San Pedro Claver, Servant of the Ethiopians

The Universal Church remembers today the devotion of St Peter Claver, the Jesuit missionary to Cartagena of Columbia who came to be known as the Servant of the Ethiopians. Saint Peter Claver pursued his vocation to serve the oppressed at the beginning of the Modern Era in a New World plagued by the persecution of Native Americans and the novel and horrifying Atlantic Slave Trade. As a Jesuit, he searched for the 'will of God' with pragmatic eyes, providing those he served with the essential needs of food and medicine. He devoted his life to defending the stolen human dignity of slaves, and lived in the same conditions of the most oppressed, dying of illness at their service. At a time when large numbers of our youth in advanced liberal democracies struggle with often self-inflicted perceptions of persecution and foolishly seek refuge in the ephemeral reliefs of the flesh, some even seeking guidance in demoniac worship, it is important we do not loose true knowledge of our roots and the drivers of human evolution. Since the invention of written languages, first in the form of Egyptian, Chinese and Mesopotamian ideograms, greatly accelerated by the Phoenician introduction of alphabets, human evolution has transcended the reliance on physical transformations and has become an evolution of ideas. For the past several Millennia the adoption of successful ideas has defined the competitive advantages of civilisations. In particular for the last three Millenia the convergence of Judeo-Christian values with Hellenic universalism proved the most successful set of ideas to develop widespread prosperity as well as technological and social progress. In this context it is far too often forgotten that the Church played a fundamental role, arguably the most crucial role, in the abolition of slavery. And it did so twice. Slavery was abolished in the Classical World by Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity, putting an end not only to slavery, but also forbidding human slaughter in the arena and abolishing all forms of religious persecution against Pagans and Christians alike. Thus, as Alexander had a thousand years before abolished the practice of genocide in his conquests moved by Hellenic universalism, Constantine put an end to slavery moved by Christian compassion. Even after the Age of Exploration begun and Arab traders, as well as African monarchs, reintroduced slavery to European explorers, it was the influence of the Church that prevented slavery from taking root in the Southern regions of Catholic Europe, where the Church exercised greatest influence. Eventually the ideals of universal human rights forced even those countries that did not recognise the moral authority of the Vatican to abandon slavery. And we must not forget that these ideals have been brought to us by the ability of medieval Neoplatonist philosophers to bridge the Classical Era with the Modern Era, successfully merging Hellenic universalism with the moral obligation of Christian freewill. Only a free human being can exercise moral decisions, and Christianity requires all human beings to exercise their moral choices.

As a young man I recall my surprise at discovering that in the US, churches played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movements. It took me some time to reconcile the figure of Martin Luther King as a pastor and as a Civil Rights leader. As all compassionate youths I was drawn by the works of Marx, Engels, Nechayev and Bakunin. I believed religion was indeed the 'opiate of the people', only to realise with deeper studies, that while religion did prevent the poor from uprising, the Church also constantly mediated in favour of the oppressed. The success of European civilisations largely rests on the ability of the Church to mediate between those who ruled and the people they ruled over. As an anarchist, I believed human emancipation could be achieved by the abolishment of governments and laws and rules. With time I learned that abolishing rules only creates misery, and that our task as human beings is to transcend rules rather than break them. Whether it be Beethoven or Michelangelo, their genius is fruit of the spirit being elevated above rules, not by destroying rules. Just like I had unlearned the true history of the Church and Western civilisations as a young man, much of the violence I see occurring today in the West is fruit of the deep ignorance that has engulfed our youth. Educators have a responsibility to teach our young why the West generated humanity's most tolerant, diverse and inclusive societies through the practice of triumphant ideas. Ideas that allowed humanity to evolve beyond slavery and genocide. Human evolution is a constant flow of ideas thriving to achieve individual emancipation. From the Epic of Gilgamesh onwards, we have all been struggling for self-determination. When the Iliad sang the dignity of the vanquished heroes of Troy a new element of universality was introduced to the evolution of human ideas. The Greek worldview, founded like Judaism on the aspiration to break free from slavery, introduced a universal outlook where the dignity of the vanquished was just as noble as that of the victors. Christianity introduced the concept of freewill through the practice of repentance, forgiveness and compassion into this universal world view. There is a reason why it was the West that succeed in abolishing slavery twice, and developed, implemented and later globally imposed universal human rights, bringing an end to slavery and genocide. These victories of human emancipation are not accidental, but the fruit of Millenia of struggle. The loss of this knowledge is causing instability in Western societies and a return of the twin evil demons of slavery and genocide around the world. Educators must assume their responsibilities and stop the spread of nihilistic ignorance.

Copyright © Carmelo Pistorio 2020