TO A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER 238
forgiveness of injuries^ love of one's enemies ; and' therefore he cannot help seeing that on the basis of Christian teaching he cannot pledge himself in advance to kill all whom he may be ordered to kill.
The question is, How can sensible people believe — as all now serving in the army have believed and still believe — such an evident falsehood? The answer is that it is not this one fraud by itself that takes people in, but they have from childhood been deprived of the proper use of their reason by a whole series of decep- tions, a whole system of frauds, called the Orthodox Faith, which is nothing but the grossest idolatry. In this faith people are taught : that God is triple, that besides this triple God there is a Queen of Heaven,* and besides this Queen there are various saints whose corpses have not decayed,! and besides these saints there are icons | of the Gods and of the Queen of Heaven, to which one should offer candles and pray with one's hands ; and that the most important and holy thing on earth is the pap§ which the priest makes of wine and white bread on Sundays, behind a parti- tion ; and that after the priest has whispered over it,
• The Holy Virgin, the ' Mother of God ' and * Queen of Heaven,' plays a prominent part in the Orthodox Eastern Church.
t One proof of holiness adduced as justifying admission to the rank of sainthood is the non-decomposition of the holy person's corpse. These miraculously preserved bodies are enshrined in chapels, monasteries and cathedrals, and are there visited by pilgrims, who offer up prayers at the shrine, place candles before it, and usually leave some contribution for the benefit of the establishment.
X The icons of the Eastern Church are not ' graven images,' but are pictures painted in a conventional cada- verous manner on wood; these are often covered with an embossed metal cover allowing only the hands and face to be seen, and making the icon as much like an image as a picture.
§ The mixture of bread and wine administered by the priests of the Orthodox Eastern Church at the celebratioD of the Eucharist.
