On the Horns of a Dilemma; What is a Priest to Do?

As an Orthodox Catholic priest and Bishop, I find myself in a real quandary.

You see, during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and during our private prayers, we are supposed to pray for our leaders and government officials, and it began to dawn on me, "What exactly would I be praying for?"

I have often heard Sean Hannity and many other Conservatives claim that they are praying for Obama's success (and, sad to say, I have often said the same thing myself) but, what is the "success" that they are praying for him to have?

As I mulled over this question, I saw an article written by Joseph Farah, an editor over at WorldNetDaily, an on-line news site, in which he calls for all truly Christian people to pray that Obama fails. When I read his article, it made a lot of sense to me.

It seems that many of us Christians have a very misguided interpretation of Romans 13:1-4: , which reads:

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained by God. Wosoever resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive unto themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will you then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and you shall have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon those who do evil."

So, it would appear that the Word of God is telling us that governments are God ordained, therefore, we are not to resist the government when it becomes tyrannical, therefore many "Christians" who lack any sembelance of courage feel vindicated in their misguided belief that we are not to challenge or stand up to tyranny.

Can anyone show me where in Holy Scripture it even suggests that evil tyrannical rulers are to be obeyed? When the laws of men come into conflict with the laws of God, is there any doubt as to where we should stand?

If we pray for the success of Obama and his administration, we would, in effect, be praying for his success in destroying our very form of government and in changing our nation, which was founded in the belief that all of our rights and freedoms come from our Creator, and a nation that was based on self-governance under a Constitutional Republic into a nation based on raw tyrannical power in the hands of a central government. Doesn't it appear to be rather ludicrous to pray for such an evil outcome, the destruction of our own country?

Mr. Farah had this to say; "I want Obama to fail because his agenda is 100% at odds with God's. Pretending it is not simbly makes a mockery of God's straightforward Commandments. So you will not see me joining in the ritual of affirming Obama and his mission, in public or private prayer this week -- or any other week."

If we are truly Christian, then we have a moral obligation to resist any government that commands us to do evil, or that gives governmental sanctions to evil acts through legislation. Such things call for clear and honest Christian resistance, not phony Christian appeasement.

I shall pray, instead, that people will wake from their spiritual slumber and stop worshiping Obama as the awaited Messiah.