Racial themes of good and evil (Part I)

Despite our current liberal sensibilities on race, faint hints of the faith of our fathers expose themselves in seemingly meaningless circumstances through our association certain of colors with various symbolic qualities. The colors (or rather "non-colors" if one insists on appropriate terminology) that are of importance are black and white.

The most obvious is contrasting light (which symbolizes good) and darkness (which symbolizes evil). Another example would be the color of dress relating to the specific circumstances; mostly white is worn on the day of marriage (especially by the bride, symbolizing purity), whereas black is worn at funerals (symbolic of death). Color symbolism has even found itself on our historical interpretation of the past. We look to the so called "dark" ages as being miserable, something that according to modern interpretations was overturned during the age of "enlightenment" (note: I disagree with this modernist interpretation of history). These are but a few examples I took off Wikipedia to illustrate a point.

The reason I bring this up was that I continuously find color symbolism in Christian stories, even some with an explicitly racial component, of which I will share today.

I predict that this will not be the last of such an article, given the abundance of stories of saints. Regardless, here is a short collection of Christian stories depicting racial themes of good and evil. 

Firstly, I think it makes sense to reference the previous article which I wrote back in November on Saint Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum. To summarize, the antagonists of the story "Sabinus and Crescens, along with the other malingers - more than a hundred in number - found their faces suddenly turned as black as coal (which could also be seen in their descendants for many generations), and they were punished with exile." A short read that I recommend be read in full. 

Moving on, we see the story of Saint Tryphon. Given power over the demons he "summoned the demon that he discerned with the eyes of his soul, saying: 'In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to appear here before all, that each one here may before your ugliness and weakness.' The demon then appeared before as a hideous black dog". Although not explicitly concerning race, it demonstrates a point to be proven further in this article: that demons are black in color. 

A racial theme I found was in the story of Saint Peter the Tax-Collector (or Publican). Showing no pity for the poor, Peter hurled a loaf of bread angrily at a beggar that sought aid from him. As the story goes: "two days later the rich man [Peter] lay mortally ill and saw himself in a vision standing before the Judge and a pair of scales was brought before him. Some black demons were heaping up his evil deeds on one side of the scale, while opposite stood some white-clothed angels who looked sad because they could find nothing to put on their side. Then one of them said: 'True, we have nothing but one wheaten loaf, which he gave, reluctantly, to Christ two days ago.' He put the loaf on the scale, and it seemed to balance the bad deeds on the other side. The white-robed angels said to him: 'Add something to this loaf, or the demons will have you!'"

Moving on, a collection of stories from the Egyptian desert fathers was shown to me by a Russian Old Believer (they are in Russian, so either use Google Translate or seek the original sources that are cited in the article). Stories concerning saints such as Saint Macarius of Egypt and Saint Anthony the Great had the demons that waged warfare on the saints described as "Ethiopians". Some of the stories even having the "stench" of the demons emphasized. 

Above is the 12th century Ladder of Divine Ascent icon. Notice the demons that drag down the ascetics.

All stories have been linked to and I urge all to read through the full stories if they desire. 

A few things that I should note (and it should be obvious to most, but for those that it's not I will say it) is that black people are not demons. On average (NAXALT blah blah blah) their way of life is more demonic, and that should be obvious to those with common sense. Furthermore, to those few blacks that are genuine Christians I do not write this article so as to target you. Stay on the Christian path so as not to become a "spiritual Ethiopian" but rather become be "whiter than snow" (Ps 51:7). Augustine commented on Galatians 3:28, “Difference of race or condition or sex is indeed taken away by the unity of faith, but it remains embedded in our mortal interactions, and in the journey of this life the apostles themselves teach that is to be respected”. As such: respect the difference of race in regards to mortal interactions and strive to perform the roles God has decided for you.

That being said, this article was not written for blacks, but rather for my white brothers, whom I will now address. 

These stories have been passed down to us through the Tradition of our fathers. I do not believe these writings to be coincidences. I also do not believe these writings to be bygone relics of a more bigoted time. The Fifth Commandment given to us is "Honor thy father and thy mother" and that speaks also of our spiritual fathers. Shall we disregard the tales of our spiritual fathers out of "enlightened" and supposedly "rationalistic" hubris? 

I say that we return to Tradition. God loves our people, even though lots of other White people, along with the world, don't love our people. We must realize our place in the world - the same world that only a few centuries ago was conquered by the White race. As cliché as it is: we must become who we are!

Part II: (https://rdacian.blogspot.com/2020/07/racial-themes-of-good-and-evil-part-ii.html)

A thread on Saint Gregory, Bishop of Agrigentum and a new Curse of Ham

Saint Gregory was born on the island of Sicily, in the village of Pretorium, not far from the city of Agrigentum, to his pious and virtuous parents Chariton and Theodoti. 

I was reading of him yesterday as it was his feast day. One aspect of his story stuck out to me.

He traveled from his homeland to Carthage, then Jerusalem, then Constantinople, the city in which he participated in the Fifth Ecumenical Synod of 553. I mention this as it is notable that he wasn't an 'obscure' saint. 

Fate had it that Gregory returned to his homeland and was ordained bishop, guiding his flock. However, two malicious priests, Sabinus and Crescens, framed Gregory for fornication, using a bribed prostitute. Gregory was also accused of sorcery by judges because of the demonic frenzy of the accusing prostitute during trial.

Gregory spent two and a half years in prison on orders of the Pope (who didn't even want to read the accusations against Gregory). Gregory exited the prison thanks to the fact that a synod was convened by the Pope to judge Gregory's case once again. Gregory healed the woman of her demons, after which she told the truth and of Sabinus' and Crescens' plot.

Here is the part I found most interesting and relevant to contemporary society:

"Sabinus and Crescens, along with the other malingers - more than a hundred in number - found their faces suddenly turned as black as coal (which could also be seen in their descendants for many generations), and they were punished with exile."

In a sense this is a repetition of the Curse of Ham which saw a similar darkening of the skin for Canaan.

I read this story in the Synaxarium I bought from a Romanian monastery. I wanted to find the same story in English and I found it on this blog. Interestingly this detail is left out in the story on the OCA website. 

I find this story relevant, as it further bolsters the possibility of the Curse of Ham as being related to race, and thus allowing an explanation in theological terms of truths that we observe in scientific studies and statistics today on the right.

Addendum: I think out of the spirit of peace it's important that I write that I don't post this out of ill will for darker skin folk, but rather because I feel the topic of race is often not discussed or if it is it's in lackluster, vague liberal interpretations of Galatians 3:28.