Orthodox bloggers on the crisis between Israel and Lebanon:

• Glad Huw pointed us to the Antiochian resolution:
  

  … we appeal to the President of the United States of America, Mr. George W. Bush, to use his good office
  1. To bring immediate cessation of hostilities on both sides.
  2. To help in the exchanging of prisoners of all warring parties in the region.
  3. And that her Excellency, the Secretary of State, Dr. Rice, be dispatched to the region to utilize her diplomatic skills to bring about a just and lasting peace for the entire Middle East.

  And Condi is going there on Monday, I believe, so we can check that item off anyway. Do we have the kind of clout to bring about the other two items? Everyone acts like we do. I’m just not sure what Hezbollah has to gain (either in Lebanon, in the Arab world, or in the eyes of the “global community” if there is one) by cooperating with the Americans it has spent so much time vilifying. I guess we’ll see, right?

• Huw also noticed a little problem with the numbers listed in the resolution. Oh, um … oops. I think I’m of the same mind as the commenters who thought that the “one million” number was supposed to refer to all Orthodox, not just Antiochian Orthodox. But if not, woo hoo, y’know? We rock!
• Got into an interesting comment thread on Jim’s blog when it came to trying to figure out who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. It’s very clear to some — it’s still not to me. Still I should have known that people commenting to Orthodixie would do a much better job of explaining the difficulties of the “blame Israel” approach. My favorite line from the comment thread: “This war is fed by two hands.”
• Erica wonders what is a proper prayer to say in time of war. The first commenter suggests a psalm, but thereby hangs a dilemma. The psalms are often bitterly vituperative concerning their enemies, imploring God to break out their teeth, wipe them out completely, annilhilate them. They don’t square with Christ’s admonition to turn the other cheek. And yet we don’t want to edit the psalms or be politically correct about it: there are surely evil people about in time of war as there are in times of peace. (Do you suppose someone should have asked “Who is my enemy?” as the lawyer asked “Who is my brother?”) I tend to pray for the innocents, for the wisdom of those in authority, for the lives of the soldiers (sorry if that strikes some of you wrong, but I’m a GI brat and anyway, your issue isn’t with them) and that the schemes and devices of bloodthirsty men be brought to nothing. That’s based on something I heard and liked, and it leaves who’s right or wrong out of it.
  Oh, and when it’s our war, I pray for victory. More political incorrectness, but considering the familiar troparion (”O Lord, save Thy people and bless their inheritance. Grant victories to the Orthodox peoples over their adversaries …”), it seems like it’s not, ahem, unorthodox.