God, Blood, and Soil: An Introduction tothe Orthodox-Agrarian Times

By: Sylvester Speer

Politics is supposed to be a means to an end, not an end of its own. This is a fact only a sane

society would recognize. The reality is, however, that we have lost our sanity. We have elevated the state to such a god-like status that we have abandoned blood, soil, and God Himself.

Concern with blood and soil these days has a negative stigma attached to it. If you even think those terms, you are labeled a “hateful bigot” and exiled from so-called “polite society.” To the contrary, I believe not being concerned with such things to be hateful.

Self-loathing is the worst form of bigotry. Next to theosis, our most significant concern ought to be our families, our neighbors, and the land we call “home.”

We have long sacrificed our connection to one another on the altar of radical individualism, and we merely pay lip service to the land we occupy by calling it “home.” We are becoming a society of renters, with no real sense of ownership over the space we occupy. We abandoned the family farm and agrarian community model in favor of meaningless jobs and urban life, and now the source of food for most Americans comes from a supermarket franchise.

This forces us into an unnatural – and, quite frankly, inhumane – way of life. Just as inflation is corrosive to the value of the dollar, the low quality food we consume corrodes our health. In both scenarios, we are dependent on elites who hate us and a system that exploits us.

One approach is to think you can vote your way out of it. Candidate Donald J. Trump came on the scene in June 2015, promising to “drain the swamp.” President Trump, on the other hand, has betrayed those who supported him in favor of the donor class – and gaslit us for noticing.

Trump isn’t alone in his betrayal. Disloyalty has been the status quo in Washington, D.C., for a

very long time. One election cycle after another, we have placed our hope in snakes who talk a good game but fail to deliver results. The time has come for a regime change.

Of course, I do not write this with a violent overthrow of the government in mind. Things are

unravelling in real time, and it is our responsibility to prepare for the worst. A revolution is

already underway in the United States, and it is much more than a knee-jerked reaction to

political and corporate corruption, nor is it a mere rejection of the status quo. Specifically, there are movements towards faith, homesteading, and homeschooling. The mission of the

Orthodox-Agrarian Times is to combine these three things into one, and therefore provide a more holistic approach to understanding and addressing the crises of our times.

Firstly, this is a publication by Orthodox Christians. Our primary target audience is those who

share our faith. It is for that reason that the spiritual reflections written by our Editor-in-Chief, Fr. Peter Kavanaugh, will be the first thing you see in every issue following the liturgical calendar for that season. Also included will be a Bible Study, faith-based poetry and short stories, and no shortage of articles written from an Orthodox perspective. That being said, everyone interested in any of the aforementioned topics will gain immense value from purchasing a subscription.

Secondly, and perhaps most obvious by now, this publication fundamentally rejects the status quo in terms of politics. We borrow not just from our rich tradition of faith, but also from the Southern conservative and Austrian economic schools of thought. We will be pulling from various different sources of inspiration – from Sacred Scripture and the Lives of the Saints, to the writings of underappreciated intellectual giants such as Sam Francis, Mel Bradford, Wendell Berry, Murray Rothbard, and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, among many others.

Last, but certainly not least, we will discuss a variety of topics relating to agrarian methodology. We will be diving into subjects such as permaculture principles, the techniques of Joel Salatin, Earthship Biotecture concepts, and much more in the articles we publish, as well as in our book club. We will also be conducting interviews with people who are actively living this lifestyle, and from whom we can learn valuable skills. The objective here is, once again, to provide a holistic approach to understanding and addressing the crises of the times that we live in.

May God bless you, and we hope you will join us on this journey.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.