Moscow, January 27, 2017
Photo: https://orthodoxnorthwest.wordpress.com
Hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers are expected to descend upon Washington today to take part in the 44th annual March for Life, protesting 1973’s disastrous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling which legalized infanticide.
Yesterday morning it was announced that newly-inaugurated Vice President Mike Pence would speak at the rally before the march, marking the first-ever appearance of a vice president at the rally. President Trump will reportedly speak remotely, according to heavy.com. No president has yet attended the rally in person.
As in years past, a cross-jurisdictional group of Orthodox Christians from around the country will also be present at the rally and march, taking a stand for the lives of the millions of innocent children who have been murdered. Participating hierarchs include His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel, His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek, and His Eminence, Archbishop Michael of the OCA; His Grace, Bishop Maxim of the Serbian Orthodox Church; His Grace, Bishop John of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of north America; and His Grace, Bishop Dimitrios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, reports the press service of the Orthodox Church in America.
Orthodox Christians will gather under the “Orthodox Christians for Life” banner, and Met. Tikhon will lead a prayer service for the victims of abortion after the rally’s speeches, before the march. His Beatitude will also offer the benediction at the annual Rose Banquet in the evening following the march.
Despite the expected presence of hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates including Orthodox Christians, members of other churches, religions, and secular groups, and generally people from all walks of life, it is expected that the media will largely ignore the march as in years past.
President Trump raised the issue in a recent interview with ABC News. Noting the large crowd that gathered in DC for the heavily liberal Women’s March on January 21, President Trump went on to note that a quite sizable gathering is expected for today’s March for Life as well, “And they say the press doesn’t cover them.”
Conversely, the Women’s March received an abundance of media coverage. In fact, a recent study shows that the networks covered the women’s march 129 times more than they did the 2016 March for Life. Moreover, according to the study, not once did a network news show cover the exclusion of pro-life women from the women’s march.
With or without media coverage, the pro-life movement will continue, and all Orthodox Christians can take encouragement from Met. Tikhon's Sanctity of Life message for this year:
The Church must provide a prophetic witness and forthright correction to the powerful of this world, to the abortion industry and those who give it financial and legal support. By introducing lethal instruments into the sacred intimacy of a mother’s womb, the abortion industry has succeeded in commodifying human vulnerability and fragility... No Christian can “stand with” such evil. No Church can fail to denounce it... If we are to take part in Christ’s saving work of lightening His people’s heavy load of sin, then we cannot neglect such faithful witness. In humility, but also with boldness, we must stand with Christ. And—though the evil one tells us otherwise—Christ’s commandments are not burdensome. His yoke is easy. His burden is light (1 John 5:3; Matthew 11:30).
Maybe instead of raising their hands up at pointless protest marches that achieve zilch, they and all of us should raise their/our hands up to God more often to set things straight. It's really the only way.