“Suddenly, I got a letter from my draft board. I was a patriotic American and never thought about these issues. But somewhere I read: don’t kill, don’t even hold onto anger; if you live by the –gun, you perish by the gun. I presented myself to my draft board in a little town, Prichard, Alabama. They had never heard of an Eastern Church. In those days, no one got draft exemption except Quakers. I simply told them, ‘I am an Eastern Christian, an Eastern Catholic, a part of the great Church of Antioch; my faith does not allow me to kill nor to be a part of any organized effort to kill, dominate of oppress’. They gave me no hint; I left, knowing I would be arrested shortly. I’m told I was the first non-Quaker not to go to jail, usually 4-7 years.”

Oversimplified Notes, Father David Kirk