Marian Message from the Man-Made Atomic Hell of Nagasaki

In case you have never seen this picture, what do you think it is?

It does not offer a pleasant appearance. Rather, it looks spooky and sad.

It looks like a sculpture of a woman’s body above her chest, without eye balls, shoulders and arms.

In fact, this is the remain of the wooden statue of Virgin Mary of Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, that miraculously endured the intense fire of a plutonium bomb explosion, 70 years ago, today – 9^th August, 1945.

The second atomic bomb, dropped in Nagasaki, 3 days after the first one incinerated Hiroshima. This second atomic bomb exploded about 500 meters above Urakami Cathedral, where the wooden Virgin Mary statue was.  

The cathedral was completely destroyed, and people in and around the cathedral were either evaporated into vapors or burned without any trace in flash. With such intense heat and fire, there is no way that a wooden statue would sustain the blow. At least, this makes no sense, in science. But, it is a reality and mystery.

With the cathedral being hypocenter, the whole city of Nagasaki had become another man-made hell, following Hiroshima. As in Hiroshima, while at least 40,000 people were estimated to have died on the day of the bombing, many more people were in agony for hours, days, and years, following the bombing, in Nagasaki. 

While so many people died and many more were screaming for life, asking for water to cool and help, the wooden Virgin Mary statue endured the hell fire, witnessing the sufferings and deaths of many innocent people in the city.

How does this make sense?  Perhaps, a better question to ask ourselves is – what does this reality mean to us, as we continue to live with a far greater scale of nuclear weapons today?

To me, the spooky-looking Virgin Mary statue of Urakami Cathedral is a powerful witness of the many lives that have been killed, have been suffering in agony and pain, not only the atomic bombing of Nagasaki but also all the lives that have been killed, suffered, in agony and pain, in Hiroshima, and beyond.  This statue of Virgin Mary is a vivid witness and reminder of all the lives lost, suffered in agony and pain, due to Japan’s military actions throughout the Asia-Pacific.

This is not just about the deaths and suffering in agony and pain in Nagasaki – but all the places devoured by the war that Japan’s militarism was involved.

Some may still say with anger and hatred that Japan deserved the nuclear hell of Nagasaki, as well as the nuclear hell of Hiroshima, given the scale of the atrocities of the Japan’s past militarism. But, this myopic and vengeful view only feeds a vicious cycle of hatred and anger to continue into the generations to come.  Then, it may turn into a seedbed for another war, possibly a nuclear war with a far greater scale than the bombs that created hells in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I would like you to see the face of this remain of the Virgin Mary statue, again.

Does she look that she wants you to remain vengeful?

To me, she looks like a face of a mother, whose children are all killed. The fact that her eyes are missing symbolizes great losses of lives. Her sad face, indeed, evokes an image of Pieta, Mary holding the corpse of her son, Jesus.

About 2,000 years ago on the hill of Golgotha  in Jerusalem, Mary endured to see her son, Jesus died in agony on the Cross, as human sinfulness, such as narcissistic grudge (phthonos/ φθόνος ) was killing this innocent man (Matthew 27:18).  During the years of Japan’s war, countless people throughout the Asia-Pacific died in agony, many of whom were innocent civilians, also in many cities in Japan, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where atomic bombs were dropped, and Okinawa, where fierce ground battles took place.  The blast of the plutonium bomb exploded in Nagasaki 70 years ago can be a culmination of all the sufferings and deaths throughout the war, signaling its end. The wooden statue of Virgin Mary, as our mother (John 19:27), had to bear witness to all of these deaths and suffering in agony, caused by anger and hatred, as well as greed, just as what killed Jesus - phthonos/ φθόνος – narcissistic anger and grudge (Matthew 27:18).

The wooden statue of Virgin Mary, our mother, had to ensure in the culmination hell that human sinfulness of phthonos/ φθόνος has brought about, to kill each other, in Nagasaki, to send a powerful message for our conversion from a vicious cycle of phthonos/ φθόνος for peace.

May we listen to a message of  Mother Mary who endured to witness her son, Jesus, died in agony, because of phthonos/ φθόνος in our heart from Jerusalem. Likewise, may we listen to a message of Mother Mary, who witnessed her children die in agony throughout the Asia-Pacific, culminating in man-made hell of Nagasaki, brought by phthonos/ φθόνος.

In suffering that Mother Mary witness and bear with us, there is neither foe nor friend, because all are her children, as Jesus is her son. Because, all are God’s beloved children, as Mary is the Theotokos, the Mother of God, the Son, Jesus.

May peace – eirene/ εἰρήνη - that Jesus offers (Matthew 9:20)  rule our heart and our world. 

The word below the remaining head of the Mary's wooden statue, says, “平和” (heiwa), which means peace – eirene/ εἰρήνη - in Japanese.  

Reflection On a Motive and Justification of Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – From Cognitive Dissonance into Internal Consistency

When I wrote my short reflection on atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on my Facebook wall,  3 years ago, someone, a Caucasian US-born man, who poses himself as committed to “social justice”,  wrote back, “What about all the atrocities that Japan caused in Asia?”, adding that he did not intend to say that the atomic bombings were a revenge to Japan’s atrocities.  To me, this American man’s words rather seems inconsistent and clearly indicate his difficulty to reflect on “social justice” issue on a use of atomic bomb to kill innocent people without “mixing apples and oranges”.

In response to my Japanese-language blog , “広島原爆投下７０周年目に際し、核兵器問題の本質である煩悩と罪の克服に向けて考える”(Toward Overcoming  the Psychospiritual Defilement Underlining the Nuclear Weapon Problem, in Marking the 70^th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Atomic Bombing), which I posted yesterday,  a Filipino-American, whose family members had to endure living hells caused by Japan in the Philippines, wrote to me, “Let us not dwell in any spiritual or any guilt trip about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”.  As the point of this Japanese language blog article I wrote yesterday was to call our attention to overcome our “idolatry” of nuclear weapons, which started with the Manhattan Project, as it is what allowed atomic bombs to be used against innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 70 years ago, and to justify this evil action as if it were an action of moral good to save lives.

These are just a few knee-jerk reactions I often get, whenever I speak and write about the living hell of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  As a psychologist and a pastoral minister, these kinds of reactions always make me wonder if I am causing cognitive dissonance and such knee-jerk reactions are behavioral manifestation of their cognitive dissonance to my words on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

According to social psychologist, Leo Festinger, cognitive dissonance may be a good thing as it can lead a person to internal consistency, a post-cognitive-dissonance psychological state to be able to see difference perspective without wasting energy in futile argument as to which view is “right”.

It is my hope that you find the below article to give you meaningful cognitive dissonance to enhance your internal consistency (not to be confused with internal consistency in statistical analysis).

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6^th day of August every year is a somber reminder of how evil in human mind can turn nuclear science to kill countless numbers of fellow humans in a flash and leave those who managed to have survived in immeasurable suffering and pain for years to come, until they die. 

This year marks the 70^th anniversary of the very first day in the entire human history, when humans used then-nascent science of nuclear fission to kill other humans in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. What an irony that we have been enjoying the benefits from the consequences of the Manhattan Project, through which the world’s first set of nuclear weapons were developed, through nuclear-power generated electricity, nuclear medicine, and so forth, because nuclear power plants work with the same physics principle as atomic bombs and many radioisotopes used in medicine today are byproducts of nuclear reactions.  If you benefit from nuclear-generated electric power and nuclear medicine, then the quality of life you enjoy cannot be taken for granted as it is connected the man-made living hell of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

There is always a question: Were atomic bombs absolutely necessary to end the war back in the summer of 1945 by killing so many innocent people in a split second and leaving many more to die as time goes by?

A logic of President Harry Truman, who gave an order to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima on 6^th August and in Nagasaki on 9^th of August, 1945, tells that these atomic bombs were used against Japan to “save lives” that could be killed with the prolonging of the war.  To follow this logic, which seems to parallel utilitarianism, President Truman and those who sided with him, must have thought that the lives killed by atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whether civilians and military personnel, were a necessary sacrifice in order to save more people by preventing the furthering of the war, which sure would kill far more people.  To me, this logic reminds me of these words of Caiaphas, who pressed the religious leaders to put Jesus to death to save their nation from a severe punishment by the Roman Empire:

You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.   (John 11:49-50)

Caiaphas was high priest, at the time of Jesus when the nation of Judea was a Roman Empire’s province, who  drove the religious leader’s plot to make Jesus as a security threat to the Roman Empire by presenting him as a dangerous man, who proclaims himself as the king of the Jews  (i.e  Mark 15:1-15), while there is no other monarch but Cesar in the Roman Empire.  Caiaphas and his supporters  set this plot up to have Jesus be executed by the Roman Empire in such a way out of grudge-driven envy (φθόνος/phthonos)  toward him (Matthew 27:18), because of his amazing ministries and challenge toward the religious authority.

Bringing up this biblical topic to related to Truman’s logic is not to compare the lives of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the life of Jesus, but only to juxtapose Truman’s way of thinking to justify the use of atomic bombs to kill ordinary citizens of these Japanese cities to Caiaphas’ logic to justify why the religious leaders had to plot to have Jesus be executed as a “king of the Jews” (INRI - Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum), who is a threat to Caesar. According to Caiaphas’ way of thinking, so many people of Judea would be killed by the Roman soldiers unless we present Jesus to the Roman authority for trial and for execution.

“φθόνος/phthonos” Caiaphas’ logic, as they are resolutely believe that Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (or any other cities in Japan) was a right decision and even to be praised, for saving more lives from being killed. As Truman indicated in his press release on 6^th August, 1945, his decision to drop atomic bomb in Hiroshima is a consequence of Japanese upright “refusal” of the July 1945 Potsdam Ultimatum. If you take the face value of this explanation of Truman, basically, you may believe that  it is Japan’s fault to have two atomic bomb dropped by the United States for “refusing” the Potsdam Ultimatum.

Some people also argue that dropping atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was “just” or “due” revenge to Japan’s attack on the Pearl Harbor, and many other destructions that Japan caused throughout the war in the Asia-Pacific region. If it can be justified as a just revenge, then I cannot help but think of a parallel between a revenge motive to drop nuclear bombs in Japan for all the atrocities brought by Japan during the war and a revenge motive to kill Jesus for being nuisance and threat to the religious leaders of that time of Tiberius Caesar, given the multifold meaning of the Greek word, “φθόνος/phthonos” , used in Matthew 27:18. This word can mean “revenge”, as well as “jealousy”.

In a way, killing innocent Japanese citizens, living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by atomic bombs, is understood as a justifiable ““φθόνος/phthonos”, for all the destructions made by Japan not only to the Pearl Harbor but also in many countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific, just as Caiaphas justified killing Jesus is a right revenge for all the disturbances he created to the religious leaders.  For this, as in Caiaphas’ utilitarianism-like justification to have Jesus killed by the Romans as a way to protect Judea from the Romans,  Truman’ moral justification to drop atomic bombs may make sense as his effort to save more lives at the price of the lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Some people find no moral and logical objection to this, while others do – depending on their respective cognitive framework or the way of thought process.

If you find it difficult to understand that there are multiple ways and views to understand the same historical fact, then, you simply believe Truman’s justification and explanation for his decision to drop atomic bombs for as he stated. However, if you appreciate the meaning of this Buddhist proverb, “一水四見”(isshuishiken), which literally means “there are four ways of viewing the same water”, as the proverb reminds us not only that there are multiple ways of viewing an object but that our views of an object may change as we alter the way we view it.

As the president of the United States of the time, Harry Truman had to justify that his decision to drop atomic bombs was for the best interest of the United States. Whether you see his logic in parallel to the logic of Caiaphas, if you are convicted that  Truman’s is “the” history, then, so be it, as you probably cannot understand the meaning of “一水四見”. However, you are cognitively flexible enough to entertain different perspective on the history leading to Truman’s decision then, you may not find it difficult to know that Japan did not necessarily “refuse” the Potsdam Ultimatum but did reply to the Allied Forces with  a “yes or no” manner but it is believed that the Allied Forces interpreted the Japanese word, “黙殺”(mokusatsu), as a “refusal”, though “黙殺” can mean “to refrain from commenting (on this matter at this time)”, as it literally means “to keep it in silence”.

I am not sure if former US Ambassador to Japan, Joseph Grew was on the team to interpret the word of “黙殺”in Japan’s response to the Potsdam Ultimatum, when the United States government received Japan’s response, as Grew’s faculty of Japanese must be good enough not interpret it myopically as “rejection” of the Ultimatum. If that was the case, then, President Truman could have been a bit more patient, knowing that Japan was getting ready to dialogue with the United States to end the war as soon as possible with a mutually agreeable term. As a matter of fact, the United States was already aware of the Japanese Emperor’s explicitly expressed his desire to end the war by negotiation with the United States as he really did not want to see more lives being lost in the war, at the 16^th July, 1945, Imperial Cabinet Conference. Given this fact, I find it difficult to believe the validity on the face value of Truman’s justifying logic to drop atomic bombs.

What about you?

Yes, atomic bombs were dropped,  and a great number of innocent lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were literally evaporated in a flash. If not, incinerated and reduced into untraceable ashes, while many others died, leaving charred corpses. Those who managed to survive have also died with various painful medical symptoms, often with maggots creeping into rotten tissues, as time went by. Though the number continue to dwindle, those who have been alive have been living the both physiological and psychological, as well as spiritual and existential, traumas.

Given this undeniable fact of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as voiced by “被爆者”(hibakusha) – survivors of atomic bombing, you cannot say that atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to the exhausting war, which Japan started with bombing the Pearl Harbor US military base in Hawaii, as well as the Clerk US military base in Manila.

In fact, this day, 6^th August, 2015, marks the 70^th anniversary of the beginning of a war that President Truman started in Hiroshima – the war of nuclear science and technology against innocent humans. And, this war, even after 70 years, still continues on not only as surviving “被爆者”continue to live in pain and suffer, dragging the impacts of the traumas, but also as we continue to live under a false sense of security under the umbrella of nuclear weapons today.

I am sure that some people find this reflective writing of mine on justification and motive for dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be disturbing or irritating. If that is the case, my writing must be challenging their comfortable and simplistic view on this issue. And I sure hope that this disturbance and irritation will lead to what Leo Festinger calls, “cognitive dissonance”, which shall help you widen your mind and eventually lead to internal consistency, in which you can hold multiple different views without distressing yourself – to the Buddhist wisdom of “一水四見”.

Toward Sustainable Peace - with Authentic Transcending Compassion

Exactly 70 years ago, today, March 10, 1945, Tokyo was literally made into a “living hell”, being turned into a city of fire that mercilessly devoured many innocent civilian lives, as US Air Force B-29 bombers firebombed the capital city of Japan. This was actually one of many “living hells” created by American fire-bombings over Japanese cities during the last phase of WWII. These were also setting a stage for atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many said that these “Japs” deserve this!, in regard to innocent civilians of Tokyo While innocents, including babies and their mothers, being  relentlessly incinerated alive in the hellish fire. But, they were also very sympathetic and empathic toward people who suffered and died as a result of Japanese military actions in Asia Pacific.  Their compassionate feelings toward victims of Japanese military actions were also their anger and hatred toward Japan and people of Japan. Empathy and anger were on the other side of the same coin to each other. Compassion and hatred were to each other in the same way. Thus, their empathy toward victims in Asia Pacific prevented them from having the same kind of  empathy toward Japanese civilian victims of fire bombing, atomic bombing, and Okinawa land battles. Their compassion toward those who were victimized by Japanese military actions in Asia Pacific kept them from having the same kind of compassion toward the Japanese civilian victims of the fire bombings, atomic bombings, and land battles, brought by the US military forces.

They thought that all these sufferings and death that Japanese civilians had to go through were a  just punishment because of the way Japan acted as the initiator of the war in Asia Pacific and the way Japanese military forces brought sufferings and death in Asia Pacific.  This line of thought still exists today, even it has been 70 years.

An extreme form of this kind of mentality even makes some people celebrate anniversaries of great sufferings, pains, and death brought to innocent Japanese civilians, including of anniversaries of fire bombings of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, as well as atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They say that they were thankful to the United States for inflicting the kind of sufferings, pains, and death upon innocent Japanese civilians, on behalf of their innocent civilian people killed by Japan.  

This is nothing but a manifestation of narcissistic sadism. But, their lingering anger and hatred toward Japan and its people prevent them from see that way but justify and rationalize this narcissistic sadism.

Such extremists are not many, fortunately. However, many people who empathize and sympathize victims of Japan’s military actions in Asia Pacific still show very little or no compassion for the sufferings, pains, and death of innocent Japanese civilians, inflicted by the United States 70 years ago.  Some of them even cite certain portions of the Bible, drawing an analogy with a story from Revelation, in which  God punishes Babylonia at the time of the eschatological judgement, as Babylonia  once destroyed Jerusalem between 587 and 586 BC. They view what Japan was to Asian nations is like what Babylonia was to Jerusalem.  Such an application of biblical story is quite pathetic.

It is true that there was Japan’s fanatic militarism of that time contributed to extensive sufferings and death of innocent civilians across Asia Pacific. As a Japanese national, I deeply regret that so many people had to suffer, bear pain, and die, through Japan’s engagement of the war. This is not only a sad chapter of history but also a critical lesson to be learned from. However, this should not prevent me or any Japanese nationals from pointing out how empathy and compassion toward victims of one side of war turn into anger and hatred toward victims of the other side of the same war, dividing these victims according to the distinction between “victims” and “offender” or “winners of war” and “loser of war”. Or, am I prohibited from  raising this issue simply because I am Japanese and challenging prevailing view on the war can be regarded as a sign of not acknowledging Japan’s past war responsibility and guilt?

In regard to drawing a lesson to be learned from this bloody, painful, sad, chapter of history, many people, including peace educators, seem to think that this is a requirement just for Japan, because Japan was the root of all the sufferings, pains, and death – because Tokyo Tribunal cemented the notion that Japanese militarism at that time caused all of this. Thus, a lesson from the war is that Japan shows its remorse in a way to appease anger of those who have been affected and afflicted by its past military actions.

Of course, Japan must constantly confront its past so that it will not forget the lesson. However, there is a danger in some people’s tendency to make this matter seem to be an issue of Japan but not of other nations. Whenever  I raised this question, I was often criticized and even seen as a Japanese “right wing”, who denies Japan’s war responsibility. It was really sad that I was seen in such a way, because I pointed out what I thought as a blind spot in taking a critical lesson from history.

Once again, I want to appeal to your conscience  of people  -  if your own rational mind and compassionate heart of seeking peace really think and feel that it is just a matter of Japan to feel guilty and remain remorseful and never question about this  – simply because Japan was “guilty”, according to the Tokyo Tribunal. Is it an attempt to whitewash dark spot of Japanese history, if I call people of the  nations that regard themselves as “victims of Japan’s past military actions” and “winners of war”, to re-examine the responsibilities and guilty of countless sufferings and losses of innocent civilian lives in Asia Pacific not just a lesson for Japan to learn but a shared lesson for all?

I am raising this kind of question because I am very concerned about how the division between “victims” and “offender”, as well as the division between “winners” and “loser” can turn compassion for victims on one side into no or little compassion for victims of the other side.  I believe that this kind of division prevents us from extending the same kind of compassion given to victims in Asia Pacific also to victims in Japan. And, some people’s tendency to judge this kind of challenge and appeal I am making as an act of Japan’s war guilt denial also makes it difficult to see victims of both sides in the same compassion.

Simply concluding that all the sufferings and death throughout Asia Pacific were brought by the devil in the Japanese militarism in the past and projecting festering animosity against Japan not only keep their compassion from the innocent victims of bombings in Japan but also have little or no merit for peace.

We all have the tendency to try to make sense of our painful experience and memories that are difficult to make sense by finding a blame on someone or a certain thing.  Our minds tend to make sense by making simplistic attributions.  This is a very important issues to be addressed in studying psychology, social psychology, in particular. Thus, putting all the blame on Japan’s past is a simplistic way to try to make sense out of the past painful memories of suffering and death.

But, by taking a risk of being accused and misunderstood, I still must challenge this kind of simple attributive way of making sense, because I do believe that real underlining devil that have brought all bloody sufferings and death on both sides, regardless of the division between “victims side” and “offender’s side”, lies not only in the Japan’s past but many other nations around that time. Furthermore, this real culprit underneath is not really about which nation is guilty or not guilty – which nations are victims and which one is offender – because it can be hidden in heart of every human being. And, our narcissistic disposition, which we all have in our minds, keeps this real devil obscured from being examined and understood objectively and rationally. This also results in turning compassion toward victims on one side but turning hatred toward the other.

Perhaps, if I were a national of one of the nations regarded as “victims of Japan’s past military actions” or “winners of war”, then, this appeal I am making on this 70^th anniversary of Tokyo fire bombing would receive more understanding. But, yes, I am a Japanese national. Perhaps, I am supposed to keep my mouth shut in remembering the” living hell” in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan. For this reason, I should not call for the same kind of empathy and compassion toward suffering and death of Japanese civilians, because it may be seen as my denial of Japan’s guilt and responsibility for sufferings and death in Asia Pacific.

But, once again, I must say that compassion is of critical importance for effective peace education to prevent future conflict leading to a war and to resolve such a conflict before developing into a war.  In this regard, compassion in peace education should not have any boundaries between “offenders” and “victims” or “winners of war” and “losers of war”.  

Devil can go across these boundaries , turning our minds irrational and our hearts compassionate only to one side but not so to the other.  Once we let this devil and fail to acknowledge its existence within and confront it, our mind tends to set up and even cling to these boundaries and divisions.  After all, dividing us and making us kill each other by fueling anger and hatred is Satan’s mission.

Let us unite with our compassion for all the victims of military actions, overcoming and transcending all divisions and boundaries created by our weak minds and hearts as we continue to remember sufferings and death during the war that ended 70 years ago.

At least today, both the United States military and the Japanese military are united as an indivisible ally. In response to devastation of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, November 2013, both the US military forces and the Japanese military forces worked as a team, together with the Filipino military, to rescue and save lives.  It was where Japanese military brought terrors, sufferings, and deaths, in its fight against the US military and the Filipino military. The success of this team work operation of saving lives in the Philippines reminds us that we can overcome anger and hatred that divide us and prevent our empathy for one from turning into hatred for the other.

Let us make this anniversary as a critical year to make our efforts for peace more authentic by uniting our rational minds and compassionate hearts in one. Let us transcend our efforts for peace from all divisive boundaries - including "victims-offender" and "winners-loser" and "victimized" and "guilty" kind of divisions. Let us not myopically misunderstand this call for transcendence as an attempt of whitewash or denial of war responsiblity. For this, let us examine our own mind and heart deeply for confronting the hidden narcissistic disposition within. 

Reflection On the feast of St. John Chrysostom and On the eve of Yom Kippur

September 13 is the solemn feast day of St. John Chrysostom. He was born in Antioch, Syria, in 347 AD. St. Chrysostom was the Archbishop of Constantinople of the Roman Empire.

He is a Syrian Saint.

Given the ongoing crisis in Syria today, it gives deeper meaning to pray with and reflect on St. Chrysostom today for peace and justice in his nation, Syria. 

Though we often put peace and justice together, a path to justice many not always be peaceful. It is rather turbulent and may become violent. In other words, we cannot be naively dovish in our pursuit of justice, which is eventually found in peace. In order to truly be committed to our pursuit of justice, we must be ready to struggles, to endure sufferings, and to fight with valor, as necessary. 

Life of St. Chrysostom, like life of St. Paul, gives us a fresh inspiring perspective for our needs to stand strong and to keep fighting for justice with courage and strengths. 

St. Chrysostom started his career as a monk, living in a very ascetic nature. This contributed to his strong discipline, which enabled him to stick to the truth that he preached – even though he was persecuted.  

While St. Chrysostom was a great preacher, known for his eloquent homilies, he was also a staunch fighter for justice, fighting against moral corruption plagued in the Empire. 

His zest for justice got him in trouble with Empress Aelia Eudoxia of the Byzantine Empire (a.k.a. East Roman Empire), as St. Chrysostom confronted the moral corruption of the empress. Not only his fight for justice put him against the Empress Eudoxia but also against Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria.  Putting his own boss against him – rather than sinking into comfortable cronyism to keep his relationship with the empress and patriarch peaceful.  

No, St. Chrysostom did not choose superficial “peace”. Instead, he chose a “battle” in his relentless pursuit of justice. 

Such an aspect of St. Chrysostom reflects Jesus’ conflict-ridden relation to the religious authority of his time in Jerusalem. The way he confronted the religious leaders of the Temple in Jerusalem was extremely confrontational, far from a peaceful settlement.  Not only Jesus’ such a confrontational character for justice but also these hyperbolic powerful words of Jesus that St. Chrysostom embodied:

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). 

St. Chrysostom’s fight against corruption, battle in pursuing justice, eventually cost his career as an archbishop, as he was put to exile more than once.  And, we was willing to pay this heavy cost as he did not become bishop to be chummy with the empress and the emperor…not even with the patriarch of Alexandra, his boss, but to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was not a moral coward with a lukewarm faith, at all.  

He was persecuted. Yet, he never gave up on his pursuit of justice as he kept fighting for this cause all the way to his death in exile. 

In reflecting upon this aspect of St. Chrysostom, what comes to my mind is these words of Jesus:

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).

In fact, St. Chrysostom is well-known for his eloquent homily on the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10), his homily No. 15. 

This homily reminds that our uncompromising pursuit and fight for justice, though it may not always peaceful, is ultimately our pursuit of the Kingdom of God. It also assures that we can bear all the costs on us for this battle for justice because of the abundant blessings from God. It also reminds us that humility, which St. Chrysostom explains with Jesus’ words of “poor in spirit”(Matthew 5:3),  is an indispensable condition in order for us to succeed in our battle for justice – the battle for the Kingdom. 

This year, the solemn feast day of St. Chrysostom falls on the beginning of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, marking the importance of atonement. Because St. Chrysostom is also known for making homilies with anti-Semitic tones, I am hoping that this day is a day to reconcile his past anti-Semitic attitude with those how have been offended, certainly including God.  Though he is a Saint today, he was once a sinner, like us all. That is why we must seek atonement as the Jews observe Yom Kippur every year. That is why the Catholics seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation anytime necessary. 

Justice is found in the context of peace – though a path to justice may demand uncompromising fight. And, this peace, which upholds justice, is only attained through atonement and reconciliation – with each other and with God.  

May peace be found in Syria and elsewhere as we all continue to fight for justice with moral courage.


                    Prayer of Saint John Chrysostom

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting.  Amen.