Fr. John posted: " There is a major problem with the Orthodox Solution to COVID posted a couple of days ago. Fr. Theophanes (Constantine) explains that the "materialistic philosophical rejection of the soul cannot be overestimated" later on in the First Chapter of Volume I"
This materialistic position can be put thus: Only material things exist, and material things are those which can be perceived by the senses, perhaps with the assistance of scientific tools—microscopes, telescopes, radarscopes and so on. All other things do not exist. They are imaginary, figments of the imagination, fantasies. The world is a world of nuts and bolts, trees and stars, flowers and atoms. These things exist. Nothing else exists. It is a world in which the chief science is physics, in which the paradigm for all the sciences is modern or even classical physics.
On the basis of this philosophical position, the materialist rejects the existence of the soul, and for the reasons that St Gregory or Watson and his fellow authors largely give. Either it is a part of the body, or the functioning of part of the body, in which case 'soul' is an unnecessary concept; or, if it is not, it is a non-sensible absurdity.
The importance of this materialistic philosophical rejection of the soul cannot be overestimated.
The consequence of "this materialistic philosophical rejection of the soul" was explained earlier in that same chapter:
In his private affairs, and in his mind, the biologist certainly makes judgements whether the fellow next to him, the experimental animal or the experimental fungus or microbe is alive or dead. As things get smaller, the judgement may get more difficult; and the precise threshold may be difficult to define in any case. But were Jim lying on the floor—well, dead!—the biologist would not say, 'Hum, Jim's biochemical state seems to have altered.' He would, if he were a normal man, say, 'Jim's dead,' and seek help. If he were trained, he might check Jim's breathing. If he were a medical doctor, he might attempt cardiac massage. These examples are not meant to exclude other possible, and normal, responses. The biologist would not, however, unless he were a religious man, light a candle for the repose of Jim's soul. If he were a religious man, he might say a prayer, again for the repose of Jim's entity called 'soul'. He might say a mass if he were a priest besides being a biologist. He might recite a sutra if he were a Buddhist in addition to being a biologist, and so on. But if he were a materialist—even one who practised the form of a religion for private motives of gain or other benefit or social solidarity or atmosphere in the family home or whatever, without believing—he would simply shrug his shoulders and say: 'Jim's bought it.' We do make intuitive natural judgements—again ignoring for the present technical procedures in the matter of brain death as being the threshold between being alive and being dead—whether a person is alive or dead.
What is considered modern education around the world is based upon a materialistic and mechanistic paradigm that is completely foreign to the ancient mind, a modern paradigm that does not truly understand the difference between living and dead. Even the so-called "creationist" theory some Protestants believe should be presented in the public education systems still falls within this modern paradigm, much like the Protestant Reformation remained within the paradigm of Roman Catholic Scholasticism.
At the beginning of the 20th century, this modern paradigm had not yet engulfed the whole world. By the end of the 20th century, however, the only communities not yet tainted by this paradigm were those that are cut off from the rest of the world. Thus, why would a world educated within a paradigm that is completely foreign to Orthodoxy even consider an Orthodox solution? Even a truly Orthodox understanding of the word orthodox is completely foreign to the modern world.
Even those within the Orthodox Church have been tainted by this modern paradigm. After all, haven't we all received an education within this modern paradigm? This is why some, even Orthodox clergy, have reached the false conclusion that the modification of human DNA would modify a person's soul. This seems to be the reason our blessed Father Seraphim Rose of Platina said:
The psychological trials of dwellers in the last times will be equal to the physical trials of the martyrs. In order to face these trials, we must be living in a different world.
The words of Elder Justin Parvu of Romania also suggest the world is unlikely to consider an Orthodox solution:
Therefore, please stop looking for solutions. Human solutions are nonexistent, my dears! The solution is to die for Christ. Fathers will give up their sons, mothers, their daughters, unto death. Behold, we witness the fulfillment of this prophecy. If the mother will let the child be vaccinated, it's as if giving him over to die…
Therefore I say to you, trust that the Lord will give you power to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world, the entire political class is an enemy of Christ and a servant of evil, that is why even living our simple life without abdicating our Christian principles is a daily confession and martyrdom.
COVID insanity will lead to the insane attacking and even murdering the sane. As Saint Antony the Great said: "A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.'"
The post a couple of days ago mentioned the example of Saint Amphilochius of Pochaev bearing his martyr's cross in a Soviet psychiatric ward. A couple of decades before that, during what the Russians refer to as the Great Patriotic War, fourteen armed men busted into the home of the saint and demanded supper. After being fed, the guests asked the saint to accompany them. When they reached the gate, the commander announced to the saint that he would be shot. After calmly listening to this announcement, the saint asked for ten minutes to pray.
Having been granted ten minutes to pray, the saint stood under an old lime tree that he had planted and began praying, preparing to leave this world. Then standing before his executioner, began praying for "those who create misfortune" as the commander counted down the last seconds of his life.
Worried by the length of the saint's absence, his cell mate went out of the home and into the courtyard. Realizing what was happening, he rushed at the machine gun and pushed it to the ground; yelling: "Why do you want to kill him? Do you know what kind of man he is? He saves the whole world. If you need to kill someone, kill me but don't hurt him!" (Original Ukrainian: "Кого ей хочете убити?! Знаєте, який він чоловік? Він весь світ спасає. Якщо вам потрібно його вбити, убивайте мене, а його не зачіпайте!")
"Alright, old man. Go," the commander said as he garbed the machine gun from the hands of the saint's cell mate.
In the past, martyrdom was a more simple matter to identify. Regarding the end times, however, Metropolitan Augustinos Kantiotes of Florina said:
But in the end times it seems that the persecution will be even more clandestine. The persecutors, in order not to be regarded as cruel and merciless in the world's opinion, and so as not to draw sympathy towards their victims, will slaughter "with white gloves," according to the common saying.
Nonetheless, in this too Saint Amphilochius of Pochaev gives us an example. In the summer of 1970, he began to have strange attacks that seemed to leave him unconscious. He was being secretly poisoned by a novice from Kiev. She was pouring it into his food and even into his washbasin and the water he would use to rinse his mouth with. The saint knew he was being poisoned, but it was only him who was being poisoned secretly. The others were not in danger of unknowingly being executed via poisoning.
During one of these strange attacks in October, someone tried to undo the collar of his cassock, which seemed to be chocking him, but the novice from Kiev interfered. Suddenly, he stopped breathing. As the novice bent over him, he opened his eyes, grasped her hair, and kissed her head. Keeping the secret of his executioner while displaying a sign of his prayer for "those who create misfortune."
By the power of the Sign of the Cross, the deadly poison was being overcome. Growing impatient, the godless authorities made other unsuccessful plans to assassinate him. In the end, though, the poison from his nurse was allowed to let the saint repose in the Lord on January 1, 1971 (December 19, 1970 according to the Church calendar).
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