Silence as a Defense

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A fascinating passion play is beginning to be noticed by mainstream media. The Washington Post has reported on the questions of financial accountability which have become, as Father Joseph Huneycutt noted, “the elephant in the living room.” The Post article only tells the story according to the accuser, the former treasurer of the Orthodox Church in America, because his beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, has requested that Church officials remain silent on the matter.

Ordinarily, we might think ourselves justified in inferring guilt in this move. However, it brought to mind the example of Abba Saint Macarius the Great:

Then it once happened that an unmarried pregnant girl accused him of fathering her child. The pious saint did not protest; he quietly accepted the responsibility she had unjustly laid on him, and was attacked and beaten by the villagers and the girl’s family, who demanded that he support her. He did so, selling the baskets that he wove and giving the money to her parents. When the time came for the girl to give birth, she was in great agony and cried out that it was not St. Macarius, but another man who was her baby’s father. As soon as they heard this, the villagers felt ashamed of the way they had treated the saint, and went to ask his forgiveness. When they arrived at his little hut, they found it completely empty; he had fled from their praise and flattery.

May the Lord continue to have mercy on the Church in our land.

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