SOLDIERS - MARTYRS - SAINTS

A TRIBUTE TO THE MEN OF AMERICA'S ARMED FORCES

AMORION, the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire, was located in ancient Phrygia in central Anatolia in what is now central Turkey. Twelve centuries ago the Empire came under attack again by the armies of militant Islam. In the year 837 the fragile truce between Byzantine Emperor, Theophilos (829 - 842) and Caliph al-Mutasim of Baghdad (833 - 842) broke down as the latter renewed his attack on the shifting frontier of the Empire. Out of Syria and Mesopotamia they came and in 838 they besieged the fortified city of Amorion. For reasons not clear in the historical record the Emperor's commander of the defenses of the city, Baditses, betrayed the weaknesses in the city's walls to the Muslims whereupon they succeeded in breaching the same. The invaders set the city afire and slaughtered the male inhabitants. (Surah 8: 67) The women and children were sent to the slave markets [2] and the eminent citizens were led off to Syria to be held for prisoner exchange and for ransom.

THE QURAN SANCTIONS KILLING OF INFIDELS (SURAH 8: 12 & 47: 4) On the way into captivity the Caliph chose to make an example of the captives on the grounds that a few had managed to escape. He set aside the most eminent and beheaded some 6000 of the remainder. Among the eminent who were spared decapitation were forty-two Byzantine officers of high rank. They were imprisoned in Syria and held for seven years. During their captivity the officers were subjected to many privations and to constant pressure to convert to Islam by offers of wealth and commissions in the Caliph's army. They refused.

THE BEHEADING OF THE FORTY-TWO OFFICERS In 845 the officers were taken to an area on the banks of the Tigris River in the presence of the Caliph and large numbers of assembled Muslims and Christians where they were commanded to deny Christ and to worship Muhammad's god. Upon their refusal they were beheaded on March 6. [3] Their bodies were cast into the Tigris whence they were later recovered by Christians and buried.

The decapitation of the forty-two martyrs was unusual at the time in that it ran counter to the standard practice of the Muslims in dealing with eminent captives who could be held for prisoner exchange or for ransom. In fact, the terms for their ransom had already been negotiated by representatives of the Emperor and Caliph and agreed upon. Their martyrdom must be seen, therefore, in light of the religious challenges faced by the Caliph - a widespread rejection of his religious doctrines [5] by many Muslims and the consequent unrest in the Caliphate. The presence of the Caliph and so many Muslims and Christians at the execution must be seen, therefore, as probably intended to convey a message to the Caliph's subjects that he would tolerate no defiance of his will in matters religious and secular which in Islam are indistinguishable.

ISLAMIC JIHAD TODAY As in the 9th century, Islam is again locked in battle with the infidels of the world. The tactics have changed, but the objectives remain the same. KHILAFAH is the goal; JIHAD is the means; and DHIMMA and JIZYA are what they have in store for us. [6] Like the Byzantines of old, America's fighting men are seeking to contain and repel in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere Islam's renewed efforts to subdue us. See LONDON BOMBINGS at: http://www.islamreview.com/articles/hatredinislam.shtml

It is not the purpose of this page to explore the reasons for the invasion of Iraq or their justification. Those issues are being debated elsewhere. For two millennia theologians have been arguing the issue of "just war" without satisfactory resolution. Paragraph 2309 of the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH contains a brief discussion of the matter which, in our opinion, seems based on conventional wisdom of yesteryear and inadequate to deal with the new forms of war being currently waged against us. In reality theologians and the young men who suffer, bleed and die play small role, if any, in the decision-making of war and peace. [7] Rather, it is our enemies and our leaders of state who determine these matters often for reasons only remotely associated with the welfare of society. We note further that many hierarchs of the Church including POPE BENEDICT XVI and ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW I have opposed the invasion of Iraq on moral grounds.

The young men of the Armed Forces of the United States, while not involved in the decision-making of war, are very much involved in the consequences of war. Some liberal ideologues and pacifist agitators regard military personnel as moral midgets or unfortunate pawns manipulated by evil men. That was clearly evident during and following the Vietnam War. We reject this view. Since Apostolic times soldiers have often been treated with favor by the Church. Our calendar of saints and martyrs honors many of them. The Byzantine Divine Liturgy in at least two parts calls upon the faithful to pray for the welfare of the armed forces. Moreover, Our Lord in Matt. 8; 5-13 commends the compassion and faith of the COMPASSIONATE CENTURION to His followers as follows: "I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith." [8]

Clearly war brings out the best and worst in men. Among some soldiers we encounter virtues such as bravery, loyalty, patriotism, duty, sacrifice, perseverance and compassion. Among others we see the vices of cowardice, desertion, selfishness, dishonor, betrayal, looting, rape and the torment and abuse of prisoners such as those at ABU GHRAIB. [9] It is to the soldiers of honor, virtue and merit that we offer this page in recognition of their heroic self-sacrifice for the welfare of their country in the struggle against militant Islam.

CONCLUSIONS AND COMMENTARY

ISLAM'S JIHAD AGAINST US IS NOT CONVENTIONAL. Nor has it ever been. Our enemies are neither guided by the Geneva Conventions, nor by the Catholic Catechism, nor the rulings of the International Court of Justice and the US Supreme Court nor by the resolutions of the United Nations. Rather, the norms which determine the behavior of the Muslims engaged in war against us are drawn exclusively from the Quran and that which is derived therefrom. "I [Allah] will instill terror in the hearts of the infidels. Therefore, strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.: Surah 8: 12. "Kill them wherever you find them" Surah 2: 191. "… fight them until … there is no religion but for Allah" Surah 1: 193. "…slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush…" Surah 9: 5. "For the infidels, cut out garments of fire; boiling water shall be poured on their heads." Surah 22: 19. "The punishment of those who resist Allah and his apostle [Muhammad] … is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides of the body or they should be imprisoned." Surah 5: 33. "Whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers." Surah 3: 85 The above are but a few of the Quranic precepts which propel our enemies to plot and carry out their atrocities against us. There is no shortage of young men in ISLAMOFASCIST societies who are inspired by these precepts and who volunteer to engage in acts of terror even at the cost of their own lives. [12]

What we are facing today is not a war between states or blocks of states as in past wars against Nazi-Fascism and Marxist Communism, but rather a war waged by a large confederation of people who adhere to a particular religion, indoctrinated in their mosques and madrassas, who are building a world-wide structure of their co-religionists preparing for a long struggle against us. The war against the infidel - jihad - is not new; it has been going on for fourteen centuries, at times vigorously and at others less so. Now as in times past, the goal remains the same - through jihad to the ultimate victory of Islam over all mankind which means nothing more or less than the conversion of all to Islam or their destruction, enslavement and subjugation followed by the establishment of a world-wide caliphate which is a totalitarian religio-political system based on the precepts of the Quran, Hadith and Sharia of, by and for the Muslim umma.

The young soldiers of America, drawn largely from the inner city, small towns and rural areas - our working class - are unprepared to deal with an enemy motivated by the above. Moreover, our leaders of state have consistently refused to acknowledge that we are engaged in a religious war - Muslims vs. infidels - for the simple reason that they regard the same as "politically incorrect". They continue to speak of the enemy as "terrorists" which, of course, they are, but that term merely describes their actions; it does not identify the enemy and the ideology which motivates them. Thus they do us a profound disservice by failing to inform us of the real threat against us. Our leaders have committed the lives and limbs of our young men and our nation's resources in Lebanon, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq to combat in a vain effort to bring to Muslims our concepts of democratic institutions and of laissez-faire capitalism only to find that the people whom they seek thus to benefit regard those efforts, purposes and ideals with profound suspicion and contempt, there being in the Islamic mind absolutely nothing of merit to be expected from infidels.

It is clear beyond cavil that the decisions leading to the invasion of Iraq were based on inadequate or false or falsified intelligence as well as the inherently false ideological assumptions about the enemy and Islam. The notion that one could convert Iraqi Muslims to American democracy and buccaneer capitalism by force of arms to serve as a model for the Middle East was and remains utterly absurd. The number of American dead approaches three thousand and the wounded and crippled eight times that number aside from the Iraqi dead in the hundreds of thousands. In spite of this, our fighting men have done remarkably well under the circumstances. That can be attributed to the virtues of the many who like the forty-two martyrs of Amorion in ancient times have persevered in spite of their betrayal by the decision-makers in Washington. [13] & [14]

DEDICATION

We dedicate this page to the welfare of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States and particularly of our nephew, George, U. S. Marines, in honor of their dedication and sacrifice in the continuing struggle against our nation's enemies.

SOURCES

Theodoros Krateros in BIOGRAPHISCH-BIBLIOGRAPHISCHES KIRCHENLEXIKON published by Verlag Traugott Bautz at: www.bautz.de and THE EXECUTION OF THE FORTY-TWO MARTYRS OF AMORION by Athina Kolia-Dermitzaki in AL-MASAQ: ISLAM AND THE MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN, vol. 14, No. 2, Sept. 2002

FOOTNOTES

1) This icon was provided to us by Fr. Paul and Fr. Daniel, monks of St. Catherine's Greek Orthodox Monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula. On it are portrayed the saints venerated by the Church during the month of March including the 42 martyrs of Amorion who appear faintly in monochrome segregated in the square icon in the second row. This icon was written in the 11th century and is located in the monastery. The practice of including all of the saints venerated in a day, week or month in a single icon is not uncommon in Eastern iconography. Readers who desire a digital copy of this icon in high resolution should contact us at the email address of this site. Should any of our readers know of other icons of the 42 martyrs, we would appreciate your informing us.

2) See SLAVERY IN ISLAM at http://www.answering-islam.org.uk/Silas/slavery.htm

3) The Byzantine Synaxarion honors the forty-two martyrs on March 6, the day of their glorification.

4) See gallery of images of Muhammad at: http://www.geocities.com/khola_mon/Islam.html

5) THE MUTAZILA DOCTRINE In 842 Caliph al-Mutasim was succeeded by Caliph Harun al-Wathiq (842 - 847). The latter was a vigorous promoter of the Mutazila doctrine which held, inter alia, that divine justice depends on free will, for without it one cannot be held accountable for one's actions, because Allah would be unjust if he were to predestine all human activities. This ran counter to the majority Islamic view called Ashariya which taught strict predestination. In addition he promoted the notion that the Quran was not eternal but created by men, an idea which would replace the Quran as the sole, eternal, unalterable and literal source of revealed truth. Interestingly the Mutazila doctrine introduced into Islam at the time a great deal of philosophical and rationalist thinking which unleashed the dynamic growth of Islamic culture in the 8th to 10th centuries during the Abbasid dynasty. Following the siege and destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, the Abbasid dynasty came to an end and Ashariya recovered ascendancy in Islam which it holds to this day. Islam is strictly predestinarian and fatalistic. The god of Islam is unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious. He is the perfect model of an oriental potentate of the seventh century. Every Surah of the Quran begins with the words: "In the name of Allah, the Benificient, the Merciful". This is what Muslims hope for from their deity, but not from each other, for to attribute to mere humans any quest for the attributes of Allah would be considered the height of blasphemy. Thus the orthodox Christian concept of theosis is completely absent in Islam. The absolutism of Allah and of his "revelations" in the Quran have a depressing impact on Muslim societies. After the re-emergence of the Ashariya "orthodoxy", the rigidity of Islam was re-imposed and Islam went into intellectual decline. Philosophical speculation and scientific inquiry are discouraged in Islam, particularly the latter which is regarded as a vain attempt to bind the right hand of Allah through laws of physics, mechanics and chemistry. The Quran is eternally fixed and immutable; the speed of light is not One can only speculate how Islam might have evolved, had the Mutazila doctrine survived. Interestingly, while the Muslims regard Caliph al-Wathiq and his adherents as heterodox, so also do orthodox Christians regard Byzantine Emperor Theophilos as heretical for his adherence to the iconoclastic heresy which promoted the destruction of images of Christ and the saints.

6) KHILAFAH means domination of the world by Islam. JIHAD means holy war against infidels. DHIMMA means the subservient & subordinate status of Christians and Jews in Islamic societies. JIZYA is the humiliation tax which infidels must pay to Muslims in acknowledgment of their inferior status. Wherever Muslims in significant numbers adjoin infidels there is turmoil, to wit: southern Russia, western China, northern India, southern Thailand, southern Philippines, Indonesia, northern Nigeria, southern Sudan, Middle East and southeastern Europe.

7) One cannot examine the military obituaries which appear almost daily in the New York Times without concluding sadly that the burden of the suffering, bleeding and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq falls disproportionately on the youth from the inner city, from small towns and rural areas - America's working class - who having been deprived often of employment opportunities by the transfer of manufacturing and the outsourcing of jobs to cheap foreign labor markets by the policies of government and of industry are prompted to enter the Armed Forces for employment, for technical training and for education while the scions of the upper classes are largely absent from the ranks. The so-called volunteer army has shifted the moral obligation of defending the country to the lower and more vulnerable end of society while leaving the upper end untouched and largely uninvolved.

8) Curiously the COMPASSIONATE CENTURION, an officer in charge of a company of 100 soldiers from Rome's occupation army in Israel was so concerned about the welfare of his slave that he humbled himself by approaching an itinerant preacher of a despised conquered race to beg Him to save his slave and who accepted His assurances on faith alone with the words of humility: "I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, just say the word and my slave shall be healed" Surely this was an extraordinary event which the Church remembers on the fourth Sunday after Pentecost and which is compounded by the anomaly that the Centurion has never appeared in the Church's calendar of saints. This is the only account in Scripture where Our Lord is recorded as having communicated with a member of the occupation army, commending the same for the edification of His followers. Not so fortunate were the rich, the powerful and the Pharisees.

9) Our young men in uniform, separated from the benign influences of family, church and society, often find themselves in situations and faced with moral decisions for which they are unprepared. This makes the achievements of the best and the honorable even more remarkable.

10) A soldier comforts a grieving comrade.

11) Soldiers pray for the repose of the soul of a fallen comrade. "In blessed repose, grant, O Lord, eternal rest to the soul of Your servant and remember him eternally." - from the Byzantine memorial service (panikhida)

12) ISLAMOFASCISM The term "fascism" applies to a political and social order in which the decision-making and all power in the state are controlled by the ruling elite. This power-holding elite, whether elected or installed by inheritance or by a coup d'etat, directs the entire apparatus of compulsion, viz. the police, the army, and the intelligence services and controls the educational institutions and communications as well as the economy in furtherance of state policies formulated by the elite. The totalitarian order of society is usually, but not always, accompanied by a unitary ideology designed to justify the rule of the elite, to guide its decisions and to repulse ideologically those who might challenge the established order. Islamofascism is fascism as defined above in the context of a state controlled by Muslims. In this case, the guiding ideology is a religion, Islam, the foundation documents of which are the Quran, the Hadith and the Sharia. These documents form the "constitution" upon which is grounded the real social and political order of all states in which Muslims hold power. The ruling elite in an islamofascist society is a small group of people joined by ties of family, clan, tribe and sect and allied with a broader assortment of economic and political interests, all of which have a common interest in maintaining the status quo and in resisting the power-challengers who are excluded from participation in the decision-making and also from the allocation of the economic largess of the state and who seek to overthrow and to replace the established order by a different islamofascist social and political order led by a different set of power-holders with different goals. The islamofascist state, whether the established order or the one contemplated by the power-challengers, is predicated largely or exclusively on the precepts of the Quran, as amplified in the Hadith and codified in the legal code called the Sharia. In fact, the foundation documents of Islam conceive of no form of political and social order except islamofascism. In Islam, religion and politics are inseparable, there being no distinction between them. Thus Islam is the sole determinant of the political structure of the state and is the state's official ideology.
The ideology of the radical power-challengers in Islam today is further inspired by a mythologized vision of the past. They want nothing more than to return to the just and orderly society of the righteous caliphs who succeeded Muhammad. Our leaders of state, on the contrary, and those who influence national policy proceed from the fiction that all mankind, Muslims too, pine for the blessings of Anglo-Saxon democracy and America's laissez-faire capitalism and offer the same as additional justification for the invasion of Iraq in an effort to "democratize" that country as a model for the entire Middle East. Such policies and the fanciful ideology which support them run counter to the fundamental precepts of Islam and are bound to fail. Stated briefly, Islam and democracy are utterly irreconcilable.

13) THE MYSTERY OF THE MODERATE MUSLIM The infection of political correctness has advanced so far in our society that one can hardly approach a subject which may be in the least controversial without being urged to make a "balanced" or "objective" presentation so as not to offend the sensibilities of the group under consideration. So too when the subject deals with Islam, one is cautioned to advise the readers that most or some Muslims do not share the agenda of their more radical brethren. While that may be true, more or less, it is also irrelevant because the moderates have little impact on the beliefs and actions of the Islamists who have dictated the course of events in Islam in recent decades. Muslims are generally intolerant of dissent and Islamists more so. Consequently anyone with the courage and conviction to speak out in protest against the beliefs and actions of the radicals is greeted with threats against himself and family and sometimes by a fatwa issued by an imam calling on Muslims to murder the offender for blasphemy. Even in civilized states where freedom of religion, thought and expression prevails, dissenting resident Muslims are subjected to abuse by their co-religionists. As a result those Muslims who disagree with the radicals' cause and methods tend to remain silent. The cartoon below illustrates this dilemma.

14) Other recommended sites: http://www.jihadwatch.org, http://www.IslamReview.com, http://www.faithfreedom.org, http://www.byzantines.net/epiphany/islam.htm, http://www.byzantines.net/byzcathculture/christflight.html, http://www.memri.org

15) Saints Sergius and Bacchus were high ranking Christian officers in the Roman Army. On refusing to abjure their faith and sacrifice to the gods of Rome, they were put to death in the year 296 AD during the reign of Emperor Maximian (284 - 305) and thus earned the crown of martyrdom. Their feast day is celebrated on October 7.