Начало войны

Despite all the efforts of Father Hilarion and others like him, who called on the Russian people to come to their senses, to return to their origins, to the faith of their fathers, which united disparate tribes into a single people, and therefore simply to return to the Church - both in mind and in practice - these calls were heard by few and could no longer stop the general retreat. And in 1914, difficult forebodings began to come true. The war has come. Archimandrite Hilarion perceives it as admonition to the lost Russian society, as an opportunity to atone for the departure from the Church through sins and heresies. His sermons acquire special strength and insight: “Orthodox Russian people!.. The terrible hour of judgment has struck on the Russian land. Over the past ten years, we have all sinned a lot. We, the Russian people, have allowed unbelief to spread in our native land. We have an unprecedented corruption of morals. We, Russian people, are sinners before our glorious history. We are sinful before the memory and covenants of our ancestors. We are sinners before our native shrines. We began to lose the fear of God. They forgot how to love the king and their homeland. We are used to blaspheming and blaspheming everything that is ours and dear, and praising and extolling everything that is foreign. The hour has come to atone before God for our people’s guilt, our people’s sins” 210. The outbreak of war takes over the thoughts and feelings of Archimandrite Hilarion: “First of all, somehow my soul is not in the mood for studies,” he wrote in October 1914. - This is thanks to the war. At first I read an awful lot of newspapers. Almost all day long. Now I’ve slowed down a lot, I read more what is printed in large print” 211. Now the theme of war is heard in his sermons, speeches and even in lectures. Hilarion (Troitsky), schmch. About life in the Church and about church life // Hilarion (Troitsky), schmch. Creations: In 3 volumes - M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2004. T. 3. P. 318. Hilarion (Troitsky), priest. Letter from L.P. Arkhangelskaya dated October 15. 1914 – Archive of A.V. Nikitsky.