The Anchoress:
Currently, there are terrible stories, violent images and reported deaths coming out of Ukraine, as citizens and journalists have attempted to peacefully demonstrate for their right — the very basic human right — to be able to freely question and protest against public policy without undue limitation. Amid the photo essays are pictures like these:
An Orthodox priest here places himself between the frustrated mobs and the armed soldiers; urging calm, he holds up the cross. Note the rifle, poised, behind him. He is directly in the line of fire, where he clearly feels called to be.
Priests tend to do stuff like this. In fact, while people may misunderstand and deride the vows of celibacy taken by Catholics priests, and also by Orthodox monks, these Christ-minded men consistently show the sort of toughness that is conceived and nurtured within a most paradoxical tenderness; in pictures like these, they are the very model of forthright masculinity, quite unlike anything preferred by the pop culture.
Do read the rest. And maybe have your heart changed about the priesthood.
Maybe.
