By Theodore Shoebat
The Vatican has again called for military attack against Islamic jihadists, as we read in a report:
A high-ranking Vatican official is calling on the United Nations to use force to protect religious minorities in Iraq and Syria from the onslaught of the Islamic State.
Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin addressed the General Assembly in New York Monday.
He denounced the ISIS terrorists who are killing Christians, Yazidis, and even some Muslims in the name of Islam.
Pietro said there’s an urgent need to stop their attacks through “multilateral action and a proportionate use of force.”
The secretary of state is second only to Pope Francis in the Vatican hierarchy.
For the sake of this article, I will repost my former piece on the coming crusade that will be made by the Vatican…
The Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, has made a righteous call to the nations of the Christian world, to execute an armed response against the slaughter of Christians in Iraq, in order to protect these forsaken children of Eve. He stated:
At this moment, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and other members of the Christian community, including the World Council of Churches, are taking a strong stand in defense [of the Iraqi Christians] and their right to survive and to live in peace in their own home, which for the last 2,000 years has seen them active and contributing to the development of the region.
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However, we are faced with a certain indifference at the practical level with the international community. It is difficult to convince—because of false modesty, I would say—the Western powers to take a strong stance in defense of the Christians.
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Now there is action beginning on the part of the international community. We are talking about a special session here in Geneva with the Human Rights Council. There has been a special meeting of the Security Council in New York and some governments are beginning to express their suggestions for practical action in defense of these populations in northern Iraq and the United States has decided some military action.
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I think, in the long run, what is needed is a dialogue of reconciliation and the acceptance of diversity in the different political and cultural contexts of the Middle East, so that a person is considered a citizen with equal rights and equal duties for the states, free to associate with other people who are of the same faith without being catalogued as a minority.
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At this moment, we hope the voice that is surging from different Christian and religious communities, from moderate Muslims, from people of good will around the world, may find the response) of concrete humanitarian assistance that is provided for the Christians in northern Iraq as well as some political and even effective military protection.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi
Pope Francis sent a letter of exhortation to the UN’s Ban Ki-moon, entreating him to have the international community to do all that it can to put an end to the evils taking place in Iraq:
The tragic experiences of the Twentieth Century, and the most basic understanding of human dignity, compels the international community, particularly through the norms and mechanisms of international law, to do all that it can to stop and to prevent further systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities.
Speaking on the Pope’s letter, Tomasi affirmed that the use of force against this evil was encouraged by Francis:
In this case, when every other means has been attempted, article 42 of the Charter of the United Nations becomes possible justification for not only imposing sanctions of economic nature on the state or the group or the region that violates the basic human rights of people, but also to use force. All the force that is necessary to stop this evil and this tragedy.
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad, who also represents the Roman Catholic Church, declared:
There is a need of international support and a professional, well-equipped army. The situation is going from bad to worse.
Patriarch Sako
In light of what the Vatican is urging, Pope Francis exhorted the nations for “an efficient political solution that can stop these crimes and re-establish the rule of law.
This is the first time the Vatican has made a call to arms in centuries. What does this tell us? It is only a small step to the greater outcome of the destiny of the saints, and that is, a revival of Christendom, the unsheathing of the Sword of St. Peter for the cause of the True Path, and the execution of a New Crusade — that Crusade that will end all wars. It will be the unleashing of the Sword of the Spirit through the Sword that St. Peter never disposed of, the two Holy Swords that cut asunder both the demons and their mortal slaves.
One can say that the Vatican is calling for a Crusade, though without the powerful words of zeal that our Christian fathers once proclaimed without shame, for when the Popes of old did conduct a Crusade, they, as their authority allowed, called for the nations of Christendom to be “the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” (Romans 13:4)
The Pope lamented over “the destruction of religious, historic and cultural treasures.” And, to a measure of reminiscence for great things once passed, does this remind me of when the valorous Pope Urban II, that saintly warrior who with his spiritual sword commenced the unsheathing of the physical sword amongst the holy warriors of the First Crusade, cried out with warlike zeal on how the Muslims had “either overthrown the churches of God or turned them over to the rituals of their religion. They throw down the altars after soiling them with their own filth, circumcise Christians, and pour the resulting blood either on the altars or into the baptismal vessels.” (1)
And tell me, how this is so different from now, when the acolytes of the Antichrist, these very followers of Muhammad, stirred by their heresy and sparked by a temporary satisfaction of an insatiable thirst for cruelty, barge into the holy sites and the sanctuaries of God, and slaughter the saints with an ineffable madness; they take pleasure in cutting throats, in drinking the blood of the saints, in slaughtering the husband and laughing at his wife, in raping a woman and taking pleasure in the travails of her father. They enter a church and tear apart the holy books, they overturn the altars, desecrate the sacraments, and defecate in the sacred place.
Church desecrated by Muslims
Tell me, how is to so different from today? It will only get more horrendous and more dark, that hope will no longer freely bask under the sun of liberty, but remain under the fetters of a parlous eclipse, wherein the light of of our peace will be covered by an evil more cunning and unknown, and we shall say with our Lord, “but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53)
All of the plaintiff cries in the world will not stop the armies of heathens, whose bodies will be but vehicles for the devils that were overthrown by Michael long ago, in that eternal war that made its way amongst mortal man, and so shall it end, with both spiritual sword and physical sword, emerging together as one force against that dark power that is ever so resentful about his defeat under the hands of holy angels.
Only force shall be the answer to end these sons of Belial, and it must be done without idle hesitation, for in the words of the holy Solomon, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11) And let us hope that the words of the Pope will help lead to the emerging of something more glorious than any secular measure: a Crusade, or rather, the New Crusade that will end the onslaught of the devil and his fallen angels.
As the moon receives its light from the sun, so does humanity receive its light from the Church. As the pitch of Lucifer’s lifeless desert streams itself from under the earth, with its slime and gummed residue, to latch itself on the souls of men, there is the Sword of Light, to cut asunder its viscid substance and insatiable tentacles, and to wipe away once and for all, its blackness with the glaring glimmer and illuminating brilliance of the blade’s beams.
Christ ordered His disciples to purchase swords, And St. Peter replied to his Savior, “Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.” (Luke 22:38) And when this same saint, with fiery yet misplaced zeal, slashed off the ear of the high priest’s servant, the Knight of all knights, Christ, declared to His pious servant, “Put up thy sword into the sheath” (John 18:11). He did not chid him and say, “Dispose of your sword,” or “Throw your sword away,” but rather, He commanded that He keep his sword in his sheath.
The sword is “his” (that is, St. Peter’s), and therefore does the Church still have possession of this sword, and Christ reprimanding Peter for his use of it, signifies that it can only be utilized by temporal rulers, while the spiritual sword is confined within the authority of the Church.
Christ tells St. Peter, “Feed my sheep,” and the Lord tells David, “Thou shalt feed my people Israel,” (2 Samuel 5:2), and as within David we find both spiritual and temporal authorities, for he conducted wars against the heathen and against Saul in order to protect God’s people, and wrote the Psalms, we find the two offices in St. Peter, and they are signified by his two swords. In the words of John of Salisbury:
The prince, therefore, receive this sword from the hand of the Church, even though, to be sure, the latter does not possess the sword of blood. Nevertheless, she does possess it as well, but makes use of it by the hand of the prince, to whom she has conceded the power of keeping bodies under restraint, although she has retained authority in spiritual matters for her pontiffs. Thus the prince is in fact the servant of the priesthood, and exercises that part of the sacred duties which seem unworthy of the hands of the priesthood. (2)
It is the Church that commands the use of the blade to kill off the wolves and protect its flock, and so, let the princes of the earth execute the vengeance of God, and let the people cry out with holy ecstasy:
The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. (Judges 5:19)
Christianity is both a political and theological system; it is a revolutionary system that unites both spirituality and polity in a perfect harmony. Here lies both the temporal and the spiritual sword; here stand both the priest and the king, with the first instructing the laws of God to the other, and the other unsheathing the sword to see to it that no evil doer comes to destroy the saints.
It is in Christendom where the Sword of the Spirit and the sword of battle unite, and with one stroke take away the lives of the wicked so that the life of holiness and saintliness may persevere, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” (I Timothy 2:2)
The Almighty appointed a king, Saul, over Israel, “that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me.” (I Samuel 9:16) And was it not Samuel, the priest and the prophet, who tended to this king before, during, and after the war with the dreaded Ammonites?
And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you.And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
And the people said unto Samuel, Who is he that said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death. (I Samuel 11:7-12)
It is a great thing to hope for, that one day the Pope, or one of his successors, will join together all Orthodox leaders, and exhort the shepherds of Christ’s sheep to take up their slaughter weapons, and go after and slay the vicious and relentless beasts who seek out their pray from amongst the sheepfold, so that the royal warriors may say with loud and majestic voice:
Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. (I Samuel 17:34-36)
The wonderful image of the shepherd slaying the wolf to protect his sheep reflects the spirit of the holy warrior: he that watches the flock is a king, his slaughter weapon his armies, and the wolves and ravenous beasts the incessant enemies who never cease to oppress the righteous. For in warfare against the heathens and the heretics, “the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep (John 10:11), just as David risked his life for the one sheep.
And while the fighting shepherd holds the staff of war, it is the priestly shepherd to gives him the command to unsheathe the sword, for when Ahab warred against the Syrians it was a holy man who, acting as a mediator between the nation and God, gave him the inspired orders to unleash terrible wrath on the enemy:
And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. (I Kings 20:13-14)
Let Christendom arise, and let the warriors of God declare their inheritance, and that is, the glorious flower of the earth: Christendom. The day will come when the wicked grip of the godless will be pried away from the illuminating gem that does not belong to them, and it will be given to its rightful owners: those who carry their cross; those who take upon themselves a crown of thorns aspiring for the glorious crown of martyrdom; those who have “the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand” (Psalm 149:6); those who tread on the path of the just, “the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18), and tread down with steal and fire the road that leads to darkness; those who meditate on the words, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” (Provers 8:13).
The Battle of Milvian bridge, the battle that commenced Christendom.
Let us no longer worship a false christ, a christ who is lenient with cruelty; a christ who tells the shepherd to flee as the wolves tear apart the flock; a christ who forsakes the law and praises the wicked. We must worship the true Christ, the Christ Who shakes our very spirits, and moves our very souls with unquenchable zeal that is beyond the measure seen in this earth; the Christ Who sends forth His armies to slay the murderers of His people and burn down their city (Matthew 22:7); the Christ Who “shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psalm 58:10); The Christ Who drinks death and laughs at its sting; the Christ “which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” (Psalm 144:1); The Christ Whose pure white garments of purity are stained with the blood of despots and tyrants; the Christ Whose sword is anointed with justice and covered with the blood of despots; the Christ Who “shall utter his voice before his army” (Joel 2:11); the Christ Who will tolerate not the slightest bit of wickedness, but governing with unrestrained justice, and unconditional love, He shall rule with an rod of iron.
Let us worship this true Christ, the Founder of all Knighthood; Warrior of warriors, Knight of all knights, General of all generals, King of all kings. It is of this most holy Christ that Hugh of St. Victor declared with beautiful prose:
For what shall I call the incarnate Word but a king, who entered the world, through the manhood which he took upon himself to wage war with the devil and drive him out as a tyrant and as one who by violence rules over that which is his own? (3)
And what should I call the follower of Christ but a soldier who obeys his General, fighting the devils and those whose souls are possessed by them? So then, let us pray that the words of Pope Francis will be a stepping stone that will help lead to a future and most holy crusade, in which the righteous shepherds of the earth shall follow the Eternal General against the ranks of the Antichrist, with not only their physical swords, but their spiritual swords, taking up the whole armour of God and being as the valiant Roman warrior who stood before the Cross and cried, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)
One cannot guess when this New Crusade will take place, but one can assure that will happen. All that it takes is a small spark inflamed by the Church Militant, against which the gates of hell will never prevail, and the reverential flower of Christendom will ascend from the dark soils of the forsaken yet enriched fields of Orthodoxy, and bloom with all its might under the guidance of Providence.
What we need is an Azariah, to tell the king,
The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. … Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:7, ellipses mine)
And for a King Asa who, obeying the holy priest, makes “a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.” (2 Chronicles 15:12-13)
With the death of the wicked comes the death of the persecutors, and the peace of the Church. But such a goal requires a most difficult enterprise: Crusade.
Christus Vincit!
REFERENCES
(1) Robert the Monk, History of the First Crusade, 1.1, trans. Carol Sweetenham
(2) John of Salisbury, Policraticus, 4.3, trans. Eugene R. Fairweather
(3) Hugh of Saint Victor, On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith, 1.8.11, trans. Eugene R. Fairweather
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