On Monday, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago issued a statement in response to the death of George Floyd and the event’s aftermath.
Floyd died on May 25 at the hands of Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the policeman knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than right minutes, according to a prosecutor’s statement of probable cause. Chauvin and his accompanying officers, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng have all been fired while Chauvin faces charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The incident has sparked protests in cities throughout the United States. At least 40 have imposed curfews and National Guard members have been activated in 15 states and Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Nathanael’s statement comes two days after a tweet from Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who condemned the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s death.
Read the full statement from Metropolitan Nathanael
Like so many of you, it was with heartache, confusion and outrage that I watched the images of a white police officer, whose duty is to “serve and protect,” kneeling on the neck of a black man, George Floyd, who lay subdued and prostrated on the street, as his dignity, rights and life were slowly extinguished. It was shocking and devastating to witness a fellow human being begging for breath in the face of callous disregard for human life. This heart-wrenching injustice has now set our communities on fire, and alongside peaceful protests calling for much needed change, we have seen violent confrontation, looting and property destruction.
We call for an immediate end to the violence and for calm, but we must heed another call—our calling to responsible action. As children of God, Orthodox Christians and Americans, we cannot allow dehumanizing acts and the insidious plague of racism to continue in our country, dividing us from one another and separating us from God. In words that are just as true today, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. concluded, “[c]ertain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard… And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.”
I call upon Orthodox Christians in the Holy Metropolis of Chicago to do the hard work that this moment in history demands. Grieve with the victims of injustice, pray for those gripped by hate and fear, protest peacefully against injustice, advocate for the under-served, rebuild destroyed communities and, above all, extend unconditional love and mercy. We are all complicit in the suffering of our neighbor, and we must all repent—transforming our way of seeing, thinking, and acting toward Christ-likeness.
Doing the hard work of repentance is the very essence of being a Christian and, to that end, we must prayerfully take up our crosses and begin, today, to reconcile with God and our fellow human beings. Our rights, our nation and our salvation depend on it.
Metropolitan Nathanael
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago
Featured image credit: Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune
Is The Pappas Post worth $5 a month for all of the content you read? On any given month, we publish dozens of articles that educate, inform, entertain, inspire and enrich thousands who read The Pappas Post. I’m asking those who frequent the site to chip in and help keep the quality of our content high — and free. Click here and start your monthly or annual support today. If you choose to pay (a) $5/month or more or (b) $50/year or more then you will be able to browse our site completely ad-free!
Click here if you would like to subscribe to The Pappas Post Weekly News Update
4 comments
With all do respect your Eminence the very essence of being a Christian is allowing us to attend church so we can collectively pray for peace. Please consider opening the doors sooner. Limiting churches to only 10 people is not going to cut it. Let us prove our faith. It is time to open the church.
What is the point to going to the church when they are insinuating that the Eucharist can transmit disease and so is not truly the Body and Blood of Christ. Such a notion destroys the Orthodox faith held inviolate for centuries. We would walk into a new lie. Have the gates of hell prevailed? Has Islam won, Protestantism won? Are there any martyrs left?
Cowardly failure to condemn riots and looting without qualification! He should read Black Lives Matter Marxist, radical LGBTQ, anarchistic platform?
How about this all lives matter that includes the the black lives matter funded abortion clinics the black lives matter support for LGBT and the famous statements of black lives matter “make bacon out of the pigs” reference to police I ask in JESUS NAME you step down if you do not want to preach HIS agenda of salvation and not the hate filled agenda of most human lead organizations like Kkk black lives matter etc are you going to join BLM and tear down statues of Jesus now