... beautiful sun rising on beautiful beach of beautiful Cape May in beautiful America - May God Bless Her.

In Reykjavík, Hallgrímskirkja and Leifr Eiríksson sculpture by A.S. Calder with Cross and in chainmail with sword and battleaxe.

Orthodox-Catholic Christian foundations for America

Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło
1362-1434, r. in Lithuania 1377-1434;
later also King consort (from 1386) and King (from 1399) of Poland after his marriage and conversion to Christianity under the leadership of his saintly bride
Queen (technically King) Saint Jadwiga
(1373/4 – 17 July 1399)

Jagiełło was victor over the Teutonic Order
- fellow Catholic Christians ... lovely -
at the 15 July 1410 Battle of Grunwald.

... or alternatives to any Christianity, Freemasonry for example.

A 169 meter (555 foot) tall stone obelisk, beating out in 1884 the Kölner Dom - Cologne Cathedral, a middle ages gothic architectural jewel which houses the relics of the Three Kings - Dreikönigsschrein who visited Baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12), and which is only a bit more than 157 meters high. Is this a good thing? Like this strangely plain and unimaginative national symbol, George Washington (1732 - 1799) was inspired by Freemasonry, becoming the Master of the lodge in Alexandria, Virginia in 1788. Although the first man of the new nation from 1775, when he was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, until 1797, when he completed his second term as the country's first president, the man who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" and the "father of his country" was unable from the advantage of that preeminent perch to live without the extra comforts and wealth that the hundreds of slaves owned by him and his wife could bring, though he arranged in his will for the manumission of his slaves after the latter of his or his wife's death. Lots of guys did this, and have been much celebrated in history books for their enlightened magnanimity, though in fact few of the founding fathers of the United States of America could bring themselves to doing so much. Certainly it was preferable to not emancipating their slaves at all. Still, this arrangement has always seemed very hypocritical to the present writer, and perhaps on that one point touching on character worse than not freeing slaves at all. There is the obvious point that the person doing the freeing does not shoulder the loss himself but rather imposes the costs of lost wealth on others, even if on one's own heirs. (Washington had no children of his own.) No doubt there are subtle points here about diminished asset values and credit worthiness during one's lifetime. The other equally obvious point is that the slave owner has recognized in his own mind while acknowledging also to others the evil of the thing to be shed, and yet he made a conscious and presumably much deliberated upon decision to postpone the needed movement toward justice, perhaps by decades. So all the slaves in question would get less of the necessary good thing — freedom — and some, one would have to calculate, would get none at all, would die before the postponed emancipation took place. This point, that sanctity and national heroism are consonant with a casual attitude about the timing of emancipation of slaves, has implications for another point of first moment to the American national consciousness, but more later on Abraham Lincoln, his presidency and legacy. Concluding these brief comments on Washington, quite possibly the biggest problem with the testamentary approach to manumission goes to the how, more so even than the question of the when. If the senior man does it himself, would it not come off better? Is it responsible to leave the vital details to sons or daughters? Whether the provisions to be made for the former slaves will be forty acres and a mule, or whether they will consist of an apology, a nice bag of gold coins and one way passage back to Sub-Saharan Africa, is it not the only responsible course for the former slave owner to plan and try to see through these details himself? One hundred and fifty years of American history have well shown the pitfalls of doing it poorly.

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Cavendish, Vermont

“You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the “Russian Revolution.” It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be overstated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.”

– Александр Исаевич Солженицын

Vista de Toledo - View of Toledo, painting by El Greco in the MMA, NYC
Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος - Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541, Crete - 1614, Toledo)

"I found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Catholics. We only differ on some matters of later church tradition. I find that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics"
— Billy Graham, McCall's Magazine, 1/78 —