Yurshinsky Island is a wonderful place. Majestic pine forests grew on its sandy soils. The eastern shore is a continuous beach of fine soft sand. The northern and western shores are wild because they are rocky and surrounded by shallow water. The southern coast is uneven and has creeks. Here the villages of Yurshino and Antonovo come right to the water. The village of Obukhovo is located near the eastern shore. There are two more villages inside the island - Lipnyagi and Bykovo.
In Yurshin there is a dilapidated temple in the name of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. Nearby is an ownerless manor house that was put up for auction a couple of years ago and was built at the end of the 18th century. Behind it is an abandoned park, the powerful linden trees of which are two hundred years old.
In the 90s, these five villages almost died out. However, in recent years there has been a slight influx of population, albeit mainly from summer residents. Their main supplier is Rybinsk. Moscow confidently takes second place. The third is beyond St. Petersburg. It should be noted: among the visitors there are those who have decided to firmly connect their lives with the island.
Currently, the island is going through something of a transition period, because the number of visitors has approximately equaled the number of native islanders. Therefore, it is extremely important to set the correct vector for the further development of the island in time, to find some kind of unifying principle.
Approximately such thoughts led to the idea of organizing an Island Festival. It began, as any business should begin, with prayer.
On Sunday, July 30, at noon, a prayer service for water was served in the Smolensk Church. From the church we walked in a religious procession through three villages, from the southern part of the island to its eastern shore, singing prayers. The cultural program has already begun here. We arrived in the number of about thirty people, somewhat tired from the journey, but joyful, because the villagers greeted us with gratitude. This joy (I will take the liberty to say), which has a gracious nature, was not enough at the opening holiday, so the crusaders immediately attracted the attention of dozens of people.
In my speech to those gathered, I recalled the events of four centuries ago, when in June 1622 people walked the same route in the procession as we do today. Then the glory of the miraculous Yuga Icon of the Mother of God was revealed:
“After the death of the elder Schemamonk Dorotheus, who brought the shrine to our region from the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, the residents of the village of Nizhne-Nikulskoye, contrary to the will of the elder, decided to transfer the miraculous icon from the chapel on the Yuga River to their church. Their enterprise was not successful, because the next morning the icon was not in the temple. Inexplicably, she found herself back in the South Chapel. Without coming to their senses even after a second attempt to move the icon, the Nizhny Nikuli clergy made a procession of the Cross for the third time, but this time they could no longer move the icon from its place - it seemed to have grown. After such obvious miracles, they were reported to the Rostov Metropolitan Varlaam. He, in turn, goes to Patriarch Filaret and Tsar Michael. They decided to found a monastery in the South in honor of the miraculous icon of the Queen of Heaven.
Now there is neither the Yugskaya Dorofeevsky Hermitage nor the village of Nizhne-Nikulskoye. Everything is flooded with water. There is only an island left between these two former points on the map. Moreover, after all the losses, we need gracious help. This island - a fragment of Rus' - can become either a place for the revival of the best traditions of our people, or their burial ground. Everything depends on us.
What is the benefit of the Procession? In a material sense - absolutely none. But in the spiritual it is quite significant. After all, in essence, our whole life is a journey. The whole question is in which direction. The procession of the cross gives us some skill in moving not one at a time, but all together, helping each other, along the path of the divine commandments. The Life-giving Cross we carry sanctifies the surrounding area. With us is a list of the Yuga Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, that is, the Guide. The religious procession is designed to unite people in God. After all, without common prayer and common, even insignificant, work, we usually withdraw into each other in our own little world, we begin to look askance at each other; We cherish envy, jealousy, and deceit in our hearts. We begin to listen to gossip about each other and spread it. Moreover, we are then surprised that the evil we have generated returns to our heads. The procession of the cross is designed to reconcile us with each other and with God.
Therefore, our procession of the Cross should become a tradition. It is extremely important that we unite around our Orthodox faith, our shrines. The fact is that recently some “smart guys” have appeared who are trying to impose false values on the Russian people. Here's an example. On the road to Vologda, if you go through Poshekhonye, there is the ancient village of Kukoboi with a magnificent temple in the name of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. It occurred to someone to designate this village as the seat of Baba Yaga, to organize something like a museum in her honor. They designated this ridiculous idea as a brand and said: this will help make money. I would like to say to these overly enterprising people: citizens, decide in whom you believe: in Christ or in mammon.
Flirting with evil spirits for momentary gain is the most criminal thing. It destroys the spiritual foundations of the life of the Russian people, replacing them with some tortured pseudo-folklore. This corrupts the people, turning them into mindless admirers of wealth beyond the categories of good and evil. The final result of such transformations is complete bestiality and complete shamelessness. So, so that such “smart guys” do not begin to spread all sorts of abominations in our country, we need to declare our position; we need to form healthy spiritual traditions.
Today at the liturgy one of the letters of the Apostle Paul was read. Important words for us were spoken there: “Don’t forget about charity and fellowship: with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
We see charity in the spirit of the Gospel today with our own eyes. We thank, asking for God's blessing, the Kamennikovsky leisure center in the person of its director Olga Gennadievna and her faithful assistant Marina, as well as the creative teams that delighted the audience with their performances. We thank the military from the FAPSI unit who put up a large tent in case of rain. We thank the owner of the recreation center, Igor, who organized a clearing with tables and benches; ensuring the supply of water and electricity. We thank him and the servant of God Sergius for the multiple trips on the boat and longboat.
As for communication, people came from different villages. They brought with them modest, but heartily prepared, food for a common meal. They sacrificed something for the sake of the Lord and their neighbors. The Lord will reward your little work a hundredfold.”
The Russian anthem was performed. Performances by creative groups continued, and some residents of the island joined the program with their stories about the old days.
Competitions were held for the most unique bouquet and the best herbal tea. This was followed by a joint meal. The general opinion was to make the Island Festival a tradition and hold it on the last Sunday of July.
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ZhPM 1945 The 2nd issue of the magazine for 1945 opens with TASS information about the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place on January 31 - February 2. Present as guests were: Patriarch Christopher of Alexandria, Patriarch Alexander III of Antioch, Catholicos of Georgia Callistratus, representative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Metropolitan Herman of Thyatira, representative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Athenagoras of Sebastia, as well as representatives of the Serbian and Romanian Churches.
On February 2, the Council unanimously elected Metropolitan Alexy Simansky as Patriarch, and on February 4, he was enthroned. How not to cite here the words filled with reverence and fear of God from the first Patriarchal message of the same February 4th! “...for you, brothers, my spiritual confusion will become clear when you reflect on what the Patriarch is for his flock and what burden is placed on him.
The Patriarch is a living and animated image of Christ, visually expressing the Truth in deed and word.
His task is to preserve in piety and holiness those whom he has received from God.
His goal is to save the souls entrusted to him.
His feat is to live in Christ and be crucified for the world.
The duty of the Patriarch is to preserve the immutability and inviolability of church teaching, sacred canons and church traditions; to protect the local Church entrusted to him from divisions and schisms; to instill good living in your flock; some to “save through fear,” others, according to the apostle, “to reprove,” “to rebuke,” “that some may be saved.”
Are these really the words of a dependent, downtrodden person? Here is also an instruction for pastors: “Only then will power extend from the shepherds to the believing people, who have great understanding of the personality of each shepherd and are well versed in which of them is a true shepherd, a man of prayer and a dispenser of grace-filled gifts, and which - only acts in the temple of God, only “rules over the inheritance of God” (1 Peter 5:2-3).
And here are the words about modernity: “The military trial that our country is experiencing and now, thanks to the selfless valor of our army and the selfless feat of all our people, coming to an end by the mercy of God, has opened a wide field for us, the shepherds of the Church of Christ.
How many mysteries of suffering, how many miracles of long-suffering we see in our flock!.. How much grief we must quench with spiritual consolations, teaching spiritual strength and strength...
How many suffering souls we are called to heal with grace-filled means... How wide our hearts should be before those who thirst to receive spiritual help from us... How ardent and strong our prayer should be so that the fire of hope for mercy and help does not go out in the hearts of our flock God!"
In conclusion, a prayer for power: “By the grace given to me, I invoke God’s creative blessing on our great Union, on our entire holy Motherland, on the wise builders of state life and the leaders of our peoples, on all our valiant army with its Supreme Leader, and I pray to the Lord to give each and every one of our people His heavenly help, protection, blessing, consolation and peace.”
In the 3rd issue of 1945, a wonderful essay by Metropolitan Benjamin of Aleutia and North America entitled “My impressions of Russia” was published. This is what this hierarch writes: “I’ll tell you straight: the impressions from the people are the strongest, the most important thing that I take with me from my homeland abroad. And first of all I will say about believers. God, what ardent faith in them! And this faith is transmitted to us, the employees.
For a long, long time I have not prayed so fervently, with such “seeing faith” as here, among this spirit-bearing “house of God,” the Church of Christ, His “Body.” Sometimes tears came to my eyes, and my breathing was constricted from the onset of sobs of joy and faith. Every word of worship came to life like fire in the heart and mind.
And when the prayer was read for the victory of our army, the request was bold before the Lord. The words that He would look with mercy and generosity on His humble servants, on these His children who had suffered in the war - then tears again rolled down the cheeks, and again it was difficult to refrain from the approaching sobs.
Yes, truly behind us stood the “humble servants” of God. And for whom the heart was filled with pity for them. And how much he prayed for “mercy and bounties.” And it was believed that they would be. And when I came to the temple where the Council took place and saw the “walls” of the people, I without a doubt felt and understood: here it is - the stronghold of faith and the Church.
And what happened when the words of a living sermon were spoken to them? What attention. What a spiritual thirst. And often - tears flowing down the cheeks of both men and women. The Russian Orthodox people have an ardent faith. And the blessing after the liturgies! After all, it took an hour, almost two hours, to bless these children of God. In a crush, in cramped conditions, wet with sweat, these pious people of God walked for a blessing. Yes, and now it is not only possible, but also necessary to say:
Rus' is still Holy. Yes, and now I can say without any doubt: the Orthodox faith is alive among the Russian people.” This truthful person recorded the fact of the spiritual transformation of Rus'. And I don’t understand how today’s critics can allow themselves to look down on that people, that generation of believers, how they dare to judge them.
February 6 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Tchaikovsky hosted a spiritual concert dedicated to the Local Council. It opened with the chant “God is with us” to the music of Kastalsky. Then the Creed of the same composer was performed, followed by many other works, of which the author of the article especially singled out “Rise Up, God.” And this triumph of faith was organized, therefore, by an atheistic regime? Don't make people laugh. Trotskyism went underground, and therefore the road to faith opened up. And it was not least J.V. Stalin who pushed through it.
What soul-warming titles of articles are present in the April issue of the magazine! “Ending the Estonian schism”; exposing the deceit of modern papists - “On the Roman Catholic Church”; dedicated to the Council of Saints of Moscow “Constellation of the great zealots of the unification of Rus'”; "Militant Catholicism"; “The Last Judgment in works of world art,” etc. Not just printed on paper, but also simultaneously embossed in the hearts of believers, the words from which these sermons and articles were composed were the wings on which Rus' flew to Victory.
The May 1945 issue opens with a reprint from the Izvestia newspaper with the title “Conversation of Comrade. J.V. Stalin with Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy.”
After the Patriarch's Easter message, another one is given, dated May 9th. It, of course, opens with an all-joyful greeting - “Christ is risen!” This is followed by military-style, vigorous and abrupt phrases:
“The last hour of Nazi Germany has struck.
Her strength is broken and crushed.
Germany has been reduced to dust.
The banner of victory flutters over the enemy country.
Glory and thanks be to God!”
“With the glory of victories and the joy of peace, I greet first of all our victorious army and its great Supreme Leader, and then all the faithful sons of our Motherland, united with their Leader and his victorious army, who have now been honored with the happiness of seeing victory over the dark enemy force for so many years which tormented Europe and madly dreamed of conquering the world and hoisting the bloody banner of fascism over it.”
And here is the long-awaited spiritual assessment of the event, which every Christian should remember by heart, so as not to parrot the wild slander that Soviet Russia brought to humanity the same evil as fascist Germany. “We confidently and patiently waited for this joyful day of the Lord, the day on which the Lord pronounced His righteous judgment over the worst enemies of mankind - and Orthodox Rus', after unprecedented feats of war, after the incredible strain of all the forces of the people, stood up as one person to defend the Motherland and who did not spare even his life for the sake of saving the Fatherland - now he stands before the Lord of strength in prayer, gratefully appealing to the very Source of victories and peace for His heavenly help in times of battle, for the joy of victory and for giving peace to the whole world.”
If these words seem too florid to someone, we can say it more simply: Christ Himself won the victory over fascism, acting through the Christ-loving Russian army.
“May our prayer be corrected like incense before the Lord.
Let the heavens pass.
May it be brought by the holy prayer books for the Russian land to the throne of the Lord.
May the God of peace continue His blessings on our native land and may our Leaders and Rulers assist our peaceful weapons of state wisdom and truth to defeat everything that is hostile to the peace and good of our great Fatherland and, through the combined efforts of the victorious peoples, to establish throughout the world such an order in which it is impossible there would be a repetition of the horrors of war.”
The 5th issue of the magazine for 1945 exudes not only the joy of Victory, but also spiritual vigor, which tends to keep a vigilant eye on the enemies of the faith. Therefore, it is natural that there is a large, detailed article by Professor I.G. Aivazov, “Union of Churches,” ending with the minted words that should be imprinted in the heart of every Orthodox Christian: “It is clear that with such an obvious and conscious violation and deviation of the papacy from Christian dogmas and the foundations of the church building, it is useless to talk about unity between the Churches of the East and West. Any call by popes for unity does not mean unity, but anti-Christian enslavement by the popes of the Eastern Church. And to such calls from the popes of Rome, the Eastern Church must give the same rebuff that was given to popes Damasus and Nicholas I by St. Basil the Great and the famous First Hierarch Photius of Constantinople.” In the 7th issue, two more articles are devoted to the same topic - “The Vatican” by S. Alfeev and “The False Humanism of the Vatican” by Professor Archpriest. T. Popova.
The August issue of the magazine opens with the “Message of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy to the archpastors, shepherds and flocks of the Orthodox Russian Church,” which is dated August 9. It contains a call to support the military operation against Japan with prayer, labor, and military exploits. Here, among other things, it is said: “We cannot have agreement, and it would be sinful, with those who “hate peace” and with those who prevent its advance, with those who go against the truth of God and who, in pagan fanaticism and blindness, do not spare and his people... May the Lord bless our entry into this new national feat, may He give strength to our weapons, may He bless our leaders and warriors with new glorious victories and may He bring the longed-for peace throughout the world closer.”
In the same August issue there is a wonderful article by V. Yanov with the delightful title “The Great Russian People”. An important fact is attested here: “At a reception in the Kremlin in honor of the commanders of the Red Army, the brilliant leader of the peoples I.V. Stalin, proclaiming a toast to the health of the Russian people, said: “They (the Russian people) are the most outstanding nation of all the nations included in composition of the Soviet Union. I raise a toast to the health of the Russian people because in this war they have earned general recognition as the leading force of the Soviet Union among all the peoples of our country. “I raise a toast to the health of the Russian people, not only because they are a leading people, but also because they have a clear mind, persistent character and patience.”
In order to develop the thought of I.V. Stalin, the author quotes Elder Philotheus, Dostoevsky, Chaadaev, Pushkin, and the recently deceased Patriarch Sergius. We will quote him too. This is a poetic perception of St. Basil's Cathedral, erected by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in memory of the conquest of Kazan: “Before us stands a church building, the parts of which represent complete diversity from the ground to the top of their crosses, but on the whole they constitute a marvelous unity. This cathedral is topped by many domes: there is a Moorish dome, there is an Indian one, there are Byzantine outlines, there are Chinese ones, and in the middle the Russian dome rises above all, uniting the entire building. “Not to us, not to us, but to Your name give glory,” our ancestors cried, crowning the various thirteen domes of St. Basil with crosses.”
And it ends as follows: “God is with us! Understand the pagans and submit, for God is with us!”
After the victory over Japan in the September issue of the magazine, in addition to the congratulatory telegram from Patriarch I.V. To Stalin, in addition to the Message to the flock, there is an article by Mikhail Arkhangelsky “Military feats of Orthodox clergy in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.”
In the October issue of the magazine, in addition to official information, there is a programmatic article by Archbishop Photius of Oryol “On the church-patriotic work of the clergy and believers in post-war, peacetime.” Here there is a call to zealously take on the restoration of what was destroyed by the war, a call to actively console the widows, orphans, and disabled people left without care. And further: “Our Christian and patriotic duty consists in... preaching and affirming the idea of God’s help given to our country during the Great Patriotic War, now completed in complete and brilliant victory.
This help of God, which has so clearly manifested itself over us and over our country, should encourage both shepherds and all believers to raise their love for the Motherland, their devotion to it, their willingness to sacrifice everything for its good and prosperity to even greater heights. “God is with us! Praise the Lord, all nations, glorify Him, all nations, for great is His mercy toward us” (Ps. 116). It is not an accident that we won the victory, and Hitler’s Germany was overthrown, “for no people have power in the success of their undertakings, but the Lord Himself sends down all good things and destroys whomever He wants according to His will” (Tob. 4, 19). Germany and its Nazi leaders are punished by God for their exorbitant pride, for cruelty and misanthropy. The words of Christ were fulfilled over them: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled (Matthew 23:12). And still other words: “He who takes the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). The same applies to capitulated Japan.”
The November issue of the magazine published “The greeting speech of His Grace Nestor, Archbishop of Kamchatka and Petropavlovsk, to the victorious army of the Red Army at the rally on September 2 in Harbin.” The bishop’s speech is filled with joyful boldness:
“Where are you, Japanese samurai, who boasted of thousands of years of invincibility?
Where did your audacity go, with which you imposed your notorious “new order” under your one roof?
You have now fallen to dust from panic fear, when Russian weapons have just begun to rattle...
We are not the only ones celebrating your victory and the liberation of Manchuria from the daring invaders, but also the immortal names of many thousands of heroes, old Russian warriors, who forty years ago fought on the hills of Manchuria and in Port Arthur with the same treacherous enemy - the Japanese, and they finally received , freedom and peace with the arrival here of you, your fellow fighters, who have won back this land with their hitherto lonely graves.”
Further, describing the hardships of the Japanese occupation, the ruler claims that Russian children were forced to perform ritual worship of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu. “The whole world knows about the atrocities of Hitler’s fascism, but we all know about the atrocities of the Japanese. Here is one of the recent terrible cases that occurred in Harbin: a Russian woman, the mother of two small children, at the request of a Japanese neighbor, went to buy her groceries, and, returning, to her indescribable horror, found her children stabbed to death by this same Japanese woman...
Thank God, all this is behind us. And it passed only thanks to Russian heroes.
Truly our Fatherland Russia is the home of heroes! May our Rus' always remain under the gracious Protection of God. May our mighty, great Fatherland be worthily glorified by all the peoples of the world in their glorious legends, folk songs and solemn hymns!
Glory to you, our Motherland, and bow to you from us, the Russian people who selflessly love you, your children, who have now entered into one indivisible great Russian family.
Glory to you, Great Leader of our Mother Russia, who gave her unattainable power, greatness and well-deserved peace!”
On this solemn note we will end our review of the wartime Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.
* * *
Before us passed the majestic figures of the giants of the spirit of the Stalinist hierarchs, i.e. prayer books for the Leader of Soviet Russia (and they prayed for the authorities, without further ado, according to the commandment of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul). Their heyday came during the years of Stalin's reign, and they remained faithful to the alliance with the Leader: both those who left earthly life before him and those who came after. The current uninvited judges reproach them for this union, because in their brains, brainwashed by liberal propaganda, Stalin is present as an absolute evil. Consequently, everyone who prayed for him, who blessed him, who addressed words of gratitude, are involved in absolute evil; and therefore worthy of condemnation.
Such people fall into the Ham sin of disrespect for the spiritual Fathers, who preserved faith for their descendants in times of unprecedented trials. These are idolaters in reverse. Because the idolater calls God, the source of all good, the fruit of his imagination. These same people call, instead of the devil, the source of all evil, man, who has long been brought before God’s judgment, endowing him with all the attributes of evil and thereby constantly exposing their own fanatical partiality.
Who is afraid of the Stalinist hierarchs? Of course, to the devil, whose power they supplanted on earth. And then - to all his minions. To everyone who advocates for a new world order:
Trotskyists.
The global oligarchy working together with them.
Used by the first and second as errand boys for the Masons.
To the fascists.
Their minions are the undead Banderaites.
Overt and secret papists.
To the ecumenists who, trampling all the sacred canons, merge in adulterous ecstasy with the Gentiles.
Church renovationists.
Russophobes of all stripes.
Sodomites who destroy the traditional order and thereby open the way to the godless “new.”
To all kinds of liberals, as the breeding ground from which the minions of the “New World Order” grow.
As for Stalin’s personality itself, it is best and most salutary to act in relation to it not as a judge, but as a prayer book, imitating the Stalinist hierarchs. Of course, he is a man who has sinned a lot (I would see who could sin less if he were in his position), but he is also a man who has done a lot for Russia and its Church.
Those who declare him a saint, firstly, go to the opposite extreme, and secondly, do him a disservice. After all, we do not pray for the pardon of the saints, believing that they have not only been pardoned, but also glorified. And God’s servant Joseph needs the prayers of the Church so that his sinful soul may be saved. Those who declare him a saint deprive him of the consolation of prayer, and besides, they are engaged in profanation of holiness, presenting it as a servant of their own political programs. Holiness is determined not by democratic votes or sophisticated propaganda, but by the undeniable testimony of God.
If we are to glorify anyone as a saint, it would be the Stalinist hierarchs: Patriarch Sergius, Patriarch Alexy I, Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich and others. One of them - St. Luke of Crimea, winner of the Stalin Prize - has already been glorified.
I will express my opinion, albeit insignificant, about the iconography associated with Joseph Stalin. Of course, his image with a halo is unacceptable, because he was not the Anointed One, he was not anointed to the Kingdom by the Church. Also uncommendable are the images where he is presented without a halo, but in the center of the icon, blessed by Christ and the Mother of God. It is appropriate, if we are to depict him, then to be blessed by the hierarchs, and not in the center of everyone’s attention, but in a humble form, for example, in the form of a servant of the Queen of Heaven. And not in icons, but in paintings. Which of them is destined to become an icon in the future (or which one will not receive such an honor) - time will tell.
At present, a more pressing task is to free the name of one of the greatest leaders of Russia from slander, if only because this slander cannot but affect the Russian Church.
Nine days have passed since Evgeniy Stanislavovich Rozov suddenly died on August 4, at the age of 58. On August 6, his funeral service took place in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of Rybinsk. Several hundred people came to say a final farewell and pray for the repose of his soul.
He was a man of gigantic stature and strength. It was difficult for him to find clothes and shoes in ordinary stores - he did not want to fit into the cramped standards of the average person. And this was the case in almost everything. Hence, perhaps, his constant polite smile, with which he seemed to constantly say: please forgive me for my size - that’s how I was born.
His smile contained not only politeness, but also unchanging kindness and meekness. The eyes are often sad. When he came somewhere, he filled the space with himself, not so much the external space, of course, as the internal space of the souls of the people with whom he entered into communication.
A poet in the true, high sense of the word, who had the rare gift of not putting words into rhymes, but pouring out his soul into them. And together - the head of the instrumental department of the Saturn research and production association, for decades the leading enterprise in Rybinsk. A man who had encyclopedic knowledge of Russian literature and history. A local historian who could talk for hours about the legends of Uglich, where he was born, Rybinsk, where he spent a significant part of his life, or Mologa, where his mother was from. A collector who collected old coins and postcards. He donated entire collections of the latter to museums. As for the first, I remember in his and my hands the silver of imperial Rome.
This was a man who carefully searched for cultural roots, found them and rejoiced at his discoveries. And together a person who deeply suffered at the sight of the destruction of Russian culture. He was for many years chairman of the Rybinsk branch of VOOPIK (All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments). Organized enthusiasts for necessary work in the territories of churches, cemeteries and ancient buildings in Rybinsk and its environs. By the way, he himself most often financed the implementation of these works at a decent level.
Such activity began in Evgenia in the late 80s and early 90s of the last century, at the very time when the wild elements of destruction struck Russia. And giants like Evgeny were needed to somehow stop this element. When many of his peers and former comrades put all their efforts into snatching a fatter piece for themselves from the plunder of Russia, he worked day after day, month after month and year after year, sparing no strength or health, on the exact opposite task .
If such activity were manifested once or twice, it could be called an act. However, it became the fulfillment of the life of Evgeniy, this truly noble and generous Russian man. And if so, this is already a feat in the name of Russia. I remember then, in the nineties, he repeated: “Let Russia be exalted, let our names perish!”
This was Evgeniy’s life credo. He carried out a task that was little noticeable from the outside, sometimes met with condescending smiles from those around him, like an amusing eccentricity. However, the more difficult the feat was. He required constant burning of the soul.
So the man burned, warming and illuminating others. And... it burned down. I said approximately these words in the cemetery before the final litany and burial of my friend’s body.
It was necessary to give this image of burning in order to answer the murmur about the injustice of his sudden death (and its cause was a heart attack). After all, to whom, if not God, was such a reproach addressed?
Recently, Evgeniy was extremely depressed by his illness, but he did not interrupt his activities in various fields, because he could not live without it. To do this, I had to strain all the strength of my soul. And he died in this feat, invisible to prying eyes. It probably couldn’t have been any other way. Slow decline was not for this big man. For some reason, it was necessary for us to feel the pain of loss more acutely.
And if he became a bright flash in our lives, we are obliged to contain in the depths of our own souls the sparks of light of Evgeniy Rozov - out of love for this wonderful Russian man. Do not grumble, but continue his work and pray for the repose of his soul.
In intimate conversations, Evgeniy repeatedly read to me one of his favorite poems. I admit, at that time I did not understand its significance in my friend’s life and even criticized the beginning of the verse. Now the meaning is fully revealed.
I will quote the beginning of the poem from memory:
They say: in the beginning there was the word.
All the words at the beginning are great.
I want to go to the Kulikovo field,
Where waders sing at night.
So this giant man fell on his Kulikovo field in the battle for Russia.
The poem ends as follows:
... And in the end there will be the same word,
I will repeat, as if in delirium:
I will die on the Kulikovo field,
Even if I don’t get there!
Romanova AnnaWe worship Your Cross, Master,
And we glorify Your holy Resurrection.
The Holy Lent has reached the halfway point. A lot has been covered, but the hardest part of the journey lies ahead. At such a moment, sadness and some kind of dissatisfaction from the sorrows and infirmities experienced easily enter the soul. In order to nip in the bud the tendencies of our cowardice, the Holy Church exhibits for veneration the image of the life-giving Cross of the Lord. The Holy Church acts in this case like a wise commander who, in the most tense situation, suddenly lines up his exhausted warriors under the victorious banners that overshadow them and thereby restores to them the courage that had been wavering. The victorious banner of the Church is the life-giving Cross of Christ, for with its help the most brilliant victory was won, namely, over the power of death. And if the memory of the glorious victories of mortal kings and generals is capable of instilling courage even in timid souls, even more so the memory of the only one, but so superior to all the most glorious victories of mortals, taken together, as far as heaven is higher than the earth, is capable of filling the heart of a Christian with courage and the liveliest readiness to continue the feat. Moreover, we not only remember the great victory, but also kiss its image, full of grace.
The Holy Church sings: “The Cross is the guardian of the entire universe, the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the power of kings, the Cross is the affirmation of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons.” But how did such a wonderful transformation happen? We say: how did it happen that the symbol of the most terrible shame became the pinnacle of divine glory? After all, before the bright Resurrection of Christ, the cross was a horror for people. It executed runaway slaves and the most hardened criminals who had become a plague on society. And Moses writes in his law: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Deuteronomy 21:23). There was nothing under the sun more disgusting and damned than the cross. He was the abyss of despair and the triumph of hell over poor humanity. The demons rejoiced seeing the inhuman malice of people towards their neighbors when they crucified those like themselves. Due to their corrupt nature, demons enjoyed the death throes of those crucified.
That is why the incarnate Son of God chose death on the cross. He knew that all the diseases of hell would fall on Him (Ps. 17:6; Ps. 21), that hell would exhaust all its malice, fighting against His invincible love. He lured the world holder of the darkness of this century, the devil, to the Cross, as if to a trap, and nailed him to the Tree - like Moses with a copper serpent in the desert, which brought a curse on the devil.
The Apostle Paul teaches: “The first man was from the earth. The second person is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, so are the earthy; and as those who are in heaven, so are those who are in heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47-48). Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. The first Adam, having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, inherited death and communicated mortality to the entire human race. Through Adam's falling away from God, the devil gained power over him by right of victory. The human soul, separated from the body, became the prey of hell. And the Lord gives Himself as food to hell: he makes sacrifice and atonement. He sacrifices Himself as a Man and redeems the primordial Adam from curse. Hell held the first Adam in its mouth. Having seen the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, he attempted to devour Him too. He opened his mouth, and the first Adam was released, but the Second Adam illuminated the underworld with the light of His Divinity, and hell was overthrown. The Lord redeemed us from the slavery of the devil and called us free into His eternal Kingdom (1 Peter 1:17-19). The first Adam, having weakened in his feat, did not bring to the Creator a contrite heart and a humble spirit. The Second Adam sacrifices His Blood of the New Testament, and through it all renewed human nature, so that New Testament humanity would serve God perfectly, worshiping Him in spirit and truth.
The Lord made a sacrifice to replace the countless sacrifices with which humanity honored the forces of hell. And the Cross appeared as an altar. Sprinkled with divine Blood, he himself became the source of sanctification.
The Apostle Paul says: “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). Who are those who are perishing? These are those who do not believe that on the Cross Christ conquered hell and death. These perishing people with a heart of stone and a mind inventive only for evil, nailing the Lord to the Tree, could not understand the ancient prophecy of Isaiah: “By His stripes we were healed” (Is. 53:5). The dying, passing by the Cross, shouted: “Let him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe in Him” (Matthew 27:42), exposing their extreme ignorance, their extreme commitment only to earthly life and its pleasures, their extreme atheism. Those who are perishing even now, looking at the image of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, see only the Man who suffered on the Cross and gave up his spirit, they see only the image of death and nothing more. That is why they are perishing because with the eyes of faith they do not see, behind the suffering and death of the God-Man, His victory over death. Those who are perishing do not believe in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and this is the basis of their destruction. Just as for godless Jews one statement of Christ to the question of Caiaphas was enough: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One,” in order to condemn Him to death, and themselves to inherit eternal damnation, so for those who are perishing of all times, disbelief in the Divinity of Christ is enough to inherit with those who crucified one fate.
If the crucified Christ were only a man, his suffering and death on the Cross would not have brought anything new into the world. This would be another victim of human, and especially demonic, anger and envy. But if, on the contrary, the God-Man suffered from His human nature, His divine Nature could not help but become the Conqueror of death, because death is incompatible with God - these are two extreme opposites. Godless Jews, seeing the Body suffering on the Cross, did not see God victorious on the same Cross. And the Mother of God, with the eyes of faith, saw that the instrument of death deals a mortal blow to death itself, transforming into a symbol of life. The Mother of God, with the eyes of faith, saw how the Blood of Her beloved Son, received from Her womb, was not only absorbed by the dust of the earth, but also washed away the ancient sin of the forefather Adam, she saw with the eyes of faith the jubilant Eve, because, finally, the ancient promise was fulfilled: The seed of the woman erased the head the serpent, nailing him to His Cross. Let us, together with the Mother of God, with the eyes of faith, see in the image of the life-giving Cross the all-joyful banner of victory, which the forces of hell tremble.
Today we are talking about another cross. It was read about him in today’s Gospel at the liturgy: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). These words were spoken before the Savior’s feat of the cross, i.e. at a time when the glory of the Cross had not yet been revealed, when bearing the cross was associated only with shame. In those days there was no curse more vile than “crusader,” because crosses were carried by those condemned to death by crucifixion. This terrible execution was adopted by the Romans from the Punics, inhabitants of Carthage, descendants of Canaan. The Punic soldiers considered it common practice to crucify their general after his defeat. And when he slowly died painfully over the course of hours, they mocked him, thereby bringing the element of evil from the underworld to earth. Among the Romans, the first to use this execution was the winner of Carthage, Publius Cornelius Scipio. When, according to the concluded terms of peace, the Punes handed over Roman traitors to him, Scipio told them: you preferred Carthage to Rome - die like a Carthaginian, and not like a Roman. And the traitors were crucified. Subsequently, the Carthaginian execution took root among the Romans, the reason for this is indicated by their own saying: “Thin grass grows quickly.”
Every Christian is destined in this life to fight against the devil and his servants. This struggle in general terms resembles the Savior’s feat of the cross. The Apostle Paul speaks about this: “Everyone who wants to live godly will be persecuted.” All saints have experienced and continue to experience slander and reproach. This is the cross. As a Christian succeeds in spiritual life, he becomes an invincible weapon, because the devil simply has nothing to oppose the power of Christian courage based on the fear of God.
No wonder Satan and his servants hate the Cross. We all know about the actions of the atheists in Russia after February 1917 - about the overthrow of crosses from the churches of God, the towers of the Moscow Kremlin, about the bans on wearing a cross. Anyone who thinks that all this is in the past is greatly mistaken. Has Satan's wickedness diminished over the last hundred years? Rather, it has only increased. Now the Cross is being persecuted in those countries that in the last quarter of a century were presented to us as an ideal, which we were encouraged to emulate - in the European Union and the United States. The cross here is expelled from public places, and people can be kicked out of work for wearing a cross.
Let Russia glorify the Cross of Christ more and more loudly these days. God grant that he will be erected at the head of our state building. Let the Cross overshadow, as in ancient times, the heart of our Motherland, erected above the towers of the Moscow Kremlin. Let Russia become a beacon of salvation for the peoples of the Earth in the raging global ocean of godlessness!
In the Gospel the Cross is called the sign of the Son of Man. It will be natural for him to appear on the day of the Last Judgment. Seeing it in the breadth of heaven, those who accepted the word of the cross as madness will be confused, and those who revered the Cross by the power of God will rise up, already exhausted from the great temptations and sorrows of the Antichrist's time, because the Cross for them is the same as victory.
The Cross of Christ is now the tree of life in paradise, so rejoice when it is offered by the Church for worship. With the eyes of faith, together with the Mother of God, see in it the spear with which Christ pierced the insatiable belly of hell, see in it the sword with which Christ crushed the prisons of hell, with which he is able to crush our sins, and finally, see in it a ladder leading from earth to heaven. Kiss him with faith in the Conqueror of hell and death, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Having touched the shrine of the Cross, let us resist the general flow of lawlessness, let us work for the Lord on the holy days of Lent, confess our sins, unite with Christ in the holy communion of His Body and Blood, in order to become fellow members of divine grace, in order to glorify with the holy angels the all-holy name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
On Sunday, November 27, Pope Francis opened the Adventa, or Gospel readings, dedicated to the coming meeting with the Lord, which will last 4 Sundays in a row until the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. In his first sermon dedicated to the Meeting, Pope Francis said something new and very interesting, perhaps downright revolutionary (as Vatican Radio abbreviates his words): “The coming of the Lord to humanity occurs in three stages. The first coming took place at the Incarnation, the second coming takes place in the present, the third coming will take place at the end of time.”
Someone will say: why bother with words? After all, Pope Francis is known as a great original, and here again he decided to surprise his listeners, to refresh their perception with an unusual conceptual range. However, if we recognize theology as a science, then we must admit that, like any science, it requires accuracy.
The first coming of Christ did not end with His Ascension into Heaven in the flesh, as evidenced by the words of the Gospel of Matthew, which convey the speech of the Lord just before the indicated event: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen"(Matt. 28:20). Until the end of this world, God incarnate appears to people in a humiliated form, so as not to frighten them with the immeasurable glory of the Divine and thereby deprive them of free will. The Lord abides in this world even visibly - in His most pure Mysteries. Therefore, all the holy fathers spoke only about the coming Second Coming of Christ, which will reveal the Last Judgment. And none of them spoke about the “third” coming.
Only the heresy of chiliasm teaches about it, which, by the way, was adopted by the Adventist sect. Archbishop Averky (Taushev), in his interpretation of the Apocalypse, says the following about the subject that interests us: “Chiliasm introduces one more - the third coming of Christ a thousand years before the end of the world, which the word of God does not know.” Chiliasm, we note, is fully consistent with the Jewish faith in an earthly kingdom led by the Moshiach.
The pope ended his speech with a passage where he says the following about Christ: “He will come to lead us into a more beautiful and greater dimension. May the Most Holy Theotokos, the Virgin of Advent, help us not to consider ourselves the owners of our lives and not to resist when the Lord comes to change it, but to be ready to accept Him as an expected and welcome guest, even if He turns our plans upside down.”
This “third” coming, proclaimed by the “sinless” pope, does not have a universal scale, but some kind of Vatican scale, i.e. miniature, almost containing a parody of Holy Scripture. Indeed: what kind of plans can we talk about “reversing” when “The heavens will pass away with a noise, the elements, having flared up, will be destroyed, the earth and all the works on it will be burned up”? (2 Peter 3:10). Why is the Lord of the universe, from whose presence heaven and earth will flee (Rev. 20:11), called only a “guest”? And what is this newly appeared “great and wonderful dimension” before the Last Judgment, at which, as it is said in the Gospel, “all the families of the earth will mourn”? (Matt. 24, 30).
Why is this revolution needed, this information virus, this provocation aimed at changing the mentality of Christians? In order to disorient them at the present historical moment (to hit them on the head with a butt - so that everything around becomes incomprehensible and vague), and then, when the time comes, to palm off on them instead of Christ the Antichrist himself. The further Christ goes, the more he will become, in the eyes of people infected with apostate propaganda, just a name to which the attributes of the Antichrist will be consistently attached. When people are sufficiently trained in such crafty tricks, they will be presented with the enemy of the human race and will be told: “This is Christ”!
The last guess is confirmed by the interpretation offered by Vatican Radio to an excerpt from the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 2: 1-5) read on November 27th. It says here: “The vision that the liturgy offers us today is especially grandiose: from all corners of the earth, human rivers flow to the mountain of the Temple of the Lord.”
This interpretation is false, because the prophet Isaiah, seeing through the thickness of centuries the future glory of the Church of Christ, speaks not about the Temple Mount, where the Mosque of Omar now stands, but about Mount Zion, where the Last Supper was celebrated and the New Covenant of God with humanity was concluded: “For out of Zion will go out the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”(Isa. 2, 3). The picture depicted by the prophet shows peoples moving towards their salvation, who flow precisely to Zion as a symbol of the New Testament. Currently, Zion is every Orthodox church where the divine liturgy is celebrated (the Last Supper of the New Testament).
The further interpretation is also very original: “Before us is a clearly outlined path: “to ascend the mountain of the Lord,” to find the path of God, to listen to His will, which is always aimed at the good of those whom He loves, that is, for the good of all people. We will have to realize that we all have swords and spears that need to be broken and thrown into the fire of love to be melted down into plows and sickles. The energy that we previously spent defending ourselves from each other or even attacking each other will go towards the joint creation of the common good, starting from the space in which we live, work, and relax: family, community, school, parish … What we call “the law of God”” is the Word of life, which shows the path of justice, harmony, cooperation - in other words, the path of love, the only path that can lead to true and lasting peace, an indispensable condition also for our well-being "
Why not preach chiliasm, heaven on earth, a kind of “socialism with a human face”? To achieve it, you need the Temple Mount, where in due time, according to the prophecy of the Apostle Paul, someone will sit "like God, pretending to be God"(2 Thess. 2:4). And this will happen when everyone around says: "peace and security"(1 Thess. 5:3).
This case of barbaric use of words once again confirms us in the idea that the Vatican, especially after its famous Second Council, stood under the banner of some kind of religious Trotskyism, a permanent revolution directed against the consciousness of Christians. Therefore, he constantly spews out streams of blasphemy, skillfully hiding it behind words about love, peace, the common good and dreams of the steady growth of universal well-being.
Priest Sergiy Karamyshev, publicist, Rybinsk diocese
Source http://ruskline.ru/news_rl/2016/11/29/informacionnaya_provokaciya_vatikana_ili_o_tretem_prishestvii_hrista/
