souls would be received into the Orthodox Church. God bless and please pray for me.☦️
People don’t like this mesaage sometimes. They seem to miss that in the divine liturgy we pray for our land and leaders. Yeah, we mean it. So you can’t pray that on sunday and the wish for the destruction of your land and evil to befall a leader. ❤️☦️🇺🇸🇵🇷
With all due respect to Father Josiah. I don’t see the difference between taxes and theft. IE you submit under threat of violence. This action on part of govt contradicts the commandment not to steal. Also hard to see how to interact with the government without interacting with the evil one. One can love ones country without submitting to its sins.
Ostensibly the government is going to use those taxes to better your life. A thief isn't taking your money and building you a road, they're just taking it. You can argue you didn't want to purchase the service you got, but it's still really not theft.
I think you don't understand that everything in the world (and outside of it) is ordered by capacity for violence. God is first and most feared, with the highest capacity for violence, then man, then woman. There is nothing inherently wrong with violence, this is a nonsensical liberal worldview. Violence is wrong when used unjustly. You could use the exact same logic to say you shouldn't be beholden to any law you don't like or even to blaspheme and say God is evil because Him leaving you in sin and to your damnation is a form of violence. It's untenable and bad logic.
"14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. 16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. 17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him." (Mk 12:14-17)
I learned the hard way that, if you don't love your country, you lose it. Also I have seen patriotism abused; I am seeing it as we speak in a certain unfortunate shard of my now divided fatherland. I think patriotism is an essential virtue of sorts, as, for instance, is hygiene; it's a mean of survival; but it does not come first or second, or maybe even third, and it can be done very wrong. It definitely gets screwed up when patriotism is made into a religion; we only have one religion. But, dear father, at 17:59, I think a painting of a freemason is as suitable in a church as a statue of Marcus Aurelius (meaning, it isn't.)
The Israelites were called to do many things that we shouldn't. Jesus even talks of this. Matthew 19:8. I do not believe that just because the Israelites were not, that we too should therefore not.
So, joining the Waffen SS was an act of patriotism. Does that count? I surely must refuse to join or serve in the military forces of an overtly Satanic state, no?
You should read Smedley Butler’s War is a Racket. He is one of the most decorated soldiers in US history and demonstrates how the US military is opposed to the country, the people, the veterans, and human dignity. There is an unholy alliance between the military, government, and corporations that will advance itself at any human expense.
I understand your point. I still love my country, and I'm happy for the good it has done, but I am not proud of the wrong our government has done, whether intentional or not.
Excellent talk, Father! Your words have given me a renewed perspective on loving my country. Thank you!
I remember when my ex-wife, and I first moved to Florida and we decided to go to Saint Augustine, which is like the oldest settlement in North America and we went to the old town of Saint Augustine and there was a Orthodox Church and we went in there and we were just moved by the devotion of the orthodox people to their Lord to our Lord, we were not orthodox both of us. The time were very far removed from Orthodox, but I think when we went there, the seed was planted it took a while for it to germinate and now a few years later I’m thoroughly wishing that I could have the transportation to go to an Orthodox church and finalize what I feel. God is calling me to be an Orthodox Christian
God bless you, father Josiah I wish I was either in California or you were here in central Florida, but may God make your ministry grow in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit
I'd like to second Father Josiah's message. In 2016, after decades of watching my country fall into increasingly evil ways, I retired and left Southern California, first to live in France, then finally in North Africa. Not a day passes when I don't yearn to go home, perhaps especially since my ancestors were significant names in the founding of the the United States. Now, at 73, a homecoming is impossible due to the high cost of living in the States which my paltry Social Security is not equal to. By Father Josiah's logic, I should love the country where I now live and I do try, though the religion is rather different and the culture, ditto! To all good and true Americans, please love your country and do what you can to save it.
We are fighting for it, sir!
Thank you brother! ❤
@@jeremyconrad3696 Make that sister!🤭
@@bendietrees M'am, actually!
@@bendietrees May God strengthen you. I will say a special prayer for my troubled country and its defenders from this day.
Father bless!
I have listened to every homily and nearly every audio course produced by Patristic Nectar in the last 11 years. I consider you - more than any other by sheer volume - my personal Pedagogue. I live in the United States and I have listened to this reflection as well as your entire series on Patriotism. And in all of those years, the ONLY teaching I take issue with is this subject. That's a pretty good track record, don't you think? And, frankly, I'm still open to being taught and open to changing my mind on this as well. I'm open to believing that I am wrong. But, as yet, it has not happened.
I do not hate the United States or the west in general, no matter how decadent it has become. But I have simply tried to come up with ways that I can submit to your teachings and be Patriotic, while still having reservations. Here is what I have come up with...
Where I can be Patriotic:
• Being thankful to God for his Providence in placing me here and now.
• Living an Orthodox life and raising up godly seed to bring godliness to this land.
• Praying for the peace of my nation, the salvation of her people and the godliness of her rulers.
• Praying for the members of our military - for their safety and salvation.
• Obedience to and support of all moral laws.
• Paying required taxes.
• Participating in moral civil activities. (Fireworks, block parties, cleanup days, etc.)
• Voting for godly persons in elections or even participating in government (if desired).
• Identifying as American and not a "global citizen".
• Supporting our nation's safety and prosperity with border control and legal, orderly immigration.
• Studying the history of my state and country.
If this is what it means to be Patriotic, then I am!
Where I cannot be Patriotic:
• Saluting the flag (venerating an icon of the State).
• Pledging my allegiance to the State (at least in its current moral position).
• Serving in or honoring the military. (Aside from the problematic issues of women, gays, and transgenders at all levels of authority, our military has very little to do with our national safety or freedoms and more to do with overthrow, bullying and meddling in the affairs of foreign sovereign nations. In what ways it protects us from foreign invasion, of course I support it. But the 2nd Amendment and civilian gun ownership has brought about more peace in our nation and more protection of our freedoms than has our military. No one would dare attack us on our land. Bring the men home to actually protect our land and our borders and I'll happily serve and encourage others to do so.)
• Obedience to immoral laws. (Laws should adhere to God's Law in all matters. I'm willing to engage in civil disobedience for these.)
• Believing that America has "Manifest Destiny", is more *blessed by God*, or is *the greatest nation on earth*. (It is outrageous arrogance that we think we have to export this decadence around the world.)
• Believing that our founding was somehow righteous, necessary or brought about by godly men.
• Believing that our founding documents are somehow godly or Christian.
• Believing that democracy is *the best* form of government. (Monarchy is how God established it for early Israel, and is also the government of the Kingdom of Heaven.)
• Believing that "capitalism" is godly or righteous. (Neither is socialism or communism.)
If this is what it means to be Patriotic, then I most-certainly am not!
Great post! ☦️
BRILLIANTLY STATED!
So I’m other words you’re not patriotic.
Founding fathers were blatant heretics and outright Freemasons. Thomas Jefferson literally butchered scripture to suit his Deist delusions.
Amen
Loving your nation (and by extension your genetic population, as they are your extended family) is very important and something people don't do anymore today. This is expressly the reason western countries have become such cesspits, because instead of being living, breathing organisms (like the church, which is what we should be imitating), they have become economic zones filled with individuals.
If our families are a gift from God, then our people who are our extended families are a divine inheritance as well and we need to pray for them and turn them to Christ. Sadly this economic zone idea has given way to immigration and the idea that our people are replaceable and interchangeable with anyone, causing conflict and disregarding the created diversity of humanity, leading to what's happening in France right now. May the Lord free us from these conflicts and restore our nations.
I want to remind you, People who are not your race are not your people/nation...
Very nicely expressed. Many thanks.
@@yukyukyuk1335Amen. Diversity is NOT our greatest strength.
@@jessebellino9780 In a way it is, that's why God created it, just not when we're all mushed together under one roof.
That's why we have separate nations with borders and our own laws that fit our specific group of people.
It's no surprise the push for the "melting pot" and interracialism comes from the same groups that push globalism and ecumenism.
I agree fully. Identity is a part of human dignity. The west is losing its uniqueness and becoming that homeland of "generic white people". Im not against foreigners at all, as long as they respect local specifics and moral rules. Immigration should be regulated to the countries needs and interest. It should never be an ideology. Both suffer the natives and the immigrants because of human greed...
Good point Father. One reason why I never joined Orthodox when I was lost was that I was American, not Greek, Russian, or any other country the Orthodox church represented.
Oh, dear... so sad to hear that.
There’s a jurisdiction called “Orthodox Church in America” that would welcome you and all Americans.
There is no such thing as "American" my dude
There was a dude named Amerigo Vespucci though; he was from Florence
@@guineapig55555 What is a person from America then?
@@Cypher54533 a resident of the USA
This is such an important video, thank you for posting this.
Most of times i felt depressed when the plane was landing in my country, Portugal. Now, a few years later i know i was born where God wanted for a reason. Its a place full of natural beauties and we still have a good christian population, despite less and less. I see the good and the bad. But i love my country. Its better to pray for our countries rather than complain. Its a lesson i learned. Its not good? Pray more. ❤
As an American convert I wholeheartedly agree as to changing the naming convention of Orthodox churches, when I began attending my Greek Orthodox Church the number one question, I was always asked was some variation of "why? You're not Greek." To Americans who aren't Greek, Russian, Serbian, etc, the message that's given to them, isn't that this is an Orthodox church but rather this is a church for a specific group of people.
Thank you father!
Praise God, this was absolutely wonderful and needful today!
My grandfather died on the boat trying to bring his family of 7 children here before the country was even born. Learning about that has definitely helped me to repent of my disdain for the US.
Father Josiah, I was Blown off By your Words.
May we all hold hands, and especially this subject, with Fr Josiah!
I’m glad you clarified a lot of my own unasked questions I always thought people did horrible things out of love for their country and I kind of looked at patriotism as something evil 😬
God Bless America. Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven♥️🇺🇸♥️
Look at the positive of your country. Because you are positive you can change the negative to positive.
Thank you, Father!
Waow... The title is enough for me. All Doo respect father from Lebanon
God bless America.
Glory to God! 🙏
AMEN ☦️
I recently read that by elder Paisios and I was somehow confused by it. I appreciate your outlook on it
As an American, I love my country; however, I do not love our corrupt mockery of a government. I love our constitution and our founding principals which have nothing to do with the evils perpetrated by recent regimes.
Amin😢
Father, I have been considering military service for a long time and am at crossroads in what to do. I have been praying but it would be very helpful to see a video on this subject. Father bless!
If it is a NATO military, please do not. You will be stained with the blood of many innocents, and will answer for it at the dread Day of Judgment. NATO is now engaged in much aggression and expansionism, on behalf of the US Congressional Hedge Fund set. Joining the US military is for no other reason than enabling the destruction of innocent people in far away lands. There is ZERO military threat to your homes and businesses that warrants a standing military of this size and scope. National Guard, maybe. But refuse overseas postings, please.
The lives you save will be many, and your own as well!
Don’t fight for the evil empire!
It is worth it if you wish to help the people beside you in any crisis. It is not worth it if you are looking for a righteous objective or a career to really lean in to.
Absent the US actually being invaded, boycott the US military. It is now a Satanic and deoraved gangster organisation, obsessed with beating the world into submission for the American Imperial Nobility.
Wage warfare against the legions of Satan. If you want to fight for your country, then support your priest, or better yet go to seminary and become one... (if you're a male). Be God's hand to save the souls of Americans. Much better than giving your God-given body for whatever demonic puppet show they want to put you in front of. I promise you'll have all the battles you can handle, many masculine bonds, and a life of God's favor and righteousness.
Бог вам Помого
Virtue and patriotism inclining, us, to love our country. This love is expressed by willingness to defend our country and its a just war, its obeying civil, authority and, by a readiness to discharge all (other duties) implied in good citizens
I’m a Catholic who is seriously considering Orthodoxy. With the way things are headed in the Roman church, the Orthodox has a very strong advantage to evangelize.
As someone who comes from a church that is very hierarchical and organized, the fact that orthodoxy seems to be so divided between ethnic patriarchs in the US is very off-putting.
If the Orthodox in America would unite, so many more souls would be received into the Orthodox Church. God bless and please pray for me.☦️
He got dat hat ON tho!!
People don’t like this mesaage sometimes. They seem to miss that in the divine liturgy we pray for our land and leaders. Yeah, we mean it. So you can’t pray that on sunday and the wish for the destruction of your land and evil to befall a leader.
❤️☦️🇺🇸🇵🇷
This is a good point.
America is heading for destruction either way, the world will be much better once America is no more.
Fantastic, thank you Father. Do you know of any good US History courses?
With all due respect to Father Josiah. I don’t see the difference between taxes and theft. IE you submit under threat of violence. This action on part of govt contradicts the commandment not to steal. Also hard to see how to interact with the government without interacting with the evil one. One can love ones country without submitting to its sins.
tax collectors were hated by everyone back in the New Testament too
Ostensibly the government is going to use those taxes to better your life. A thief isn't taking your money and building you a road, they're just taking it. You can argue you didn't want to purchase the service you got, but it's still really not theft.
Caesar’s things to Caesar and God’s things to God.
I think you don't understand that everything in the world (and outside of it) is ordered by capacity for violence. God is first and most feared, with the highest capacity for violence, then man, then woman.
There is nothing inherently wrong with violence, this is a nonsensical liberal worldview. Violence is wrong when used unjustly.
You could use the exact same logic to say you shouldn't be beholden to any law you don't like or even to blaspheme and say God is evil because Him leaving you in sin and to your damnation is a form of violence. It's untenable and bad logic.
"14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.
16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.
17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him." (Mk 12:14-17)
I learned the hard way that, if you don't love your country, you lose it.
Also I have seen patriotism abused; I am seeing it as we speak in a certain unfortunate shard of my now divided fatherland.
I think patriotism is an essential virtue of sorts, as, for instance, is hygiene; it's a mean of survival; but it does not come first or second, or maybe even third, and it can be done very wrong.
It definitely gets screwed up when patriotism is made into a religion; we only have one religion.
But, dear father, at 17:59, I think a painting of a freemason is as suitable in a church as a statue of Marcus Aurelius (meaning, it isn't.)
Agree. Also, no US Flags (or flags from any other nation) in our temples. **I even cringe when they are in the fellowship hall.**
Algorithm boost.
Presumably, the Israelites were not to love "their country" of Egypt. Many of Moses' constituents were many generations Egyptian, no?
The Israelites were called to do many things that we shouldn't. Jesus even talks of this. Matthew 19:8. I do not believe that just because the Israelites were not, that we too should therefore not.
Love your country but don't say you are 'proud' to be American or Italian or whatever your nationality is.
You did not mention volunteering for military service as an act of patriotism.
So, joining the Waffen SS was an act of patriotism. Does that count?
I surely must refuse to join or serve in the military forces of an overtly Satanic state, no?
Because it isn't these days. You don't serve your country in the military but the regime and the interests don't always align.
You should read Smedley Butler’s War is a Racket. He is one of the most decorated soldiers in US history and demonstrates how the US military is opposed to the country, the people, the veterans, and human dignity. There is an unholy alliance between the military, government, and corporations that will advance itself at any human expense.
I love your videos but loving America after the way it has treated Eastern Europe no thank you.
This is a difficult topic. Many of us Americans descend from Eastern European mothers and fathers. May God help America, Russia, and Ukraine!
@@ellemnop123 agreed. It's a difficult topic. I'm conflicted.
Same
I understand your point. I still love my country, and I'm happy for the good it has done, but I am not proud of the wrong our government has done, whether intentional or not.
I love America, just not the U.S.