Weekly Themelia: Ophidism as cure of the World’s evil.

(Original Text)

Quousque tandem, fratres sororesque, malitiam mundi ignorare poterimus? Quousque oculos nostros alio vertemus, cum dolores cruciatusque aspicimus?

Quousque capita nostra coram iis demittemus, qui potestate sua abutuntur?

Ophidismus non solum modus orandi est, sed etiam ac praecipue modus vivendi, usus vitae quem in omni parte exsistentiae propriae declinare licet, immo vero necesse est: a re publica ad sociologiam, ab oeconomia ad spiritualitatem, a virtute publica usque ad solitudinis pulchritudinem. In mundo dolore afflicto, ubi validiores legem virium suarum legi rationis anteponunt, nobis quasi imperativum categoricum videtur philosophiam ac spiritualitatem ophidicam tamquam remedium huic dolori proponere.

Coaevae politicae crises mundum perterritum nobis ostendunt, ubi pauci homines plus quam dimidiam partem divitiarum totius orbis possident; mundum ubi rationes publicae infimis eorum qui regnant desideriis subiciuntur; mundum ubi lex non iam pacis instrumentum, sed sui ipsius celebrandi medium est; mundum, fratres sororesque carissimi, ubi discrimen inter divites et pauperes maius est quam ante rerum conversionem gallicam fuit. Et ubi bellum flagrat, ubi orphani plorant, ubi imperia delabuntur et nova surgunt, una vox pro defensione individui exsistere potest et debet. Et illa vox nos sumus.

Nos, non ut Synodus neque ut Institutio, sed potius ut communitas ophidica, ut congregatio hominum qui specimen hominis tamquam entis centralis et sacri partiuntur; qui Deum intuentur neque mundum obliviscuntur; qui ad magnitudinem adspirant in recessibus humanae solitudinis confugientes: nos, ut Serpentis fideles, huius doloris solutio esse possumus.

Non debemus mundi malum solum precibus meditationibusque solvere — quae tamen nobis fundamenta sunt — sed potius mundi malum solvere possumus mundo ostendendo philosophiam ophidicam esse, et semper futuram esse, illam virtutem mediam ante quam omnis vis abusa, omnis sui celebratio, omnis abundantiae intemperantia concidit.

Quis naturae pulchritudinique Ophidismi resistere potest? Quis vocem Serpentis ignorare potest, cum per nos loquitur? Quapropter, dilecti fratres, quis vestrum caput adhuc avertet? Quis vestrum mundi dolorem ignorare perseverabit?

(English Translation)

How long, brothers and sisters, can we ignore the evil of the world? How long shall we turn our gaze away when we witness suffering and pain?

How long shall we bow our heads before those who abuse their power?

Ophidism is not merely a modus orandi (way of praying), but also and above all a modus vivendi (way of living)—a practice of life that is possible, indeed necessary, to apply to every sphere of one’s existence: from politics to sociology, from economics to spirituality, from public virtue to the beauty of solitude. In a world gripped by suffering, where the strong assert the law of their ownmight over the law of reason, it is for us almost a categorical imperative to propose Ophidic philosophy and spirituality as a panacea for this pain.

Contemporary political crises show us a frightened world, where little more than a dozen people possess more than half of the world's wealth; a world where policies are subjected to the base desires of those who govern; a world where the law is no longer a tool for peace, but a means of self-celebration; a world, dearest brothers and sisters, where the gap between the rich and the poor is greater than it was before the French Revolution.

And where war spreads, orphans weep, empires crumble and new ones rise, a single voice can and must stand in defense of the individual. And that voice is us. We—not as a Synod nor as an Institution, but rather as an Ophidic community, as a congregation of people who share the ideal of man as a central and sacred entity, who look toward God without forgetting the world, who aspire to greatness by taking refuge in the recesses of human solitude— we, as faithful of the Serpent, can be the solution to this pain.

We must not resolve the evil of the world by retreating only into prayer and meditation—which are nonetheless fundamental to us—but rather, we can resolve the evil of the world by making it understood that Ophidic philosophy is, and always will be, that golden mean before which every abuse of force, every self-celebration, and every sensationalism of excess must fall away.

Who can oppose the naturalness and beauty of Ophidism? Who can ignore the voice of the Serpent when it speaks through us?

Therefore, my dear brothers, who among you will still turn your head away? Who among you will continue to ignore the pain of the world?