in Orthodox Eastern Europe at the endrnof World War II led to the communistrnsubjugation of Poland, Czechoslovakia,rnHungary, and East Germany.rnThe West is repeating the error.rnDrawn in by the secularism of Bosnia’srncultured elite, Western diplomats arerncertain that it is the Bosnian Serbs whornare fighting for a return to the Dark Agesrnand against “modernity” and “progress.”rnWestern diplomats ignore such signs ofrnfuture mayhem as the large numbers ofrnIranian and Afghan fundamentalistrnMuslims fighting alongside the Bosnianrngovernment’s forces. Apparentlv, onlyrnwhen the Bosnian Serbs are crushed,rnwhen Bosnia becomes the Europeanrnheadquarters for Islamic anti-Westernrnterrorism, and when to stunned Americansrn(and to secularist Bosnians exiled byrnthat time to Pans or New York) CNNrnbroadcasts images of fundamentalistrnMuslims demonstrating in the streets ofrnSarajevo, will the U.N., NATO, et al, sayrn”Oops!”rnBut, even if it is Orthodox history inrnthe making, why should it matter tornthese kids in our country what is goingrnon in Southeastern Europe? I see the answerrnin who these kids are.rnFirst, they are Orthodox Christians.rnTo advance the New World Order,rnAmerican propaganda necessarily hasrnplayed down the Orthodox role in overthrowingrncommunism and rebuilding arnfree Eastern Europe. While it is safe, forrninstance, to call attention to the RomanrnCatholic Church’s role in the liberationrnof Poland (because the Roman Church’srnorganization centers on the internationalrnMagisterium), attention cannot be paidrnequally to the participation of RussianrnOrthodox monastic clergy in the downfallrnof the Soviet Union, or to the tangiblernsupport given by Rumanian Orthodoxrnpriests to the overthrow of NicolaernCeausescu, because Orthodoxy is fundamentallvrnnationalistic; that is to say, fundamentallyrnat odds with the agenda ofrnthe New World Order.rnMy teenagers will hear in their schoolsrnthat it is good for people to live in peace,rnwhich, of course, it is. But, in the tonguernof internationalism, the meaning ofrn”peace” is opposed to what inspires thernOrthodox hymn which reads, “Grant victoryrnto the Orthodox people over thernbarbarians” (a hymn, by the way, whichrnprovides the melody for the first sectionrnof the “1812 Overture”). Internationalrnpeace requires the marginalization of allrnreligions, to remove them as a casus belli.rnOrthodox peace is peace for Orthodoxrnpeople to live according to thernprecepts of the Orthodox Christianrnreligion, which is not different fromrnthe claims made for Zionism. Historically,rnthis had meant frequent war for itsrnattainment, such as that of EmperorrnHeraclius against the Persians in the seventhrncentury, or of Tsar Alexander Irnagainst Napoleon in the 19th eenturv.rnSecond, thev are Americans. In 1995,rnOrthodox Christian Americans werernpresented with a serious problem: ourrnEaster Sunday was proclaimed by PresidentrnClinton to be a day of mourning forrnthe victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.rnChurch bells were ordered to knellrnfor the dead that afternoon. Ours didrnnot. It is expressly forbidden for OrthodoxrnChristians to mourn on Easter Sunday.rnI hesitate to say that the coincidencernof the national day of mourningrnwith Orthodox Easter was calculated.rnHowever, the spectacle of clergy of threernof the four major American faiths participatingrnin that day’s memorial service inrnOklahoma City without the presence ofrnthe Orthodox does appear to dovetailrnnicely with the ongoing demonization ofrnthe Bosnian Serbs.rnThree generations of Americans havernbeen conditioned b’ Moscow-basedrntelevision journalists to associate oniondomedrnSt. Basil’s Cathedral in RedrnSquare with Soviet dictatorship. I dornnot believe for a second that the conveniencernof once again identifying Orthodoxyrnwith “The Enemy” is lost on eitherrnour media or our government. Perhapsrnthe average American did not noticernthat there were no Orthodox clergy atrnthe memorial in Oklahoma, but if thatrnaverage American only sees Orthodoxyrnin relation to Red Square, Russian anti-rnSemitism, and ethnic cleansing, can hernbe blamed for concluding that Orthodoxyrnis not American?rnIs it possible, then, in the event ofrnbloodshed involving American troopsrnand Bosnian Serbs, that OrthodoxrnChristian Americans might be forced tornchoose between their country and theirrnfaith? Public defense of the right of OrthodoxrnSerbs to national self-determinationrnhas, through the work of the Americanrnmedia, become a defense of rape,rnpillage, and slaughter. If but one Americanrnis killed and his death pinned, rightlyrnor wrongly, on the Serbs, then any defensernof our coreligionists would amountrnto sedition.rnThat might be extreme, even forrn1990’s America, but not so extremernwould be the lies and insults of my kids’rnfellow Americans who are not OrthodoxrnChristian. I have already been excoriatedrnon the Internet for being a member of arnChurch that has had its priests shown onrnthe evening news blessing Serb soldiers.rnThat priests blessing men going off tornwar is an ordinary occurrence did notrnmatter, because these were Serb soldiers,rnperpetrators of atrocities, according tornPeter and Dan and Tom.rnI lost count of how many times Irnpointed out that Roman Catholic priestsrnand Lutheran ministers served as chaplainsrnto Nazi Wehrmacht units duringrnWodd War II, without besmirching thernreputations of those Churches. Thenrnagain, however, during that war, thernAmerican government took extra carernto emphasize that fidelity to RomanrnCatholicism or Lutheranism did notrncondone the massacre of Ethiopian villagers-rnor the extermination of the Jews.rnThe Clinton administration sees nornneed for like care in regard to Orthodoxyrnand the Bosnian Serbs, despite Mr.rnStephanopoulos’s presence. Thus, it isrnnot even possible for an American of Orthodoxrnfaith to say, “I support the Serbs’rnright to national self-determination onrnreligious grounds, although I mourn thernatrocities.”rnSo, with the Serbs’ struggle in Bosnia,rnI am showing my class that the Orthodoxrnare once again locked in combat for thernfreedom of the faith, just as the Orthodoxrnwere in the seventh century againstrnIslam, and in this century against socialismrnand fascism. I am warning themrnthat this conflict once again discomfitsrnthe world, which has always opposedrnanyone, be it an individual or a race or arnnation or a faith, who has refused to gornwhere the wodd was going and do whatrnthe world was doing. I am also teachingrnthem that a government does not alwaysrntell the truth to its people. This was truernwhen Nero said that the Christiansrnburned Rome in the first century, and itrnis true for 20th-century Washington,rnwhen Clinton lies and blames the OrthodoxrnChristian Serbs for having shelledrnthe Sarajevo marketplace.rnFinally, I am teaching them that whilernwars and governments do not endure,rnthe Church will. They must be loyal torntheir country and their President, butrnnot at the expense of God or His people.rn]ohn Carlucci is the senior editor ofrnNOVO Media Group in San Francisco.rn48/CHRONICLESrnrnrn