[MadMark]

Dear Effie,

I just returned from a weekend away, and you are right! I take full reponsibility for starting this storm, but I so much appreciate your kind undestanding. And I feel badly aout relating to you my personal difficulties while in Greece, but I felt a little insulted, or better, hurt, also - Yet Effie, I received your kind response with joy, for I could see that we understood that we had both over-reacted. I certainly forgive you, and am so very grateful for yours.
I had not intended to start a discussion on the war at all, but wanted to defend my country from people wh are always attacking her. Personally, from the very beginning I did not support even the idea of a war with Iraq. As a patriotic American citizen, I have supported our troops in so far as I have prayed that they will come home safely -and soon! I have not supported the policies and decisions of my government during this war, just as did not during the war with Serbia. As any citizen, we Americans by right do not have to agree with our country in its policies, but we do uphold our army when it is fighting a war. So much is said about diplomacy, but does it always work? Would nations such as France, Germany and Russian have succeeded in a dimlomatic solution with a man like Hussein? I rather recall that in the 1930's, a certain British Prime Minister, who, after meeting with Hitler, came back home, giving assurances that there would be "peace in our time", only to see Hitler march on his neighbors. The Vatican also felt that it had made an agreement with Hitler to keep the Catholic Church in Germany free, only have him totally disregard it. If only leaders of such countries as Irag and North Korea could be counted on to keep treaties, be humane to their citizens, not illegally imprisoning them and so on, then the rest of the world would not be threatened. I will not defend this war, but just as Effie took offense when she felt she and her countrymen had been treated poorly, so do I when I feel that the great good that my country has done for so many is constantly overlooked, and so many people delight in demeaning us. If you read my initial response to Effie, you can see that I have no delusions about some of the ill that my country has done, but you will also see that I believe firmly that she has done much good. If there were to be some horrendous major war that would sweep the world, and the U.S. refused to participate, give aid, arms, or funds, how would it go for those nations normally Amrica's allies? Could France, so bold in dimplomacy, stave off with its army and technology a major invasion by a large and well-armed bellicose army? or Belgium, or Norway, or any of the African nations? What would Russia, with a demoralized, underpaid and ill-equipped army do to push back an invasion by the Chinese? What if Turkey decided to take all of Cypress, how would the Greek army, air force and navy with no one to help do in a war against the invaders? Just say for a moment that nations found themselves at war with few or no allies -how would they do? I know for certain, that America would indeed come to the aid of its traditional allies, and I would firmly support it, as would all the American people. Please, don't be so harsh on us!




Dear Marina,
I apologize for not spelling your name correctly, I type very poorly, and often make mistakes. Marina is a very popular name among the Russians, so I am very familiar with it.

I would only like to observe, and not argue, that as a British citizen, you might be treated differently in some nations than if you were an American. I have travelled with some Canadian friends of mine, and in some places, they told me "just tell them you are Canadian, it will be easier for you." I cannot and will not do that - of course, if I were a Canadian I would, but I am proud to be a citizen of my country. You missed my point: I felt that I was not being treated well by lots of people because they saw me as an American not as a person, a priest or a monk. (I was in Egypt just as Osama Bin-Laden had ordered Muslims the world over to kill Americans wherever they found them. My time spent in Egypt was extremely pleasant, and I found the Egyptians to be calm and very gracious. When I walked from my van to get closer to the Great Pyramid, my Muslim"security" officer, hired by the government for my protection, sat in the van, smoked, and visited with my Coptic Christian driver alas, I must admit, I would not want to go there now!) And Marian, I certainly was not mistreated by everybody, for if you read my post, I said I received many blessings while in Greece, and this was from many lovely Greek citizens. When I spoke to Effie of my feeling badly about my treatment by many, many Greeks, it was not an apology at all, but an explanation.

Effie and I seem to be at peace with each other, and that is what matters to me, and that makes me very happy- we have had some very wonderful discussion on other topics, and I am sure that we will in the future. This was one incident, and hopefully we both learned from it Effie has a good Christian heart combined with high intelligence and great common sense. Who could ask for more?

I was being rather defensive to Effie, with whom I was having a conversation, and I felt badly because I had made a statement which while wrong in its assertion, was not meant to be an insult. Only when I read it back, did I see that it really sounded like I felt that the Hellenes could not live democratically, and I bungled the inital thought very badly, and again, I admit and apologize for my blunder. I truly had not intended to sound arrogant or condescending, but part of the reaction to me and my statement was brought about by the fact that I am indeed an American, and of course being so, I would of course, look at any other nation in such a manner. Someone recently posted somewhere on this site that since this community is a rather on-going discussioin of a variety of topics, many times we will post a ressponse without taking time to think. I don't know how long you have been a community member, but I seen many occasions when members apologized to each other for saying something out of line. We are human beings, and we make mistakes. In all my posts to this community, I have always tried to take a pastoral view towards all questions -in this situation, I had no business anything saying at all about another nation's form of government.

Perhaps you and Effie can inform me what form of government The Greek nation has had for the last 100 years, and how long has a full democratic form of government existed in Greece. I somehow had the impression that the Hellenes had been ruled by members of Queen vitcoria's extended family for some time. Please educate me here. Actually, never, mind, I will do some reading on the subject - to me, this community is for matters spiritual

God bless you, Marina, and forgive me a sinner.

Hieromonk Averky