The City was originally called Byzantium. It was made into the eastern capital of the Roman Empire in AD 324, by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great; Byzantium was renamed Nova Roma ("New Rome"), but this name failed to inspire; the city soon became known as Constantinople, "the City of Constantine".
At the time when the Western Roman Empire was crumbling, the Eastern Empire was being Christianized, and would last another thousand years. Justinian's goal was a Mediterranean-wide Christian order: politically, religiously and economically, united and ruled from Constantinople under a single Christian emperor.
Justinian's vision of a "Christian order" was immature compared to the more mature Christian ideals of America's Founding Fathers a millennium later, which were themselves immature compared to the vision of "Liberty Under God" which we hope will take hold in the 21st century.
Many Americans tend to think that human beings were too primitive 1500 years ago to create such impressive beauty:
http://www.quovadimus.org/turkey99/ayasophia/3-700.html
The Hagia Sophia Cathedral continued to be one of the great architectural achievements of the world, even after the Moslems conquered Constantinople in 1453, added minarets, and began using the Hagia Sophia as a mosque:
http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=260706
There is also a Christian Cathedral in the Kremlin, St Basil's. Stalin the atheist repeatedly considered the possibility of demolishing the cathedral, but never did. Priests in St. Basil's were often communist KGB agents, however.
A huge Christian Cathedral can create the outward appearance that Christianity still exists -- under atheistic Russia and even in Islamic Constantinople (not officially renamed "Istanbul" until 1930). Article 52 of the constitution of the "former" Soviet Union declared:
(1) Citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of conscience, that is, the right to profess or not to profess any religion, and to conduct religious worship or atheistic propaganda. Incitement of hostility or hatred on religious grounds is prohibited.But true Christianity was underground. Justinian would find no Christianity in his Christian Cathedral. Publicly, in Stalin's Kremlin and in Sultan Mehmed II's Istanbul, Christianity was dead.
(2) In the USSR, the church is separated from the state, and the school from the church.
In the public square of Washington D.C., America is dead. The architecture still exists, but not the vision. America's Founders could not find their America in Washington D.C. From "K Street" Lobbyists to the floor of the House, the ideals that made America the greatest and most admired nation on earth are dead.
Further, there are plans coming before Congress to abolish even the remaining constitutional architecture of the United States by merging the U.S. with Mexico into a common "Security Perimeter" which presages a European Union-style regional government in the Western Hemisphere.
In his article "United States of North America," Steven Yates writes:
In 1787, 13 former British colonies that had briefly been independent states agreed to create a free trade zone inside a shared security perimeter. People, goods, and capital would move freely throughout that region, ignoring previously existing borders. The union thus created was christened the United States of America.Prior to this, Virginia and Massachusetts were separate nations. Today they exist as separate states in name only; the shots are called for them in Washington D.C. There is a cultural difference between California and Missouri, but both are fundamentally united under the sway of Washington D.C. Italy and Great Britain still exist, but their ability to call their own shots is being replaced by regional governments and courts under the European Union.
Our Congressman, the Majority Whip, has been using his whip for Vote-buying and Arm-twisting to complete the abolition of the United States.
The situation is one of the most significant junctures in American history, but the more significance you attach to it, and the more attention you call to it, the more likely you are to be written off as an "extremist."
No comments:
Post a Comment