Riding the Waves of History
This is a special religious season. The Western Easter Octave ended Sunday, which was also Eastern Orthodox Easter. The Jewish Passover closed Saturday, in the midst of the Islamic month of prayer and fasting, Ramadan. Sadly – though predictably – there was no Easter truce, as Pope Francis requested, in the assault on Ukraine, which Russians (and some misguided Westerners) believe is a “holy” war to defend the True Faith from Western decadence and apostasy.
Russia didn’t pause the killing and destruction, as true Christian warriors have in the past on Christian feasts; beneath the religious rationalization lies the crudest hypocrisy.
“Holy wars” have existed, true holy wars, in which courageous fighting men have indeed served a sacred cause – the Crusades, for instance, despite their sometimes-gross imperfections. But we now mostly have unholy wars, of various kinds, because our spiritual level is much lower than in the past.
