Dear friends,

As I have mentioned in the past, in January 2017 I will be starting a major new project entitled “History of the Orthodox People” (HOP). The main goal of this project is to present a general history of the various local Orthodox Churches in general and, specifically, to restore the historical truth about the genocides committed against the Orthodox people and about the subsequent historical cover-ups.  The rationale for this goal setting is the awareness that it is impossible to understand the current situation of the various (even nominally) Orthodox nations without understanding what I would call their identify-shaping historical events.  It is now becoming increasingly obvious that Orthodox countries (especially, but not only, Russia) do offer a distinct civilizational model. In order to understand this model it is crucial to first understand the historical events which shaped that model.  Finally, it is a fact that most people in the West have almost zero knowledge of Orthodoxy (beyond some vague appreciation for a different religious rite and beautiful singing) or, even less so, of the history of the Orthodox Church.  This project will hopefully contribute to increase the public awareness of what Orthodoxy really is and where it came from.

In practical terms, this will involve the creation an separate website which would be both directly accessible by its own domain name and seamlessly integrated into the Saker Blog under a separate page “History of the Orthodox People”.  In this manner, the readers of the Saker blog will have a informational resource built-in the blog to find at least some basic information about Orthodoxy in general and about the history of the local Orthodox Churches.

The project will include the following section:

  • A first section on Orthodoxy in general: a simple collection of fundamental texts or essays on what the Orthodox believe. The purpose would be to correct some misconceptions and provide a basic but fundamentally sound collection of texts explaining what Orthodoxy really is.
  • A second section would focus on the history of various local Orthodox Churches. The Greek and Russian local Churches, of course, but also Arab Orthodoxy, West European Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy in America, etc. This is the section in which the interactions between the Orthodox people, the Muslim world, the Papacy and the Protestant world would be presented, but each time through the prism of a local Orthodox Church.
  • A third section would be a “restoring the historical truth” section in which specific and largely obfuscated historical events would be discussed in some detail with the aim of restoring the truth about a number of events including, but not limited, to the genocide of the Serbian people during WWII, the Union of Brest, the Armenian genocide and the current genocide of Christians in the Middle-East.

For that purpose, a multi-national team of Orthodox researchers will be formed with each individual member in charge of researching the history of one specific local Orthodox Church. Right now, the Serbian and Romanian Team Leaders have already joined the project, but we are still looking for Bulgarian, Armenian, Greek, Russian and other Team Leaders.  The main requirement for these Team Leaders is to have a solid knowledge of the history of the corresponding local Orthodox church.  Please note that we could also create special categories such as “Arab Orthodoxy” or “East European Orthodoxy” which would technically involve more than one local Orthodox Church but which could be examined together.  One most interesting one would be a “1000 years of West European Orthodoxy” which would deal with the time period in which Western Europe was part of the rest of the Christian world.

We are also looking for research assistants willing to assist the Team Leaders in their research.  The main requirement for them is to be know the corresponding local church language.

My personal role in this project will be double: I will be in charge of the first “basics of Orthodoxy” section and I will be the Project Director and Editor in Chief for the website.  I am therefore looking for one, possibly two, research assistants who could help me with my work on the Saker blog and for the History of the Orthodox People project.  The main requirement for these positions are to be interested in doing research over the Internet (to locate specific historical documents for example) and good command of English (to write project-related correspondence, such as contacting various historical or religious institutions).  A working knowledge of Russian and/or Greek and/or Arabic would be a huge plus.

If you are interested in participating in this project in any capacity, please email me a vineyardsaker@gmail.com and please write “HOP project” in the subject line of your email.

If possible, please circulate this appeal for volunteers amongst your friends, social media, parishes, etc.

I will keep you updated of our progress on a regular basis.

A big thank you all and kind regards,

The Saker