(Un) Holy Fires

Sunday was the Orthodox Easter. Over the next 24 hours, the following churches were set on fire:

Serbian Orthodox Church in New York

Greek Orthodox Church in Melbourne

Macedonian Orthodox Church in Sydney

Russian Orthodox Monastery in Russia

The media are reporting this as unrelated incidents. For F sake!! I feel like slapping news reporters sometimes but then I remember all the stories I have heard from journalists who try to do the right thing and report truth: usually, they are told exactly what they can say and what they can't, and these days a lot of news readers are reading straight off a script that has been sent to thousands of stations. It's either that or lose your job, and the good ones stay to try to make some sort of a positive difference.

Anyway, back to the topic, I have no idea who orchestrated this or why. If you've ever gone inside an Orthodox Church you'd know they are covered in beautifully painted iconic art. Aside from destroying a community's place of prayer, it is like desecrating a sacred art gallery.

What kind of inner rage and lack of connection to common decency does a person have to have to set fire to a church? Or really, to destroy anything? How is this different to acts of war? It's not. It's all inner rage exploded outward.

At the end of the day, this kind of thing only serves to strengthen and further bond the communities affected. You can't burn that which makes us strongest: love, faith, unity, goodness.

My heart goes out to all the communities affected.

(c) Dana Mrkich 2016

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