Doctrine & Theology Orthodox view of history

[Yeagerist]

This thread is entitled "Orthodox view of history" yet nobody on this thread has mentioned the millennium-long period of the Christian Roman Empire (330-1453 AD) a.k.a Byzantium, the study of which is absolutely crucial in developing this Orthodox Christian worldview of history, primarily because it disproves a lot of secular narratives on Western history. Most especially the claim that the Roman Empire fell in the 5th Century and that Christianity caused it. How could y'all possibly miss this....

Also the other thing that makes me cringe is all this "America bad, Russia good" dichotomy. The United States, despite any and all reason you hate it, still had offered religious freedom which enabled Eastern Orthodoxy to flourish especially during the trying times of Bolshevik tyranny over Russia. And arguably the fastest and most vocal demographic of young Eastern Orthodox folks are online American converts, while the ethnic cradles in the diasporas more often than not treat the Church as an ethnic club for immigrants.

 

[Eusebius Erasmus]

Also the other thing that makes me cringe is all this "America bad, Russia good" dichotomy. The United States, despite any and all reason you hate it, still had offered religious freedom which enabled Eastern Orthodoxy to flourish especially during the trying times of Bolshevik tyranny over Russia. And arguably the fastest and most vocal demographic of young Eastern Orthodox folks are online American converts, while the ethnic cradles in the diasporas more often than not treat the Church as an ethnic club for immigrants.

Nobody here is claiming that American is completely bad. Even from evil, God can work His good.

Isn't Nebuchadnezzar simultaneously called 'the servant' of God, as well as the 'cruel enemy' of Israel?

 

[Yeagerist]

Nobody here is claiming that American is completely bad. Even from evil, God can work His good.

Isn't Nebuchadnezzar simultaneously called 'the servant' of God, as well as the 'cruel enemy' of Israel?

First guy who replied to your title implied that there's nothing salvageable about American history from an Orthodox perspective. As for your statement about God working out good from evil, I do agree with it, but I'm not the one who needs to hear that. Rather it's those dudes who basically say that the USA is spiritually rotten from the start, and I've seen this self-hating attitude equally from woke progressives; just replace "white slave-owners" with "Freemason atheists." Only difference is that the Orthobros have the integrity to want to flee the USA for Russia.

 

[Eusebius Erasmus]

First guy who replied to your title implied that there's nothing salvageable about American history from an Orthodox perspective. As for your statement about God working out good from evil, I do agree with it, but I'm not the one who needs to hear that. Rather it's those dudes who basically say that the USA is spiritually rotten from the start, and I've seen this self-hating attitude equally from woke progressives; just replace "white slave-owners" with "Freemason atheists." Only difference is that the Orthobros have the integrity to want to flee the USA for Russia.

Whether the US is ‘wholly rotten from the start’ depends on what you mean.

I agree with Seraphim Rose’s premise that the United States as a nation (actually all Western ‘civilization’) is infused with satanic ideas that come from the Enlightenment. This spirit continues to work in the US today.

However, this doesn’t mean that individual Americans are evil. After all, we have American saints like St. Raphael of Brooklyn!

We cannot judge individuals. Only God can.

 

[Basilus of Moro]

Besides Fr. Seraphim Rose's writings, the lives of the saints, especially the extensive Great Synaxaristes has loads of history from a spiritual perspective. Although not precisely to your point, I find it extremely helpful to see how particulars in Church history are described from this perspective. There is also the massive history written by the zealot Vladimir Moss. I imagine it is good inasfar as you know when he is justifying his particular ecclesiological oddities.