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Clash of Christianities: Why Europe cannot understand Russia
https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/9733 ^ | Pepe Escobar

Posted on 05/01/2022 5:48:54 AM PDT by FarCenter

...

The apparently monolithic liberal west itself also cannot be understood if we forget how, historically, Europe is also a two-headed beast: one head may be tracked from Charlemagne all the way to the awful Brussels Eurocrat machine; and the other one comes from Athens and Rome, and via Byzantium/Constantinople (the Second Rome) reaches all the way to Moscow (the Third Rome).

Latin Europe, for the Orthodox, is seen as a hybrid usurper, preaching a distorted Christianity which only refers to St. Augustine, practicing absurd rites and neglecting the very important Holy Ghost. The Europe of Christian Popes invented what is considered a historical hydra – Byzantium – where Byzantines were actually Greeks living under the Roman Empire.

Western Europeans for their part see the Orthodox and the Christians from the East (see how they were abandoned by the west in Syria under ISIS and Al Qaeda) as satraps and a bunch of smugglers – while the Orthodox regard the Crusaders, the Teutonic chevaliers and the Jesuits – correctly, we must say – as barbarian usurpers bent on world conquest.

In the Orthodox canon, a major trauma is the fourth Crusade in 1204 which utterly destroyed Constantinople. The Frankish chevaliers happened to eviscerate the most dazzling metropolis in the world, which congregated at the time all the riches from Asia.

That was the definition of cultural genocide. The Frankish also happened to be aligned with some notorious serial plunderers: the Venetians. No wonder, from that historical juncture onwards, a slogan was born: “Better the Sultan’s turban than the Pope’s tiara.”

So since the 8th century, Carolingian and Byzantine Europe were de facto at war across an Iron Curtain from the Baltics to the Mediterranean (compare it with the emerging New Iron Curtain of Cold War 2.0). After the barbarian invasions, they neither spoke the same language nor practiced the same writing, rites or theology.


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To: JAKraig

2.5 billion Christians can’t be wrong....well, 44,999 of the 45,000 sects might be wrong.


21 posted on 05/01/2022 7:24:46 AM PDT by Phinneous (By the way, there are Seven Laws for you too! Noahide.org)
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To: daniel1212

Coming soon, if not already, here.


22 posted on 05/01/2022 7:48:53 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: JAKraig
Galatians 3 - 26It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. 27You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. 28So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.
23 posted on 05/01/2022 7:52:23 AM PDT by FarCenter
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To: FarCenter
Under an ubiquitous, toxic atmosphere of cognitive dissonance drenched in Russophobia, it’s absolutely impossible to have a meaningful discussion on finer points of Russian history and culture across the NATO space

Author's first sentence is complete nonsense. Its not about 'discussion on finer points of Russian history and culture' its about Putin invading neighbors. All of Europe was horrified by Putin's attack on Kyiv to install a compliant puppet regime.

24 posted on 05/01/2022 8:05:58 AM PDT by tlozo (Trump-the Russian invasion of Ukraine is " truly a crime against humanity")
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To: FarCenter

Bookmark


25 posted on 05/01/2022 8:42:09 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog. )
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To: D Rider

It means “Drink Your Ovaltine” in Gaelic. LOL.


26 posted on 05/01/2022 8:52:28 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: PGR88

It’s not religious. It is heritage. For example : Serbs and Croatians speak the same language. Croatians write it with the latin alphabet. Serbs write it with Crylic.


27 posted on 05/01/2022 9:03:37 AM PDT by D Rider ( )
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To: D Rider

Nor do many freepers want to understand.

All they understand is what the propaganda machines tell them.

The fact is, the mentality of these slavic people was set during the Mongol era and was refined during the era you mention.

These people have no regard for life. NONE.


28 posted on 05/01/2022 9:53:49 AM PDT by crz
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To: FarCenter

I have no problem with what Paul taught the Galatians, the problem is who are the believers in Christ. At what point can you say you are a believer but not follow the doctrines of Christ. The example I gave of Gay men and women being ordained was purposeful. I don’t believe that Jesus Christ, The Great High Priest would allow such ordinations if He were doing the ordaining. Regardless however of what I think, it doesn’t make me right but, there is some line somewhere. That line cannot be crossed and you still be a believer. Saying the name “Jesus” will not save you, even though my father told me it would.


29 posted on 05/01/2022 12:20:39 PM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours.)
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To: Gratia

luke 12:53


30 posted on 05/01/2022 1:52:06 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: DariusBane

“Wrong friend. The history of the East is poorly understood in the West.”

I have a PhD in history. The region I studied was Eastern Europe. The era I studied was the Middle Ages.

Moscow was never the new Rome anymore than Lithuania: https://lithuaniatribune.com/are-lithuanians-descendants-of-ancient-romans/

So, yes, many don’t understand the history because they were not taught it. You’re proving to be an example of that.


31 posted on 05/01/2022 2:21:48 PM PDT by vladimir998 ( Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: vladimir998

That’s funny. Someone should tell the Russians


32 posted on 05/01/2022 2:46:15 PM PDT by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deo et Vives)
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To: vladimir998

https://www.rbth.com/arts/history/2017/03/30/why-do-russians-call-moscow-the-third-rome_730921


33 posted on 05/01/2022 3:56:59 PM PDT by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deo et Vives)
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To: Gratia
The Crusader capture of Constantinople in 1204 was terrible--but they were invited to Constantinople by Alexius, son of the ousted Byzantine emperor Isaac II. I think the first Turks brought into Europe (1356) were also aiding a contestant in a Byzantine civil war (but refused to leave).

Relations between the Greek Orthodox Church and the western church were already bad before 1204--the schism took place in 1054. Odo of Deuil's account of the Second Crusade in the 1140s gives examples of hostile interactions between the Greeks and the Crusaders.

The Patriarch Photius in the 9th century had access to many works of ancient Greek literature that were subsequently lost. In some cases perhaps the last copy was destroyed in the sack of 1204. The Crusaders weren't interested in Greek literature. They did covet relics.

34 posted on 05/01/2022 4:21:25 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: DariusBane

“Someone should tell the Russians”

They know. They know it’s late medieval-early modern state aggrandizement. It’s also a mistake that has retarded the development of a modern Russian state that believes in real, inalienable rights for its citizens. It’s great for a rural principality filled with serfs. It’s not great for a state the believes in the inherent value of human beings.


35 posted on 05/01/2022 6:03:53 PM PDT by vladimir998 ( Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: FarCenter

Bull.

Putin is sending Eastern Orthodox slavic soldiers to kill eastern Orthodox Slavic people.


36 posted on 05/04/2022 6:46:54 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: FarCenter
" Iron Curtain from the Baltics to the Mediterranean (compare it with the emerging New Iron Curtain of Cold War 2.0"

they don't overlap.

Most of Russia and Ukraine were not part if the Roman empire

Here's the split of the Carolingians vs Eastern Roman

AND for Russian iron curtain 2.0

in 800 AD, southern Italy was part of "Byzantium", while most of Russia was not in the Roman world at all

37 posted on 05/04/2022 6:53:47 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: DariusBane

“The east” is vast and not just Russia.

Russia or more specifically is derived from the Mongol khaganate.

Moscow was the tax collected loyal subject to the Great Khan. Alexander Nevsky got a helmet withQuranic verses as a gift for fighting on behalf of the Grear Khan vs the western Teutonic knights.

Moscow took over more and more of the Golden horde until the fall of Constantinople on 1453.

Then he claimed to be the third Rome.

He claimed, but his governance and clues monopolized.

Khagan Putin is the heir to the Jochi Khagan Tokhtamysh


38 posted on 05/04/2022 6:59:01 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

It’s a fascinating history indeed. The vast east. Mind boggling.


39 posted on 05/06/2022 7:50:35 PM PDT by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deo et Vives)
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