Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom:
she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease,
but did not aid the poor and the needy.

Ezekiel 16:49

Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a foreigner and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Jesus Christ
Matthew 25:41-43

On this Independence Day 2019, let us Orthodox Christians in America bewail the daily failure of our nation, our Church, and our own selves to aid the poor, the needy, the stranger in whom Christ comes disguised at our southern doorstep.

This is the sin of Sodom. We are all complicit.

We must not allow national, civic, and family festivities to distract our gaze from our brothers and sisters, with their babies and little children, for whom the US border has become the gateway to hell.

Orthodoxy in Dialogue has established contact with various secular and religious agencies to determine with whom to partner in a fundraising initiative to deliver humanitarian and legal aid to the migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees which the Lord Himself brings to us every day. We will let our readers know as soon as this project is up and running.

In the meantime, let every Orthodox jurisdiction in America, every diocese, every parish, every family, every individual decide today what they can do, and begin.

Prayer is not enough. Faith is not enough.

If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:15-17)

These things are not a question of “liberalism” or “conservatism,” but of obeying the commandments of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

God forgive us. God forgive America. 

Contact us at our editorial email address if you wish to write on the ongoing atrocities at the southern border.