I just read an Intellectual Takeout article about the decline of the West. The original poster commented that many of their Conservative friends have dived headlong into the arts and traditions of the past that made the Western world what it was (not is, really) as they make their retreat from the political theater that has utterly failed them.
I think that if you are Christian (Orthodox especially, but heterodox as well), you need a very different orientation. Western civilization as great as it can be (and has been), is not going to save anyone. Only Christ can do this.
I would suggest you read about how the Church survived the communists in Russia and in eastern Europe. I have two titles for you. The first is Russia's Catacomb Saints by I.M. Andreyev (Ivan Mikhailovich Andreyevsky) which is still widely available for free online. The second one is Christ is Calling You: A Course in Catacomb Pastorship by Fr. George Calciu, a Romanian Orthodox priest who spent decades in and out of political prisons for his faith. For those who are of a Protestant disposition, Wurmbrand's Tortured for Christ is of a similar quality to the other two. In all of these books you can learn how the Church survived the terrible trials of communism and emerged victorious. The disposition of voluntary martyrdom, both the living and mortal varieties, is clearly illustrated. We need to adopt this attitude. That brings me to my next point.
The willing martyrdom (again, both varieties) is illustrated extremely well in the early Church. If you never read any other Fathers of the Church, read St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Polycarp of Smyrna. They were dear friends and brother bishops. The did not find their life so valuable that they were unwilling to suffer for the Faith. In this lies the secret of their closeness and the example we can follow. Both of these bishops were slain for their faith. St. Ignatius wrote seven letters as he journeyed to his death in the Coliseum in Rome. In the letter he sent ahead to the Christians at Rome, he begged them not to beg for his life so as not to deprive him of his martyr's crown. He was fed to the lions for the entertainment of a vulgar crowd. St. Polycarp's martyrdom is the subject of one of the earliest hagiographies in the Church's history. This is the orientation that we should adopt.
As many have pointed out, "martyr" simply means "witness." Both living martyrs and mortal (i.e., those killed) martyrs have born witness to the Faith of Jesus Christ throughout the Church's history. We must, if we are to follow Christ, lay down our lives and take up our crosses. When we lay down our lives, we leave it to Christ whether we keep or lose our lives for His glory. No matter what route Christ chooses for you, it is for your salvation and for the salvation of those around you.
[Now, before anyone says "surrender" to Christ, I contend that it is not "surrender," but "submission." They're not the same, but that's for a different post.]
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