The Charge of the Light Brigade: Historical Background on the Crimea Situation, and the Significance of Russia's Role

Here is a very helpful historical summary, including of Russia's historical stance as defender of Orthodox Christians against the Ottoman Muslim invaders. 

See also my article, The West's Blind Spot Towards Russia, which discusses many of the same issues in continuity with today's Islamic jihad against Christians in the Muslim world.

INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH RODE THE SIX HUNDRED

by Dr. Peter Hammond, Thanks to Col. Val Finnell

Crimea is much in the news today. Many people may have trouble finding Crimea on the map. Some say that they have never heard of Crimea before this current crisis. However, that is probably not true. Most of us are aware of the Crimean War or at least of Florence Nightingale, who launched the modern nursing movement, caring for wounded and sick British soldiers during the Crimean War.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Many have surely heard of The Charge of the Light Brigade. That took place during the Crimean War. Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote the poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade poem in 1854:

"Half a league, half a league, half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! he said.

Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade! Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew someone had blundered.

Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.

"Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well,

into the jaws of Death.

Into the mouth of hell rode the six hundred.

"Flashed all their sabres bare, flashed as they turned in air

sabring the gunners there, charging an army,

while all the world wondered.

Plunged in the battery-smoke, right through the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian reeled from the sabre stroke, shattered and sundered.

Then they rode back, but not the six hundred.

"Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them,

cannon behind them volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well, came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell.

All that was left of them, left of six hundred.

"When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honour the charge they made!

Honour the Light Brigade, noble six hundred!"

Courage Despite Confusion

Alfred Tennyson's poem was published 9 December 1854 in The Examiner. Inspired by the term in Psalm 23 of the Valley of the shadow of death, it highlights one of the most famous events of the long and costly Crimean War. The Light Brigade had been ordered into a nearly hopeless situation, due to command confusion and incompetence. Yet incredibly they succeeded in reaching the Russian artillery at the end of a valley lined with artillery on both sides, and they actually succeeded in fighting their way out of a Russian trap. Most of the men made it back to their own lines.

Actually there were 666 men, who charged in the Light Brigade that day. There have been a number of films made on that event.

However, for most people that would be the full extent of their knowledge of Crimea.

The First Modern War

The Crimean War was called one of the first modern wars because it saw the first to use major technology, such as railways and telegraphs. It was also one of the first wars to be documented extensively in photographs and written reports. The Crimean War exposed horrendous logistical failures in both the British and Russian armies.

Military Reforms

The reports of War correspondents led to widespread demands for sweeping reforms in the military. The sale of commissions in the British Army came under scrutiny and was eventually abolished as a result of exposes of incompetence in the field. The war also led to the establishment of the Victoria Cross as the British Army's first universal award for Valour.

Emancipation

The Crimean War was also a contributing factor in Russia abolishing Serfdom in 1861. Czar Alexander II saw the military defeat of the Russian serf army by free troops from Britain and France as proof of the need for emancipating the Serfs. The Russian government also began a major modernisation of its forces as it had seen its technical inferiority in military practices as well as weapons. Russian military medicine saw dramatic progress through the Crimean War as N.I. Pirogov, known as the Father of Russian Field Surgery, developed the use of anaesthetics, plaster casts, enhanced amputation methods and five-stage triage.

Alaska

The debts that Russia incurred from the Crimean War led Alexander II to decide to sell Alaska to the United States to help pay their war debts.

Unasked Reason Why

However, as interesting as all of these developments were, the most important question is seldom asked: Why?

Why were British and French forces fighting the Russians in Crimea in the first place?

The Last Crusade

From the Western media at the time, one would have received the impression that the issue was to protect "poor little Turkey" from the predatory aggressions of imperial Russia. However, the Russians saw it very differently. Some Russians called the war: The Last Crusade.

Islamic law is adopted by British legal chiefs

Solicitors told how to draw up Sharia-style wills penalising widows and non-believers

The end of Great Britain as a Christian, Western nation is almost guaranteed now. Will America also surrender to sharia?

by John Bingham — UK Telegraph — March 22, 2013

Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.

Under ground-breaking guidance, produced by The Law Society, High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether.

The documents, which would be recognised by Britain’s courts, will also prevent children born out of wedlock – and even those who have been adopted – from being counted as legitimate heirs.

Anyone married in a church, or in a civil ceremony, could be excluded from succession under Sharia principles, which recognise only Muslim weddings for inheritance purposes.

Nicholas Fluck, president of The Law Society, said the guidance would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.

Some lawyers, however, described the guidance as “astonishing”, while campaigners warned it represented a major step on the road to a “parallel legal system” for Britain’s Muslim communities.

Baroness Cox, a cross-bench peer leading a Parliamentary campaign to protect women from religiously sanctioned discrimination, including from unofficial Sharia courts in Britain, said it was a “deeply disturbing” development and pledged to raise it with ministers.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Update: Suspicious Cell Phone Call to Captain just before takeoff made from untraceable phone purchased with fake ID, raises more fears of terrorism

Police hunt mystery woman who made final phone call to doomed jet captain as first picture emerges of his estranged wife and family

• Call was made to Captain Shah just hours before he took off in MH370
• Pay-as-you-go phone which made the call was bought with fake ID
• Fake ID was used to get around security measures put in place after 9/11
• Increases fears Captain Shah may have links to terrorism
• Investigators will soon question the captain's estranged wife in detail

by Simon Parry — Daily Mail Online UK — March 22, 2014

The captain of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 received a two-minute call shortly before take-off from a mystery woman using a mobile phone number obtained under a false identity.

It was one of the last calls made to or from the mobile of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah in the hours before his Boeing 777 left Kuala Lumpur 16 days ago.

Investigators are treating it as potentially significant because anyone buying a pay-as-you-go SIM card in Malaysia has to fill out a form giving their identity card or passport number.

Introduced as an anti-terrorism measure following 9/11, this ensures that every number is registered to a traceable person.

But in this case police traced the number to a shop selling SIM cards in Kuala Lumpur.

The Repose of Fr Alexander Atty

Fr Alexander Atty brought me into the Holy Orthodox Church in 1988, and by the grace of God helped shepherd me through an especially difficult and lengthy trial in my life. I am eternally thankful to God for Fr Alexander's presence, direction, and care in my life.

In a private reminiscence to friends last week, I described Fr Alexander as a 'Lion of Orthodoxy'. He was a powerful figure in American Orthodoxy for over three decades, building St Michael's Orthodox Church in Louisville KY into one of the finest examples of a truly pan-Orthodox community in North America, with daily services, extensive charitable endeavors, education for all age groups, and recently adding an apartment complex for seniors of the parish. St Michael's draws Orthodox faithful from all national and ethnic backgrounds, as well as dozens upon dozens of American converts. Fr Alexander had the rare trait of 'zeal according to knowledge', combined with an enveloping warmth of personal care and sincere kindness for people.

I had the great blessing of traveling with him twice to Mount Athos. He took a small number of men on pilgrimages to the Holy Mountain every other year for decades. His own spiritual father was the memorable Elder Isaac (the Syrian), who reposed in 2006. The St George Chapel at St Michael's was designed after a chapel at St Anne Skete which Fr Alexander had visited on Athos.

In mid-2010, Fr Alexander became dean of St Tikhon's Seminary, which he helped revitalize, and where he was soon referred to as "our beloved dean."  Beloved indeed...

Why the Media Doesn’t Cover Jihadist Attacks on Middle East Christians

by Raymond Ibrahim — March 20, 2014

“To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace”—Hebrews 6:6

The United Nations, Western governments, media, universities, and talking heads everywhere insist that Palestinians are suffering tremendous abuses from the state of Israel.  Conversely, the greatest human rights tragedy of our time—radical Muslim persecution of Christians, including in Palestinian controlled areas—is devotedly ignored.

The facts speak for themselves. Reliable estimates indicate that anywhere from 100-200 million Christians are persecuted every year; one Christian is martyred every five minutes. Approximately 85% of this persecution occurs in Muslim majority nations. In 1900, 20% of the Middle East was Christian. Today, less than 2% is.

In one week in Egypt alone, where my Christian family emigrated, the Muslim Brotherhood launched a kristallnacht—attacking, destroying, and/or torching some 82 Christian churches (some of which were built in the 5th century, when Egypt was still a Christian-majority nation before the Islamic conquests).  Al-Qaeda’s black flag has been raised atop churches.  Christians—including priests, women and children—have been attacked, beheaded, and killed.

Nor is such persecution of Christians limited to Egypt.   From Morocco in the west to Indonesia in the east and from Central Asia to the north to sub-Saharan Africa to the south; across thousands of miles of lands inhabited by peoples who do not share the same races, languages, cultures, and/or socio-economic conditions, millions of Christians are being persecuted and in the same exact patterns.

Muslim converts to Christianity and Christian evangelists are attacked, imprisoned, and sometimes beheaded; countless churches across the Islamic world are being banned or bombed; Christian women and children are being abducted, enslaved, raped, and/or forced to renounce their faith.

Far from helping these Christian victims, U.S. policies are actually exacerbating their sufferings.  Whether in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, or Syria, and under the guise of the U.S.-supported “Arab Spring,” things have gotten dramatically worse for Christians.  Indeed, during a recent U.S. congressional hearing, it was revealed that thousands of traumatized Syrian Christians—who, like Iraqi Christians before them are undergoing a mass exodus from their homeland—were asking “Why is America at war with us?”

The answer is that very few Americans have any clue concerning what is happening to their coreligionists.

Few mainstream media speak about the horrific persecution millions of people are experiencing simply because they wish to worship Christ in peace.

Growing Persecution of Christians by Radical Islamists in Northern Syria

Pravoslavie — March 20, 2014

Damascus — Christians in the regions of north Syria, controlled by insurgents, are faced with growing persecution by radical islamists, reported Melkite (Greek Catholic) Archbishop Jean-Abdo Arbach of Homs.

"The Muslim rule must be applied, while all the Christian symbols displayed publicly must be destroyed," said the archbishop in his interview with the "Aid to Church in Need" aid organization, commenting on the islamists' agenda.

"In addition to this, the Christians who wish to stay will be forced to pay a tax in the future".

But in other places of Syria the situation with Christians is gradually improving. Thus, many Christians have returned to Homs, the third largest city of the country.

"The government troops have established nearly full control of this region and the insurgents are ruling over only four districts," the CWN agency cites the archbishop's words.

Sedmitza.ru

Egypt’s Coptic pope to visit Moscow

Relations between Russia and Egypt are being further enhanced by the strengthening of spiritual ties between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.  

Pravmir — March 20, 2014

CAIRO – Preparations are in full swing for an expected visit to Moscow by Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II, his first trip to Russia since taking the helm of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church in 2012, a church source said Wednesday.

According to the source, Father Rafael, secretary of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church, travelled to Russia on Wednesday on an undeclared visit to prepare for Tawadros’ upcoming visit.

“The date of the visit, which will aim to strengthen relations between Egypt and Russia, will be decided once the necessary preparations are made,” the church source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

Relations between Cairo and Moscow have picked up dramatically since last July’s ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the army.

Last November, Pope Tawadros II met with Russia’s ambassador in Cairo and lauded Russian support for Egypt.

Egyptian army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi visited Russia in mid-February amid reports of a major arms deal between the two countries.

Source: TurkishPress.com

New Anthology Features English Translations of Arabic Orthodox Literature

This new title holds much promise for traditional Christian apologetics, and for efforts to rally opposition to Muslim persecution of Christians. Arab Christian theological treatises from the 8th century onward directly countered Islam's fierce theological jihad against Christianity, which began in the Quran itself, with such strident passages as these:

Say not “Trinity”: desist: It will be better for you: For God is One God: Glory be to Him: (Far Exalted is He) above having a son. . . . (Sura 4:173)

In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the Son of Mary. (Sura 5:19)

They do blaspheme who say: “God is Christ the son of Mary . . .” They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them (Sura 5:75,78)

Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Apostle; many were the apostles that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God doth make His Signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth! (Sura 5:78)

The Jews call 'Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (Sura 9:30)

In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him — they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him. (Sura 4:157)

The Quran's jihad against Christianity is not merely theological. It contains explicit commands for Muslims to wage holy war against the 'People of the Book', subjugate them, force them to pay the jizya, and utterly humiliate them:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Sura 9:29)

Ultimately, early Christian sources from the first and second waves of Islamic jihad are essential in further establishing the historical, unbroken continuity of Muslim warfare against Christians, Islamic domination of conquered Christian communities through the repressive dhimma contract and the Conditions of Omar, and how the militant, supremacist nature of early Islam is openly being reasserted today in the 21st century jihad.


New Anthology Features English Translations of Arabic Orthodox Literature
Pravmir — March 20, 2014

A recently published anthology, The Orthodox Church in the Arab World 700-1700: An Anthology of Sources, is a comprehensive introduction to the first millennium of Arabic-speaking Orthodoxy accessible to English speakers. Published by the Northern Illinois University Press, the book is the work of two Orthodox scholars, Samuel Noble, a doctoral candidate in religious studies at Yale University, and Alexander Treiger, associate professor in the Department of Classics and Program in Religious Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Noble explains that “…in the Western historiography of Christianity, the Arab Christian Middle East is treated only peripherally, if at all.” A sample of the book’s contents includes: 

Crimea’s joining to Russia is a victory over 'vicious circle of historical absurdity' — Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)

... while America sows absurdity at home and abroad.

This observation by Archimandrite Tikhon should prompt some reflection over the epochal shift we are living through, as America is stripped of any cover of righteousness, and is exposed as being on the wrong side of history for all to see.

A shockingly weakened and marginalized America desperately tries to oppress and head off a morally, spiritually and globally resurgent Russia.

The brazenly anti-Christian Obama administration promotes godlessness, homosexuality, and abortion both at home and around the globe.

The Obama administration exports strife and revolution abroad, backing the Muslim Brotherhood Islamic extremist group in Egypt, Al Qaeda in Libya, Islamists in Syria, etc. U.S. support to these groups is essential to their efforts to destabilize and topple longstanding governments which, while no bastions of civil liberties, guaranteed stability and a measure of equal rights for Christians and other minorities.

Details are now emerging of U.S support for the Ukrainian 'Pravy Sektor' opposition, an amalgam of fascist, neo-nazi and ultra-nationalist groups, hostile to and openly threatening Russia.

Russia defends indigenous Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world, whereas America supports barbaric Islamic extremist groups who slaughter and persecute Christians, in effect waging a proxy war against traditional Christians.

A senior American statesman screams at a Syrian Christian delegation and treats them shamefully, while consorting with Muslim jihadis who eat the organs of their slain enemies. Senator John McCain is merely a tragic symptom of America's corrupt, anti-Christian orientation.

St Luke, Archbishop of
Crimea and Simferepol

The re-baptized and renewed Russian Federation welcomes and restores a traditional Russian province through an open referendum, and it is "not by chance that Crimea joined Russia on the day of finding relics of St. Luka (Voyno-Yasenetsky), the Crimean Archbishop, whose main goal was standing for truth, 'in spite of the pressure, sufferings'.”

In other words, we have faith that the Lord's providential hand is directing events. As we approach the midpoint of Great Lent, it is time to embrace the Church's call to repentance and turn to Christ, Who alone can save us.



Crimea’s joining to Russia is a victory over 'vicious circle of historical absurdity', Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) believes
Pravmir — March 20, 2014
(Translation edited for English idiom and syntax.)

Moscow, March 19, Interfax – Secretary of the Patriarchal Council on Culture Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) considers Crimea’s inclusion in Russia a restoration of historical justice.

“It is a victory over the vicious circle of historical [absurdity] in which our people were involved,” Father Tikhon said on air the special edition of the Sunday Evening program at Rossiya-1 TV.

The priest stressed that day “was in no way a victory over Ukraine.”

He believes it important that we managed to preserve the unity of [the] canonical Russian Church in the territory of [the] former USSR and “it would be tested for durability.”

Metropolitan Philip falls asleep in the Lord

MEMORY ETERNAL! HIS EMINENCE METROPOLITAN PHILIP

The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, with great sadness, announces the passing unto life eternal of His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan Philip, Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America. May his memory be eternal! Details are forthcoming.