Friday 29 April 2011

A royal irrelevance [O irelevanţă regală]

Is an event about which over two billion people (from all over, even the remotes corners of the world) talk about these days really relevant?

There’s no doubt that a massive hysteria has engulfed the country (a funny approach to it in The Independent) for the past months, but let’s assume this is not necessarily something bad. 

As long as Americans feed on the ‘presidential myth’ (resuscitated by Obamania in 2008), why shouldn’t the Brits have their own ‘royal myth’ revived?

Nevertheless, I dare ask: will this royal wedding boast British national pride, will it help weave back the national fabric torn by decades of multiculturalism? Will it change anything for the better for this nation? 

Is Great Britain’s Monarchy “a public relations stunt for British capitalism,” as the Trotskyists from The Socialist Worker claim?

To what extent is the Royal Family an asset or a burdening liability? Will the royal subjects feel duped when the news of a royal divorce will break? 

Would anyone invoke the cost of the ceremony – tens of millions of pounds, taken from HM Treasury’s (the taxpayers’) coffers, not from Her Majesty’s purse – if the country were to sink deeper into the economic crisis it has endured for the past years?

There’s hardly any doubt that a royal ceremony is an astonishing thing to watch – worth exploiting as a ‘great show’. Yet how relevant it actually is for today’s Britain?

May the Lord – Whose name was often invoked by Anglican wedding ceremony – bless Prince William and his wife Catherine! ...but I’m afraid no blessing ever comes from such ‘great shows’.

Especially if the ‘blessing’ was given by a dying institution (the Church of England) which is so far from truly knowing the Lord Whom the last Orthodox kings of England (before 1066) were serving.

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christ is Risen!

Dear Sir, I really like your courage that you have to ask these questions.
There are true questions and the final of the article is absolutely great.
Is it really usefull a blessing from a "church" that is so far from the True and Only Church? Of course no, but who cares??
We are used to be simple spectators in this life which is going by without even knowing what is going on with us...
May the Lord bless Prince William and his wife Catherine!

Florinm

MunteanUK said...

Indeed, He is Risen!

Whether I really am courageous or not remains as 'irrelevant' as the entire 'big event' ("wedding of the century" blah-blah-blah...) is for today's Britain.

Undoubtedly, anything I say on this blog can and will be - as it has been in the past - used against me.

Yet this shouldn't be of any concern to me, as long as I did dare raise some questions. It's too late to take anything back :-)

***

I am neither 'for', nor 'against' the British Monarchy. If I were a British subject, I guess I wouldn't necessarily be 'against' this institution, but I'd definitely favour 'downsizing' it

Maybe a 'cost reduction' of the British Monarchy, along with a reform of the (unelected!) House of Lords and of nobiliary privileges would be suitable.

Why cut the budget of the armed forces so severely, whilst leave the Monarchy virtually untouched by austerity?

***

Last, but by no means least, there is no doubt that the 'pillar' (Church of England) which has kept 'legitimizing' the Monarchy since Henry VIII is gravely crippled these days.

There are less and less 'Christian' features in this so-called 'Church' of England. The same is true for the Church of Scotland or for the Roman Catholic Church.

It only happens that, compared to the collapsing morality in the UK, the Church of England feigns morality. Although less and less Anglicans or non-Anglican Brits share 'Christian' values.

***

I am fully aware that all my claims that there is only One Church - and that the self-entitled 'Church' of England has nothing to do with It - may seem offensive, bigoted, outrageous to many of my contemporaries.

Nevertheless, if I (or others) kept silent "the stones would shout," therefore this unpleasant truth would be heard.

There's only one Lord, one Creed, one Baptism, one Church, thus only one Divine-Human institution (the Orthodox Church) which could give true 'blessings' in the name of the Holy Trinity.

Gregor said...

Interesting post Bogdan. I guess after Bliar's turn in office few would really hold against them their being unelected.

The slightly darker aspect is that Brits tend to get enthusiastic over things which are largely non-events. Whilst I hope all the best for the young couple, the simple fact is that William has very little interest in his country, in politics, faith or any ideals. He is most likely a freemason who wants to look after his own (like most 'elected' politicians) but has little interest outside of that. Similarly Ed Miliband is now far ahead of David Cameron in the opinion polls for no evident reason except he is more likable than David Cameron, just as Cameron found himself far in the lead in the opinion polls for no special reason either.

Whilst 'democracy' is used as a sacred term amongst Brit commentators, the simple truth on the ground is that the Brits are long used to corruption from their elected leaders. The republicans argue against the royal family for being unelected, but like the majority of Brits I just don't care that much. Politics is a weird popularity test, which creates very high emotions.

However, I think that whilst the royal wedding is rather unimportant in itself, it does show that the British people want ideals to cherish. May the Lord give them the right ideals, not the devil's ideals.

MunteanUK said...

Christ is Risen, dear Gregor!

It's pretty clear that one cannot reproach a monarch for being 'unelected' :-)

However, shouldn't people - I mean the 'sujects' of the royals - be somewhat entitled to ask the monarch to 'stay in touch' with the nation, which is mostly made up of commoners?

From one perspective, when both princes (William & Harry) showed to the entire world a hedonistic lifestyle, they proved to be 'in tune' with most Britons of their age and younger.

What else do they have in common with the commonners?!

Divorces, which have become so common within the Royal Family, like for the rest of the British people?

Not even the phony allegiance to a phony 'church' (Church of England) cannot be counted as a common feature of the monarch and the nation, as long as fewer and fewer Brits care about any form of Christianity whatsoever.

***

I repeat that, as a foreigner, I am not 'against' the British Monarchy; I am only raising some questions...

All I say is that these blue-blooded royals should be brought back with their feet on the ground, although I am not sure how this could be done.

I'm not advocating another Oliver Cromwell, nor the beheading of anyone :-)

All I say is that - in spite of great shows like the latest royal weddings - there's a reek of falsity surrounding today's British Monarchy.

***

It's nice to see Britons (or other people, generally speaking) eager to cherish some ideals. If only they had genuine ideals left!

As a mere observer from abroad, I see that most people in your country, from Prince William to the millions living on state handouts, only want to 'have fun', to spend a comfortable life, here & now.

They have given up any spiritual perspective of things, they seem to have completely miss what truly matters in life.

Their souls remain deaf to Christ's calling, and to politically incorrect warnings issued by great people like St Nikolai Velimirovich or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

When amusement and self-indulgence are no longer possible, most would prefer to commit suicide, thus the likelihood of legalizing euthanasia in the UK seems very high to me.

May the Lord have mercy on the Brits!