06/12/2026
On Thursday, June 11, 2026, His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael made the following statement about the Grant Park cross burning incident:
The recent cross-burning witnessed in Chicago’s Grant Park on Tuesday is a brazen display of hate in a public space. It is especially heartbreaking to me when the Holy Cross—a sacred symbol of hope, redemption, and God’s love for all humanity—is desecrated and manipulated so that it is made to resemble its ancient Roman association with fear, pain, and death. Such acts betray both the meaning of the Cross and the inherent dignity of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God.
Our country recognizes the burning of a cross as a historic act of racism. Our Church condemns racism as a sin against both God and neighbor and also condemns the heresy of ethnophyletism—the prioritization of national, ethnic, or racial identity above our identity as children of God.
As Orthodox Christians, we venerate the Holy Cross as an expression of the sacrificial love that has literally changed the world. Our calling is to invite this God-grounded change into our own hearts and minds, so that we may see every person through God’s eyes and recognize them as His beloved son or daughter.
While it is not yet clear what drove this individual to commit such a heinous act, hatred is ultimately rooted in fear. We cannot respond to another person’s hate and fear with our own and expect a different result. We must resist the temptation to vilify the wrongdoer, even as we condemn the act itself. Instead, we pray that he, too, may be reached and healed by God’s transformative love.
The New Testament reminds us that “perfect love drives out fear” (1 Jn 4:18). As God loves us perfectly, we are called to love others—even those who do us wrong—with that same self-giving love revealed on the Cross. This is what it means to be a “nation under God” and a “faithful citizen”: hatred gives way to repentance, fear gives way to love, and division gives way to communion. May this tragic moment in our city lead all of us toward a deeper awareness of our own need for the spiritual transformation made possible by God’s ultimate love.
