“Remember, Lord, this country and all those in public service whom you have allowed to govern on earth. Grant them profound and lasting peace. Speak to their hearts good things concerning your Church and all your people, that through the faithful conduct of their duties we may live peaceful and serene lives in all piety and holiness.”
– From the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
Another presidential election has come to pass. A new president-elect prepares for office amidst a sea of turmoil—a swirling tempest of politics, social issues, economics, and cultural friction. In such a contentious setting, it’s difficult for us to not be swept away by the waves of the passions which seek to draw our attention away from our Savior.
But as Orthodox Christians, we must keep our focus upon Christ. Political turmoil must not become an occasion for spiritual turmoil. Don’t let the passion-filled cries of our society pierce your nous and steal your peace.
Remember: the Lord is near! He is not far away in the heavens, watching things play out in His creation, leaving us to our own devices. Quite the opposite: Through His Incarnation, we learn that God is very much active in His creation. His Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us, working in and through us.
A contemporary Serbian elder, Thaddeus of Vitovnica, speaks about the perpetual intervention of God in the book Our Thoughts Determine our Lives. He says, “Every event and every little detail around us and in us reveals the Lord’s Divine providence and His consent. Nothing in the entire universe happens without either the will of God or His consent. Everything we see that is good and harmonious is the result of the will of God. As for anything that is in chaos, God knows why it is like that and why He has permitted it. He set the limits. What we must know is that He is present everywhere.”
In the national political scene, we must remember that God knows who the president, the senators, the representatives, and the governors will be. He works through our leaders (to varying degrees) whether they are liberal, conservative, reactionary, progressive, good, or bad. And while He hasn’t “ordained” the president, He has consented to him. And through God “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28)—so His consent to this latest round of political leaders is also a promise: He is saying, “I will work through them and through the circumstances that arise under their leadership.”
As for our part, we must not be ruled by our passions. Why do we succumb to debating with coworkers or family, getting into Facebook arguments, or watching the TV news only to become agitated, angry, frustrated, or depressed? What does it accomplish to be wrapped up in political debate and opinion? Too often we imagine that we have control over things, that our political views can somehow be exerted upon others with great effect. We expend our energy trying to convert people to our views, plying at their ears and eyes. Yet God alone can work in their hearts. If we focus our energy on prayer, we will have far greater effect upon others, including our civic leaders and our president.
We must keep our focus on Christ so that our nous is not carried away by the passions. Our nation needs your peace, because through this noetic peace, you are able to become a vessel and lighthouse of God’s grace, love, and mercy.
As Orthodox Christians, we are the soul to the body of humanity—its spiritual heart, its core. Our breath of prayer gives spiritual life to everyone around us. Listen to how the early Christian author of the Epistle to Diognetus describes Christians:
“As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. … They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life. They are poor yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all; they are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and yet bless; they are insulted and yet repay the insult with honor; they do good yet are punished as evil-doers. …
“To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world yet are not of the world. The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position.”
Let us remember that we are the very soul of this nation, and that the nation needs our prayer. In the Divine Liturgy we pray for our president and civic leaders on three separate occasions. This means that we have been praying for President Biden for the last four years, and that on January 20 we will begin praying for President Trump for the next four years. We must pray for our civic leaders. No matter who they are, they are our leaders and they need our prayers—they need God to work in and through them more fully.
May we, as the soul of this nation, offer our repentance for the many and perpetual sins that are committed—which we, like Christ, can take upon ourselves and offer to our merciful God. And may we pray for our fellow Americans whom we must love (and forgive!) no matter how they view the world.
