Deus Misereatur

New Men & Old Sins   Vladimir Lenin's revolutionary older brother, Alexander Lenin's older brother Alexander   Ulyanov, was executed in 1887 for his role in a plot to assassinate the Tsar. He had been influenced by Dmitry Pisarev, a nihilist writer and critic. Pisarev wrote of a  new kind of human being, ascetically dedicated to science and to working for the "good of humanity." These  new people  are unable to tolerate internal discord. "Conscience---moral duty---must perfectly harmonize with action, reason with feeling, egoism with the love of humanity." Writes Pisarev:  New men don't sin and don't repent; they always reflect, and they only make mistakes in calculation, and then correct their errors and avoid repeating them in the future. For new people goodness and truth, honesty and knowledge, character and intellect are identical; the more intelligent a new person, the more honest he is because fewer mistakes creep int...

(This is today's email from my friends at The Fellowship of St. James ) The Age of the Martyrs  is Now Upon Us All Christians, in every place and at all times, are instructed by the Epistle to the Hebrews: " Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body. " 13:3) Writing in  the Daily Beast , Kirsten Powers wonders why Christians seem either unaware or complacent about the persecution of Christians  TODAY in the Middle East. She writes: In Syria,  Christians are under attack  by Islamist rebels and fear extinction  if Bashar al-Assad falls . This month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Maalula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The AFP reported that a  resident of Maalula  called her fiancé's cell and was told by member [sic] of the Free Syrian Army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he...