Fr. Stephen Freeman: 'Living in the Real World'

As we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Word of God Incarnate, here is a reminder of what is real:

"God gives us Himself, His life-creating grace, in very concrete and particular ways. The reason is simple – we were created to live in a concrete and particular way. The life of abstraction is alien to the life of grace. There is no sacrament of the abstract, vague or general. The only Presence is a real presence..."

Living in the Real World
Fr. Stephen Freeman, Glory to God for All Things, November 24, 2015

Nothing exists in general. If something is beautiful or good, it is manifest in a particular way at a particular time such that we can know it. And this is our true life. A life lived in a “generalized” manner is no life at all, but only a fantasy. However, this fantasy is increasingly the character of what most people think of or describe as the “real world.”

A monk lives in a monastery. He rises early in the morning and prays. He concentrates his mind in his heart and dwells in the presence of God. He will offer prayers for those who have requested it. He will eat and tend to the work assigned for him to do. And so he lives his day. He works. He prays.

And someone will say, “But what does he know about the real world?” But what can they possibly mean? He walks on the earth. He breathes the same air as we do. He eats as we do and sleeps as we do. How is his world any less real than that of anyone else on the planet?

'Perfected by the Sword' - The Way of Martyrdom in Our Times: Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

"The Church today must prepare her children and those who love Christ and His salvation for martyrdom, to become martyrs for Christ. Theology, missions and social work outside of the feel and view of martyrdom has no particular value. The great Elders during the time of the Turkish occupation were “coaches” of the martyrs. This is what the great Elders are doing also today." 

— Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos 

"The way of the Church is the way of sacrifice and martyrdom – this has been so since the foundation of the Church and it remains true for us today... We cannot begin to speak about how to expand the mission, if we do not begin with the reality of martyrdom, which is the only authentic foundation for our Apostolic work... We are here, in North America, called to be apostles and martyrs for Christ." 

— Metropolitan Tikhon of the OCA, (Source)

Holiness and Martyrdom in Our Times:
An Interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Pravmir — September 9, 2015

Holiness, asceticism, discernment and martyrdom are great riches of our Church that move us, attract us, transform us and save us from the distractions and lies of this world in every era. In an interview with His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou, he gives answers to the questions of a journalist (George Theoharis from /Agioritikovima.gr/) on these issues, and speaks of other aspects of ecclesiastical life...

– In many parts of the world today we see that Orthodoxy is persecuted. Where do you think our enemies will reach?

– You are absolutely right. Wherever an Orthodox Church exists it accepts temptations and persecutions. It is an undeviating law. We see this wherever an Orthodox Church exists – North, South, East and West. The only thing different is the method of persecution in each country. Sometimes it is obvious and aggressive and reminiscent of the ancient times of early Christianity, and sometimes it is insidious and more dangerous, such as secularization, that is, the intermingling with the world.

The Orthodox Church is the Body of Christ, it is the brilliant sun that causes and invites pain to those whose eyes are unhealthy and have vision problems. And where the sun is there is also a shadow, and in the shadow is darkness, where many bloodthirsty beasts circulate.

When people hate Christ, the Truth, the Orthodox Church, they have internal problems and can reach unfathomable places, to the point of madness. I saw on the internet a frightening scene of the beheading of a Christian by a fanatical Muslim and I was shocked. I thought how this was the way the Apostles and Martyrs were martyred, such as when the Synaxarion says “they were perfected by the sword”. 

And this is a test for us who love to have a good time, who compromise, who seek prosperity. Hence, persecutions show the internal illnesses of the persecutors, as well as the greatness of Christians. The measure of our love for Christ is very high. Holiness and faithfulness to the evangelical commandments are not given with the low criteria of ethical and social works, but they must have high standards.

Special Request: For an Orthodox Priest and his Family in Great Need

Please consider helping to support Fr. Matthew Harrington and Matushka Anna and their family during this time of crisis. Rather than merely link to the GoFundMe site, I wanted to share Rod Dreher's full post, as Fr Matthew's story is a profound one of deep conversion, of brokenness, of mission, and of taking up one's cross and following Christ. Fr Matthew's story needs to be shared, because it is so authentic. Through his and Matushka Anna's crosses, through their suffering, and through our prayers and help for them, we all may learn and grow into the likeness of Christ together. . .

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As posted at Pravoslavie: We would like to post on our site a plea from Rod Dreher, Orthodox blogger at The American Conservative, concerning the current pressing need of his priest Fr. Matthew Harrington and his family, as his wife faces a dangerous and costly surgery for the birth of their fourth child. Please consider contributing as you can, through prayer and donations.

A CLERGY FAMILY IN GREAT NEED

by Rod Dreher, The American Conservative — July 19, 2015

If you’ve been following this blog for the past two or three years, or if you’ve read How Dante Can Save Your Life, you will have read about my priest, Father Matthew Harrington. As pastor of St. John the Theologian Orthodox Mission, he’s a terrific priest, and helped me tremendously through my own spiritual and emotional struggles, as I recount in the book. Here’s an excerpt from How Dante telling you a little about who he is:

St. John the Theologian is Father Matthew’s first parish. When Father Seraphim Bell, a Walla Walla, Washington, priest who is Father Matthew’s own spiritual father, dispatched the newly ordained Matthew to us, he told me that the former police officer was a naturally gifted pastor “because he has suffered.” 

After we had known each other a while, I asked Father Matthew what Father Seraphim had meant by that. I knew that Father Matthew had been raised by his grandparents and had never known his father. And I knew that he had been a police officer. One afternoon, sitting alone with him in the fellowship hall, I asked him to tell me his story. 

“I was a very capable police officer, but I always felt like I was being punished for doing my job,” he said, squaring his shoulders under his black cassock. “I would arrest some city bigwig for drunk driving, and my boss would fuss at me. Why? It really aggravated a sense in me of deep mistrust of authority. 

“And there were other things that are normal in police work but that started to get to me. I would think, ‘Why did that guy try to kill me? Why couldn’t I have saved that person?’ As I progressed in police work, I felt more and more of a sense of being orphaned. It all came out of self-pity, but those are real, hard emotions that being a cop coughed up.” 

“Tell me about the breaking point,” I said. 

“It was the second-to-last call I ever took,” he told me. “It was a little girl. She lived right by a big aqueduct, and fell in and drowned. I never saw her body, but by then I was so emotionally fragile that the pictures by themselves shook up me up pretty bad. She had on these pink sandals with flowers on them. 

“That was a Saturday. The next morning, I went to liturgy, and in front of me was a little girl wearing the exact same shoes,” he continued. “I came undone. That was the end of my career. It really was. My wife knew. I knew. It was just how I navigated the exit.” 

Father Matthew’s last deed as an active police officer was to chase two suspected thieves who were escaping on bicycles. They dropped their bikes and slipped away. Enraged by this, he took out his knife and cut their tires. 

“Just like that,” Father Matthew said, shaking his head. “Then I realized that I had become what I was fighting. I couldn’t be a cop anymore. I talked to my chief and told him I couldn’t go on. I wasn’t a bad cop, and I wasn’t a malicious cop, but I was a suffering cop, and I needed out.” 

Father Matthew and his wife, Anna, had discovered the Orthodox Church through the parish pastored by Father Seraphim. As the young police officer’s emotional life disintegrated under job pressure, the congregation held him up. 

“What I thought was a strong wall cracked, and I fell apart,” the priest told me. “They didn’t judge me when they saw me bawling through vespers and liturgy, just bawling.” 

“Wait,” I said. “You? You cried in front of all those people?” 

Tall and stern, with a piercing gaze, Father Matthew is not the kind of man you imagine crying in public, if at all. Though he wears a cassock now (“my dress,” he snarks), this priest does not look like the sort of cleric fat-mouthing heretics would want to mess with. 

“Yeah, I cried,” he said. “I was broken. I still am broken. I can’t watch war movies or anything like that. It’s a humbling experience to know that you’re in the prime of your life and you’re broken.” 

Meeting Father Seraphim had made all the difference in his life. “He tells it like it is,” said Father Matthew. “He made me face myself, and all my pride and anger. Man, was I ever angry. Orthodoxy allowed me to come out of that.” 

“Dante would call it a dark wood,” I said. “So is that why you became a priest?” 

“I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “It was a response to the love I received from Christ through the Church. If anything, my time in the civil service showed me that the only way I could help people was to heal my own heart. I had to seek the fullness of life in Christ, to be able to see the divine light in anyone. Otherwise, all they’re getting is the blind leading the blind.”

Starting tomorrow [July 20], Father Matthew and his wife Anna are going to face the biggest challenge of their lives. Anna—the priest’s wife is called “Matushka,” meaning “little mother,” in the Russian Orthodox Church—will be admitted to the hospital for a high-risk, extremely complicated surgery, to give birth to their fourth child, a daughter they will name Irene. Theirs is a clergy family, one that serves a very small mission church. We in the congregation are giving all we can, but it won’t be remotely enough to meet all the medical needs of the Harringtons. Friends of the Harringtons outside our parish have set up a GoFundMe for those who would like to help them. From the GoFundMe site:

Due to complications with Anna’s pregnancy, Irene’s delivery will require her month-early arrival (July 21) by a complex surgical procedure. She will also be born with a special condition called hemifacial microsomia that includes pronounced spinal scoliosis. 

Matushka Anna stopped working at the end of April due to these medical struggles. While the members of the Parish of Saint John the Theologian lovingly support Father Matthew financially in his priesthood , the Harrington family also depended on Matushka Anna’s income to fulfill their needs. The Harringtons are facing major financial hardship. Anna will not physically be able to work, and baby Irene will require her attentions full-time. Irene will likely need future surgical procedures and the attentions of specialists to care for the many possible complexities of her condition. This includes medical care and may include travel to major hospitals in other areas of the United States. 

Matushka Anna’s condition is delicate in the sense that the procedure she will undergo is complicated and will require a week or so long hospital stay and her recovery will be longer than expected. The family has never been known for anything but grateful acceptance of even the most challenging situations, but these new tests have involved selling Matushka’s car, delaying almost all purchases, and belt-tightening to an extent which we, both friends and those who have been affected by Father, as well as those who appreciate voices of his variety, need to step up and do what we can.

I can vouch for the fact that the Harringtons lived a very modest life since they arrived to start our tiny mission church. Theirs has become much more modest since Mat. Anna had to quit her job. The family has the spiritual resources to face this challenge, but the financial aspect is going to be an enormity. I don’t post things like this often, but because Father Matthew’s work among our little congregation has touched many of you, via this blog and my Dante book, I thought you would like to know that the need for prayer and other forms of assistance is great with this family. Please do what you can.

* * *

For updates on Father Matthew and Matushka Anna, please see Rod Dreher's Twitter page.

Prayer For Our Enemies

Part of a series on prayer, transcribed from television episodes presented on Russian television in the spring of 1999 by Fr. (now Metropolitan) Hilarion (Alfeyev) with the blessing of His Holiness, the late Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

Pravmir — June 10, 2010

Archimandrite Sophrony, in his book about St. Silouan the Athonite, says: “Those that hate and reject their brother are flawed in their being; they cannot find the way to God, Who loves all.” This holds true. When hatred for man settles in our heart, we are not able to approach God. As long as we hold on to this feeling, the path to God is barred to us. This is why it is necessary to pray for our enemies.

The necessity of praying for our enemies stems from the very essence of the moral teaching of Jesus Christ.

In the pre-Christian era there was a rule: Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy (Matthew 5:43). The majority of people continue to live in accordance with this rule. It is natural for us to love our neighbors, those who do us good, and to treat with hostility and even hatred those who pose evil. But Christ says that our attitude should be completely different: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

Christ Himself, during His earthly life, repeatedly set an example both of love for enemies and of prayer for them. When the soldiers nailed the Lord to the Cross, He experienced frightful torments and incredible pain, but He prayed: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). At that moment He thought not about Himself, not about the fact that these soldiers were causing Him pain, but rather about their salvation; for, by committing evil, they were first of all harming themselves.

'When you see that someone is doing something evil, hate not him, but the devil, who is behind him.'

~ St John Chrysostom

We should remember that people who do us evil or treat us with hostility are not bad in themselves. What is bad is the sin with which they are infected. One needs to hate sin, but not its bearer: man. As St. John Chrysostom put it: “when you see that someone is doing something evil, hate not him, but the devil, who is behind him.”

The Prayer of Gethsemane

by Fr. Gregory, Panagia Swift To Hear — April 14, 2014

The Prayer of Gethsemane

This is the title of a Chapter in the book, His Life is Mine by Archmandrite Sophrony...

Archmandrite Sophrony believes that the prayer of our Lord in Gethsemane was a prayer for the salvation of all mankind.  And this is something to think about as we approach Holy Friday: What should we pray for at that time?  Maybe we need to think how the world seems to have basically rejected our Lord Jesus Christ and pray for the salvation of all.  So now a quote from Father Sophrony’s book, His life is Mine:  

"Christ’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane is the noblest of all prayers by its virtue and power for atone for the sins of the world.  Offered to the Eternal God the Father in a spirit of divine love it continues to shine, a light that cannot be extinguished, forever drawing to itself the souls that have preserved their likeness to God.  Christ included the whole human race in this prayer, from the first Adam to the last man to be born of woman.

"We lack existential knowledge of such love and so its permanent significance is hidden from us.  Victorious in eternity, Christ’s love on the earthly plane spells extreme suffering.  No one has ever known such suffering as Christ endured.  He descended into hell, into the most painful hell of all, the hell of love.  This is a sphere of existence which can only be apprehended through spiritual love—of love that has been granted us to know from on High.  It is vital to have experienced, if only once, the heavenly fire which Christ brought with him; to know with our entire being what it is to be even a little like Christ…

"When, as I have said, a shadow of a likeness to the Gethsemane prayer is granted him, man then transcends the boundaries of his own individuality and enters into a new form of being—personal being in the likeness of Christ.  By participating in the sufferings of his Divine love, we, too, in spirit can experience a little of his death and of the power of his resurrection.  'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death' (in deep prayer for the world and consuming desire for the salvation of all), 'we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection' (Rom. 6.5).  When it is given to us from on high to enter this new sphere of Being, we arrive at 'the ends of the world' (I Cor. 10.11) and pass into the light of Divine Eternity.

"And every man on whom God has bestowed the rare and dread privilege of knowing to a minute degree the agony of Christ’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane will stumble on, slowly and painfully, to a cogent awareness of the resurrection of his own soul and a perception of Christ’s undeniable, ineluctable victory.  He will know 'that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him' (Rom. 6.9)  And now, O Christ, by the gift of Thy love which passeth all understanding I, too, have crossed from death to life…

"Now—I am." 

(His Life is Mine, pp. 91, 95)

Source: panagiaquicktohear.com

St Sergius of Radonezh: On bringing our enemies before God's Judgment

From a homily by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
PRAVMIR — 10/8/2013

Finding Rest for Our Souls with St. Sergius of Radonezh

Today we solemnly celebrate the name of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Sergius, the Abbot of Radonezh and Wonder-worker. The Venerable Sergius is an extraordinary example for all of us, for the Church, and for our people ­– an example of how the Divine commandments can be realized in the person of a human being; of how a human being possessing weaknesses and illnesses, bound to the physical existence of this world, can attain likeness to the angels.

Every believing person from time to time has the following thought: is it at all possible to attain this Divine likeness in our modern world? Reading the Life of the Venerable Sergius will convince anyone that this was indeed a great man; this was a happy man. The Venerable Sergius never complained, even in the most constrained circumstances of life: when he lived in solitude in the dark woods, when he was starting this holy monastery; and when he, misunderstood by the brethren, had to withdraw from this monastery and live, as it were, in exile from his brethren; and in the days when extraordinary danger surrounded both the Church and the country. Nowhere is it mentioned that the Venerable One was dissatisfied, annoyed, or angry with anyone, trying to correct something with human strength. His Life bears witness to us of a wise, spiritually strong, beautiful person — indeed, an extraordinary example for us.

What will help us understand the mystery of such a life? How did such a way of life begin, and how was it maintained? We read remarkable texts of Holy Scripture in connection with the memory of Venerable [monastic] Fathers. Everyone knows well the words of the Gospel according to Matthew that resounded yesterday at Matins: Come… and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And then what? And ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:28-29). 

The Lord associates meekness and humility with inner peace, and we know that peace is a synonym for human well-being. One can be rich, famous, and powerful; one can be a hierarch, priest, or minister — whatever — and if one does not have inner peace, one cannot have well-being. Modern life shows us amazing examples of how people who have attained the heights of political life, who have become very rich, super-rich, cannot attain this peace. Why not? Because we live in a world where sin abides and where various feelings arise in human hearts in regards to other people...

If one looks at ordinary human conflict — sometimes it happens that someone offends us, speaks badly about us, expresses disagreement with us, or even starts a battle against us — what do we usually do? We concentrate our energies on striking a blow against that person in order to lessen potentially harmful actions on their part. We wrack our brains, lose all peace, and try to look for allies; sometimes publicly — and in our times also through the means of mass media — we involve ourselves in argument and conflict.

We should not do any of this if we want to be happy. 

If we want to have peace, we need to learn to bring our opponents and enemies before God’s judgment. If we feel that we are right, then the first thing that we should have in a difficult life situation is the conviction that only God is the true judge. He clearly sees the depths of the human spirit, and if one person or another truly becomes our enemy, and we do not desire this or give cause for this, then we need to pray sincerely for this person and ask that God’s judgment be accomplished and not human judgment.

God’s judgment overtakes people who perform evil deeds more quickly than we can possibly imagine. If it happens more slowly, then this is for our salvation, for our humility, and for our patience. 

Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan: “Fasting and Prayer for Peace With the Pope is Our Mission”

Aleteia via Pravmir — 9/6/2013

Syro-Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop explains that his community welcomes the Holy Father’s invitation for prayer and fasting.

A heartfelt invitation to fasting and prayer for peace in communion and in conjunction with the prayer vigil announced by Pope Francis for September 7, was sent to the Syrian-Orthodox Christian community by Eustathius Matta Roham, Syro-Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of “Jazirah and Euphrates,” in the eastern part of Syria.Asked by Fides Agency, the Metropolitan, who is currently in Vienna, says that he and all his community “adhere strongly to the Pope’s appeal.” To ward off evils such as war and violence, the Archbishop recalled the passage from the Gospel of Matthew (17:21) : “This kind of demons do not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Sentencing Major Nidal Hasan

The Fort Hood Jihadist was found guilty on all 45 counts against him. Now comes the sentencing phase.

For what it's worth, in my estimation, he should be given 14 consecutive life sentences (for the thirteen counts of premeditated murder, plus the murder of the unborn child being carried by slain PFC Francheska Velez), without possibility of parole.

He should also not be allowed to profit from his crimes through publication or correspondence.

A death sentence would stiffen his resolve to die as a mujahideen for Allah and Islam, and would elevate him to the stature of a martyr in the eyes of the Muslim world.

Time is the providential tool the Lord uses to draw us to repentance. Consider how a steady flow of soft, humble water carves a hollow from hardened stone over the period of many years.

Time — life in prison — is the Christian punishment for Major Nidal Hasan. Time, and the Lord's providence, might even lead him to repentance, and to salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

Remember the Wise Thief crucified with Jesus.

How to Set Up an Icon Corner at Home

"Today, of course, when the television set ­– which is itself a kind of a window into the motley world of human passions – has taken the place of icons in the home, the purpose of the family icon, the tradition of common prayer at home, and the consciousness of the family as the “little Church” have been lost." —Serge Alexeev

Serge Alexeev — PRAVMIR

Quantity and quality are two different things. It would be naive to assume that the more sacred images there are in an Orthodox Christian’s home, the more pious his life. A disorganized collection of icons, reproductions, and religious wall calendars covering a significant amount of living space can often have a contrary effect on one’s spiritual life.

A poorly thought-out collection of icons can turn into something simple and meaningless, in which the prayerful purpose of the icon has no place whatsoever.

Nonetheless, it is essential to have icons in one’s home in sufficient numbers, but within reasonable limits.

In the past, whether on a farm or in the city, every Orthodox family’s home would always have a shelf with icons, or an entire home iconostasis, located in the most visible place. The place where the icons were installed was known as the front corner, the beautiful corner, the holy corner, God’s place, or the kiot.

For Orthodox Christians, an icon is not just a depiction of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, the Saints, or events from Sacred and Church History. An icon is a sacred image, i.e., it is outside the realm of ordinary reality; it is not to be confused with ordinary daily life; and it is intended only for communion with God. Thus, the primary purpose of icons is prayer. An icon is a window from our world, the earthly world, into the world above. It is God’s revelation in form and color.

The Time to 'Walk the Walk' is Upon Us

This brief essay is a wake up call to faithful Orthodox Christians. Worthy of sharing widely. As another Orthodox writer said some few decades ago:

"Now one cannot be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely or not at all." — Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (†1982)

Archangel Michael defeats Antichrist
at the End of the Age

Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk
by Archpriest John Moses - Pravmir

I knew that my question would cause some anxiety and concern, but by the look on the faces of the study group, I knew that I had hit a nerve. 

We were in a Bible study on the book of Revelation. I pointed out that one of the things that we learn is that evil imitates the Good. Christ is the light of the world, and so the devil is an angel of light. Since Christ was incarnate in the world, taking on the reality of our physical existence, evil also seeks to make itself real and tangible.

So, Revelation shows us that one of the ways evil likes to incarnate is in governments and political systems. The Bible teaches that just as the Holy Spirit is in the world, the spirit of anti-Christ is also in the world. This spirit had incarnated itself many times in the governments of the world. Each time, God brought these systems to an end.

Then I asked the question: “Many of you lived through the Great Depression. Many of you fought in World War II and the Korean and Vietnamese Wars. You have been good citizens and patriots. You have raised your children, paid your taxes, and attended church faithfully for many years. You say the Pledge of Allegiance with true pride and affection. Despite all of this, do you think that our country is becoming anti-Christ?”

The answer surprised me. “No, but we can begin to see signs of it.”  I responded, “And if the time comes when it is clear to you that this has happened, that the United States has become completely anti-Christ, what will you do? Can you still pledge allegiance to such a government?

This is when the room was filled with puzzled and anxious faces. The year was 1992.

Elder Porphyrios on Facing Islam

This is essential spiritual counsel especially for all of us who confront Islam. Another way to think of it is to consider that we are treating a poison, and we must not become infected with it ourselves.

May the Holy Trinity bless us in this work . . .

Correcting, Not Condemning, Evil

MYSTAGOGY

By Elder Porphyrios of Kapsokalyva

Our purpose is not to condemn evil, but to correct it. With condemnation people can get lost, with understanding and assistance they will be saved.

Evil begins from bad thoughts.

When you are bitter and indignant, even just with your thoughts, you spoil a spiritual atmosphere. You prevent the Holy Spirit from acting and allow the devil to increase the evil.

You should always pray, love and forgive, driving out of yourself every evil thought.

PRISM: Has Tyranny Triumphed in America?

The NY Times editorial board, after the revelation of the NSA's collection of phone data from millions of Verizon customers daily, slammed the Obama Administration as having "lost all credibility."

The NY Times' withering assault on Obama was apparently before the revelation that all the cellular and telecom companies were having to provide such data to the government, and it was certainly before this evening's screaming internet headlines about PRISM, the top-top-secret government internet server harvesting program implicating nine or more major internet companies including Microsoft, Google, Apple and AOL (many of whom are already denying that the government has direct access to their servers — much more to play out yet here).

According to the Washington Post article which broke the story, two senators whose clearance gave them classified knowledge of the system, were unable to speak of it openly:

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who had classified knowledge of the program as members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were unable to speak of it when they warned in a Dec. 27, 2012, floor debate that the FISA Amendments Act had what both of them called a “back-door search loophole” for the content of innocent Americans who were swept up in a search for someone else.

Is this not one of everyone's worst fears about our ever more intrusive, powerful, bullying and sinister government? The past several weeks have seen wave after wave of shocking scandals crash upon the generally accepting American public, to the point where we can glimpse the monster of tyranny behind the slipping mask of Uncle Sam.

• Benghazi Cover-up
• IRS intimidation of Conservative groups
• AP phone records scandal
• James Rosen of Fox News treated as a conspirator for doing his job as a reporter
• Wiretapping of members of Congress - Holder refuses to deny
• NSA harvesting data on billions of U.S. citizens' phone calls every day
• PRISM: total surveillance of all Americans who are in any way on the grid

Even the author of the Patriot Act Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis, stated the NSA collection of phone data was never the intent of the law. But with the temptation of power in government, this is what happens. And the law will never be repealed, it will only be expanded as technology for surveillance improves. This is the future. This is our future.

Late last night, in an extraordinary statement, the Director of National Intelligence condemned the disclosure of data harvesting procedures, not the procedures themselves:

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program "reprehensible" and said it risks Americans' security... "The unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation," Clapper said in an unusual late-night statement.

This is precisely the "newspeak" of a 1984-style, Orwellian totalitarian regime which is applying Soviet control principles to a pacified populace sedated and distracted by comforts, gadgets, and a sham pop culture that rots the brain.