Words on the occasion of public disasters

Contents 1. A speech on the reading of the Highest Manifesto, which followed on March 14, 1848 2. A speech on the reading of the Highest Manifesto on the war with Turkey 3. A word when enemy fleets appeared before Odessa 4. A word during the siege (siege) of Odessa by an enemy fleet 5. A word during the bombardment of Odessa by a united fleet English-French 6. A word after the bombardment of the city of Odessa by a united enemy fleet 7. A word after the bombardment of the Odessa harbor by an enemy steamer 8. A word on the occasion of the departure of the Anglo-French fleet from Odessa, before the thanksgiving service 9. A word before the thanksgiving service on the occasion of the capture and burning of the English frigate steamship that ran aground “Tiger” 10. Speech before the thanksgiving service on the occasion of the award of the most merciful letter to the city of Odessa for maintaining calm, order and decorum during the bombardment by the enemy fleet 11. Speech at the consecration of coastal batteries built in defense of the city of Odessa from attack by enemy fleets 12. Word on the occasion of the penitential prayer service on the occasion of the invasion of the Crimean peninsula by foreigners 13. Word on the occasion of the invasion of the Crimean peninsula by foreigners 14. Word on the reading of the Highest Manifesto on State Armament 15. Word on receiving the news, during the battle, about the death of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich 16. Word on the receipt of the news, during the battle, on the death Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich 17. Speech at the laying of a new golden robe on the holy icon of Our Lady of Kasperovskaya before Akathist singing in praise of the Mother of God, on the eve of Saturday of the 5th week of Lent 18. Speech in memory of the bombardment of Odessa on Holy Saturday 1854 by the enemy fleet 19. Speech at the consecration of new batteries Odessa 20. Word on the occasion of the despondency and confusion of the people's thoughts about our abandonment of the southern part of Sevastopol 21. Word after the prayer service on Cathedral Square on the occasion of the appearance of a large enemy fleet in front of Odessa 22. Word after the repentant prayer service on the occasion of the besiege (siege) of Odessa by the enemy fleet 23. A word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by an enemy fleet 24. A word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by an enemy fleet 25. A word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by an enemy fleet 26. A word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by an enemy fleet 27. A word on the occasion of the removal of enemy fleets from Odessa 28. A word before performing a repentant prayer on the occasion of what was heard in the northeast of Odessa naval cannonade 29. A word before the prayer of thanks about the surrender of the fortress of Kars to our troops 30. A word on concluding peace with the Western powers and with Turkey 31. A speech on the reading of the highest letter of gratitude given to the residents of the Kherson province, with the order to keep a copy of it in the Cathedral 32. A word on what success in battle and victory or defeat depend on 33. Word after the victory 34. Word after the victory 35. Word at the first service after the battle 36. Word on the removal of enemies from Crimea 37. Word on the occasion of the earthquake 38. Word before the prayer service on the occasion of extreme drought and fires on earth, darkness and smoke in the air 39. A word before the penitential prayer service on the occasion of the unusually frequent fires that occurred in Kharkov 1. Word on reading the Highest Manifesto issued on March 14, 1848 You have heard the voice of our beloved Monarch. It is not without reason that it resounds throughout all corners of the Fatherland. In the midst of universal peace and silence, the spirit of malice suddenly raised a storm, which in its ferocity surpasses everything from which kingdoms and peoples have ever suffered. In the entire space of the West there is no longer almost a single one of them who has not experienced a terrible transformation of the social order. There are tears, blood and flames everywhere! Russia alone, exalted by God and protected by God, like Mount Zion, stands unshakable in the midst of worldwide unrest. But is it possible that the enemies and envious people of Russia do not fix their greedy gaze on it? So that their malice and deceit do not use all their strength and means to weaken that giant, who thirty years before alone crushed the forces of twenty languages ​​(peoples) united against him, and now alone remains the great guardian of world order and truth? Our beloved Monarch foresees all this and, like a magnanimous king, does not hide sad events and future dangers, but proclaims them out loud to everyone; like a wise king, he prepares in advance the means to protect the Fatherland from foreign storms and plagues; like a child-loving king, he does not hesitate to share the feelings of his soul with his dear sons; as a most pious king, he himself places and disposes everyone to place their trust in Him, in whose right hand is the fate of kingdoms and peoples. So, what do we say in response to the king’s loving word for all of us? First of all, let us thank our Monarch for the fact that, amidst the misadventures that have befallen kingdoms and nations, he places his trust not in earthly power, no matter how generous Russia is from above, but in God, the Almighty and All-Good. Great is the Russian God! The Orthodox faith is firm and unshakable! What troubles and blows has our beloved Fatherland not endured? And from all of them it came out brighter and more powerful than before - it turned out so because it never lost hope in the mercy of God, which always saves the right in heart. The Lord will not leave us in the future with His omnipotent protection as long as we remain faithful to His commandments and the Statutes of the Holy Church. Let us thank our Monarch for the truly fatherly trust that he constantly shows in the sons of his kind and faithful Russia. Russian hearts are pure and right! Their loyalty to God’s anointed ones remains unchanged! The height of the Throne and the good of the Fatherland are inseparable in their souls! This holy union is sealed forever, not yesterday or the next day, it is sealed by entire centuries, by an immeasurable series of cumulative exploits and glory. What should the sons of Russia look for? The one Kingdom of God and eternal bliss, for everything else earthly has long been added to it by itself. Let us thank our Monarch for the spirit of courageous love of peace that breathes in his every word addressed to us. Sparing Russian blood, he does not think of entering with an armed hand into the feuds and civil strife of the West: let them drink to the end the cup dissolved by pride and madness, and learn from sad experience not to philosophize more than is appropriate to philosophize. But, as the head of a powerful people, our Monarch could not help but raise his sovereign voice before the whole world about the inviolability of everything subject to the All-Russian scepter. Why should Russia be afraid? The fields of Tarutin and Borodin, the walls of Moscow and Smolensk, the banks of the Dnieper and Berezina clearly tell both our friends and enemies that you can come to Russia in thousands and darkness (darkness - ten thousand or countless numbers), but they leave it, and then by shameful flight, only in hundreds and tens. Filled with a feeling of gratitude to our Monarch, let us not hesitate, brothers, to respond to his voice in action. How and what to respond? Firstly, by intensifying our prayers for him, may the Lord give him wisdom and strength: wisdom in understanding the evil machinations of the enemy, strength in repelling all their arrows against us, visible and invisible. If ever, then in times like these, the prayer of the Church should be repeated as often as possible: “Save, Lord, Thy people, and bless Thy inheritance, granting victories to our blessed Emperor against resistance!” Teach your youngest children to sing this prayer, so that from the cradle they will learn to revere the Heavenly King and love the earthly King. Let us prove, secondly, our gratitude to our Monarch by the most sincere fulfillment of all His wise and beneficial commands. The duty of filial obedience to the powers that be is always the most sacred duty; but when riots and self-will shake entire kingdoms, the salvation of each and every one lies in love and filial obedience to the Monarch. Let us finally prove our gratitude to the Monarch by blocking our ears and hearts from all the charms of false foreign wisdom. Our new enemies, if they can be harmful to us in any way, it is not in their numbers and weapons, but in their corrupting spirit. These are people infected with the ulcer of sedition, with whom even the most distant intercourse is not without danger. Like tempting spirits, they usually appear not as enemies, but as friends of one and all. Their words, as Saint David puts it, “fade... more than oil, and they are arrows” (Ps. 54:22) honey and milk flow from their lips, and there is an ulcer under their tongue, and destruction in their heart. Therefore, diligently block your ears from everything that echoes the spirit of foreign wisdom. What did they bring to their parents, the unfortunate Gauls? Sixty years of popular unrest, inexhaustible tears and blood in the past, and, of course, will bring no less in the future. How are these false wisdoms accompanied by those frivolous peoples who allowed themselves to be seduced by the disastrous example of the Gauls? The sudden disappearance of public and private security, mutual distrust and strife, the overthrow of what had been built over centuries and on which the well-being of everyone depended. Is this something to envy? Our Fatherland once had times of anarchy and civil strife, and almost perished from them forever. In two years, anarchy produced more evil than the very ferocity of the Mongols in two centuries. The fierce envious people of Russia, obviously, most need to somehow arouse in her sons a feeling of dissatisfaction with their own; but who could be so crazy as to exchange what is theirs for something else? Therefore, if previously the feeling of Christian modesty did not allow us to show off our advantages, then under present circumstances the duty of love for the Fatherland requires us to remember them more often and proclaim them out loud to everyone. For which people does the light of the Orthodox faith shine so unwaveringly and in such purity and strength that one only needs to keep one’s eyes open in order to constantly see before oneself the path to the Kingdom of Heaven? In what other country is the royal throne so majestic and, with all its greatness, so close and accessible to the people, so beneficial for everyone, so adorned with truth and mercy? Where is there so much respect for the morals and traditions of our ancestors, so much attention to the needs and requirements of society, so much contempt for poverty and orphanhood? Where, finally, if not in our God-protected Fatherland can everyone, both great and small, recline in peace under their fig tree, without fearing for their life, or for their honor, or for their property? It is not in vain that the most envious of Russia say that in it, for the good of the public, things are accomplished over the years that among other peoples take place only over centuries. It is not in vain that whole hosts of foreign sons seek, as a great mercy, to become part of our cities and towns. And now, if the way were opened for them, many, no doubt, would be ready to fly on wings, just to escape from the rebellion and all-destruction surrounding them. Out of a sense of national dignity, we cannot help but add to this that the greatness and strength of Russia, whenever it appeared outside Russia, always appeared not for oppression, but for the good of the people. Was it not Russia that pacified the power of the Ottomans, who had brought all of Europe into awe for more than one century? Was it not Russia that broke the bonds of bondage that the formidable sword of Charles and Napoleon imposed on it? Wasn’t it Russia, even in recent times, that victoriously contributed to the uprising of the same faith Greece from the grave? Was it not Russia that hitherto vigilantly stood guard over world order and tranquility, sacrificing many of its own benefits for this? Will not Russia, God willing, serve in the future to curb the hellish spirit of anarchy, from which kingdoms and peoples are now in turmoil? And to whom, after the blessings and mercy of the Heavenly King towards us, should the greatness and strength of Russia itself be attributed, if not to the wisdom and vigilant care for the welfare of our most pious Monarchs? Our Orthodox Fatherland has always and firmly believed that they ascend to the throne not by the will of man, but by the special Providence of God for them, and so, as a result of this faith and in confirmation of it before the whole world, the Providence of God never ceased to erect in it such crown-bearers, whose name alone is already a guarantee for everything great and good. Indeed, where in the whole world history is there a person greater than Peter the Great? Which of the royal wives will be on a par with Catherine the Second? Which Monarch was both more majestic and humble than Alexander? After this, what can every son of Russia do except thank God for being Russian? To thank and enjoy in silence the advantages of your condition, to use and contribute to everyone’s beloved Monarch to protect the Fatherland from foreign storms. No, sons of the West, you will not frighten us with your strength, do not deceive us with your dark teachings. We have someone to listen to, someone to love, and for whom, if necessary, we can die. Believe blindly in the poor mind and short-sighted wisdom of man; and we will never cease to believe rationally in the all-governing Providence of God. We don’t know who is with you, but with us is the Great and Wise God. Therefore, understand, Gentiles, and do not vainly rebel against us, for God is with us! Amen. 2. Speech on reading the Supreme Manifesto on the war with Turkey So, the clouds, which had been rushing across the sky for half a year, now approaching us, now moving away, now apparently disappearing altogether, finally accumulated into a cloud, no longer inevitable by anyone, which should resolve itself in nothing other than bloody rain, with lightning and destructive thunder. A power from which attacks could not be expected at all, due to its very weakness, much less due to our services to it, which, forming a wild and ugly growth in the well-ordered composition of the body of the European states, and for that very reason was long ago and inevitably doomed to destruction, a power which, carrying within itself the germ of death, did not know how to maintain its strength when it was powerful, and now decided to assume ancient independence and power when there is no for there is no other salvation except the generosity of neighbors; a power that has made peace with us so many times, and always eternal, but has never maintained the terms of peace even until the death of those who signed them, this power, contrary to all expectations, again and brazenly challenged us to battle and, as if not yet trusting the insane challenge, suddenly hastened to make several desperate attacks! Believers in the blind fate of fate are characterized by similar rashness; but when we remember that so recently we twice saved this power from obvious destruction, we don’t know what to marvel at more - black ingratitude, or insane daring? What have we done to Turkey? They demanded only what was most fair and necessary. They demanded that Orthodox churches and their servants be granted at least that freedom and inviolability that all mosques within our borders have long enjoyed; they demanded that the holy places of Jerusalem, where thousands of pious Russian people flow annually, should not pass from hand to hand, like some places of buying and selling, and should not be taken away, at the mercy of passions and whims, from under the supervision of their natural guardians; they demanded that the Orthodox faith should not constitute a reproach for those who profess it in the eyes of the least Muslim; They demanded that, in case of need, we could intercede about the suffering of our brothers in faith, with the right to point out their wounds and fetters. The benefit and peace of the Ottoman Empire, in which there are ten Orthodox Christians for every three or four Muslims, demanded this. And who in our place would not demand this? And who in Turkey’s place would deny us this? But we were denied, proudly denied!.. Under what pretext? Allegedly, we are encroaching on the independence of the ruler of the Muslims... We, who so diligently saved this independence in the face of the whole world, we, for whom it is just as necessary as for the Muslims themselves, we, who made so many sacrifices and so many times, saving the independence of different nations! In righteous indignation at undeserved distrust, we had every right and every opportunity to attack our friend, who turned out to be an enemy, with all our strength, while he was completely defenseless; could have decided the matter before he could have gathered his thoughts about what to talk about. But we, deeply offended, did not act this way. For the sake of understanding, they showed in part what we were able to do, but did not take a step further, expecting repentance, giving time to come to our senses. You never know how long this time lasted, each day of which was unrewarding for us, but extremely beneficial for our enemy, because it provided him with every convenience to gather his forces, strengthen his borders, and to restore against us everywhere and everything that for some reason was not favorable to us. We all saw this and continued our long-suffering. When uninvited intermediaries appeared, apparently inclined not in our favor, we had the strength and right to tell them: do not interfere with a just cause or go out on your own to do something wrong, but we did not say this. They even immediately agreed to something that was not invented by us, but by them, invented not for us, but to save our enemy, to satisfy his vanity and pride. So what? What we accepted was brazenly rejected by them!.. And after this unreasonable stubbornness against the universal verdict, we still did not think of kindling the flame of war, we were ready to go again along the long and winding path of peaceful relations and reasoning, no matter how useless this path was for us and beneficial for our enemy. And now this path to peace is brazenly stopped by the arrogance of the enemy - and a fire-breathing mouth of battle has opened! The Ottoman Porta did all this. May the souls of those of our brothers who became victims of our generosity and the insane audacity of the arrogant enemy rest in peace! From now on, our work, or rather, the work of all Christianity, is no longer in the hands of men, but of God. Russia accepts an abusive challenge made not with words, but with fire and sword. The future is in God's hands! But we also know that millions of our same-faith brothers are waiting for our coming to them like a celebration, that our very enemies are expecting this as the fulfillment of the long-prophesied predestination of the highest destinies, that our most ill-wishers will not doubt to change their opinion about our demands and successes when they see that a just cause, a matter not of personal views and calculations, but of selfless jealousy for the pitiful fate of Christianity and humanity in the East, has triumphed in our face. So, come with the God of battle and victory, the Russian Orthodox army. Prove to our enemies that you are the same as you were under Kagul, Izmail and Kulevcha, or, more importantly, show them that you now appear beyond the Danube not from the banks of the Dnieper and Dniester, but from the banks of the Vistula and Psela, bringing to their senses those peoples with whom the half-wild admirers of Alkoran will not be equal for a long time. For us, the peaceful inhabitants of cities and villages, we, brothers, in the approaching terrible circumstances, it remains to assist our Orthodox soldiers, for the first time, with one prayer. But let's not think that this weapon is powerless. No, when prayer is dissolved in living faith, then it is stronger than any material weapon. Remember what St. Paul says about all the heroes of the Old Testament. “By faith,” he says, “he conquered the kingdom” (Heb. 11:33). Although they did not have the current means, which over the centuries were invented for the destruction of mankind, there was not one of these means; and yet, he does not mention any of them, the very courage of those who fought, but points only to faith: “by faith he conquered the kingdom.” Why does he not point to other means? Because, without a doubt, they all remain without faith. invalid, while faith itself alone could replace, and in some cases replaced, all of them!.. Inspired by such faith, let us pray, brethren, to the Lord of minds, that He would send down the spirit of wisdom to our most pious Autocrat; Yes, from the height of his throne, despite the distance of places, he will be able to understand all the machinations of the enemy, all the convolutions of the dragon, which has long been ulcerated on all sides, but still poisonous! Let us pray to the Lord of strength that He will pour out the spirit of strength on our Orthodox army, so that it will not be embarrassed either by the number and desperate audacity of its enemies, or by the change and severity of the elements, or by various needs and deprivations, or by the weaknesses of our own human nature! Let us pray to the Lord of mercy, may he grant to our fellow believers, living within the borders of the enemy, the spirit of faith, patience and prudence to endure the new painful time of trial that has befallen them, and may he quickly bring them out of the cave of sorrows and slavery, in which they, like the Israelites in Egypt, have been languishing for more than four hundred years! Let us finally pray to the Lord and Ruler of kingdoms and peoples, that the coming war will be the last war with the enemy, followed by peace, not just in name, but in fact eternal, which there would be no one to disturb. In You, Lord, we trust, may we not be ashamed forever! Amen. 3. A word upon the appearance of enemy fleets before Odessa On such a great and holy day as today, and everywhere, especially in the church, I would not like to think about anything else than our beloved Savior and Lord, Who, for our salvation, is coming to free passion... But, apparently, it was His holy will that we, both on this day and in this sacred place, should now think and talk not so much about what once happened with Him, but about about what is happening to us now. What's wrong with us? Not something completely new and unexpected, and yet least desirable and pleasant: our enemies, who have been threatening us with their invasion for so long, are finally before us, on our waters!.. In such extraordinary circumstances, which have not befallen our city since the time of its foundation, it is easy for even the less-than-hearted to become confused... And so, as if directly to our encouragement and consolation, this very evening we will hear from the lips of our Savior Himself the following comforting words: “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God and believe in Me... dare, (for) I have overcome the world!” (John 14:1, 16:33). The beloved disciples of Christ, during His suffering, faced dangers and temptations much greater than those now facing us; and, however, the Divine Mentor does not allow them to indulge in fear and despondency: “let not your heart be troubled”; and at the same time points them to the surest and most effective means of complacency: “believe in God, and believe in Me!” That is, as if the Lord said this: have only living faith and firm trust in Me and My Father - and no evil will touch you, and the storm will pass by you harmlessly. Since this Almighty Savior is one “the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8), since He is always and everywhere able, as St. Paul testifies, “to save all those who come to God through Him, He who always lives, to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25), then we, in the spirit of faith and hope, will not hesitate to turn His comforting words now to our whole city and say: do not be embarrassed, beloved city, from the face of your enemies, who are more terrible in their name and our imagination about them than in the actual possibility of harming us! Do not be embarrassed, but believe firmly in God and in your Savior, believe and show your faith from your feelings and deeds! He will not now abandon his beloved Son, just as he did not abandon Him on Calvary: and the loving Son will not abandon us, who believe in His name and are now ready to endure from enemies not for the sake of our benefits or acquisitions, but solely for the glory of His Life-giving Cross. Indeed, why are these proud strangers scolding us? We did not touch and did not think of touching either their honor or their property; We only wanted to protect the honor of the Christian faith, to protect the lives and property of our fellow believers from the madness and pride of the Muslims. Is this our untruth? Is this why you should rebel against us with such malice? Oh, if only our enemies’ living faith in the Savior had not faded away and Christian love for others had not become impoverished; then, instead of attacking us, they themselves, like us, should have long ago stood against the oppressors of Christianity in the East and put an end to their bloodthirsty ferocity. This is what all true followers of the Christian faith expected from them; this is precisely what all sincere friends of humanity hoped for; For this reason, so much patience has been exhausted on our part, so many sacrifices have been made: it is not our fault if we are finally left alone under the banner of the Cross, at the foot of the Holy Sepulcher!.. Therefore, look, and notice for your consolation how the Lord is apparently beginning to accept our work under His special, Almighty Protection! For when are the temptations now facing us revealed? They open together with the beginning of the sufferings of Christ: thus, we will go through them, so to speak, under the shadow of the Cross of Christ. Isn't this a consolation for everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus and loves His Cross? This very day, on which the enemies appeared against us, already serves as a sign for our good. For what has it been called since ancient times by all the Orthodox children of the Church? -on a clean day. And on this very day, as a sign and expression of the purity and justice of our cause, and therefore as an encouragement to us to faith and complacency, it was allowed from above to open ourselves to an attack on us!.. But, my brethren, let this not serve for us as food for the spiritual pride and vain righteousness of the Pharisees, which is so contrary to the One who said about Himself that He is “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). If it is said about the apostles of Christ: “clean of course, but not all” (John 13:10); if the Supreme Apostle also had the need to wash his feet in order to become completely clean, it is even more impossible for us to say that we are all pure, and that any of us would no longer have any need to cleanse ourselves from passions and sins. “Even if we say,” writes the beloved disciple of Christ, “that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But sins and passions are the most unsuccessful path for those who are threatened with attack from enemies, for they attract the wrath of God. Therefore, do not be idle spectators of the sacred rite that will now be performed before you: when we are, according to the order of the Holy Churches, wash the nose of our fellow servants, wash your souls and hearts at this time. For this purpose, beloved, think about your sins and how the goodness of God is angered by them, how your own being is defiled by them, how the wrath of God will strike you for this at the world court, and perhaps even in this life - think, I say, about all this; and if the Lord gives you tears of heartfelt tenderness at this time, then wash yourself with these precious tears as much as possible. A harlot once immersed herself in this font, washing the feet of her Savior with her tears, and came out of it clean and saved. The same will happen to you! Whoever lacks tears, but has the blessings of this age - acquisitions and wealth, hasten to wash his life and soul with the waters of mercy. The flow of alms is healing and powerful in washing away the darkest spots of conscience, as many examples in the word of God show. Putting aside hatred and forgiving insults to our neighbors also has an excellent effect on cleansing our sins; for the Savior Himself said: “If you forgive men their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” your sins (Matthew 6:14). There are other means to cleanse ourselves from sins and to accept the grace of God, if only we would like to sincerely part with those unclean and ungodly idols that we have hitherto madly worshiped. And what better to use the following holy days for, if not for this great work of saving our souls? Especially when this matter is now combined with our external security from enemies? For everything is in the right hand of God, and everything unquestioningly submits to His most holy will. He will, and the sea itself will rebel against our enemies and mark out their floating strongholds like brushwood. They will delight, and the thunder will go numb in their hands and idly scatter through the air above us. He will, and our shores will appear impregnable, and one of our defenders will reap thousands, and ten will reap darkness. Therefore, it is not our enemies who are terrible, but our sins, which deprive us of the grace of the Lord. So that this does not happen to us, instead of fears and embarrassment, we will begin, following the example of the ancient Ninevites, a matter of sincere repentance. The judgment of God had already been pronounced upon them; however, fasting and prayer, humility and contrition of heart turned away the wrath of Heaven from them. Moreover, we can receive mercy and intercession from above, which we advocate and struggle not for ourselves, but for the Cross and Tomb of Christ; and we will win, as soon as we reveal in ourselves the true warriors of Christ, clothed not only in earthly weapons, but also in the “arms of God” (Eph. 6:13), that is, in living faith, firm hope, unfeigned love for truth, and Christian humility. Amen. 4. The word during the siege (siege) of Odessa by the enemy fleet So, the great work of the God-man is over!.. With all the purity and goodness of His teaching, with all the greatness and beneficence of His miracles, He was not recognized by the Jewish people, betrayed by an unfaithful disciple, rejected by the Sanhedrin, ridiculed by Herod, not saved by Pilate, disgraced and tortured by soldiers, exalted among the villains on the Cross; and behold, as a sacrifice for the salvation of the whole world, He finally betrays His spirit to God the Father! “It’s done!” (John 19:30). What about our deed, which, although in itself infinitely small in comparison with the extraordinary event of Golgotha, nevertheless threatens us with the cross and the shroud?.. We know, undoubtedly, that our enemies have already created a council about us, “may they have” us and “destroy” us, if not our lives, then our property and honor. False witnesses have already been found against us, ready to claim that we violated the universal right of peoples, that we wanted to ruin and sink their supposedly peaceful boat. If our enemies wanted to sincerely know the truth, then nothing would be easier to show us and for them to see it; but they, like Pilate, only ask about the truth, but in fact they do not want the truth, but a pretext to attack us. And that is why they offered us such conditions, to which, like the Savior at the trial of Pilate, we have no choice but silence: “You will not give him an answer” (John 19:9). Pilate was not offended by the silence of the God-man, as St. John notes, “for this reason Pilate sought to let Him go” (John 19:12). But our silence cannot produce such an effect; and after it, what we will face, without a doubt, from our enemies is not peace and security, but a fierce storm - with lightning and thunder. If, therefore, in any situation, then in the present - when we are all, one might say, before the Cross and Golgotha ​​- we need a leader and a comforter. And behold, he appears to us in the person of our Lord and Savior Himself! For do you think that it happened by chance and without special Providence of God that we are now being judged and we are being condemned by our enemies precisely at the time when our Lord was judged and condemned?.. No! This is a consequence of a secret all-good decree from above, which our enemies, without knowing it themselves, want to carry out, just as the unfaithful Jews, acting out of their own malice, nevertheless carried out all the predictions of the prophets about the fate of their Messiah and their own. So, whoever of us is now looking for admonition and consolation (and who doesn’t need it?), fix his gaze and thought on this sacred image of the crucified Savior, which the Holy Church now presents before us... Behold, our Leader and Mentor! Behold our Comforter! What could compare with the malice of Jesus' enemies? What could compare with His suffering and torment? But what did the enemies have time to do? What did suffering produce? They brought salvation to the whole world and elevated the Divine Sufferer to the throne of glory and omnipotence. It could not be otherwise, because His work was a work of truth and righteousness; because He did the will of His Father, sacrificed Himself for the salvation of the whole world; because His enemies walked and acted against the decrees of Heaven. So it will be with everyone who, like his Savior, stands for truth against untruth, who sacrifices himself not for earthly benefits, but for the salvation of his fellow men. No matter how strong and cunning the enemies are, they cannot turn white into black, right into wrong, and cannot take over innocence. Why? Because the lot of the sons of men is not left to chance and fate, but is contained in the right hand of the All-Wise and All-Good. World Ruler; because there is God, the judge of the whole earth, there is the Almighty Defender of truth and righteousness, who is ready to shake heaven and earth, but will not allow those who believe in His name and those who do His holy will to be reproached. And here, my brethren, is an abundant source of encouragement and consolation for us in our present circumstances, for the cause for which our enemies raised arms against us is a completely right and holy cause on our part - a cause, one might say, not ours, but God’s and Christ’s. For what are they fighting against us for? For nothing else than because we want freedom of faith and conscience for our fellow believers living under the Mohammedan yoke, because we want to save the Cross of Christ and the Gospel from complete humiliation before Alkoran - these are our desires and demands! We did not have and do not have others; We can say this out loud to the whole world, before this Cross and the Tomb of our Savior. And what can our enemies say before this Shroud to justify their unholy alliance against us with the worshipers of Mohammed? That for the peace and prosperity of our part of the world it is necessary to exist among it in all the power of the charm of Mohammed?.. That the mutual relationship of Christian countries and peoples will be shaken and transformed if in the city of Constantine the Great it is not proclaimed daily on all the streets: there is no God except the God of Mohammed?.. That this idol - we mean Mohammedanism with its Alkoran - is so necessary for balance (never former) European powers, that, despite all his disgustingness, he, like Moloch of old, must hourly sacrifice faith, freedom, honor, property and the very lives of entire millions of our brothers of the same faith?.. Our enemies are really not ashamed to say something like this. But what does this mean? Alas, sweetest Jesus! You have heard many blasphemies from Your Cross; You had to finally hear this terrible blasphemy, hear it no longer from the Cross, but from the Throne of Your glory in heaven, hear it not from your enemies, but from Your own followers!.. So, You did not complete the work of our salvation, as it should have been! For the well-being of human societies, Your Cross and the Gospel are not enough: for this, to help You, you also need Mohammed with his Alkoran!.. No matter how bitter it is, my brothers, to think about such a betrayal of Western Christians to the God of their fathers, and no matter how pitiful their spiritual state is in this regard, no matter how disgusting their unnatural alliance with the enemies of the Cross of Christ is, but on the other hand: this very thing should serve to encourage us, for our enemies, in the blindness of their minds and consciences, thus rebelled not against us, but, one might say, against their Savior Himself, dishonoring His all-holy name and humiliating the Divine faith in Him before the false teachings of Mohammed. We do not know where this new unfortunate path will lead our enemies. May God grant that - in one way or another - he will lead them to the knowledge of the truth and their error, to a living faith in our Lord and Savior, and to the conviction that true “Christian piety is useful for everything, having the promise ... of life, not only the future, eternal, but also the present, temporary (1 Tim. 4:8), and that it alone - without the charm of Mohammed - is enough for affirmation prosperity of all kingdoms and all peoples. But, no matter what our enemies do, no matter what paths they take, we, following the example of our Most Pious Monarch and the holy custom of our ancestors, will continue to follow the path of Christ, although it is now covered with thorns before us; for this is the only way that leads into the eternal belly. For this, having fallen to the ground before this image of our Lord, we all turn to Him from the depths of our souls: no one, dearest to our Savior, no one and nothing will separate us from the Life-Giving Cross and Your Life-Giving Tomb! Your nail, spear and crown of thorns are more precious to us than all the treasures of the world. Our enemies trust in their strength and skill, but we trust in You alone and we entrust to You our life, and each other, and the whole city and our whole country!.. As you wish, O All-Good and All-Wise, arrange a thing for us; Only let everything be for the glory of Your most holy name and to the shame of the evil deception of Mohammed and his detractors! Amen. 5. Word during the bombardment of Odessa by the combined Anglo-French fleet So, you did not dare to leave the Tomb of your Savior even in these terrible moments, when death and destruction hover over your own heads and yours!.. We greet you, beloved, with this holy lot of Joseph, Nicodemus and the myrrh-bearing women, who also, amid considerable fears and concerns from the Jews, buried their teacher and Lord. You have not left Him now: He, the Most Good, will not forget and will not abandon you on that great and terrible day, when no longer weak human feathers will fly through the air, but “the very heavens will pass by with a noise, the very elements that are being burned will be ruined, and the earth and the works on it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). A difficult time is upon us, brothers! We can now say with all accuracy about our city in the words of Saint David, that our enemies “passed over us like bees on a honeycomb, and burned like fire among the thorns” (Ps. 118:11-12). That same sea, which hitherto used to bring us coolness and all the benefits of life, has now turned into a fire-breathing abyss, from which lightning and thunder rush towards us. But will we be despondent and hopelessly embarrassed? No: at the life-giving Tomb of the Savior, hell itself is not terrible for a Christian, and this is only one weak shadow of it. “Even if I go,” says Saint David, “in the midst of darkness and the canopy of mortals, I will not fear evil. Why? For You, O Lord, are with me” (Ps. 22:4). Therefore, what is important is not what is happening now, but who is the Lord with now: with us or with our enemies. But can the Lord be with those who have raised a battle against us for the enemies of the Cross of Christ? Can the Lord be with those who, being Christians themselves, were not ashamed of these great and sacred days and dared to disturb the mortal rest of their Savior in the tomb in such an unholy manner? No, if there is anyone with our enemies, then perhaps Belial and Mohammed, for whose dark power they rebelled against us; and the all-merciful Lord is with us, who, even if we are unclean and sinful, strive for the glory of His most holy name, we fight not for our own benefits, but for the Orthodox faith, for the Holy Sepulcher and for our oppressed brothers in faith. And look how the Lord has clearly shown that He is with us – against our enemies! They could attack us at any time, but... They attacked not at any other time, but on the very day of the burial of the Lord, as if as evidence that we stand up specifically for the Cross and the Holy Sepulcher. Our enemies, perhaps, thought to make their attack sad for us by this, but in fact they relieved all his bitterness with this: for if it is already necessary to suffer, then it is better to suffer with the Lord, at His Life-Giving Cross, at His Life-Giving Tomb. “If,” says the apostle, “we die with Him, then we will live with Him: if we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11-12). In this case, even if one of us now loses his very life, then with living faith in the power of the Cross of Christ, he will not lose anything, for it will be said to him: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” ( Luke 23:43). And our enemies have already lost a lot irrevocably by attacking us this day. Everywhere they hear about their wickedness (and where won’t they hear?), they will be amazed and say: “Unfortunate ones, couldn’t they, out of respect for the common sign of salvation for Christians, put aside their malice and greed for a while?” And what will the Lord say and judge about them? Oh, He “cannot be mocked!” (Gal.6:7). We do not wish harm upon our enemies either, for yesterday we heard how the Lord prayed for His very crucifiers; but, remembering the fate of God in such cases, we cannot help but say that those who dared to so brazenly disturb the peace of their Lord in the tomb are unlikely to go down in peace to their own tombs... If the Lord is with us, then why should we be afraid? He, the Almighty, will protect us from all evil. And look, the day is already approaching evening, the enemy’s weapons are already starting to become scarce, but how much harm has he managed to do to us? In the name of the Lord, we dare to assure you that he will do no more harm to us until the evening. For he who is with us is stronger than he who is with him; the moon cannot outshine the sun, Belial and Mohammed cannot defeat Christ!.. So, having kissed the Savior’s wounds again, go in peace, my brothers, to your homes, and wait for salvation from the Lord, who always and everywhere saves the upright in heart. The Great Saturday is always followed by the bright day of the Resurrection: the present, especially Great Saturday for us, will not be long followed by the Great Resurrection, that is, together with the resurrection of the Lord, our deliverance from the evils that befell us, and subsequently the resurrection of the entire Orthodox East from the tomb of four centuries of Muslim slavery. And you, our beloved co-servants, who have stood so vigilantly with us until now on spiritual guard at the Cross of Christ, double and triple your zeal and care, so that for the coming sacred and mystical night everything will be prepared according to the rite of the church, “let not the enemy say... of our city: strengthen ourselves against it!” (Ps. 12:5). May the beloved Bridegroom of souls, who is about to emerge from the tomb at midnight as from a palace, find us all vigilant and with lamps in our hands, ready to glorify His Risen One, and with Himself He who resurrected everything. Amen. 6. Word after the bombardment of the city of Odessa by a united enemy fleet “Yesterday I was buried with You, Christ, today I am with You, I will rise again with You: I was crucified with You yesterday!” 1 No matter how high the meaning and no matter how deep the meaning of this sacred church song, today our whole city can apply it to itself and, standing before the image of the risen Lord, say with reverent humility: “yesterday I was buried with You, Christ, today I am with You, I will rise again!” Indeed, which of the inhabitants of our city, in one way or another, was not exposed yesterday to great danger from our enemies? And for whom would death itself have been suffered yesterday (as it was suffered by some), if not for the Cross and Tomb of Christ? For what other purpose is the present war itself, if not the defense of the Orthodox faith and our fellow believers from Muslim violence and oppression? Therefore, despite all our spiritual unworthiness, we can now say for our consolation that yesterday we were all buried in Christ Himself, our King and God. Some were completely buried - in fact, because they accepted, - I said, - death from enemy fire; and although we, by the grace of God, were not subjected to this bloody lot, by our very position we had to be ready for the same thing. Since the Lord, as you heard from Saint Chrysostom, not only accepts deeds, but also praises the proposal, and kisses the best intentions, then it cannot be that He, the All-Good One, in vain in our heart and readiness to suffer Him, did not impute this to us in the very matter and did not want to share with us the joy of His resurrection. “Yesterday I was buried with You, Christ, today I am with You, I will rise again with You!” “But how can we rejoice,” someone might think, “when our fierce enemy is, in all likelihood, preparing a new firestorm against us?” And how, beloved, the youths of Babylon rejoiced in the cave of the Chaldeans, as you heard yesterday at the Tomb of the Savior; and not only rejoiced, but also sang to the glory of the Lord? In the same way, we will rejoice, whose situation is still far from being as terrible as it was for those wondrous youths among the flames of the cave. How, let us point out another example, how the apostles of Christ rejoiced, about whom in the Acts of the Apostles we read that they, after being beaten and wounded by the Jews, “went rejoicing on behalf of the council of Judea, because for the name of the Lord Jesus they were deemed worthy to receive dishonor” (Acts 5:41). So let us also rejoice, who yesterday were honored with the greatest honor - to suffer with Him on the very day of His burial. If any joy is the purest and most worthy of the feast of the Risen Lord, then this is it; for it will not come from any other reasons or motives, for example, not from holiday amusements, not from pleasing flesh and blood, but precisely from love for our Savior and Lord. We have never rejoiced with such joy before, since there has never been such an extraordinary occasion: let us rejoice now and exclaim like the Israelites, after they passed through the Red Sea: “We will drink from the Lord, for gloriously we are glorified!” (Ex. 15:1). “Glorify yourself gloriously,” not only in Your glorious rise from the grave, but also in saving us from death and the grave, who were yesterday subjected to so many deadly arrows of the enemy; “be gloriously glorified,” not only in the shame of the Jews, who lifted up the Head of life on the cross and wanted to keep Him in the tomb, but also in the shame of our enemies, who also prepared for us not life and joy, but death, destruction and shameful captivity. As for our enemies, they will probably not fail to appear against us again now (in one form or another), for they must finish the work of their wickedness and not show that because of their wounds yesterday they are no longer able to go out to battle against us; but rest assured that the enemies, taught by experience, will appear without the same impudence and arrogance. And for us, after we saw yesterday both the failure of the enemy and the special mercy of God over us, it would be unforgivable for us to turn out to be cowardly. If the Lord protected us with His invisible power so victoriously yesterday, when we stood before His Tomb, then all the more will He not hand us over as a sacrifice to our enemies now - on the day of His glorious rise from the Tomb. Nothing, let us say in the words of St. Chrysostom, let nothing hinder our joy in our risen Savior, “Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously we shall be glorified!” And if one of us can no longer leave fear, then we, perhaps, will show him what we can and should all fear: that, beloved, so that the grace of God does not in any way depart from us. For then no force, no weapon and no art of our defenders will help us. And the grace of God, as I think you are well aware, retreats from man and from entire cities and villages if they, having neglected the law of God and their souls, unrepentantly indulge in the deeds of darkness: pride, intemperance, carnality, malice and hatred. Let us, therefore, guard ourselves with all our might from such works of darkness at all times, especially as we continue to be surrounded by enemies. Let us hasten, on the contrary, to adorn ourselves - both for the sake of the great celebration and for the sake of the danger that surrounds us - with deeds of light, love, meekness, purity and mercy. Then the risen Lord will be with us and will give us, as He gave to the Apostles, His peace and His joy, which cannot be disturbed or stolen by any enemy: neither visible nor invisible. Amen. 7. Word after the bombardment of Odessa harbor by an enemy steamer So, our enemy did not hesitate to disturb our joy about the Resurrection of the Lord with his peruns; just as yesterday I was not ashamed to disturb our holy lamentation at the Holy Sepulcher!.. Be it the birthday of Mohammed or the day of his shameful flight from Mecca, our enemies, probably out of sheer decency, would not have wanted to disturb the peace of the Muslims, and would have allowed them to finish their celebration in peace; and the day of the burial of the Savior of the world, the day of His glorious rise from the grave means nothing to them!.. On these very days they are most angry and raging, as if possessed by the spirit of darkness and malice!.. In fact, who could instill in them such bitterness, not only against us, but also against the holy Christian holidays, if not this ancient opponent of God and man, who once dared to revolt peace and quiet of the sky itself? Let those of us who are accustomed to recklessly take these very peoples, now so hostile against us, as models of morals and behavior, take note of this. Here is their wisdom and education! Behold their gentleness and refinement of morals! To fight and lay down your soul for the wicked worshipers of Mohammed. To please them, forge chains for your fellow Christians, value the Sacraments of the holy faith and the feasts of the Lord, brazenly attack peaceful cities and villages! After this, carelessly leave your native country in order to rush to their lessons; fill your memory and enrich your mind with the soulful works of their frustrated imagination; entrust your children to their leadership: they will teach them how to love God and neighbor, how to honor father and mother, how to be faithful to the Tsar and the Fatherland!.. But what has our enemy done and what has he accomplished now? Oh, he managed to do an awful lot!.. He did almost no harm to us, but if anyone had previously doubted that there was nothing sacred for him, then now they can no longer!.. For, as he acted on this day, only the enemies of the Cross of Christ could do so!.. That is why he has now acquired for himself a new trophy: if until now our enemy was disgusting to us in fact, now he is disgusting with wickedness he is frozen in the eyes of his compatriots who live among us, who, seeing our justice and his untruths and pride, rush one after another, leaving the humiliated and disgraced banner of their homeland, to evade forever under the beneficial canopy of the All-Russian Eagle. But one circumstance especially strikes me now. When the storm approached us and the enemy appeared on our waters and began to show him his usual insolence and greed, some of us involuntarily fell into fear and succumbed to despondency; but I argued the opposite, I said that our enemy is more terrible in our imagination than in reality, that with all his forces and means he cannot do us significant harm, that one, two, three experiences - and those who are now so afraid will see the truth and begin to despise danger, that the time may finally come when small children will mock the noise of the enemy’s weapons. And who would have expected? Not only my first, but my very last words were justified in full force, they were justified yesterday, when it was impossible to foresee how the matter would end. I hear from more than one obvious witness how yesterday some of the youngest youths, seeing the futility of enemy peruns falling among our hail, chased after them as if they were objects of a game in order to acquire spoils for themselves, how some, even half-harassed, did not want to let go of what they had won from their hands. It was worth it for entire fleets of two great powers to come from the most remote part of our part of the world for this! It was worth violating the sanctity of the days, the first of the year for the entire Christian world! It was worth scattering so much lightning and thunder in vain! But, my brothers, we would fall into a grave mistake and unforgivable pride if we imagined that all this failure of the enemy was the result of our strength and our art. No, and not with such forces and means as ours, in similar cases other cities and countries trembled before him. On the contrary, something extraordinary happened to us yesterday: a special sign of God’s mercy appeared over us and our city, manifested in the fact that, beyond all expectation, the kindled arrows of the enemy did not have an effect similar to them; and if they did not return back to himself, as in ancient times during the siege of Veliky Novgorod, then they did not harm us and fell idly to the ground. If the Lord showed Himself in this way as our special Intercessor, then we, my brothers, must show ourselves primarily as people of God. And we will show ourselves as such if, leaving behind vain amusements and amusement, which usually accompany and, more precisely, darken this great holiday, we spend it in prayers and going to the church of God, in peaceful and pious conversation about the ways of God’s Providence (so strikingly revealed over us) and in deeds of love and charity to our poor and needy brethren. Did you finally want to do something especially pleasing to the risen Lord - as a sign of gratitude for His salvation of our city? And for this we all have a very reliable means. Our Lord does not turn away from anything so much as from anger and hatred, and He does not love or bless anything so much as peace and love. Our enemy, driven by the spirit of malice, wickedly disturbed our joy about the Resurrection of the Lord, and in this case showed an extreme lack of love and Christian feelings in himself; and we, as true followers of the Crucified One, instead of feelings of enmity and hatred, will forgive our enemies - for the glory and honor of the Risen One. Thus, we will fulfill with all our might the maternal advice and invitation of the Holy Church, which now cries out from the fullness of joy and delight: “We will forgive all by the resurrection!” When it is said – “all”, then any exception is eliminated: let there be none for our enemies! For it can be said with all justice about many of them that they “know not... what they do” (Luke 23:34). If they knew the purity and height of the intentions of our beloved Monarch, if they knew exactly about all the disasters and oppressions that our and their fellow believers suffer from the fans of Alkoran, then they would not so unreasonably connect the signs of the all-honorable Cross of Christ with the evil banner of Mohammed. Their leaders and rulers, of course, must know the real state of affairs in the East, but they want to hide the truth in untruth: they obviously do not need the integrity of the Muslim state, but the weakening and humiliation of God-exalted and glorified Russia. But what to do with pride and impurity of the human heart? Are we not ourselves - in our private life and mutual interactions - subject to a similar blindness of passions? If anyone is the first culprit of the current, almost worldwide, confusion and disasters, then this is the father of lies, he is the “murderer... from time immemorial” (John 8:44), who, having been mortally struck on Calvary’s head by the Cross of Christ, in revenge for that and some consolation for himself, tries to disturb the gracious kingdom of Christ on earth with enmity, turning one against the other the very Christian nations, and not allowing them to unanimously accomplish their great and holy purpose. Let us not give any place to this enemy of universal salvation - at least in our own hearts; and as proof of this, following the example of the risen Lord, Who from the Cross prayed for His crucifiers, let us offer a sincere prayer to Him for our very enemies, so that by His grace He would send down to them the spirit of reason, so that they would see the truth and be convinced of the correctness of our deeds and intentions, the spirit of truth, so that they would not foolishly change the innocent and suffering brethren of their faith for proud and inhuman worshipers of Mohammed, and the spirit of philanthropy, so that they do not disturb with their weapons the peace, at least, of peaceful and defenseless cities and villages. Amen. 8. Address on the occasion of the departure of the Anglo-French fleet from Odessa, before the thanksgiving service Finally, our waters became free from the enemy; at least we no longer see it on them. We don’t know where he headed, but judging by his behavior towards us, there is no doubt that he left us not to the joy of our other shores. True, he proclaimed himself a magnanimous enemy, not thinking about causing harm and unnecessary losses, wanting to set an example of moderate, reasonable and, so to speak, Christian warfare; but you have seen what this reason and moderation consist of, this imaginary love of mankind and Christianity!.. Now is the time to consider and figure out what this first fiery meeting with our humane enemy cost us, what we lost and what we gained, where is the advantage - his or ours?.. Having examined impartially and from all sides what happened to us, I would not doubt, brethren, to call the attack on us by our enemies an event, although sad and difficult, but at the same time favorable and honorable for us in many respects. Of course, all this turned out this way contrary to their intention, according to the arrangement of the all-good right hand of God, which knows how to extract good from evil itself, but it turned out exactly like that. For in this case, as we will see, we lost almost nothing, but gained very much and something important. Really, what have we lost? Several dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of the city, several unimportant ships in the pier, which suffered most from the fire; in the city itself - a wall was broken there, a roof was broken here, a tree in the garden was damaged - these are all our material losses! Put them all together, evaluate them, and you will see that the total number of our losses is far from comparable to what this iron alone and these fires alone cost our enemy, which he, contrary to his habit, with such a careless hand and for so long scattered in vain over our heads. Unfortunately, we have lost several of our brave defenders; and “our right hand will be forgotten” (Ps. 137:5), if we do not always remember them in prayer at the altar of Christ; but, having paid due respect to the victims who fell for us, at the same time, for our consolation, we cannot help but say that their number is very small, so that sometimes one storm on our sea is accompanied by no less loss. And yet how much we have acquired! We acquired, firstly, confidence in the impossibility of the enemy doing much harm to us and in the inaccessibility of our city for him. For many of us imagined the attack of such a large fleet and the effect of its hellish fires on our city as so important and destructive that, in their opinion, almost the last day of Odessa should have come. No matter how much someone then dissuaded this and brought various evidence for this, it was impossible to convince almost any of them otherwise. Now, even without proof, everyone changed his previous thoughts and put aside his fears, because he saw the opposite of what he thought in actual experience. Such a change in thoughts and opinions means a lot: from now on, no one will quickly think about leaving anywhere when the same or another enemy appears on our waters. We have already seen, he will say, these fleets and these firestorms: they will rattle like a cloud in the clouds and pass. Secondly, the enemy’s unsuccessful attack on us brought us great honor in the face of all of Russia. The enemy was expected in almost all corners of the Fatherland; more than one coastal city was in a situation similar to ours. Who will have the honor of taking the first blows of the enemy on his chest and repelling him victoriously? Who will be the first to set an example of courage and selflessness? Everyone thought and asked about this; but no one could answer. Now it is clear that this honor was granted to us from above; that this example was destined to be taken by everyone in our city... Thank God that, despite all the meager means of our defense, we managed to fulfill our destiny as it should, without disgracing the Russian name! Just as danger and disaster befell us first, honor and glory will follow us first. In what most remote region of the Fatherland will they not hear now about what happened to our city? Where will they not rejoice over us? Where they won’t praise us and say: “Honor and glory to Odessa! She acted as a Russian city should have done, set a wonderful example of love for the Fatherland for everyone, showed how one can stand and resist all the forces of the enemy with little means.” All this is important in itself, but for us it is all the more important and gratifying that - let’s not hide the past truth - we were hitherto not in a very favorable opinion among our compatriots. Everyone knew that our city was thriving with trade, that we enjoyed many special benefits of life, that our prosperity was even beneficial for our entire region. But at the same time they looked at us as if with some distrust, they thought that with constant communication with foreigners it was difficult for us to maintain intact all the strength of spirit and all the warmth of Russian feeling, that therefore, in case of danger, one cannot expect from us that firmness of spirit and that self-sacrifice with which many of the ancient Russian cities have glorified themselves. This is how they thought about us, and what could we do to get out of such an unfavorable concept of us? This required not words, but deeds; it required some important experience where we could show ourselves from a side favorable to us. Now, thanks to the attack of enemies, this gloomy opinion about us should disappear by itself. The less they expected from us, the more everywhere they will be delighted with us and will be disposed in our favor. From now on, our city will take its place among the respected cities of the Russian land. Just like Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir, Smolensk - each has some kind of ever-memorable year of its glory, so Odessa will forever have its glorious year - one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four! Finally, my brethren, let us rise in spirit, let us purify, as the Holy Church commands, our feelings, so that we may see and understand the final good that, contrary to their intention, our enemies brought to us by their attack on us - the good is no longer sensual and temporary, but spiritual, eternal. Have you ever thought, brethren, about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, which John the Baptist promised to the Jews on behalf of the Son of God? “It is you,” he said, “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11); note this last expression: “with fire.” It meant those persecutions and disasters that believers, as a result of their very conversion from unbelief, then endured for the name of the Lord Jesus from Jews and pagans. With this great and Holy Baptism, not only by the Spirit, but also by fire, all the apostles of Christ were baptized, laying down their very souls for their beloved Teacher; Countless Christians of the first centuries passed through this fiery Baptism, when being a Christian meant almost the same as being a martyr. Those who especially loved the Lord and whom the Lord chose to be special instruments of His gracious actions are subjected to this Baptism of Fire at all times and at all ends of the earth. Our beloved Fatherland, as if not as an example - and God grant that as an example - to other peoples, was vouchsafed more than once this Baptism of fire and blood, especially during the centuries-long suffering from the yoke of the Mongols, when our ancestors, tormented by the barbarians, instead of all consolation, said one thing to themselves: “I am a Christian.” From this, and not from any other reason, a great and valuable name was formed and arose: “Holy” Rus'. Even many of our native cities can show traces of this Baptism of blood and fire; which is why they are called, worthily and righteously, “God-saved cities.” But our city, with all its other advantages, has hitherto lacked this special covenant with heaven, this sign of grace, this guarantee of God’s mercy. And was it possible to admire him arbitrarily? This matter does not depend on human arbitrariness; takes place on earth, but comes from above: “He who baptizes you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). And now, finally, the time ordained from above has come for our city to accept the grace of this Baptism, that is, to endure temptation and suffer for the name of its Savior and faith in His Life-giving Cross, so wickedly humiliated by the very nations of the Christians before the moon of Mohammed. And look how completely and solemnly this sacred and sacramental Baptism was performed on him! In the primal Church they prepared for the grace of Baptism throughout the entire Holy Pentecost, and after it ended, on Holy Saturday, at the Holy Sepulcher they were vouchsafed this Sacrament. This holy example was fulfilled for us in all precision: and the entire Great Lent that passed was given to us to prepare ourselves to receive special grace; and those who know how to formulate in their minds and hearts the paths of God’s Providence, without a doubt, did not neglect this time for the special cleansing of their souls and conscience. And so, with the onset of Holy Saturday, at the Tomb of the Savior, the Baptism of the Spirit and Fire descends upon us - so to the Lord, and not to our enemy, who arranged it - and on us. Those who understood all this (and we hope that there were such) did not have much time to be embarrassed by the noise of the enemy’s arrows; standing at the Holy Sepulcher, he was buried in Christ in spirit - for himself and others; therefore I did not lose heart; but I was strengthened by faith and rejoiced for our city, which in this terrible time was sacredly and mysteriously betrothed and united forever to its King, Savior and God. Understand, city of Odessa, the mystery of this great event above you: understand and rejoice in spirit about the grace given to you! “Shine, shine” with faith; “For the glory of the Lord is upon you too!” 2 Do not be ashamed, but be magnified by the plagues inflicted on you; for these are holy plagues, about which you can humbly say in the words of the Apostle: “For I bear the wounds of my Lord in my body” (Gal. 6:17). But, as a sign of a new baptism, begin from here a new holy life, worthy of the city of the God-saved. Love with sincere and strong love the God of your fathers, the God of your Savior, and do not exchange serving Him for any of the charms of Baal. At the same time, may love for your brethren be established in you, always seeking in everything not your own, but even the essence of your neighbor. Then you can be forever calm about your fate. Then “thousands will fall from your country, and darkness will be at your right hand, but evil will not come close to you” (Ps. 90:7); for in the event of a lack of ordinary human means of protection, He, the Almighty, “commanded with His Angel to preserve you in all your ways” (Ps. 90:11). Amen. 9. A word before the thanksgiving service on the occasion of the capture and burning of the stranded English steamship-frigate "Tiger" Is it not likely that the Lord Himself will fight for us?.. Who could have expected such a heavy blow to our enemy so quickly? We didn't even know where he was; and he, unfortunate, lay already tied up by the shores and, one might say, at our feet. Related to what? Not with iron bonds, but with the most subtle and powerless substance - fog and darkness. When he, sailing off our shores, was perhaps preparing a new fiery storm for us, our sea was suddenly covered with such darkness that in the middle of the day it was impossible to see anything a few steps away; and if at times something appeared in the fog, it seemed not to be what it was and in the wrong place. Thus, our enemy, with all his experience in navigation and his native habit of fogs, completely lacked the ability to see: he lost his way, got stranded, could not even let his minions know about the danger, therefore lost all hope of liberation, and therefore, in order to save himself from our lightning and strikes, he asked us, as a mercy, for captivity. From this very thing you can see who bound and betrayed our enemy to us. We have no power over the sea; We could not have this darkness, terrible for our enemy, at our disposal: it could only be sent by the One who, in the words of Job, wraps the sea in darkness like swaddling clothes, and raises up the clouds from the last of the earth. (Job 38:9–11) He, in His righteous anger, sent this darkness, so unusual at this time of year, and darkened “their eyes” (Ps. 68:24). He, as punishment for the wickedness of the enemy, did, “let their way be dark and creeping” (Ps. 34:6). This is how the Lord has been accustomed since ancient times to deal with opponents of His holy will. For what was that proud Pharaoh struck by, by the way, when he did not want to let the Israelites leave Egypt at the word of Moses? Darkness. “Then,” says the Scripture, “Moses stretched out his hand into heaven, and there was darkness and darkness... throughout the whole land of Egypt... and no one saw his brother for three days” (Ex. 10:22-23). What is the connection with this ancient enemy of God, who dared to rebel heaven itself against the Almighty? Nothing else but darkness: “having bound him in captivity in darkness,” the Apostle Peter testifies to the spirits of evil, “he delivered them over to judgment to watch over those who were tormented” (2 Pet. 2:4). This is what the Lord did now: He sent neither lightning nor thunder upon our enemies, did not shake either the earth or the sky, but only spread darkness over them - and all the courage, all the art, all the pride and stubbornness of the enemy disappeared and turned into nothing before this one means!.. What, then, attracted such wrath of God to our enemy? Obviously, not our virtues and not our weak prayers, but the intercession for us of the great intercessors of our country, the holy martyrs of Kherson, then - his own pride, inhumanity, and especially wickedness and his insult to the sacred. For this ship, now lost, was especially fierce against us on the day of Great Saturday; he did not allow many of us to be at the Tomb of our Savior then; he foreshadowed the joy of the resurrection of the Lord for all of us. Thus, since our enemy did not want to bow with reverence to the sign of universal salvation, which is one and the same for him and us, and instead of paying attention to sacred days, as if in accordance with his name, he showed in himself the ferocity and insensibility of a tiger, then the Lord, in His righteous anger, scolded him from heaven. Bound in darkness, He placed this tiger in the state of a sheep, destined for the slaughter, given over to shame and a parable of mockery for the very children. What is most striking about this is that since the great day of the Resurrection of the Lord was dishonored by the enemy, its cruel collapse occurred not in any other place, but on the shore on which the Church of the Resurrection of Christ stands alone. This is how the Lord acts when He wants to show His high hand over someone! Come, brethren, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us exclaim to God our Savior, but let us rejoice, as Saint David teaches, not with frivolity, but with fear and trembling, seeing how the Lord “is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7), how the wickedness and malice of men, when they exceed the measure of long-suffering, accept God’s execution and vengeance from God’s justice in this life, yet this land. May the example of wickedness and punishment for this from above teach us to always and everywhere honor the saint more honestly (Great Canon, 1st week of Lent), not to allow ourselves to mock and despise the feasts of God. We stand up and strive for nothing else, but for faith and the Cross of Christ. But it has long been said that “faith, unless it does good works, is dead” (James 2:17). Therefore, we, as warriors of Christ, must be clean from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, we must adorn ourselves with all kinds of good deeds, and even more so with humility and love. Let us show our very enemies, who are now in our captivity, that we, following the Gospel, do not repay evil for evil and firmly remember the commandment: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Rom. 12:20). Our weapons defeated their bodies, and the love of Christ, which we demonstrate, can conquer their very hearts for us - which is higher and dearer than any victory. Amen. 10. Word before the thanksgiving service on the occasion of the award of the most merciful letter to the city of Odessa for maintaining calm, order and decorum during the bombardment of its enemy fleet “Because of the multitude of my illnesses in my heart, Your consolations have made my soul glad” (Ps. 93:19). This is what Saint David once said about himself, remembering in his prayer before God the severity of the temptations he endured and the abundance of Divine consolations that followed. You, God-saved city of Odessa, can say the same about yourself, after what recently happened to you and what followed: “due to the multitude of illnesses in my heart, Your consolations have made my soul glad!” Have we had many diseases in our hearts? We were sick in our souls when, alarmed by rumors, we expected the appearance of enemies, while at the same time enduring various oppressions and needs; Our grief did not diminish, but increased, when they actually appeared on our waters, and with their characteristic insolence and greed, before our eyes, they began to carry into captivity our brethren who were on the waters. Our hearts were even more indignant with grief when we heard about the impudent demands that they, under the fictitious pretext of our guilt, dared to offer us to atone for our safety, and which apparently tended, if not to death, then to our shame. Finally, when, in the midst of the most sacred and peaceful day of the year, a whole hell was opened against us, and death began to visibly fly over our heads, even the most unperturbed in spirit could not look at our city, which on such a day suffered such a sad fate, without deep sorrow. “Because of the multitude of my illnesses in my hearts!” And so, all these illnesses and all this sorrow passed away; did this whole storm that blew up against us end, and how did it end? As soon as it was possible to wish for ourselves - complete failure and disgrace of our enemy, peace and joy for us, glory and triumph for the entire Fatherland. How can after this, raising your eyes and heart to heaven, not say with Saint David: “Because of the multitude of my illnesses in my heart, Your consolations have made my soul glad!” Wasn’t it a consolation to see how all the enemy’s efforts against us remained in vain, and he received more wounds from us, almost defenseless, than we did from him - armed with all the means of destruction? Was it not consolation to see how the most successful rebuff, the most sensitive harm, was inflicted on our enemy not by the right hand of experienced leaders and warriors, who, standing on the shore, were quite ready to prove to him his insignificance, but by the hand of a single young man who had never before seen either the face or the fire of the enemy? Was it not a consolation to see how one of the most significant enemy ships, which especially raged against us with its fires on the day of battle, then suddenly appeared bound by darkness near our shore and asked, as a favor, to be taken prisoner? Was it not consolation to see how our brave defenders, in our eyes, were adorned with insignia from the bounty of the Monarchs, and our salvation, through those signs, was forever united on their chests - with their glory? Wasn’t it a consolation to hear how our beloved Monarch rejoiced over us and thanked God, how the entire Fatherland, all the regions of Russia, applauded our feat and were consoled by the sign of God’s mercy over us? And so, as if all these consolations were not enough for us, our great Monarch now addresses our entire city and all its inhabitants with a special - the royal word of praise and approval! and we, fully sharing your joy, from this holy place will greet you with this new consolation from the Lord, who moved the heart and hand of the Tsar to draw up this charter, precious to us. Thus, with the help of God, we not only did our job, went through and withstood a terrible experience, as befitted the sons of Russia, but we will also have the august testimony of all this from the very head and father of the Fatherland!.. In what part of Russia, in what part of the world, the most remote, will not this word of the king be read and not give us praise and approval? It will reach distant posterity, and will arouse the inhabitants of our city in similar cases to similar courage and selflessness. Keep, O city of Odessa, this pledge of your Monarch’s attention and gratitude to you, as evidence of your glory! Keep it faithfully and firmly; for he was not bought with gold and silver, but with fire and blood! You have risen to a high level among domestic cities: stand and establish yourself at this height in a manner worthy of you, sparing nothing for the benefit of the Fatherland, and eliminating from yourself everything that may be contrary to truly filial love for it! Amen. 11. Speech at the consecration of coastal batteries built to protect the city of Odessa from attack by enemy fleets How safely we stand here now and how calmly we offer our prayers to the Lord! But what was it like to stand and act here then, when all the enemy fires were directed at this one place? And yet the Russian foot stood firmly here and then; the Russian hand, without trembling, acted here even at this time, when it was scary to look here from the outside... And the Russian soul and the Russian heart would have stood here until the end of the day, as they stood until noon, if it had not finally been necessary to stand not only against enemy fire, but also among their own flames... It was not for nothing that the enemy thought that those who struck him from here were chained here: they were definitely chained, only not with iron, but with love for the Fatherland. Oh, our enemy will firmly remember this place where one of our Peruns withstood in the end an argument with all its lightning and thunder!.. All of Russia will not forget this place, which with surprise and joy heard how a handful of brave men stood here alone for the whole city, almost against an entire enemy fleet. As for us, who were obvious witnesses to this, one might say, miracle, we still cannot understand and explain it to ourselves otherwise than by assuming that here, together with our visible defenders, there was and was acting a certain invisible force sent from above. Let us now all unite - both those who defended and those who were protected - and from this very place let us offer thanks to the God of hosts, who was pleased to show His lofty arm here for us against our enemies, to shame their wickedness and pride. And, giving thanks for the past, let’s pray for the future. Our enemy has had so little success in our waters that the very failure of success can again incite him to attack us - not to mention his characteristic greed for self-interest. Against this, these thunderous strongholds are prepared again. We believe in their firmness, we do not doubt the courage and fearlessness of our defenders: what they have done is sufficient guarantee for what they will do in the future: but, brethren, “if the Lord does not preserve the city, it will be in vain” (Ps. 127:1). He, the Almighty and All-Control, He Himself, according to His wise will, gives and takes away the spirit; invests with strength from above the weakest hands and knees; and when it pleases Him, He turns into nothing the mind of the wise and the strength of the strong!.. To Thee, therefore, Lord, we lift up our thoughts and hearts: look down from Thy holy height upon our city with the eye of Thy favor, and protect it, besides these strongholds subject to destruction, with Thy holy Angels, against whom no enemies, not only visible, but also invisible, will stand! Mother of God! We have already entrusted the fate of our city to Your all-powerful intercession and protection; and our hope was not put to shame! Behold, we again turn to You with faith and love - for help against our enemies! Having illuminated our entire country with miracles from Your miraculous face, create a sign for good with our city, so that neither fire nor the enemy’s sword touches it. For this very reason, in the spirit of faith and hope, and after we have moved away from here, we leave here images of this miraculous face of Yours, so that our Christ-loving defenders may have in You Yourself their chosen commander 3 . Amen. 12. Word during the performance of a repentant prayer service on the occasion of the invasion of the Crimean peninsula by foreigners With these words our Savior and Lord greeted His beloved disciples when, appearing to them after His resurrection, He found them in fear and confusion from the terrible events of Golgotha. We now dare to address these very words of love and reassurance to you, residents of this God-saved city, to you, who are now so much confused by the invasion of our country by foreigners: “Peace be with you!” Peace does not come from our weakness and weakness, but from God the Father - Almighty! From God the Son - the All-Containing! From God the Holy Spirit - the All-Life-Giving. And what, let us say in the words of our Savior, “that you are so troubled by nature, and so many fearful thoughts enter your hearts” (Luke 24:38), that many of you are ready, leaving everything, to seek salvation outside the city and this country? Is it really for the reason that our evil enemy has invaded your borders? But weren’t you warned about this long ago - by himself? And what is too unusual in this case? Is it the first time during a war that enemies have invaded the Russian land? It is always possible to invade it, due to its immeasurable space; it is only difficult, as experience shows, to get out of it without giving food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth... Aren’t some of you embarrassed by the small successes of the enemy, who came in such numbers from across the sea? did they end with the complete defeat of the enemies and their shame before the whole world? Who doesn’t remember the year 1812? Then not just one region was shaking, as yours is now shaking, but all of Russia was shaking from end to end; her very heart, Moscow, was in the hands of the enemy; to many it seemed that everything was already lost; and meanwhile, it soon turned out that the Russian state was intact and indestructible; Only, despite their strength, skill and success, were crushed by hordes of enemies, and disappeared like a ghost. The same thing, God willing, will follow now! For have you noticed on what day the enemies appeared on our land? On the very day on which they once entered Moscow, as if as a harbinger that the same bitter fate awaited them in Crimea, which they suffered after occupying our capital. Not expecting an enemy at almost this time, we, like the virgins in the parable of the Gospel, involuntarily indulged in a kind of slumber - and then the Lord allowed him to suddenly occupy our shores and oppress us - may our hope not be in our own strength, but in His almighty help. But, if this invasion caused concern and embarrassment to us, then rest assured that it will not serve the joy of our enemy either; repelled from our shores, or struck immediately upon reaching land, he, of course, would have left here, but he would have left with great strength, and therefore for a long time he could have poured out his rage on other places. Now, despite his arrogance and imaginary success, he, having come out of the sea onto land, is already in some way in our hands and, defeated to the end, will lose the desire and means to continue the battle itself. For this we only need to strengthen our brave squads so that the enemy does not suppress us with his large numbers; and won’t Russia have enough warriors?.. She can cover your entire peninsula with them, without exposing her other borders. All our brave men, as I saw throughout my entire journey to you, are already rushing here from all sides, like thunderous clouds, in order to soon form a terrible cloud over the head of the enemy. Some time will pass - and the whole world will see what awaits the one who, with a sword in his hands, dares to brazenly penetrate into Russia... Unfortunately, some of your very co-inhabitants in this country (you know who I mean) had the misfortune of being madly carried away to the side of our enemies; but, firstly, this could not help but be expected, given their long-known foolishness and the deceptions with which our enemies knew how to surround them; and secondly, what is so important and terrible about this that you should look for safety in nothing else but in flight? This is an uprising of malicious, of course, unfaithful to their father, but at the same time weak and inexperienced children, to whom, due to their foolishness, the very fatherly care over them is disgusted, but who, with one menacing raising of the boss’s hand, especially when placing it on the head, are immediately ready to fall to their knees and ask for mercy. With these so-called natives, who once brazenly took possession of alien property here, the same thing happened that happens during a storm with weak leaves and branches on a tree, which lag behind the stem and fall to the ground; The same thing happened that happens to dust on the way, which during a whirlwind immediately rises, flies upward and darkens the air for a few minutes. And can this take away the presence of mind from the true sons of the Fatherland? A storm with a whirlwind will pass, and the tree - without weak leaves and branches - will be fresher and stronger; and the path, freed from dust, will become cleaner and better. It is never good or prudent to indulge in imagining dangers, especially in the present circumstances. If, rushing to you, I had even half-believed what I heard about your current situation, what various and not gullible people told me about the dangers awaiting me along the way, then I would immediately have to stop and abandon the intention of visiting and comforting you. But, by the grace of God, what I heard had no effect on me; and I am now an experienced and obvious witness for you that the situation of our country is by no means as dangerous as it might seem to some, and that if there was any danger, it is diminishing from day to day, and should soon pass completely. Until now I have talked with you as a visitor, sincerely zealous for you, but looking at your situation and circumstances with an ordinary eye; The time is now to raise our voices and say a few words to you through the lips of the shepherd of this country, albeit an unworthy one. Isn’t it here, isn’t it with you, the cradle of our Christianity? Is it not from here that the light of the Orthodox faith shone on the entire Russian land? Was it not for this country that our ever-remembered holy martyrs of Kherson laid down their souls? And have you allowed yourself, beloved, to think for a moment that all this may remain in vain, and the Cross of Christ will give way here to the moon of Mohammed?.. Is this so - forgive my boldness and love for you - is this how the sons of Russia, the children of the Orthodox Church, should think and feel? Is it in vain and in vain that she prays every day on her knees for victory over her enemies and adversaries? If we are unclean and, because of our sins, unworthy for the Lord to hear our prayer, then in the immeasurable expanse of the Russian land there cannot but be pure and holy souls, whose prayer for the Fatherland is strong before the Lord, and who now do not let their leaders slumber, raising their venerable hands day and night for the Orthodox Church, for the most pious Tsar and for his Christ-loving army. And your holy martyrs, who laid down their souls for this country... do you think that they stand idly before the throne of God, and do not cast themselves and their martyr’s crowns before Him who sits on it, interceding for your salvation from real evils and temptations? rush to her aid against the aliens of the West, fooled by unbelief? No, if we sincerely love our Fatherland, then the inhabitants of heaven cannot forget it and not intercede for it with the Lord. And who can stand and intercede in heaven for the success of our enemies? Were they not the ancestors of these insane strangers, those unfortunate ancestors who, overwhelmed by atheism and passions, overthrew altars and thrones, worshiped the goddesses of reason and, preaching universal brotherhood, swam in the blood of their neighbors and known ones? Is it not the Crimean khans, who, having taken possession of this once flourishing country, brought it to complete devastation, who spent their entire lives in raids and carnage, feeding and nourishing their hordes with the tears and blood of neighboring countries? Are these not the former servants of the Mohammedan faith here, who, following the soul-harming Alkoran, themselves walked all their lives and blindly led others with them into the abyss of hell? You see that although I love you, I harden my word!.. For what? In order to awaken in all of you a sense of faith and hope, befitting the children of the Orthodox Church, in order to remove you from fears and cowardice, so alien to the sons of the Russian land. Instead of joyless and fruitless embarrassment, let's do what the present circumstances require. Our brave troops are rushing to our defense, for whom, due to the very speed of their march, it was impossible to have everything they needed with them. Do not hesitate to show diligence and prepare food and drink for them. You will have those wounded in battle, so that you will not lack what is necessary to calm them down. For all this, do not spare anything, for shame and woe to us if the one who shed his blood for us is forced to say that he is not respected as he should be - “by his own!”.. And at the same time, turn everyone to prayer and repentance, for this is the most effective weapon against enemies, which, moreover, anyone can wield. As soon as we, through repentance, truly reconcile ourselves with our conscience and God, then everything around us will turn to silence and peace, with which may the Lord quickly bless us all! Amen. 13. Word on the occasion of the invasion of the Crimean peninsula by foreigners Did I sadden you in any way yesterday, beloved? Out of the same love for you about Christ and the same zeal for you, it was possible, perhaps, to say something too bitter... But you will understand, I hope, and understand, as you should, the reason and purpose of everything that was said, and you will not be upset by our word, remembering the word of the Holy Scripture, that “the wounds of a friend are more reliable than the free (deceitful) kisses of an enemy” (Prov. 27:6). In fact, is it better for you if in different places of the Fatherland they say that you, beyond expectation, turned out to be below your circumstances, that you did not reveal that great spirit, that firmness and courage with which all of Russia is now inspired? For we must not forget that they are looking at you from everywhere, they are talking about you - and will continue to talk for a long time - everywhere, that all the true sons of the Fatherland, our most pious Monarch himself, now expect from you not cowardice, not even just ordinary courage and presence of mind, but some special feat of love for the Fatherland and self-sacrifice, in accordance with the extreme nature of your current circumstances. Therefore, how you act in this time of great trial, what example you set, such honor will be given to you from everyone! The more and the purer the sacrifices that are brought to the altar of the Fatherland, the higher you will become in the eyes of everyone, and if - what, may the Lord turn away! - if you turn out to be so cowardly and short-sighted that you prefer your private benefits to the general benefits, you will inevitably be subject to worldwide reproach for this, and your shame - rest assured of that! - will fall with all its weight not only on you, but also on your distant descendants... That is why I speak to you in such a decisive and frank language; For this very reason I came to you, despite all the difficulties of the path; Your peace and honor are dear to me, and honor is even more dear than peace... Be, I say, attentive, beloved, and look not only at the present, but also at the future, not at one city and peninsula of yours, but at all of Russia, which now does not take its eyes off you, thinks, reasons, and prays for you and, without a doubt, is ready, if possible, to fly to you on wings to share with you all the labors and dangers. Briefly: before you now is glory or eternal shame - a blessing or an indelible reproach! Hurry, beloved, to glorify yourself with pure and holy glory, showing that you do not live in vain at the very cradle of our Christianity, that you do not dwell fruitlessly in the land of martyrs and saints, that you are all moved and animated by the same spirit of faith and trust in God, which carried our Fatherland comfortably through all the greatest and age-old troubles and temptations, raised it to the extreme heights of universal power and glory, and made it a new Ararat, inaccessible to any enemies, for the Ark of Orthodoxy. Hurry, beloved, to glorify yourself - with pure and holy glory, by demonstrating in your thoughts and actions love for the Fatherland in the same way and with the same strength as his ancient sons, our blessed ancestors, loved to show it on such occasions, who did not think of saving themselves when the Fatherland was in danger, but, forgetting all their own benefits, were ready to sacrifice for it not only all their property, but also their very lives. Hurry, beloved, to glorify yourself - with pure and holy glory, using all your strength and means, all your art and skill to promote and help our Christ-loving army, which, having flocked here from all over Russia to defend your country, in a fit of holy jealousy, awaits as a celebration the day and hour when it will be possible, without sparing your blood and belly - for the Tsar and the Fatherland - to rush victoriously into the crowds godless foreigners. Who can deny the ferocity of a real war, the severity of your current situation?.. Everyone sees and appreciates it; everyone knows that we must stand here not only against the fanatical fans of Mohammed, but almost against the entire false Christian West; everyone is confident and expects that all the means of destruction, the invention of which this same unfortunate West has so pathetically glorified itself, will be used to our detriment; that until our just cause, with the help of God, triumphs, many more great and difficult sacrifices will be required of us, but at the same time, as much as we have, to strengthen and console ourselves, the strongest motives, the purest and most Christian hopes! Remember why and why we decided to engage in real warfare. Is it out of self-love and pride, or for the sake of some earthly views and acquisitions, as this can be said with all certainty about our enemies? No, we stood for the integrity of the Orthodox faith and the holiness of the Cross of Christ, for the liberation of our fellow believers and fellow tribesmen from the intolerable Muslim yoke, for the dignity and greatness of Russia, for our own, one might say, spiritual existence. What, tell me, could we have done differently? Is it possible, to please the dark West, to abandon the luminous East? Is it possible to bow the head crowned with the Cross under the bloody crescent of Mohammed’s moon, which disappears according to the law of nature itself?.. Imagine that this great matter was given into our own hands; Would there be at least one of us who, having weighed all the circumstances in which we found ourselves before the present battle, would not say with all our hearts: “No, Russia, out of generosity, can endure a lot and has endured for a long time, but she will never give up her great and holy calling - to be the defender of the Orthodox faith; will never deliver the Ark of the Covenant, entrusted to her from above, into the unclean hands of the Philistines.” Our situation is difficult and difficult, but necessary and inevitable; for by evading it, we would be betraying not men, but God Himself! Our circumstances are sorrowful, for the time being, and bitter, but at the same time majestic and soul-gratifying, for our cause is not so much ours as the cause of God, defending which we can fearlessly appear before the judgment of all posterity, before the judgment of the Heavenly Angels themselves. Many more sacrifices will be required of us, many more tears and blood will be shed; but the fruits of this tearful and bloody sowing will be innumerable - not only for all Orthodox Christianity, not only for the greatness and power of Russia, but also for your own prosperity!.. You ask, what good can come out of this fierce battle? This, in its entirety, is now known to the one God; but we, with our trust in the same Lord, can point out to you much. The end of this battle must show that the Universal Orthodox Church is founded and stands not on the wavering and changing supports of men, but on a single, indestructible cornerstone, which is Christ the Lord; “and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18); and those who sincerely follow her mother’s leadership will not be ashamed forever, not only in heaven, but also on earth. The end of the present war must show that our beloved Fatherland is not in vain, despising all the flower-strewn paths of worldly wisdom, it follows steadily along the path of God, no matter how it may sometimes be covered with thorns; for for this reason it was ordained from above, so that the scepter of world power and influence should remain not in any other hands, but in the right hand of the God-crowned Autocrat of All Russia. With the end of the present war, a new way of being, better and more perfect, must begin for your peninsula itself. The eyes and heart of the Monarch will especially turn to you; you will be followed by sincere respect from all of Russia; New blessings will be poured on you from the King and Lord of Heaven Himself, Who cannot forget the “labor of love” (Heb. 6:10) that you have undertaken in His name, and will reward you for it a hundredfold. Maybe I'm getting too hopeful? But it seems to me that I already see how Taurida is finally shaking off the sackcloth and ashes of a pitiful social half-existence - the unfortunate remnant of the former wild rule of the Tatar khans, how all parts of the local peninsula are more closely and sincerely included in the living and powerful composition of Russia, borrowing from it new life and strength; how Chersonese Tauride returns to its ancient Christian character, and its age-old shrines rise from the ruins; how the local nature itself, having finally found someone to open it to, reveals even more secret treasures for the benefit of man... Then we ourselves, who now so mourn and are troubled, we ourselves, sitting in peace, each one under his own fig tree, with joy and gladness will repeat and apply to ourselves the words of Saint David: “He who sows with tears will reap with joy.” He who walks walks and weeps, throwing away his seeds: but those who come will come with joy, taking up their hands” (Ps. 126:5-6). From words and conversation, let us turn back to prayer, for it is good and useful in the spirit of faith and love to talk man to man, but it is even better for everyone to talk - in heartfelt prayer - with God, because no word and no conversation can replace a single deep prayerful sigh to the Lord of a pure or truly repentant soul. Amen. 14. Word on reading the Highest Manifesto on State Armament So, the evil spirit of warfare has not yet been satisfied with human blood and demands new victims!.. So, the envy and long-standing enmity towards us of the dark West, and those apparently punished from above still do not want to humble themselves under the strong hand of God and again raise their head not only against the power and greatness, but against the most undoubted and sacred rights of our beloved Fatherland!.. Should Russia cowardly cede victory over itself and its just cause to this lawless envy and enmity, and, like the once unfaithful disciple, renounce - out of fear of a slave - its great and holy destiny? No, it was not for this reason that she was exalted by the Providence of God above kingdoms and peoples, so that from the height of God-given greatness she could bow her head, crowned with a cross, before the godless and decayed banner of Mohammed, no matter in whose hands it was, and no matter who was madly supported! No, it was not for this that the great Monarch of All Russia was given from above to go through the equally difficult, as well as glorious, experience of a thirty-year reign over sixty million loyal subjects, so that later, leaving the straight and majestic path of truth and generosity, begin to follow in the obstinate footsteps of self-appointed rulers and non-autonomous mistresses in their own kingdom!.. “Does not my soul obey God,” the holy King of Israel once exclaimed (Ps. 62:2), when, on the one hand, evil enemies “have devoured him like bees on a honeycomb” (Ps. 118:12), and on the other, cowardly friends and advisers offered him various ungenerous means to deliver himself from dangers, “does not my soul obey God; From Him is my salvation. For He is my God and my Savior... I will not move forever (Ps. 62:2-3). This is what the All-Russian Monarch and his faithful people can now say in the hearing of the whole world. “Will not our soul obey God,” the only God? From Him alone is our greatness and power, strength and strength, our protection and salvation. Therefore, no matter who and what threatens us, no matter what forces and means are used against us, we are ready for anything, but we will not betray God, our Savior, we will not prefer our benefits to His glory, we will not betray the holy cause entrusted to us into the hands of enemies. And “I will not move” forever! Yes, my brothers, only God can command Russia and its Monarch!.. Therefore, the important thing for us is not who is against us now and how many there are, but the only thing, is our cause pleasing to God? Is our very zeal favorable to Him? Is our very truth not marked out (rejected) before Him for some reason? Who will tell us this? They will speak and announce the very events. What do events say? They clearly say that the real battle has apparently become such a battle, during which the right hand of the Almighty, despite all the darkness of events and the darkness of human passions, has already shown itself so much over us and over our enemies that, despite all our unworthiness, we can be sure that our sacrifice for the glory of the holy faith and humanity has been accepted with favor. Why can we be sure? Because the Lord, having enlightened us as much as was necessary, “for He loves... He punishes” (Heb. 12:6), as St. Paul testifies, - at the same time he apparently fights against us and menacingly shames our opponents, blinded by pride. Do not be embarrassed when we reverently confess that the Almighty has found it necessary to admonish us ourselves, who went out into battle as to serve His name, for with all the purity of intentions and directness of our actions, do we dare to present ourselves as completely pure and infallible even in the eyes of God? Do we dare, if we are truly servants of God, to think and assert that since we stood for faith and truth, we therefore no longer needed any instructions or lessons from above? Like humans, we, by our very zeal for faith and truth, could forget our uncleanness and dream of ourselves more than we should, and from humble servants of the glory of God turn into proud stewards of the great and holy work that we have begun. And so, the all-powerful Providence of God, in order to remove this danger from us, out of His fatherly love for us, teaches us a lesson in humility and devotion. What does he teach? This is, firstly, that when we, having stood for faith and truth, seek, diligently seek, not battles and victories, but the one peace that is beneficial for our very enemies, at that very time, despite all the indulgences and sacrifices on our part, we meet not the peace we are looking for, but the most insidious hostility against us, the most fierce abuse. Further, when we are guided in relations with our enemies, and in all our actions, by the purest and most disinterested motives, we, beyond all expectation, acquire aggressive and destructive thoughts; us - who would have thought? - are represented as enemies of that very universal order between peoples, which we - almost united we - have supported with such selflessness for half a century; and almost the entire wise West, like an unintelligible child, believes this absurd slander!.. In this, finally, a lesson was taught to us from above, that when our enemies - both distant ones, and especially the nearest one, were not at all ready to start a battle with us, and in our hands there were many means to quickly achieve our intentions (as our enemies themselves now loudly admit), we, instead of quickly and decisively using our means and forces, - reproaching no one - by our sole generosity, we hesitate to draw the sword from the scabbard and to lift him victoriously to the head of a weak enemy, until he had gathered all his forces and surrounded himself with numerous allies, through which, naturally, any success in a matter so difficult and great should have been difficult for us. But if the admonishing finger of God manifested itself over us, then over our enemies the formidable right hand of God appeared in all its strength, no longer admonishing only, but punishing and overthrowing human pride and wickedness. To be convinced of this, take the trouble to consider with us at least the following three circumstances. Taking advantage of our magnanimous slowdown in the battle, which was unexpected and equally favorable for the enemies, they finally pooled all their forces and means in one place in order to invade our borders. In this case, the time of year for them is the first and main thing - an ally or an enemy. They fully feel this and value every day; meanwhile, beyond all expectation, they spend weeks and months without moving from their place and thus wasting precious time for success in their enterprise. What holds them back and does not allow them to hit the road?.. The appearance of a sudden, cruel illness that rages with such force that even before our sword it destroys many of them and weakens almost all of them, taking at the same time most of the time that is most necessary for them and unrewarded by anything. And marvel at the destinies of God! This same plague, which strikes our enemies and pierces their feet, does not concern us at all, although we are very close to their military camp, both from land and from sea. Tell me yourself, is this not the finger of the Almighty, punishing and overthrowing pride and wickedness? Who could send this fierce plague against our enemies at such a time? Who could say to her, as once to the Angel, the destroyer of the firstborn of Egypt: go, strike some and not touch others?.. One God!.. But now, freed from the deadly disease, our opponents finally swim across the sea and approach the shores of our peninsula. Here, as if as a reward for the disasters and deprivations that happened to them, and judging by the consequences, one can say, as if as an encouragement on the path to new losses and punishment from above, at first everything apparently favors them: our shores are completely defenseless before them; Our warlike squads, due to inequality of strength, although not without stubborn fighting, give up their place to them; our only stronghold - the main goal of their invasion - almost half of its space is still almost defenseless and open to attack; the already very small number of its defenders had to be further diminished through the separation of a significant part of them to the side, so as not to lose communications with the rest of Russia. We are in extremity in the face of a numerous, arrogant and triumphant enemy in advance!.. What is better for him and more dangerous for us? Is this not the height of his triumph and our overthrow? So it seemed to everyone - down, and there - woe - something different, contrary, was determined... Instead of a direct and quick attack on us, for the success of which there were so many guarantees, the enemies suddenly undertake a bypass of our stronghold, as if like Joshua before Jericho, only, alas, not with the banner of Jehovah, but with the shameful banner of Mohammed!.. In the midst of this very, fruitless and harmful for them, bypass, they rush to the right - and our stronghold, almost defenseless from this side, could be exposed to the greatest danger; rush to the left, and our army, weak in numbers compared to them, in all likelihood, would have to give them victory over themselves. But our enemies seem to have nothing to do with either; They are in a hurry, as quickly as possible, to pass by all the successes that awaited them, one might say, past their happiness, and they consider it a triumph that they are taking possession, without any resistance on our part, of a small coastline, which is destined to become, as time has shown, a place not of their triumph, but of some sort of imprisonment and execution from above. Who could so unexpectedly turn the lot of battle to our advantage and to the detriment of our enemies? There was no visible pillar of cloud and fire here at that time, which separated the once faithful people of Israel from the Egyptians; but we believe that there was a certain Angel who fought for us, and our holy martyrs of Kherson were and acted closest to us, who, with a curtain known to them alone, closed before the eyes of their enemies the unforgettable field of their exploits on earth for them and in heaven, and at the same time made invisible to them the weak side of our stronghold and the small number of our army that stood outside it. Thus, the most dangerous days for us, the most dear and favorable to our enemies, have passed - for us comfortably, for them - fruitless and irrevocable; and the face of the battle on the Kherson peninsula, which had hitherto been so unfavorable to us, turned entirely against our enemies. In their new place, having forgotten their former arrogance, they soon began to diligently think not so much about attacking us, but about defending themselves. But, having so thoughtlessly let such a favorable opportunity for triumph over us slip out of their hands, our enemies, in their new place, will at least be safe from our sudden attacks, for now in front of them, in their defense, are ditches and trenches; behind them is the sea, which is entirely in their power and, protecting their camp, serves to provide them with everything they need. Yes, we are not on this sea, but He is present, Who alone rules over the power of the sea, and has never yet yielded His power to anyone over the storms and abysses of the sea. At His command, the wind suddenly appears and a storm arises with such ferocity that the hundred-year-old elders have never seen, which makes the most experienced and world-wide navigators tremble; and in a few hours our enemies perish most of what they collected to our detriment with great effort, from almost all the corners of the world, and what seemed insurmountable to any human strength and courage. You know what followed with all our enemies, how hundreds and thousands of them began to fall no longer from our sword and fire, but from mental and physical exhaustion, from hunger and cold; how whole crowds of them, leaving their own banners in despair, seek salvation for themselves among our camp; how their fellow tribesmen coming to their aid do not so much increase their strength as multiply the general misfortune and mortality; how, as a result, the reckless rulers and stewards, who frivolously sent their armies into our borders, come to shame and embarrassment, not knowing what to answer for their destruction to their people and their conscience; how, finally, the most conscientious and impartial of our very enemies, forgetting their national pride and all selfish calculations, and heeding the one truth, admit in the ears of the whole world that heavenly wrath was shed upon them for their wicked collaboration with the worshipers of Mohammed and for the oppression in favor of the latter of the already ill-fated Christianity in the East. And after such signs from above - to shame our enemies and to encourage us to exploits - should we leave our great and holy work without finishing it, as it should be? And seeing such a heavenly cover over itself, Russia will become impoverished in self-sacrifice and will take pity on the victims on the altar of the Lord, when our enemies do not cease in such numbers to send their sons as sacrifices to Baal and Molech?.. No, it was not for this reason that she was exalted by the very Providence of God over kingdoms and peoples, so that from the height of God-given greatness and power she could bow her head before the dark banner of Mohammed! No, it is not for this reason that its great Monarch was given from above to go through the thirty-year experience of a difficult and glorious reign, so that later, leaving the truly royal path of truth and generosity, he began to follow in the footsteps of self-proclaimed rulers and mistresses of little power in his own kingdom!.. This very thing - thanksgiving to God - is expressed, as you heard, in the great word of Tsarev to Russia proclaimed before you now. As a Christian King, our Monarch sincerely desires peace, which is so necessary for Christianity; and, not seeking any earthly benefits for himself and his kingdom, he is ready, out of love for humanity, to give in, in whatever way he can, even to pride and human passions, but as a faithful servant of God, as a natural defender of the Orthodox Church and all her children, he will not betray the great cause of faith and truth, he will not betray the fate of Orthodoxy in the East not only into the hands of the fanatical fans of Mohammed, but also to the arbitrariness of their semi-Christians allies. And it was necessary for this, new and full of faith and devotion, the word of the Tsar to appear and be heard in our land, engulfed in the flames of the war for Orthodoxy, not at any other time, but precisely now - on the day of Orthodoxy and the triumph of the Holy Church over her enemies!.. Isn’t this also a sign for our good! Altar servers! When you now proclaim the great and holy truths that constitute the essence and distinction of our Orthodox faith, proclaim them, if possible, ten times louder than usual! May they spread not only the churches, but also our very buildings! May their sound spread throughout the East and West - as a consolation to our brothers in faith who are persecuted in the East, and to the admonition of our Western enemies, who are so shamefully betraying the great cause of all Christianity! Let the whole world hear and know that there is no force on earth that can frighten Orthodox Russia as long as it is faithful to the God of its fathers! Amen. 15. A word upon receiving the news, during the battle, about the death of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich Having begun, on the occasion of Holy and Great Lent, pastoral interviews with you about death, did we, my brethren, think that among these interviews a terrible image would appear to us in the person of our most beloved Monarch?.. Which of us would not give his own life a hundred times, if only he, wise, truth-loving and generous, would continue to live and reign for the good of the Fatherland and in fear of our enemies? But in the destinies of the Almighty, something else, something else was laid down!.. When no one on earth expected such a blow, when we were all indulged in different thoughts and hopes for the future, the Angel of Death suddenly appeared in the royal palaces and with the voice of heaven called our Autocratic Worker from the throne of earth to the throne of the King of Glory... Who could stop the executor of the highest destinies and say to him: “Hold on, this Crown Bearer is still needed for land!..” Oh, they see better than us what and when is needed for our poor land!.. Here we understand with all our might that the ways and counsels of God are truly as distinct from the ways and counsels of men as heaven is from the earth - that the One Most High “autocratically owns the kingdom of man, and to what He desires, He will give it” (Dan. 4:14), that He alone “supplies... and puts to rest” (Dan. 2:21), the rulers of the earth, gives and takes away the spirit of “princes” ( Ps. 75:13) Shall we enter into an argument with Him? Should we not bow before His all-holy will with reverence? Therefore, despite the greatness of our sorrow and the severity of our sudden deprivation, let us fall with faith and devotion, let us fall in thought before the throne of the Heavenly Autocrat and with the voice of the greatest of the earthly sufferers, let us cry: “The Lord has been taken away; The Lord willed, so it came to pass: blessed be the name of the Lord (forever)” (Job 1:21). Yes, my brothers, this is not some ordinary, although very sorrowful and sad, event, this is not a simple modification of the earthly lot of the sons of men: no, this is a great and sacredly mysterious action of the destinies of God! In the unexpected death of our Monarch, - let's say in the words of Saint David, - the Lord Himself “roared from heaven, and the Most High Himself gave His voice” (Ps. 17:14). For whom will we “roar”, and for whom will we “give a voice!” For the entire universe, for all kingdoms and peoples, for us and for our very enemies. Where will the sounds of this all-stunning voice not reach? It will sweep like thunder across all the ends of the earth and, like the voice of the Almighty, it will amaze everyone with bewilderment and set minds, hearts and lips in motion everywhere. It is not the first time that Russia, which unswervingly believes in the God of its fathers, has to humble itself and revere the inscrutability of God’s destinies, but what should those who are hostile to us feel and think about this? Standing mentally at the tomb of the one who was so unjustly hated by them for his generosity and truth, will they dare, in the face of the menacing face of death itself, to continue to deviate with their hearts “into the words of wickedness and not to forgive the guilt of their sins”? (Ps. 140:4). Ah, remembering involuntarily the great services to humanity of the Monarch who died in Bose, now many of them, perhaps with all their hearts, would be ready to take back all their vain suspicions, all the insane slander; but the past is irrevocable, and no repentance will erase the dark stain from their conscience. How long will it take for new unrest among peoples to arise? Will those terrible storms appear again, which so recently transformed kingdoms and crushed thrones? Then a hundred times they will seek the one who, forgetting all earthly benefits, animated by a single sense of holy duty and love for humanity, like a certain Archangel, stood courageously with all his might for rights and truth, for world order and peace of the people... They will seek him, but he will no longer be found on earth! He will stand before the throne of the King of kings and testify against those who did not want to understand his great and pure service to humanity. Then the inspired word of the King-Prophet will be fulfilled in all its power: “as if... you lie to yourself!” (Ps. 26:12). May the Lord grant that our enemies, hitherto blinded by malice against us, although now, having felt all the frailty of human nature, cease to hide the truth in untruth, recognize their error and, abandoning their unfortunate stubbornness against the blows of God’s Providence punishing them, part with the dark banner of Mohammed and turn with repentance to the forgotten Cross of Christ, which alone will stand over the grave of the first from the Crown Bearers and the last of the subjects. For us, my brothers, in the midst of our extreme (extreme) sorrow, there is great consolation in the fact that when one Angel departed from us, another, at the same time, appeared in his place, appeared in the same full armor of God - with a cross in his heart, with goodness on his forehead and lips, with a branch of peace in his right hand and with a lightning sword of righteousness in his hand. Let our enemies continue to choose this or that, according to their arbitrariness, and our arbitrariness is once and forever contained in truth and righteousness, in the sincere desire for peace for humanity, our very enemies, but also in the immutable defense of Christianity from the madness and cruelty of the Muslims. If the one who has fallen asleep in God is not destined to accomplish the great and holy work he had ordained, if another crowned Angel is sent to continue and complete it, then this is a sign that this work is not human, but Divine; that in him one of those great judgments of God should appear, with which what has been prepared for centuries ends, and what should begin to extend over entire centuries. Therefore, at the silence that with the death of the Monarch spread not only around his tomb, not only within the borders of our Fatherland, but also across the face of the entire earth, I involuntarily look at it as a kind of semblance of that sacred and mysterious silence, which is said in the wondrous Revelation of John: “there was silence in heaven for half an hour” (Rev. 8:1). In the continuation of such rare and majestically sacred moments, until a new seal is opened (Rev. 6:1) on the book of eternal destinies, and new voices of mysterious thunder are spoken to the whole world (Rev. 10:4), it is fitting for us, earth-born, not to ask questions and bewilderments, not to guess and guess, but to pray silence, humility of spirit, devotion of heart and reverent expectation of “what the Lord Himself speaks... about us” (Ps. 84:9). Having completely surrendered to Him the fate of ours and the entire Fatherland - in the present and future, let us turn, my brothers, in the simplicity of faith and heart to the fulfillment of our present duty; and, firstly, let us accompany the soul of the Monarch who has departed from us with warm prayers to the Lord - may he give him peace from his great royal labors, with which he labored so long and honorably for the good of Russia. Let us greet with the same warm prayers and hope the new Angel, who sets out to serve us and the Fatherland royally, may his strength and strength, so much needed at this time, be sent down from above through the well-known kindness. We, with the help of God, who have been continuously talking with you until now about death, deeply feel the need to remain silent for a while, in order to fully learn from such a great and amazing event, which is the unexpected death of the Monarch of All Russia. Our sermon to you will not stop because of this, only you will continue to hear it no longer from our weak lips, but from the tomb of the deceased Crown-Bearer, to hear, therefore, in an even more powerful and touching form than if it could have been offered from us from this sacred place. Amen. 16. Word upon receipt of the news, during the battle, about the death of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich Was it in vain that we, finishing our last conversation with you about death, said that from the tomb of the Monarch who died in God, you will hear the most instructive sermon on this same subject? Now, she has already announced almost all the borders of the Fatherland and has reached us with all her strength. I call a sermon a story about the last minutes of the deceased... What a peaceful, pious and, one might say, blissful death! This is not death with its horrors and suffering, but a quiet departure from one country to another - not death, but, as it were, some kind of predetermined movement from one dilapidated house to a new home. Until the last minute, full consciousness of yourself and your duty! Until the last minute, unrelenting concern not only for your soul, but also for the fate of your kingdom and for the fate of the relatives of your home! Not a single sign of commitment to earthly greatness, now forever abandoned; not the slightest embarrassment when entering the gates of eternity, into the field of a new higher being - bonpol (on the other side) of the visible! How many such deaths do we encounter throughout world history? How many reasons were there for the contrary? And the failure to reach the already distant limits of human life, and the abandonment forever of a beloved family immersed in grief, and the irrevocable separation from the royal labors to which the mind and heart are so accustomed, and the very incompleteness of the great and holy work, begun so generously for the glory of God and for the good of mankind... Oh, there was something to despond the greatest spirit; there was something to embarrass the strongest soul! But when the last hour came, all this was quickly and decisively overcome - by living faith in God and the firm hope of eternal life beyond the grave. The deceased barely heard the heavenly calling, forgetting everything earthly, like Samuel, beloved by God, without hesitation, he responded with all sincerity to the voice of God: “Behold, I” (1 Sam. 3:4). “Thy will be done!” (Matthew 26:42). Who among us would not wish for such a peaceful and blessed death? But do you think, my brothers, that such an extremely gratifying and instructive appearance on the royal throne could have been produced by our weak and frail human nature? No, this is beyond it: “flesh and blood” do not reveal this (Matthew 16:17); this could and has been done by the omnipotent grace of God, whose “power... is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9), and which alone does not abandon His elect at the time when they must pass through darkness and the shadow of death. Why did she produce it?.. So that the last moments on earth of the crowned ascetic could be enjoyed, who, instead of the flowers of peace and the fruits of harmony and love, which he so tirelessly sowed throughout his entire royal life across the face of the entire earth, at the end of his earthly career, everywhere outside the Fatherland, he encountered almost one thorn... Why did she do it?.. For the joy and consolation of the porphyry-bearing family and our entire royal-loving Fatherland, so that they, suddenly deprived of their leader and father, would have no reason to be troubled in spirit, in addition to other circumstances, also from His dying suffering, and all the more complacently, following His example, would be strengthened by faith in God and place all their trust in the Providence of the Almighty. Why did she do it?.. As a lesson and instruction to our very enemies, so that they, seeing in the very image of the death of the deceased Monarch of All-Russia, that there is not one end to “the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, and the pure and the unclean” (Eccl. 9:2), forgetting faith and conscience and unswervingly following their duty, would come to reason and feeling from their bitterness, would not have audacity, like the ancient blasphemers, to say at his very tomb: “Where is your God!” (Ps. 41:11). Let us thank the Lord, my brothers, for the fact that He, the All-Good One, sent down such a blessed death to our beloved Monarch who reposed in God, and thereby, among the days of weeping and lamentation, consoled and encouraged all of us, his faithful subjects. Meanwhile, for our own edification, let us look (look closely), albeit a little, into the mystery of this death, desired for everyone. Where does she come from in this gratifying form?.. From a living and firm faith in God, from constant and unflagging fidelity to fulfilling her duty. All of Russia will say this most loudly and confirm it in the ears of the whole world. This cannot be rejected by anyone outside the Fatherland - even by those who are most envious of its glory. The Monarch who died in God sincerely believed in the great and holy truth that the rulers of the earth are nothing more than temporary guards and servants of God for the good of the peoples entrusted to them, and that they, like each of their subjects, will in due time be required to report before the King of Kings a strict account of all the great “domestic stewardship” (Luke 16:2). Therefore, he lived, acted and worked in his great field with all his strength and with all his soul - he worked not for earthly glory, but for the glory of God, not for the sake of vain views and human benefits, not according to the inspiration of passions, but according to the voice of conscience, in accordance with the true needs of his people and all mankind. Hence the readiness for every good deed, and for every feat of general benefit, no matter how difficult and great they may seem; hence the forgetting of the benefits and conveniences of one’s own life and the neglect of obvious dangers; hence the incessant concern for the most remote regions of the immeasurable kingdom, for the smallest needs of each country. Before his eyes there were always and everywhere three objects: the Orthodox faith, Russia and the good of humanity. Here, in this threefold source, he drew incessant motivation for his lofty thoughts and great labors; here, in satisfying his duty to the Church, the Fatherland and humanity, he found consolation and reward for his exploits, not caring about what anyone would think about them anywhere. With what eagerness did he captivate his mind into obedience to the holy faith! How far I was from all the exaltations of false earthly wisdom and the vacillations of a perverse mind! The spirit of the times, which so pitifully blinds many in this regard, had no power over him. With what zeal he fulfilled the duties of a son of the Church and cared for its needs! With what reverence I stood in churches and began to receive the Sacraments of Christ! On the throne he was the first of the earthly rulers, before the altar of God - a simple and humble Christian. Russia, throughout his reign, saw in him not so much an autocrat and ruler, but a father and benefactor, who rejoiced from the heart with all her joys, grieved and grieved from her sincere heart with her sorrows. Is it not to him that she owes that respected scroll of laws that she had been waiting for for more than a century? Was it not from him that she received many generally useful institutions that will serve for her benefit forever? Was it not he who fenced it with strongholds, about which all the fortress and all the malice of the enemies are now being crushed? Is it not through him that the abodes of enlightenment and public philanthropy are exalted and spread, and new sources of national wealth are revealed? Was it not he who extended his fatherly attention to the position of the lowest of the common people? And so, since the Monarch who died in God sincerely loved the Lord and remained faithful to Him even to death, since he loved his people just as unflatteringly and worked for their good, not sparing his very health and life, then the Lord apparently loved him; blessed many of his labors with special successes, allowed him to see the sons of his sons, and showed His favor and mercy over him in the last minutes of his life, so that his death will forever serve as a touching example of how it is appropriate to leave the life of a Christian king. Therefore, does any of us want such a Christian death?.. Let him imitate in his life and actions, as far as possible - within the limits of his rank - the deceased crown bearer, always remaining faithful to God, conscience and his duties; and the Lord will give him what he wants. For the word is true and worthy of all acceptance, that as a person’s life is, so is death. Amen. 17. Speech at the laying of a new golden robe on the holy icon of the Mother of God of Kasperovskaya before Akathist singing in praise of the Mother of God, on Saturday evening of the 5th week of Lent Saint David, in one of his God-inspired psalms, having depicted the extraordinary internal and external greatness of the King crowned by God, then turns to His face with the following remarkable words: “The Queen appeared at Your right hand, in robes of gold, adorned” (Ps. 44:10). This wondrous King, according to the understanding of the holy fathers of the Church and by the very nature of His image in Saint David, is our beloved Lord and Savior, Who, after completing on earth His great work of redemption of the human race by His death on the cross, then ascended with flesh into heaven and sat down there on the throne of glory at the right hand of His Father. The Queen who appeared, as Saint David contemplated in the spirit, at the right hand of this King, is the Most Pure Mother of Christ, who, after Her all-honorable dormition, as sacred tradition testifies, was also consigned in the flesh to heaven, to the throne of God His Son. The gilded and embellished robe, which the Psalmist, delighted with the spirit, contemplated on her, is an excess of all kinds of spiritual and physical perfections in which She clothed herself upon Her entry in heaven into Her due rank of the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim. What can the most zealous human will and the most skillful hand apply to such a heavenly robe? Before this robe, or, more clearly, before this fullness of heavenly perfections, one can only, together with the host of Angels, stand in awe and be lost in joyful amazement. But this wondrous Queen, standing before the throne of the King of glory, and enjoying the abundance of the highest perfections, never forgot (and will never forget!) our poor land, where She Herself, through sorrows and humility, ascended to the height of Her true greatness. As the most kind and most merciful, She continues to benefit the human race in various ways, to all Her earthly brothers in the flesh. To this end, to awaken faith in the most inert souls, to revive hope and patience in the weakest and most languid hearts, She, the All-Good One, extends Her mercy and condescension to us to the point that, to bring us closer to Her, from time to time she chooses some of our earthly images of Her most pure face, and makes them visible instruments of Her invisible gracious actions. In such miraculous icons, She becomes, as it were, especially inherent in us, no longer in just a figurative form, but, one might say, in a living and life-giving form. And here a place and opportunity opens up for us not only to prayers and petitions before the face of the Most Pure One, but also to various sensory signs and expressions of our zeal and gratitude for Her benefits to us and the entire human race, to the point that we, just as it is said in the Gospel about the holy women who helped the Savior and His disciples in the midst of earthly poverty, can serve Her from our very “possessions” ( Luke 8:3). Just such an extremely rare and blessed case, fourteen years before this, suddenly opened up in our country. On the deserted banks of the Dnieper, among the small and unknown village of Kasperovskaya, as once in inglorious Nazareth, this holy face of the Mother of God, to whom we now stand piously, suddenly shone with signs and wonders. No one proclaimed this event; at the site of the extraordinary phenomena there was no preacher, but the grace emanating from the holy icon, of itself, like a fragrance, rushed throughout our entire country, everywhere and in everyone arousing faith and living trust in God and the Mother of God. The hosts of the suffering and burdened, as was the case during the Savior’s appearance at the sermon, were the first to rush with their ailments and sorrows to the source of miracles; and finding each, according to the measure of his faith, at the most pure face of the Mother of God peace for his soul and healing for his body, they themselves turned into incessant heralds of Her gracious actions. According to this voice emanating from the depths of their souls and hearts, in a short time, the foremost of our cities, one after another, hastened to reverently express their zeal to quickly see among the churches and buildings the new miraculous face of the Queen of Heaven. We, the inhabitants of this city, due to the very remoteness of our place of residence, had to be content for a considerable time with only joyful rumors about the extraordinary grace of God, which manifested itself so significantly over our entire country. But when the formidable events that broke out over our city last spring with such force made us all fully feel that in such circumstances - and with scarcity of soldiers and military leaders - intercession and help from above were still necessary, we did not hesitate to turn with prayer and petition to the Elected Voivode - may he honor our city with His gracious visit. And, one might say, as soon as we opened our lips to such a prayer, She, the Most Merciful, not only heard us, but also did (through the Monarch who died in God) more than we expected; for, as a deep consolation for us and for encouragement in the midst of the evils that befell us, she deigned to confirm the presence of Her miraculous face in our city until it was completely freed from any situation of hostile forces. Was it possible after this for all of us not to be deeply touched by such a great mercy of the Queen of Heaven and not to desire to mark our gratitude to Her with some visible sign of zeal? Remembering at the same time the golden and embellished robe of David on the Queen of Heaven, and noticing at the same time the poverty of the robe on this miraculous image of Her, we necessarily came to the idea of ​​arranging this new vestment for him. The zeal of Christ-loving souls did not hesitate to present us with the initial means to this end; the hope for the continuation of this zeal served as an encouragement for further action, which now - thanks be to the Lord! - reached the desired end. The new, splendid robe, as you see, is ready; All that remains is to offer it and, so to speak, present it to the One for Whom it is intended. But which of us will do this?.. Oh, how innocent the hands should be and how pure the heart of the one who offers!.. When we think about this, we are with all our hearts ready to cede this matter and this honor to the one who can do it shamelessly and as befits in the face of the most honest Cherub; but the true servants of Christ, as is clear from their writings, never liked to appear before the eyes of people, unless driven by a special order from above. Therefore, despite our spiritual weakness and uncleanness, we ourselves will have to accomplish what was ordained through us, although unworthy, through the inspiration of God’s grace. Do not neglect, my brothers, to strengthen us in this case, at least with your faith and prayer. Let us all unite in the spirit of hope and love for the Most Blessed Queen of Heaven and our Intercessor and, falling before this miraculous face of Her, like the gift-bearing wise men in Bethlehem, let us exclaim from the depths of our souls: “Mother of God, Intercessor and Comforter of all who mourn and are burdened, graciously accept this small offering of ours, and cover us who offer, and the whole city, and our whole country, by Your all-honorable omophorion!” Amen. 18. Speech in memory of the bombardment of Odessa on Holy Saturday 1854 by the enemy fleet What are we starting at this hour?.. To perform the sacred Sacrament of Anointing. But are we susceptible to any illness, since it occurs on those who are sick? Can anyone say that he is not susceptible to some illness? Which of us, firstly, is completely healthy in spirit and without any ulcers in our conscience? “If you see iniquity, O Lord, O Lord, who will stand” (Ps. 129:3), - this is how the most righteous cry out; what can we say about us sinners?.. Therefore, the oil of God’s mercy is necessary for all of us. How many can boast of perfect physical health? Ah, this health is so deceptive that some, a minute before their death, do not feel that death already reigns within them, as is clear from the so-called sudden deaths, which, in themselves, without a doubt, were not sudden, but naturally stemmed from a preliminary and, perhaps, long-standing disorder of bodily strength. Therefore, the Sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, which we are now approaching, as a cure for mental and physical ailments, is not superfluous for anyone. It would not be necessary at all, except for that primitive, still intact human body that our ancestors had in paradise - before their fall; although even there, to maintain him in a state of immortality, God’s Providence also prepared an external means - the tree of life. In addition, as experience shows, for many of us, even before the end of our lives, on our deathbeds, it will not be possible, for various reasons, to be worthy of receiving this great Sacrament from the hands of the Holy Church. Let us, my brethren, approach it annually on this great and holy day, when the very Most Pure Body of our Savior, after being taken down from the Cross, was anointed with myrrh and smells from the righteous Joseph and Nicodemus. We ourselves, however, with all our desire for sanctification from above, would not have dared to perform such an important and hitherto unprecedented sacred act on this day, if we had not been led to this not by our will, but, one might say, by the Providence of God Himself - through the extraordinary events that happened to us on Holy Saturday of the past year. Who among us can forget this especially great and fully Holy Saturday for us, when for the whole day, as on Golgotha, the earth shook under us, the air trembled above us, when death apparently rushed through the hills of our city? Then those who did not want to should think not only about saving their lives, but also about Christianly preparing themselves for death. Anticipating this, we, after the Lenten fast, and after the very Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, did not consider it superfluous to turn with faith and prayer to the Sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, as if we would confuse the grace of grace and to safely pass through the deadly dangers that lay ahead of us. Our faith and hope have not been put to shame; we experienced such an action of intercession from above that brought all the regions of Russia into joyful amazement. But if the danger that threatened us passed comfortably for us, then should the memory of it also pass at the same time, much less the help of God, then visibly revealed to us? No, this memory must remain forever - as a spiritual consolation for us, and as a lesson for future generations. For this very holy purpose, with the blessing of the Holy Governing Synod, the annual celebration of the Sacrament of Anointing, now ordained by us, can henceforth serve. The Cross of the Lord and the Shroud, before which it must be performed, will thus become for us a monument not only to the worldwide redemption of the human race from sin and death, but also to the gracious deliverance of our city from the fierce attack on it in these holiest days of evil foreigners. Accept, O God-saved city of Odessa, this new pious institution with that living faith and reverence that befits God-saved cities! Come hastily every year to celebrate this Sacrament, leaving behind all your everyday worries, no matter how important they may seem. For here, at this time, God, your Benefactor and Savior, will be waiting for you; here, and at this time, you will show before Him your gratitude for the past and your hope in His future help, which, judging by your location, may more than once turn out to be necessary for you again! When, over time, new generations ask what “this service” means (Exodus 12:26), which is not performed today in other countries of the Fatherland, then fathers and mothers, in explanation of what is happening, let them, like the ancient Israelites, tell their children that this is a grateful remembrance of the great mercy of the Lord, even “covering the city and the houses” (Exodus 12:27) ours from the destructive effects of the enemy’s terrible Peruns. Heeding this story, may all future generations learn to love and fear the Lord their God, to faithfully keep His commandments, to trust in Him first and above all, and in Him to seek their salvation on the day of cruelty! Amen. 19. Speech at the consecration of new Odessa batteries How long will it take for us to consecrate the terrible instruments of death and extermination?.. To the sword of God, how long will you slay and not take your sheath? Should you have expected black ingratitude from your own sons for the benefits with which you have shown them hitherto and apparently exalted them above all other peoples! Indeed, my brethren, what does it mean that the most educated of the peoples of the West with such persistence want to prolong, and contrary to the obvious intentions of God's Providence itself, the existence in Europe - in the midst of its own depths - of this wild Mohammedan horde, whose existence so recently was revered by everyone as a sign of heavenly wrath, which even now cannot exist otherwise than with the blood and tears of the peoples at its disposal - what, I say, does this mean, if not what these, the so-called educated peoples, in the blindness of pride and selfishness, have completely forgotten conscience and humanity, and therefore their earthly benefits, and most of them imaginary and not real, are incomparably more important for them than all the tears and all the blood of humanity suffering from the Mohammedan yoke? What does it mean, further, that these peoples, calling themselves Christian, continue to shed their blood for the irreconcilable enemies of Christianity, sacrifice the lives of their chosen sons only in order to prolong the tyrant rule of these enemies over similar Christian peoples, what does all this mean, if not that for them our holy faith has ceased to be the religion of their soul and heart, and has become one idle and meaningless name, which would it even weigh them down? If anyone rejoices at this, is it perhaps only the spirit of malice, which from time immemorial has been accustomed to turning brother against brother, son against mother. If anyone triumphs at this, then is it only Mohammed - in the depths of hell, seeing how his evil banner, falling and abandoned by the Muslims themselves, rises from the dust and is supported in strength by the blood of Christians. Among these perverse opinions, judgments and actions, among this shameful betrayal of humanity and Christianity, how gratifying it is to see that there is still a people on earth who, having remained faithful to the God of their fathers, are always ready to forget all benefits and calculations, and at the first, so to speak, call and demand, go out to serve the Lord, to defend the rights of distressed humanity, to fulfill eternal destinies over kingdoms and peoples!.. Even more gratifying! to say that the only people on earth are you, God’s beloved Fatherland! You, Orthodox Russia!.. In fact, what prompted you and the God-crowned One, now not only on earth, but also in heaven, your Monarch, to go out into single combat almost against the whole world, as a single pure and holy desire to humble the insane pride of the enemies of the Cross of Christ and protect your distressed brothers from their unheard-of oppression? Resting on the laurels you have acquired, you could, like other powers, indulge in your own benefits and calculations, forgetting the poor situation of your brothers, despising the cries and groans of suffering humanity; but you did not act in this way, and for the glory of God you courageously rejected your own peace. Oh, the great Ruler of the universe will not forget this feat of pure love and this great sacrifice of yours! Grateful humanity will reward you as you reward it, the poor and humiliated! The most crafty and evil West now, after its blindness and insensibility has been dissipated (for at times it too has eyes and a heart), will not be slow to recognize the greatness of your holy feat. Yes, my brothers, we now stand at the top of the world’s heights, we stand alone before the Face of God and men; everything else arbitrarily loved the glory and benefits of men more than the will of God, and therefore arbitrarily humiliated itself before God and people. After this, will we be surprised that this great and holy guard of God, which we have so generously undertaken, requires us to exert all our strength and means? Shall we be surprised that in the midst of this general betrayal of Christianity, our one Orthodox Fatherland, like Simon of Cyrene once on the way to Golgotha, had to lay upon itself and bear the Cross of Christ? Who should fight “with the serpent... and his angels, if not the Woman clothed with the sun”? ( Rev. 12:7, 1 ). This is your great and holy destiny, Russia, in the host of earthly kingdoms! If it is not fulfilled in the form in which our human short-sightedness would have desired, then this is new proof that in this case it is not human wisdom and calculations that are at work, but a predisposition from above; for what Angel of destinies ever appointed his own course of action, and did not accept it entirely from the throne of the Almighty? And rest assured, my brothers, what has been predetermined from above will be fulfilled in all its power! Whoever supports the shameful banner of Mohammed is destined to wear out and turn to dust from time itself: no matter how selflessly they try to transfuse their own blood into the decrepit composition of Islam for its renewal and strengthening, the young can thereby lose strength and vigor, and the old and dead will remain obsolete and dead. Islam will no longer exist in the form in which it existed, to the detriment of mankind, for more than four centuries; This is seen and unanimously recognized not only by his enemies, but also by his friends, and most of all, he himself clearly sees it, fully feels it and involuntarily admits it!.. And when all this comes true and is fulfilled, then who will have the holy honor of foreseeing, weighing and proclaiming all this in the ears of the world, if not the perspicacious Monarch of All Russia, who, after completing his ministry on earth, departed into the depths of eternity, like an Angel returning from an earthly embassy? From this height, look, my brothers, together with the Holy Church, at the present battle. If it represents the bitter and dark side - in the obvious betrayal of humanity and the Cross of Christ of the Western peoples, then it also represents the extremely bright and joyful side - especially for us, the sons of Orthodox Russia; for, on this occasion, in the face of the whole world and in all its strength, the strength of faith and the steadfastness of the Russian breast were revealed. Our enemies, united together, imagined that they would involuntarily bring Russia down from the height to which it had been raised by God; and yet, as God has willed, they have so far exposed only their weakness and discovered our inaccessibility to their machinations and efforts. Looking at you in this way, brave warriors, we no longer see in you just simple, but courageous warriors; we see not ordinary, although tireless defenders of the Fatherland; no, we see more of all this in you; You are before us as visible executors of the invisible destinies of God, as executors of what the peoples of the East so ardently expected for centuries, which constituted the faith and hope of their martyrs and sufferers... After this, what can seem difficult to you in your exploits? What will your courage not dare to do? How far will self-sacrifice not go? Lord and Master of kingdoms and peoples, if the destroyer Angel sent by You has not yet reaped the entire number of victims destined for destruction, then may Your power descend both on these instruments of death and on those who are supposed to act with them, for we are confident that they will act as befits the honorers of Your most holy and terrible name! And if in the abysses of Thy wisdom and mercy any means is found to hasten the end of the war and the coming of the longed-for peace, then may these terrible instruments and their courageous servants remain without action, O All-Merciful One, for which, out of Christian love for humanity, they implore Thy goodness together with us! Amen. 20. A word on the occasion of despondency and confusion of people’s thoughts about our abandonment of the southern part of Sevastopol Are any of you, brethren, confused by the recent news from our peninsula?.. Whoever knows the true state of affairs and is familiar with the terrain of Sevastopol will not be at all embarrassed by the fact that we left it, but will also be glad to learn that the courageous defenders of Sevastopol have found a way to emerge with such dignity from their extremely difficult and, one might say, deadly situation, having sold to the enemy for a great price what had long since lost its former meaning to us meaning, and meanwhile continued to constantly demand new great sacrifices. And whoever does not know the course of affairs and the location of Sevastopol, he, having heard about our abandonment of its southern side, will perhaps become despondent and imagine in this case an important loss and some kind of danger for the Fatherland. It is our duty, therefore, to hasten to the aid of bewilderment and dispel vain fears. For it is not without reason that the Holy Church is called a mother, to whose heart no position of her children is alien: with those who rejoice among them she rejoices, with those who weep she weeps; He admonishes the ignorant, He encourages the faint-hearted; and all this is done not only in relation to their eternal salvation, but also in relation to temporary benefits or losses. What will we tell you in this case to reassure you? Firstly, the fact that what happened to Sevastopol is not something unexpected, but something that, in the course of things, should have come true long ago, if not for the extraordinary heroism of its defenders; secondly, the fact that our removal from one part of Sevastopol to another, that is, from south to north, not only does not cause any harm to us, but, on the contrary, saves our army from daily great, and now useless losses; thirdly, that our movement from the southern part of the city to the northern cannot have any unfavorable effect on the future fate of Crimea and the continuation of the war, but rather can lead to its successful ending for us; and, finally, that what happened with Sevastopol must be looked at not as some kind of disaster or evil for us, but as one of the natural and inevitable adventures of the war, unpleasant, of course, by its very essence, but not at all humiliating us and not at all terrible with its consequences. So, what happened to Sevastopol, as I said, should have happened long ago, if not for the unparalleled heroism of its defenders; and how long ago do you think?.. From the very first days of his besieging (siege) by his enemies. Why is this so? Because he was then - almost half of him - without proper strengthening and protection. It must be attributed to the incomprehensible blinding of our enemies that Sevastopol was not occupied by them at the time, which would not have surprised anyone then. Taking advantage of a few days, as if deliberately given to us, we hastily fortified the unfenced places, but how did we fortify?.., as usually happens in such cases: superficially and not so firmly. If, despite all this, the struggle for Sevastopol that began after this continued for almost a whole year, exhausting and tormenting our enemies, then the reason for this is not the strength of the walls, which had never been there, but the firmness of the chest and the steadfastness of the Russian will. If about any city, then about Sevastopol, in the proper sense, it should be said that it was fenced by one living wall, that is, by our army. Hence the shame and grief of the enemy, who, with all his means, for such a long time could not do anything against Sevastopol; hence the surprise of the whole world, which could not understand how a weak and hitherto unfortified place could hold out for so long and against such forces; from there we have a previously unprecedented concept of Sevastopol, as something unapproachable and invincible; hence the current despondency, as if with our removal from Sevastopol something completely unexpected happened and, moreover, such that we lost honor or suffered some important loss. No, if in this case there is any loss for us, it is by no means important and, especially, not at all dangerous. Because what have we lost here? Twelve miles long and three miles wide - land, and that’s all. What did you concede to the enemy in this space? Almost everything that was in Sevastopol turned into a pile of stones from the terrible fire on both sides. How did you give in? Finally selling him these useless ruins at the cost of the lives of a great number of his warriors and many military leaders. Is this a loss for us?.. But perhaps the ceded part of Sevastopol was particularly beneficial for us in some way, and we are now in a less advantageous position?.. On the contrary! It is difficult to imagine a situation more unfavorable than the one we were in, occupying the whole of Sevastopol; for, at the end of the struggle, due to the proximity of the enemy and his hellish fires, almost every day cost us such losses as only happen in large battles, and these losses did not bring us any benefits, except the opportunity to say that we are now standing in the same place where we stood yesterday and at first. Now the precious benefit for us is that we do not suffer any losses, because now there is a strait of sea between us and our enemies. Previously, this strait constantly harmed us, for it separated us from our own army, which, not being located in the southern part of the city, stood behind it; and now he serves us instead of a fence from enemies, saving us from any surprise from their side, in order to prevent which we had to, so to speak, not close our eyes for a whole year. And while we apparently felt better from the change, the enemy, on the contrary, apparently got worse from the same thing. For he now stands where we stood; and if he does not endure as much as we endured, he endures, however, much more than we must now endure, for he stands below, in front of us, and we are above, above him, and can disturb him, as he constantly disturbed us. The benefit of our present location was long ago witnessed by him himself at the very beginning of the matter, for upon his invasion of the peninsula, as everyone knows, he was not on the southern, but on the northern part of Sevastopol, directly - only on the other side - opposite the place where we now stand; and yet the enemy, despite his proximity to this place, did not attack it, considering it too strong and inconvenient for an attack, but preferred, no matter how difficult it was for him, to bypass the city and begin a siege from the southern side, which is not so strong, and in some places not at all fortified and more accessible. And so, our brave warriors, having courageously shown, over the course of a whole year, to the enemy what this weakest and most unfortified part meant in their hands and having derived from it all the benefit for themselves, and all the harm for the enemy, they finally conceded it to him, going over to that very northern side, which, as we said, he at the very beginning recognized as the strongest and most inaccessible, and what it really became now, after its new fortifications in continuation of the whole past year. After this, you can judge for yourself whether this arbitrary concession to them of the worst part of Sevastopol, already battered from all sides, and our movement from it to the safest and strongest part is a great triumph for our enemies... It will easily become that the enemy will pass this off as a victory over us, in order to console himself with something in his long failure before Sevastopol and to show his compatriots why so much was brought to him victims and so much blood shed; in general, to have an excuse to continue the war and a way to mislead public opinion and excuse their madness to it; But among our very enemies, who knows the circumstances and understands the matter, he will not be very happy about this occupation of the fortifications that we abandoned, beaten and have served their purpose, and will not call this small change of place for the fighting parties a victory. Indeed, what kind of victory is this that the imaginary winner does not dare to take a single step behind the vanquished and is even afraid to take their place? What kind of victory is this, which cost much less sacrifice for the vanquished than for the victor? What kind of victory is this, after which the winner became worse, and the vanquished better and more profitable? If anyone can with greater right be satisfied with the end of the Sevastopol struggle in the form in which it has ended now, then Russia, for which the name of Sevastopol has now become the name of the glory of the Fatherland, “But after our retreat from southern Sevastopol, the Crimean Peninsula began to be subject to special danger...” This is indeed what some of us think, and this is precisely the meaning our enemies are especially trying to attach to this event; but I confess, no matter how much I think, I cannot see where this danger would come from. Was Crimea hitherto free from the enemy because Sevastopol was behind us? No, he was and will be free, even if there was no Sevastopol at all. There would be a danger for the Crimea if, with our removal from the southern part of Sevastopol, our army was destroyed in some way or weakened; but it not only did not weaken because of this, but strengthened - already because, having previously been divided, as I noticed, by a strait of the sea in two, it has now joined together and, not having the need to defend ruins that are no longer useless to us, can act offensively against the enemy, and thus keep him in constant alarm. But the enemy, on the contrary, is now forced to defend these very ruins against us, to expect an incessant attack on himself and, thus, to be busy and tormented as before, without being able to act with force in other places of the peninsula, without exposing himself to the danger of being expelled even from his old nest. But if, contrary to prudence, he decided, without first defeating our army standing against him, to send part of his troops to other places on the Crimean Peninsula, then can’t we do the same? It’s better to say that we don’t need to do this, that is, to separate any units from the main army and send them to other places against the enemy, because in all these places, thanks to the wise care of the Monarch, there is already someone to repel and defeat the enemies when they appear. After this, if anyone is now to be feared, then the enemy should rather fear us than we should fear him. Why? Because we are at home, and he is away from the fatherland; we are on land, and he, for the most part, is at sea, this fickle, and at this time of year, such a stormy element; With our departure from southern Sevastopol, we emerged from the prison and, one might say, from the fiery furnace, and he entered it instead of us, although it was already half-extinguished; After leaving Sevastopol, we received freedom to act wherever and as we please, but the enemy still remained chained to his place, for he cannot separate from the sea, as his only foundation and support; In addition to the army approaching us, we also expect our natural and formidable allies, scum (frost) and snow, and he, despite the reinforcements he receives, cannot help but tremble at the mere thought of our winter... “But with southern Sevastopol, the enemy also retained the sea strait, which served as a refuge for our naval forces in the south.” Who said this?.. No, if this strait is not behind us, then it is not behind the enemy, but more behind us than behind him. The proof is that a whole numerous enemy fleet stands in front of this bay as if announced and cannot enter it, although this is exactly what he really wanted, both for the sake of vanity and because of benefits; cannot enter because this strait, besides being blocked for the enemy by the sinking of our ships in the middle of it in the past year, is from its northern shore, where we now stand, so fortified from us with flamethrower strongholds that the enemy cannot even approach them for a short time without incurring great losses. “But if all this is so,” someone will finally think, “then why didn’t we do the same thing before that we did now? Why did they stubbornly stand for so long in a place that, as experience has shown, was dangerous for us and, defending it, had to suffer so many losses in people and things?..” Why did we defend Sevastopol for so long?.. How could we not stand for it? Was it really possible that at the very beginning it was cowardly to leave a place that, although dangerous, was visible and important? Moreover, when we were lucky enough to strengthen it so unexpectedly and so quickly that we could force the entire enemy army to stand before it for a long time and humbly? And once we began to stand - and with success - then it was necessary to stand until the last opportunity, that is, until all the benefit was derived from our patience and sacrifices, which is exactly what we did. Perhaps we stood a little longer (for in such cases it is extremely difficult not only to manage time, but even to observe it, hourly and minute by hour, in order to comply with its flow and changes), but it cannot be said that we failed, much less that we did not stand. If we wanted, we obviously could still continue the fight, because we were not expelled, but we, on the contrary, could expel the enemy from only one part of the fortifications, half occupied by him, when everything else was still behind us. But we ourselves did not want this, and for a very reasonable reason, because, as I said, we had already derived from our situation all the benefit for us, and all the harm for the enemy, and after that only harm would remain for us, and all the benefits for him. Do you want to know what benefit our, if you want to call it that, perseverance in the long-term defense of southern Sevastopol brought us? Now the enemy will forget to boast, as he boasted after Alma, that Sevastopol - not yet taken then - already belongs to him, that he will certainly take it, not even with his right hand, but with his left hand, that is, without much effort or loss. Time has shown that to capture the stronghold of Sevastopol, despite all its imperfections, both the enemy’s hands were not enough, and that he had to stretch them out fruitlessly for a whole year, and finally, although he received what he wanted, not when he wanted, but when they decided and decided to give it to him, he received it not by victory, but, so to speak, out of mercy... Now the capitals of the peoples hostile to us will forget to celebrate their victories over us and the capture of our cities, for no one will forget the shame for them that was accompanied by the too childish and too unforgivable frivolity with which they rushed to celebrate an unprecedented victory - without the vanquished... Now, thanks to Sevastopol, the whole world has again learned the forgotten Lesson of 1812; and he knows for sure how dearly every step on Russian land is acquired by the enemy, and what it costs one, so to speak, to attack this, as he likes to call us, northern colossus. If for so long and courageously we defended a place remote from the heart of the Empire and not prepared for defense, then we can judge what would have greeted the enemy if he had somehow pushed into the very middle and attacked the interior of the Russian Kingdom... No matter how important all this is, we can point out even more that we gained from our patriotic perseverance in defending Sevastopol. Where did almost the entire army of this proud and arrogant Britain fall and disappear, and where was revealed to the whole world not only its weakness in military forces, but also its extreme weakness in the form of internal government? In front of the ramparts - for there were no walls there - in front of the ramparts of Sevastopol! Where did the best knights of Gaul with most of their military leaders die from fire and our sword, as well as from illnesses and deprivations? Before the ramparts of Sevastopol! Where were the countless sums of the two most powerful kingdoms of the West wasted fruitlessly, and the fruits of fourty years of peace and civil industriousness were madly wasted? Before the ramparts of Sevastopol! Where, in all its nakedness, was the uselessness of the destructive inventions of the latest art, those infernal machines and tools over which so many minds puzzled, and from which such successes and miracles were expected? Before the ramparts of Sevastopol! Oh, this Sevastopol will be memorable to our enemies!.. Thousands of families with a deep sigh will pronounce this terrible name for a long time... and Russia will reverently place it after the names of Smolensk and Borodin... If all this is so - and the truth of what has been said can be submitted to the judgment of our enemies themselves - then tell us yourself, is there any reason for us to be embarrassed and despondent because our brave troops, through a small movement from one part of Sevastopol to another, found a means for themselves to bow their heads in peace and rest from a whole year of labor and danger? On the contrary, anyone who understands our past and our present even little will hasten to thank the Lord for the fact that at the very beginning He apparently helped us, contrary to all hope, to stay in a place that itself, so to speak, was then given into the hands of the enemies; then helped to stand in that place for so long and repel so many desperate attacks from it; finally helped us complete such a difficult task with honor and dignity, and leave such a dangerous place for us without almost any harm to us. And thanks to the Lord in this way, one cannot help but turn with a word of gratitude to our brave military leaders and to each of the courageous defenders of Sevastopol. Praise and honor to you, Christ-loving knights! You did everything that your duty of love for the Fatherland required of you, you did more than could be expected from ordinary human strength, you showed miracles of fearlessness and selflessness. For all this, accept full and complete gratitude on behalf of the Russian land and on behalf of the Holy Orthodox Church! Both are magnified by your feat, bless your courage, and pray for you, living and dead! Praise and honor to you, defenders of Sevastopol!.. Reviewing this, brethren, the entire past course of the battle, and extending, as much as possible, a glance into the future, you involuntarily come to the following conclusion: the first part of the great scroll of destinies - regarding the real struggle for the East of the West with the North - has developed and appeared before the eyes of the whole world, and, one might say, is over... In it, as in the scroll once seen by Ezekiel, most of the “sobs and pity and grief" (Ezek. 2:10). From now on, another part of the scroll of battle-bearing destinies will begin to develop and become obvious. What will be written in it, no one yet knows... And therefore, let us fall, brethren, with faith and prayer before the Lord of times and ages, before the King of kingdoms and nations, and let us ask, so that in this part of the scroll we will see written not sobbing and pity, but what was sung by the inhabitants of heaven at the manger of the Savior of the world, that is: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, in the good will of men!” (Luke 2:14). Amen. 21. Word after the prayer service on Cathedral Square on the occasion of the appearance of a large enemy fleet in front of Odessa Our Western enemies are before us again!.. We have already seen and experienced their love of humanity and education, with which they are so exalted... Now their very large number shows with what intention they appeared on our waters... The danger is visible! What shall we do and where shall we turn? Where else if not to You, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord of strength and battles, our God and our fathers! Where else if not to You, in Whose hand is the power of the whole earth, the fate and lot of every language and kingdom under heaven, Who alone delights, strengthens and exalts, and who desires, weakens and humbles, He alone is able to save and destroy!.. Therefore we commit our souls and bodies to You; We hand over the city and our entire country to you! Look not at the purity of our hands and deeds, but at the correctness of the motives and intentions in the present battle of Your Anointed One, who himself now stands before You, himself testifies to this, and prays for Russia. According to our humility and faith, create a sign for us for good, so that our proud enemies, having found this place inaccessible for them, will return back and be ashamed - for the glory of Your name! But before the Lord and His righteousness there is humility and submission; and before our arrogant enemies - firmness and courage! They chose a bad time to appear before us with a threat after those miracles of courage and self-sacrifice that they so recently met in our defenders of Sevastopol... Don’t they think that the example of our brother-heroes will give rise to cowardice in us, and not similar courage? anything against us and may disturb our shores. But how could they not remember that we, if ever, then after the end of the single combat of Sevastopol, need to prove that the Russian is courageous not only behind the ramparts, that he has a fortress wherever he can meet his enemies. And our brave defenders, the most unarmed citizens, will prove this. What our enemies found among us the year before this, they will find the same thing now; Everyone would rather give their life than betray the duty and glory of Russia... And why should we, in this case, show less firmness and generosity than we showed before? Our opponents have increased in number and strength, but have we diminished and become impoverished? They have a lot of weapons and destructive means, but are we really defenseless? The guardian government spared nothing so that we could successfully meet our enemies. If they are stronger than us at sea, then we are stronger than them on land; and everyone knows what is harder, the sea or the land. Last time, when Odessa was suddenly attacked, we were much weaker and more open to attack; and yet the enemies, with all their bravery and audacity, did not dare to come to our shores. It is all the more difficult for them to decide on this now, when they are exhausted by the long-term struggle with Sevastopol, and our methods of repelling have tripled. Therefore, I am even inclined to the opinion that if our enemies have the intention of making a real attack, it will not be on us, but somewhere else; but to us they only want to show their imaginary strength, to confuse us and, perhaps, if we are not careful, to force us to do something indecent, and then, with their characteristic mockery, to expose us to the shame of the whole world as cowardly people. But let our enemy do and rage as and where he pleases, and we must act and act as befits the sons of Russia. How, you ask, should we do? Firstly, turn your thoughts and face not to the enemy (the authorities will be vigilantly watching him), but to the Lord God, to bring Him repentance for our sins and to ask Him for heavenly help and protection; secondly, it is necessary to put aside all unnecessary fear from imaginary dangers, continue to do your business and not interrupt normal mutual relations, in order to thereby preserve internal order and calm and encourage the faint-hearted; thirdly, in the midst of the danger itself, if it were to arise, maintaining the presence of mind, in everything to comply with the actions and orders of the authorities, diligently helping both him and our brave defenders. Isn’t this what served, as you remember, to the safety and honor of our city during the last enemy attack on us before Easter? Let us do the same now, all the more conveniently since we have already passed the danger by experience and in practice. Finally, let us not forget, fellow citizens, that in the present new situation of our city we are no longer alone as we were before, but among us and our city now dwells, in addition to the earthly military leaders, the Chosen Governor of the Heavenly Powers herself, the Mother of God. For what does this miraculous face of Her signify and testify to, if not that Her cover is invisibly spread over us and Her help is not far from us! How strong this cover is and how effective this help is, this same sea is a witness to this, more than once, as sacred history tells, through Her mania, it has drowned and scattered numerous armies of the enemies of Orthodoxy. The Hand of the Heavenly Governor has not weakened; Her strength and cover were not diminished; let us show ancient faith and love, and we will see ancient signs and wonders. Mother of God! From the very beginning of the battle, we entrusted to you, as the Chosen Voivode, the fate of our city; and hitherto our hope has not been put to shame; We passed through the most terrible fire and storm harmlessly. Now that You have visited us in Your miraculous face and wished to remain with us during all times of adversity, we believe and hope all the more that, despite all our unworthiness, we will not be abandoned by Your help and intercession. Let us not be ashamed, Lady!.. Amen. 22. Word after the repentant prayer service on the occasion of the besiege (siege) of Odessa by the enemy fleet Amid the nationwide fears and confusion in which our city now finds itself, people usually seek encouragement for themselves, among other things, in the events and examples of the past. According to this, I open the sacred book of Kings, and in the history of the people of God I encounter a case similar to our situation, and therefore can serve as a reassurance. Against the kingdom of Judah, without any other reasons other than envy and malice, two kings, Assyrian and Israeli, once united, and, having filled Judea with their troops, they suddenly approached Jerusalem itself. As usually happens in such cases, everything fell into fear and confusion: many, as now with us, began to rush out of the city. At this very time, the prophet Isaiah appears publicly before the king of Judah, Ahaz, and in the name of God Himself speaks to him as reassurance: against you, he says, and your people, two kings and two kingdoms have united insidiously; in the pride of their hearts they planned to weaken and humiliate Judea... At the sight of enemies, Jerusalem is troubled and trembles... In vain! For all their imaginary strength, they are nothing more than two smoking brands that will soon go out on their own. Do not be afraid, just believe and trust in Jehovah! As long as the God of our fathers is with us, Jerusalem and your throne are safe. None of their plans will be allowed to come true - Judea will remain Judea; and the nations hostile to us are already destined for destruction, and each, in due time, will disappear from the face of the earth (see Isa. 7:1-25). In accordance with this prophecy, the kingdom of Judah was indeed soon freed from the invasion of enemies and, contrary to their plans, existed for a long, long time, in its form and strength; and the people of Israel, six decades later, at the time predicted by the prophet, were taken irrevocably into captivity and scattered forever beyond the Euphrates. A similar thing followed with the kingdom of Assyria: it fell, giving way to another dominion. And now, brothers, before us, there are, in the words of the prophet, two main ships (head ships), that is, two hostile fleets of the Gauls and the British. And they, like the Israelites and Assyrians, have no other reason to take up arms against us other than envy of the strength and greatness of our Fatherland. Prompted by a long-standing secret hatred of us, they also planned to weaken and humiliate Russia, exalted by God. And we are now in danger from these heads... Who would not rejoice, therefore, if among us now, as once among Jerusalem, some man of God appeared and with his characteristic voice, from the face of God, cried out to us: “Do not be afraid of these two smoking heads, only believe!..”. But the times of the prophets have passed, and we, as children of the New Testament, instead of prophecies should turn to the Gospel for guidance and consolation... So what? Are the evangelists and apostles less than prophets telling us what is useful and necessary for us? And in cases like the present, is the Christian really left without rules and guidance? No, if we do not take the name of Christian in vain, then we must know that a true Christian is above all earthly fears, that he is not afraid of death itself; for the faith he professes all breathes immortality, and all his main aspirations and hopes are not here, but there, in eternity. In addition, a Christian has a sure and decisive means of acting to change events, to avert dangers and disasters similar to our current ones. This means is faith and... prayer Listen to what the Savior Himself says in the Gospel about the power of faith: “Have the faith of God: Amen, for I say to you, that if this mountain saith, he was moved and cast into the sea; “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). But here is what the Savior Himself says in the Gospel about prayer: “Everything you ask in prayer as a believer, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). And as if to explain this omnipotence, with which true believers are clothed, the Savior in another place states the following: “Believe in Me, the works that I do, he will do the same and greater works, because I am coming to My Father” (John 14:12). You can judge after this what living faith and prayer are not able to accomplish, if they can do more than what our Savior Himself did and created during His earthly life!.. And when this is so, then everything that we currently so desire and what we all need so much depends on ourselves, my brothers, that is, our security from the enemies who threaten us. All dangers will pass, all misfortunes will dissipate if we, using the God-given right of the believer, begin to ask the Heavenly Father for this in the name of our Savior. He will not put His own Son to shame and will fulfill His promise and our request. It is only necessary that our faith and prayer be, as the Gospel requires, firstly, completely free from any hesitation and doubt; secondly, they came out not so much from the lips as from the depths of the spirit and heart; thirdly, they were connected with purity of conscience and good deeds, or at least with sincere repentance for our sins. Alas, you say, where can we find such faith among us, when it was sometimes lacking in the apostles themselves?.. Are there many people who can raise their hands to such a prayer without being convicted at the same time by their conscience? What else attracted this wrath of God to us if not our unclean morals and sins? I willingly and completely join, my brethren, in the humility of your thoughts and feelings, and am ready to be the first to admit my spiritual weakness. But I don’t want to let go and lose the only anchor in this storm - faith and prayer, and in this case I think like this: it cannot be that in our city, filled with such a multitude of inhabitants, there are no souls at all who have not bowed their knees to Baal, who walk faithfully in the law of the Lord, who truly love the Lord, and therefore are loved by Him. Without these chosen ones, our city would not have stood, for, according to the word of the prophet, one “seed is the holy standing” of the whole world (Is. 6:13). We turn to you, pure souls and therefore strong in faith! Stand before the throne of the Lord's grace, and offer up your prayer for the removal of the evils that have surrounded our city! The Lord, unfaithful in His promises, cannot fail to heed the voice of your prayer, and will turn away from us, in the image of fate, all the evil intentions of our enemies against us. And we, for our part, promise to bring everything that is in our power to help you and your prayer, such as: sincere repentance for our sins and a firm vow - not to irritate heavenly justice with our untruths. To reinforce our repentance itself, we will hasten to add to it deeds of love and mercy for our neighbors: we will wipe away the tears of poor widows, take care of the orphans, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and look upon those in prison. Perhaps the Lord, who looks with favor upon your purity and truth, will not despise our humility and readiness to please Him, and will turn His anger into mercy. Amen. 23. Word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by the enemy fleet It’s the third day since we gather in this church to pray to ward off danger from enemies; and for the fourth day now they have been standing, as if chained to their place, doing nothing against us. What does this inaction mean? At sea, every day is important and dear to them, but they do nothing, and it’s as if they came here just to look at our city and show us themselves. What, I say, does this mean?.. It would be impudent on our part to attribute this extraordinary peace to the action of our weak and impure prayers. But it would be no less insolent and ungrateful not to notice in this case the hand of God intervening invisibly over us. Especially when among us is now the Chosen Governor of the Heavenly Forces, the Mother of God, in this miraculous face of Her. If an earthly, experienced military leader, famous for his courage and exploits, in such circumstances could not remain completely inactive and not take any part in our fate, how much more the Mother of God, as the Most Merciful and All-Good, cannot be an idle and inactive spectator of our fears and dangers. So, encouraged by what is happening, we will continue our public prayers and push at the doors of heavenly mercy, until the Lord, bowed by the prayers of His Mother Herself for us, has mercy on us to the end, and, weighed by fate, will not burn through and dispel the storm that has accumulated over our heads. But, beseeching the Lord, “let this cup pass from us” (Matthew 26:39), in which our beloved Savior Himself, who prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the same thing, sets an example for us, let us, at the conclusion of our prayer, always add His words to the Heavenly Father: “Neither is my will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42). For who knows what exactly is for us, that is, for eternal salvation - not the body, which sooner or later itself must decay in the womb of the earth, but for our immortal souls, who knows, I say what is more useful: either that we should now be delivered from every misfortune, or that we should be exposed to it and suffer temptation? Perhaps, at a time when our carnal man is subjected to hardship and suffering, through this the inner man will come to life, we will be resurrected in spirit, we will begin a new life according to God, and we will stop killing ourselves with extreme addiction to the temporal and carnal. Therefore, I say, and at the conclusion of our present prayers, as well as all other petitions, we must repeat: “Not ours, but Yours, Lord, be done!” Do not be afraid, beloved, of such selflessness and sowing spiritual heights! Through this, no one will lose anything, and everyone can gain. For when we, having despised everything earthly, are with all the strength of our souls for the eternal life, then the Lord, seeing our faith and love, will Himself take care of us and about our temporary life, and will do everything that is truly necessary and useful for it, for it is not in vain that it is said in the Gospel: “Seek... first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Amen. 24. Word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by the enemy fleet Now, instead of teaching, I intend to show you an example of what prayer and repentance mean, and what power they have before God - in circumstances similar to ours. Nineveh, the capital of the kingdom of Assyria, the most extensive and populous city in ancient times, so irritated the heavenly justice with the iniquities of its inhabitants that the Lord, in His righteous anger, decided to punish and destroy it, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were once punished and destroyed; but, out of His unconditional mercy, and as if He foresaw the future, He determined, before carrying out His judgment, to first announce to the inhabitants of Nineveh the fate and execution that awaited them, lest, frightened by the wrath of the heavenly judgment, they would come to their senses and rise from their sins. And so, by the direct command of God, the Jewish prophet Jonah leaves his fatherland, appears among Nineveh, and in the name of Jehovah, the True God, whose power and omnipotence were not unknown to the pagans, proclaims in the ears of all the Ninevites that the wrath of heaven is already hanging over them, for their sins, that Nineveh, by the special mercy of God, is granted, but nothing more three days for repentance, after which, if she does not repent, she will be subject to ultimate destruction and destruction. “Three more days, and Nineveh will be transformed” (John 3:4). The inhabitants of Nineveh were not among the people who knew the True God; they knew neither Moses nor the prophets, worshiping idols and graven images; Since childhood, therefore, we have walked, as the Apostle Paul puts it, in the vanity of the natural mind, according to the will of our hearts and passions; therefore, they could easily, if they wanted, have many reasons not to heed the voice of God and the threats of the Hebrew prophet, who was alien to them; and yet, having heeded his preaching and the voice of their own conscience, to which secret denunciations were not alien even to the pagans, they all immediately came to their senses, came to fear and confusion, sincerely realized that they truly and fully deserved the wrath of heaven, unanimously promised a change in their thoughts and their way of life, no matter how natural and kind it had seemed to them until then. And what do the Ninevites do after this? “And you believed,” as it is written in the book of prophecies of Jonah, “the men of Nineveh of God, and commanded fasting, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them,” that is, both the oldest and the youngest. “And the word (of Jonah) came to the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and cast off his robe, and put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. And it was preached and said quickly... from the king and his nobles saying: let men and beasts, oxen and sheep not eat anything, neither let them graze, nor let them drink under the water. And they put on sackcloth, man and beast, and cried out diligently to God, and each one returned from his evil way and from the iniquity that is in their hands, saying, “If anyone knows, if he repents and prays to God, he turns from the wrath of His wrath, and we will not perish” (Jon. 3:5-9). Hearing about all this, how, brethren, can you not marvel at the inhabitants of Nineveh and say about them that if they knew how to sin, then they knew how to repent. What sincere, unanimous, strong and expressive repentance! Without relying, out of humility, on themselves alone, they force infants to fast, and extend fasting to the dumb: “Let the cattle, the oxen, and the sheep not taste anything, nor let them graze, nor let them drink under the water.” And all this is all the more unexpected and surprising because the Ninevites were, as I noted, pagans and idolaters, that is, people unfamiliar with the true knowledge of God, who lived and acted with a weak flickering of natural light in their minds and consciences, and even this small light was darkened among the Ninevites by vices, bad customs and passions. And yet, despite all this, how sensitive and attentive they are! How instantly we came to our senses and woke up! And to this case, with all justice, we can apply the word of the Savior about the centurion, also a pagan: “I have not found much faith in Israel” (Matthew 8:10). How many there are, that is, among the Jews, who were called the people of God, how many, I say, prophets and preachers of repentance were erected there! And we have never seen such an effect from the word and preaching of the prophet! Therefore, the Savior Himself, comparing the fate of the Jewish prophets at home, in Judea, among their own, and in a foreign land, among the pagans, said: “A prophet is without honor but in his own country” (Matthew 13:57). But if the repentance of the Ninevites, according to the voice of Jonah, is unusual and surprising, however, due to the depth of their corruption and previous sinfulness, and not because it was not natural for a sinner to repent, for this is his only salvation from eternal destruction, then now get ready to hear another, even greater unusualness and surprise. “And God saw,” as the prophet writes, “their deeds (the Ninevites), as if they had turned from their evil ways, and God repented of the evil that He had said to do to them, and do not do it” (Jon. 3:10). That is, Nineveh, cleansed and corrected, or, rather, just beginning to be corrected by repentance as it should, was immediately pardoned and spared; not only did she not transform, as the prophet threatened, for her wickedness, but, one might say, she became even more comfortable, for repentance and virtue improve both a person and entire cities and countries. Great mercy, and already fully proving that joyful truth for us that the Lord never wants the greatest sinners to perish, but so that they turn from their evil path and be alive! But in this case I continue to marvel at the very expression of the words used by the prophet: “and God is red-hot,” he says, “for the evil that He said to do to them” (Ninevites). In fact, judge, what is this? The Lord, now still angry and threatening the death of the unrepentant, is already repenting Himself! In what and how? Was not His anger against this lawless city as just as it was strong, was it not forced - not by any human weaknesses and shortcomings, but by a multitude of such sins, which directly cried out to heaven itself? “The cry of his (Nineveh’s) wickedness has come up to Me” (John 1:2). Punishment, therefore, was not only righteous, but also necessary? For otherwise, not just anyone, but entire cities and kingdoms might have thought that there was no longer any Providence and judgment of God over the earth and people, that it makes no difference before God whether to commit lawlessness or lead a righteous life, and that therefore it is better to sin than to keep the law and obey one’s conscience. And behold, one repentance of the Ninevites arose (ascended) - and everything changed! As soon as they abandoned their evil customs and repented of their sins, the Lord immediately abandoned His threats and His judgment; He did not spare the honor of His prophet, who threatened Nineveh with repression (destruction, malice), nor the honor of His own word and rebuke, which now remained unfulfilled and as if they had never happened; and despite, so to speak, Himself, He returned all His mercy to the Ninevites. This is already too much!.. But for the Lord it is still not enough! Because look what's happening? Not only was nothing done that was threatened through the prophet to the Ninevites; not even half or an eighth of it was done, but what?.. The Lord even repented of what he wanted to do - to punish!.. “And repenting... about the evil that you said to do to them” (John 3:10). That is, as if it were so said in this case from the Face of God (I ask you to rise in thought and understand in a God-appropriate manner what is said in Scripture, humanly, out of condescension for our weak understanding): why did I rush so quickly with My judgment and send My prophet to the Ninevites with such a terrible word of rebuke?.. After all, they, as experience has now shown, were not at all as bad and evil as imagined? For behold, at My first word to them, they paid full attention, came to their senses, turned with all sincerity to repentance, and showed its fruits! This means that they should not have been condemned so harshly and so quickly, disturbed and embarrassed so much, without any particular need or reason. The matter could have been done without this, much simpler and calmer. If any kind of medicine was needed, then a much lighter one could have been used, since the disease was not so strong and persistent. Why did they deal with them in the opposite way?.. “And God repented of the evil he said he would do to them!” . Actually, in this case, of course, there was no repentance in God, for God, let’s say in the words of Scripture, “does not hesitate like a man, but like a son of man changes” (Numbers 23:19). But all this is said, however, and written on His behalf - for what? From the abundance of mercy, as a lesson and joy to all future generations, so that from the example of the Ninevites, condemned to destruction, repenting and immediately having mercy and forgiveness, it would be visible to everyone how, firstly, sin is dangerous, how strong and effective true repentance is, and so that, knowing and seeing all this, we would move away from sins, and when we already had the misfortune of falling into them, we would hasten to repentance as an undoubted means of salvation. Brothers, fellow citizens!.. You see for yourself that the situation of our city is very close to the situation in which Nineveh was. Although not a single prophet told us what Jonah said to the Ninevites, yet, convicted by our conscience, we ourselves must think and say the same to ourselves; for the danger that was apparently threatening us so far could not befall us for any of our virtues, but, without a doubt, it has befallen us and can break out in destruction upon us for our sins. Therefore, being in the situation of Nineveh and desiring salvation for ourselves from destruction, let us take the spirit and faith of the Ninevites, and let us immediately turn to the same means that, as we saw, saved them, that is, to sincere recognition of our guilt before God and to sincere repentance for our sins. The inhabitants of Nineveh, out of an abundance of humility and a strong sense of contrition of heart, forced even infants to participate in their repentance, and the dumb animals themselves to fast with them: and we, at least, will cease to be infants ourselves, “blown (tossed) ... by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), stretching out their hands foolishly to everything that shines and beckons; and we, at least, will curb our dumb flesh, and will not allow it to suppress our immortal spirit and conscience. The all-seeing eye will not be slow to see the sincerity of our repentance, if it really is such, and His anger will turn into mercy for us. And where there is God’s mercy, there is human security! Amen. 25. Word during the attack of Odessa by the enemy fleet This is already the day of the Intercession of the Mother of God, the day on which She, like the Chosen Voivode, once defended and miraculously saved Constantinople from the invasion of foreigners, scattering and sinking their ships in an extreme sea storm! And our enemies still continue to stand before us unpunished, and do not cease to threaten us with danger and destruction! Is it really possible that our misfortune should begin from this joyful day?.. Oh, that would mean that we are completely left without the protection of our Heavenly Intercessor! The multitude of our untruths and sins, of course, would deserve this: but, in such a time, it seems to me, She, the Most Merciful, would not have come to us at the time of danger, in this miraculous face of Her. And when she came and appeared among us, it was clearly not for destruction, but for our salvation. In this case, we can think and reason in the same way as the wife of Manoah once reasoned to reassure her husband, who feared death from the very appearance of the Angel of God to him. “If only,” the pious Israeli woman philosophized, “if the Lord had wanted to put us to death, he would not have taken burnt offerings and sacrifices from our hands, and would not have shown them all to us” (Judges 13:23). In a similar way, I say, to encourage ourselves, we can now reason. If the Mother of God wanted to leave us at this time to our sins and, therefore, destruction from our enemies, she would not have visited us in this miraculous face of Her, would not have accepted from us signs of our zeal for Her and would not have shown so many guarantees of Her favor to our entire country. Therefore, the mercy towards us and the heavenly protection of our almighty Intercessor are undoubted for us: She wants to be our salvation! We must think about one thing and fear one thing, so that our sins, especially our unrepentance for them, do not pose an insurmountable barrier to action in our favor for Her very mercy and omnipotence. For there is a limit to omnipotence itself: it cannot act according to the views and desires of unrepentant sinners. Who was on earth the almighty Son of God, our Savior? Is it not to Him, as He Himself says, “has been given... all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18), as a result of which He performed and performed whatever wisdom, signs and wonders pleased Him: He tamed storms with one word, fed whole thousands of people with a small number of loaves, healed all kinds of illnesses, raised the dead? But, listen to what the evangelist says about His stay in some cities of Judea, which were, moreover, the most famous for Him, and in a sense, like hometowns! “And He did not create many powers,” that is, He did not show the special actions of His beneficial omnipotence there, He did not heal as many sick people as in other cities and places. Why? Is it because there were fewer people there who needed His miraculous help? No, these were some of the most populous cities, and therefore those that contained the most suffering and unfortunate people of all kinds. Is it because the Wonderworker Himself lacked Divine healing power this time? But there was an abundance of it everywhere and for everyone. Why don’t you create many powers? For their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58), the evangelist replies. This is what stopped and, as it were, bound the omnipotence of the Savior Himself! Where there is no faith and spiritual disposition, there is no help from above, the very power of God does not work there! May it not happen, beloved, to our city what happened to the faithless cities of Judea! May the almighty power of the Mother of God not meet among us that unbelief and bitterness in sins that Her Divine Son encountered in His compatriots! What to hide? The past security and abundance of earthly resources have made us little attentive to the ways of God; We have acquired the unfortunate habit of expecting everything for ourselves from our own strengths and means, of relying on our foresight and prudence. Now, when so much of all this has apparently changed us and left us, everyone sees and feels that there are times when God’s Providence takes all our events and lots, so to speak, into His hands and disposes of them not in our own way, but in His own way, and that the present days are of precisely this nature. Let us awaken from our previous insensibility, let us reject all arrogance and unbelief, and, in sincere regret for our errors and with a vow to move away from everything that is contrary to God, we surrender ourselves and the fate of our city to the intercession of the Mother of God. Constantinople was once saved by Her, as we said, from the invasion of enemies - by a storm that sank their ships along with them. Let us not wish a similar fate on our enemies themselves. Our almighty Voivode, without a doubt, has the means to save us without destroying them, but they have time to repent. A Christian should not wish harm upon anyone, not even his enemies, and then he can firmly hope for help from above. Amen. 26. Word on the occasion of the defeat of Odessa by the enemy fleet What should I say to you now, brothers? I would finally like to completely reassure you, but our fate is still sealed... I, for my part, am at peace, and here, by the way, is why. I think our enemies would not have continued to stand before us for so long, completely idle, if they had intended to attack our city specifically. For what would stop them from attacking us? Everything, on the contrary, would encourage them not to waste time, so precious to them. But they do nothing and stand idle! Why? The closest thing is that this fleet, so numerous, does not have a commensurate number of warriors, as we assumed at the beginning, and therefore the enemies are not able to go to land to enter into the next battle with us. And when this is so, then our danger is by no means as great as it seemed before. For without this, what can they do to us? They can, of course, disturb us while remaining on the water, as they disturbed us the first time; They may, perhaps, cause some destruction in the coastal parts of the city, force us to move away from the sea, and that’s all. But this, firstly, would mean on their part to make an attack that, having no military purpose, would resonate with outright barbarity, and thereby humiliate them in the eyes and opinion of the whole world; and secondly, this would mean, as previous experience has shown, that he himself, without any special benefits for himself, would have to incur significant losses. For if their fire would be destructive for us, then our Peruns would no less cause destruction in their floating strongholds. No, our enemies - let's give them this justice - are too prudent to buy themselves at such a price... one loss and dishonor. Therefore, as I said before, and even more so now I will say that their goal is not us and our city, but some other place, more accessible, but hitherto for some reason not so convenient for attack. Consequently, we can almost be calm about our city... But, alas, what a sad calm! For it comes only from the sad thought that it is not we who will suffer, but others... our brothers and fellow tribesmen. But, I say, someone will suffer; for our enemies could not appear on our waters in such numbers without any hostile purpose, and they cannot go back without any military action. In such thoughts, you don’t know what to most desire: the ineffective removal of enemies from us, or for their strength and fury to be exhausted here... Ah, if someone must certainly be attacked, then it is better that we suffer something than others! For what kind of Christians would we be if we wanted to atone for our own safety with the troubles and grief of our brothers? What kind of creatures would we even be with a heart and soul if we rejoiced at the fact that the power of the enemy would finally rush not against us, but against our other cities and villages? No, with all our weaknesses and imperfections, I hope we have not yet reached such self-interest and spiritual cruelty... But our thoughts and feelings, our very selflessness, will not change what is destined to happen from above, that is, whether we suffer something from our enemies or others. Let it be, O Almighty and ruler of all, Lord and Lord, let it be done that is ordained in the wise destinies of Your Providence! We alone dare to confess before You our submission to Your holy will... Whatever You decide to send as our inheritance - silence or storm, wholeness and peace, or transformation and distress - we will accept everything from Your hand with love, for we are absolutely sure that in response to the prayers and petitions of us, Your children, You will not give us stones instead of bread, and a snake instead of fish... (Matt. 7:9). Amen. 27. Word on the occasion of the removal of enemy fleets from Odessa Everything ends and passes on this poor land of ours! The joyful and the sad, the threatening and the attractive pass by!.. So our enemies have departed from us; and, judging by the time of year itself, they left so as not to return to us, at least until next spring. And we were afraid and trembled, and we were embarrassed and thought about leaving our own homes! We do not condemn this fear and confusion, nor the very removal of some; only thinking now about what happened, you involuntarily think and say: “How everything ends and passes here, the saddest and most terrible!.. Thanks to mercy for the fact that we were not subjected to any real disaster, while a whole cloud of evils hung over us!” But even if we were attacked by enemies and suffered something, then all this would have passed and passed away; and if it were still rewarded later, although over time, as often happens in such cases, then, in all likelihood, little by little it would even come into complete oblivion... This, I say, is the property and fate of everything temporary!.. But, my brothers, a danger will come for each and every one of us that will no longer pass by, which cannot be averted by anything, and in its consequences is endless... This is the danger of the hour of death that awaits us all!.. Oh, how many enemies will then appear before us and around us! Firstly, all our sins and all the passions with which our earthly life was blackened will appear, which, among the vanities of everyday life, worldly amusements and sensual intoxications, were not conscious, and the conscious ones were easily forgotten by us and did not touch our conscience, and then, at this decisive hour, they will all come to life in memory, and will be ready to torment our soul and heart. At the same time, those enemies will appear before us, in all their terrible form, which we now do not see, and whose existence some even mock at times senselessly, but about which the plaintive voice of our common mother, the Holy Church, constantly warns us, that is, the spirits of darkness and malice in the heavens, from time immemorial and always at war with man, and who always want to drag him - through sin - into the abyss of their own destruction. It is good for us if, among so many internal and external enemies, the last hour finds us in peace with God, that is, reconciled with the holiness and righteousness of His sincere repentance and protected by faith in our Savior and in the power of His Cross, raised for our sins! But what if, when all these enemies attack us, we ourselves turn out to be enemies of God at that time, that is, unrepentant sinners? Who will protect us then? Who will we resort to? What are we for? There lies ahead, my brothers, for each of us another, terrible danger that cannot be averted by anything, at the time when we will one day have to stand before the world judgment, before the Lord and Master of the living and the dead. Oh, what fear will then embrace every human soul! Behind us will be the time given to all of us for repentance and which has come, among our sins, to its end irrevocably; before us will be a boundless eternity into which we must enter, and also irrevocably; above us is the Judge of the Heart and the Unwashed Judgment; Below us is the abyss of hell, where rejected spirits have been and remain from time immemorial. Oh, good for us if the all-seeing Judge finds in us, if nothing else, then repentance, and even small deeds of mercy and Christian love! What if we then find ourselves with only impurity, unrepentance and hardness of heart? What if we find ourselves at this Last Judgment with only pride, with only carnal knowledge, with only deeds of untruth and oppression of our neighbors? Will not then the terrible sentence of the Judge of the whole world strike us: “We know you not! go away from Me... into eternal fire!” (Matthew 25:12, 25:41). And who can extinguish this fire, kindled by the right hand of the Almighty? Who will be able to rescue us from the abysses of hell? Anticipating you in this way about future great and inevitable dangers, perhaps by this I am confusing your real joy on the occasion of the removal from us of our enemies, who for the whole week threatened us with misfortune and grief every minute... But, on the other hand, when is it more opportune and useful to remind about this, if not in the present moments, when we have all learned by experience what it means to be in obvious and important danger, even passing and not long-term? Is it not for this reason that the Most Merciful Lord Himself brings and has brought upon us various troubles and temporary misfortunes, in order to awaken us from the insensibility of sin and to draw our attention to what inevitably threatens us in the future? Brethren! We have now gathered to give thanks to the Lord Savior and His Most Pure Mother for deliverance from the invasion of enemies. It is worthy and righteous to thank the Lord in this way, for, let’s say in the words of Saint David, “if the Lord were not in us at this time, then our enemies, in their malice, for they devoured us alive” (Ps. 123:2). But, my brethren, if we want to be truly grateful, with all our soul and heart, then let it be firmly known to us that of all types of thanksgiving to God, in this case, the best and most pleasing to Him is that each of us begins to do (do, produce) the work of our own eternal salvation, with all possible diligence and constancy. This is not only our first and last good, but in the same thing, that is, in the correction of our life, the greatest joy and highest glory for our Lord, Creator and Master! Amen. 28. Word before performing a repentant prayer service on the occasion of a naval cannonade heard in the northeast of Odessa Did you hear thunder yesterday at sea, in the northeast? since now it is not summer, but autumn, these thunders must not be from God, but from men. This means that the enemy, who stood idle before us for so many days, finally found a similar occupation somewhere near the mouths of the Dnieper, and began to show his infernal art in destruction. Again, therefore, the precious blood of our compatriots began to be shed, although we still do not know where exactly. Judging by the strength and bitterness of our enemies, and on the other hand, by the courage and dedication of our defenders, we cannot doubt that this is a stubborn and bloody struggle: the enemy will show all his skill and fury, and our brothers will show all the firmness and fearlessness of the Russian people. Will we, after this, be idle listeners to these terrible thunderclaps? We, who fully know from experience, what it means to be under them? No! When our brethren now constantly raise their right hand and sword to repel the enemies, we should not lower our hands to the ground, but also raise them as often as possible to help those who are fighting. “How can this be?” - someone will think. In the same way, beloved, as the great Moses once did in the Sinai desert, when the people of Israel led by him were forced to fight Amalek. Moses did not personally participate in this battle; He was even at some distance from the combatants, but in his spirit he was close to them, took full and living part in the battle, and was so able, despite the distance, to raise his hands to God in prayer for his people, that all the success and failure of the battle was directed not by the weapons and courage of the combatants, but by the state of the hands of Moses. “And quickly,” says the Sacred History, “when Moses lifted up his hand, he prevailed over Israel; when he lowered his hand, he prevailed over Amalek” (Ex. 17:11). Listen also to what happened in these obviously extremely dangerous moments for the people of Israel! Due to the weakness of his physical nature, Moses could not keep his hands raised on the mountain for a whole day and, out of necessity, lowered them, from time to time, to rest; so what? “When Moses dropped his hand, Amalek prevailed.” What was there to do? Ordinary people like us would look at this and not know what to take up and how to help the weakening hands of Moses. But then with him were such co-workers as Aaron and Hur - people filled with faith and the spirit of God. What are they doing and what are they resorting to? Listen. When Moses’ hands are “heavy besha”, and therefore they could not be lifted up, but had to go down, at that time they “took up a stone, placed it on it, and sat on it. Moreover: Aaron ... and Hor supported his hand, one from here, and the other from there: and Moses’ hand was strengthened until the sun went down. And what of this? And Joshua (who led Israel) overcame Amalek" (Exod. 17:12–13). All the strength and all the strength of Israel seemed to be contained in these hands alone, and depended on their (prayerful) raising of the mountain, or on their lowering, due to the weakness of their bodily nature, to the ground. When you read or hear about such events, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that all this happened in some other world, and not in ours! Meanwhile, this happened, brethren, with us, on this same poor land on which we live, only in other times and with other human morals, with a different strength of faith and trust in God. Our weak and unclean hands, of course, are not like the hands of Moses, and we are not able to lift them up as miraculously as the great leader of the people of God could do. But on the other hand, we would betray the dignity of the New Testament of grace and all the promises of the Gospel if we did not recognize and affirm as the truth that in the raising of hands in prayer among true Christians there is now great power and great action. “Everything that you ask in prayer as a believer,” says the Savior Himself, “you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). A person can say this and not fulfill it, but He?.. Heaven and earth would rather pass away than even one iota of His words would remain without action. After this, leaving behind all bewilderment, let us stand, beloved, diligently in prayer; Let us stand here and in our homes, and let us ask our brothers who are now fighting for help and strength from the Lord. If our prayers are animated by living faith in the intercession of our Savior for us and sincere love for our brothers, then, rest assured, our petitions will not remain without action, and those who are now struggling for the Fatherland will feel that somewhere, someone is raising their hand to the Lord in prayer for them... Amen. 29. Word before the thanksgiving service about the surrender of the Kars fortress to our troops We waited a long time, but, thank God, we finally received joy! The formidable stronghold of Asian Turkey, which cost us so much labor, grief and even blood, and in the future, due to the approaching winter, threatened with new and lasting difficulties and losses - this stronghold finally fell before the courage of our troops! I say - before courage, for although the immediate cause of the fall was hunger and shortcomings, this innermost disaster of the besieged, which forced them to lay down their weapons in front of us, came from nothing else than the extreme oppression of the fallen stronghold by the courage of our army and the art of our military leaders. If there had been any opportunity for the enemy to stand against our army, then this same hunger would have prompted him to decide to come out of his ambush and repel us, by which he would have saved not only the city, but also himself from starvation or captivity. But, apparently, this - as the prisoners themselves now admit - was impossible for them; and so, despite their former pride and numbers, they preferred captivity and captivity to any battle with us. How can we not call this a victory, and a great victory?.. Now, in this part of the world, we can be calm not only for the present, but also for the future. And, firstly, the fall of such a giant as the present Kare will resonate loudly in the most remote corners of Asia, to the glory of the Russian name and to the humiliation of the pride of our enemies. For this reason, the news of the fall of such a stronghold, on which they had placed so much hope, will take away the spirit of other, not so strong places, and will prepare each of them not to argue with us for a long time. Meanwhile, this same Kars victory, in all likelihood and soon, will change the course of the battle in Georgia, and will immediately force that eloquent brave man to return from there, who, having renounced the Kingdom in heaven along with the Christian faith, did not, as it turns out, gain happiness for himself on earth, and, with the help of favorable circumstances, having previously undeservedly admired the name of a skilled military leader, suddenly appears in the nakedness of the stranger - both before strangers, who were once his own, and before his own, who will never cease to be alien to him in soul and heart. Having rushed with the Ottoman hordes to our blessed Colchis, he thought and hoped to thereby distract us, for its protection, from Kars, but he got stuck in his own networks; for our Georgia stood by itself, and Kare, not supported by him, did not stand and fell before us. Our new success must finally inevitably fall with its weight on the scales of our enemies and let them understand that it is not in vain that the All-Russian Eagle has two, and not one, heads, and therefore, while acting against them with one of its heads here in Europe, the other, at the same time, can act with no less force and defeat them in Asia. It is with intention that I am expanding upon you about the consequences of a new victory, for Kare is very distant from us and is located overseas; therefore, many may not know what this fortress is and how much its fall means; and I would like you all to be delighted, after so many recent fears, with this success of our weapons. For the same purpose, let us note that the Karsk stronghold had already been taken by our brave troops twenty-eight years before this, but then it was far from what it is now - it was not so strongly fortified and was defended against us by Muslims alone, and now it was especially prepared for battle with all the art of our Western enemies, and was defended not only by Muslims, but also by the military leader of that power, which has long been accustomed to consider itself the ruler seas, but on land, apparently, he does not know how to defend even one city well. Our success, therefore, over Kars is a success not only over Turkey, but also over England, which ruled there. Do I hesitate to express in conclusion one more thought that aroused in my mind at that very moment? A real victory over Kars, in all likelihood, will conclude the circle of military actions of this year; and the news about it came to us around those very days when the sun returns from winter to summer. Is this not a sign that from now on a whole series of changes will occur in the fate of this battle to humiliate the pride of our enemies, who so unjustly rose up against us in a dishonorable partnership with the Muslims? Let us pray for this with all our soul and heart, so that so much blood will not be shed by our brave warriors in vain in defense of the Christian name! And to all this, following the example of the Holy Church, let us add a prayer to the Lord and that He would soften the hearts of our very opponents and dispose them to a sense of impartiality and justice, so that the fruit of our real victory would be the acceleration of the desired peace, and not the bitterness of warfare. For if they fight in order to win, then they win for no other reason than so as not to have the need to continue the war. Amen. 30. Word on concluding peace with the Western powers and Turkey “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!” (Luke 2:14). So we and the Angels can finally shout. “Glory to God in the highest,” for although people acted at the conclusion of the present peace, without assistance and blessing from above, even now they might not have achieved their goal, just as, with all their efforts, they had not achieved it before. For how many times did they come together to end the war, and always dispersed for more fighting! Now, as soon as they got together, the flame of war went out as if by itself. “Glory to God in the highest,” and who, according to the judgment of His righteousness, allowed human passions to flare up into such a terrible and all-consuming flame, and, when the hour of mercy came, who stopped this “flame” (Ps. 28:7) as if with an invisible hand! “Glory to God in the highest,” who deigned to subject our beloved Fatherland to a new fiery test, kindled by the sevenfold, and who brought him out of this test, like the three youths from the cave of Babylon, healthy and unharmed! Now we, the sons of Russia, can gratefully confess before the Lord in the words of Saint David: “I passed through fire and water, and brought us to rest” (Ps. 65:12). But what can we say about this new peace? Firstly, that it instantly stops entire streams of human blood, which had been flowing with such abundance for more than two years; the fact that it pacifies entire kingdoms and peoples, some of whom were confused and shaken to the core by the whirlwind of battle, others almost lost their sight from the same whirlwind and did not know where to bow; the fact that the new world returns the former security to cities and villages, freedom is granted to the very seas and rivers, the very mountains and deserts; finally, that with the advent of peace, new objects for public and private activity are presented, new types of industry and occupations are opened, new means for developing the forces and natural wealth of the Russian land; The power that holds itself is given great convenience - to plant and remove (purify), create and decorate, heal and revive. How can one not thank the Lord for all this, “in the hand... Whose hand, according to the expression of Scripture, is the authority and power of all the earth” (Sir. 10:4), Who alone, when He wants, punishes kingdoms and nations with warfare, or blesses His people with peace? But has the high goal of the war been achieved? Is it not fruitless to make so many bloody and bloodless sacrifices? There are, of course, such battles, but the last one, thank God, was not like that. What was supposed to be achieved was achieved - and with interest. For why was the last battle undertaken, or, more precisely, accepted by us (for we were not the first to take up arms)? Were we looking for any conquests and expansion of our borders? Not at all! Russia, with its vastness and strength, has long had no need for this; Any further expansion would even be detrimental to her, just as excessive obesity would be detrimental to a healthy and strong person. Did we want any humiliation or harm to our original enemy in the East? Again not at all; on the contrary, we wanted to save him from internal ulcers that were consuming the very composition of his power, the depth and incurability of which he himself now fully sees. Or, perhaps, for some reason we thought we would stand in defiance and block the path to something good and truly useful for the Western powers, which then took up arms against us with such unexpected bitterness? And no one can say this in good conscience, and now not even they themselves. What did we want, even though we were forced to pay for the sword? We wanted one thing, the simplest and completely fair, so that our neighbor, who is close to us, and more than once owes us his salvation from destruction, would, heeding the voice of reason and his own benefit, stop dividing his national family unreasonably into two halves and, while giving everything to the smaller one, would not give her the largest half for sacrifice, only because this latter is not of the same faith with him, but the one that we and other educated peoples profess, more clearly, so that the ruler of the Muslims would stop oppressing Christianity in the East, subject to him, is intolerable. This is what we wanted - no more!.. They did not believe us when everything vouched for our sincerity; They didn’t believe it because they didn’t want to believe it, because they had long wanted to secretly fight with us and were looking for a pretext for it. And so, this began, completely unexpected for us, and prearranged by our opponents from afar, for the imaginary independence and independence of the Ottoman power, supposedly threatened by us, but in fact against our power and against our rights and advantages acquired over the course of a whole century. The world saw with amazement how the banners of the Christian powers began to join the banner of Mohammed, as if it were the banner of some kind of universal salvation... After this, it naturally seemed to many that the fate of our eastern brethren would be completely forgotten in the midst of the battle, and their relief from heavy slavery would be distant for a long, long time. But when no one expected it, when the battle continued to rage on all sides, suddenly our eastern co-religionists receive the very thing that we had in mind for them, and to such an extent that we, for our part, before the start of the battle could not even demand from their ruler, and they expected - they receive not only freedom from previous humiliation and oppression, but also equality of rights with the Muslims. And who was the cause of this, one might say, miracle? The same people who, out of envy towards us, did not want to let us do even a third of what has now been done! Do you want to know what made them continue and complete (even increase and perfect) the work we had begun, because of which they came out against us in such a fierce battle? Forced by the rightness of our cause and the holiness of our goal, forced by experience and evidence, forced by conscience, the very sense of honor and decency... In fact, uniting their Christian banners with the banner of Mohammed against us, Christians, who wanted to protect Christians from Mohammedan oppression, it cannot be that the rulers of the Western powers were free from any reproach of conscience for such betrayal of Christianity. But as long as they looked at the ill-fated East from afar, and looked, so to speak, through their dislike for us and through suspicions about our imaginary plans in the East, they could still somehow reassure themselves about the position of Christians in the East. When, drawn by the spirit of war in the face of their hordes, they appeared at the very place of dispute and bickering, when they saw the insane pride of Muslims and the constant humiliation of Christians beyond all limits, when they thus stumbled, so to speak, over a terrible and shameful evidence for Christianity and humanity, then they could no longer call black white, sharp things smooth, and thorns roses. The veil of error fell, the sense of justice awoke, faith and humanity, appearing in chains, cried out to the soul and heart; The very oppressors of Christians were ashamed and expressed their readiness to correct their actions and change their attitudes towards the oppressed. After this, in the most natural course of things, it was necessary to follow no other thing than what happened now, that is, the restoration of the freedom of Christianity in the East. And since the very fate of the entire Muslim power was now, one might say, in the hands of the Christian rulers, it is natural that, without being embarrassed by anything, they had the full opportunity to force - and forced - the ruler of the Muslims to do in favor of the Christians under his control, even more than, prevented by them, we could not, before the start of the battle, demand. And this is how the consequences of the present war, contrary to all expectations, thanks to the secret arrangement of things and events by the Providence of God, even before the end of the war, turned to its original and only goal on our part, and amicably coupled with its beginning. After this, the battle itself, as our most pious Monarch proclaimed from the height of the throne, no longer had its meaning for us, for its goal - to ensure the fate of our fellow believers in the East - was achieved; and this could not but soon be followed by real peace, for which such a great need was felt for the whole world. Of course, if the bitterness of our Western enemies against our Fatherland continued after this, then Russia, undefeated and, despite all the vicissitudes of weapons, equally powerful, would not have doubted to reveal new forces in itself and make new sacrifices in order to show that it is the same as it was for all of Europe fourty years before this; but, thanks to the same All-Good Providence of God, the fire of malice went out in the hearts of our very enemies; having become exhausted in their strength and resources, they willingly extended the hand of peace to us, as soon as they were convinced that we were ready to accept it “friendly.” “All this is fair,” someone will think, “but it cannot be denied that it would be better if what we started in favor of the Eastern Christians were completed by us alone, and not by others, instead of us, as now!” Why is it better, beloved? Is it not because this could serve as food for the people’s pride, a reason for exaltation over others? Whoever knows that such feelings are just as dangerous for entire nations as for individuals, and always attract the wrath of God, will never wish his Fatherland such successes, which serve nothing other than pride and arrogance. With such a holy cause as what we have undertaken, that is, improving the fate of Eastern Christianity, so as not to darken the purity and not to humiliate the dignity of this cause, it was necessary in advance not only to renounce all selfish views, but also from any rivalry with other peoples in this matter. And if so, then no matter who and why now completes it - as long as it is truly completed - every true Christian, leaving aside questions and perplexities, should rejoice about this and thank God, especially when in bringing this matter to the desired end, apparently it was not so much people who acted as God Himself. Is it possible to argue with such an actor about primacy? Shouldn't he give up his place? If, however, even this left anyone with regret that in the past great struggle between us and the West for the East, not everything happened according to our wishes, and that we did not actually gain any advantage for ourselves from so many of our sacrifices, we can say with all certainty for reassurance that, on the contrary, the present war served us to great advantage and to honor, the purest and most Christian. For what did she discover in front of the whole world? That Russia, the first and united, looked with the eye of sincere compassion on the Christian East; that she, alone, forgetting her own benefits and despising many dangers, decided to go out to fight almost against the whole world for the liberation of Eastern Christianity, and with her self-sacrifice laid the foundation for all current events and gave an incentive to the West itself, finally, to show its compassion for the East. There is no doubt that without this, this West, cold in its selfish calculations, would not hasten to take part in the fate of Christianity in the East and, not knowing, or, better said, not wanting to know the truth, would hitherto have been lavished in praise of the imaginary meekness and education of Muslims, and would have continued to limit all its compassion for the Christians oppressed by them with idle promises and ineffective negotiations. And this is the reason why, whenever any measure beneficial for Eastern Christians is implemented, the name of Russia, as the first culprit of a happy revolution for Christianity, will be pronounced with gratitude by every Christian in the East. We are not the only ones who think so, out of some kind of pride, but the entire Orthodox East thinks so, guided by justice; Almost the entire West involuntarily thinks so; Moreover, Muslims cannot help but think this way. Isn’t anyone else confused by the thought that in order to end the war and for a new world, Russia generously agreed to some concessions? For such a great goal as the peace of the whole world, one could not spare any really important sacrifices and hardships, but envy and enmity itself did not dare to demand such a thing. For what are our concessions? From now on, we will no longer have in the south the former marine battle-bearing species, which, while serving us hard, has never brought us the benefits that we should have expected. We have moved several small distances away from the banks of the Danube, but what else does this river remind us of, except for the streams of our blood, which has mixed so many times with its waves? What did it bring us, besides the painful concern of fighting annually against the obstinacy of its current, in favor of shipping alien to us? If, finally, from now on it is not we alone, but all other Christian powers that will patronize the Christian East together with us, then this common and unanimous action should have long been desired for the true benefit of Christianity and for our own peace of mind. These are all our, if you want to call it that, sacrifices for the world! Compare with them the countless efforts and sacrifices that the past battle cost our opponents; add to the fact that the world does not bring them any new gains, except for a decent way out of the foolishly initiated struggle with us, and you will understand the whole truth of the matter and the whole, on the one hand, small (in terms of sacrifices on our part), and on the other – great (in terms of beneficial consequences) price of the new world. And after this, what remains for us but to reverently bow our heads and hearts before the destinies of God’s Providence, Who for a long time has not revealed Himself with such obviousness and with such instructiveness for everyone in the vicissitudes of battles, as He did in the past battles? At the same time, let us rejoice with pure joy about the new and better future of our fellow believers in the East. The seed of their liberation cannot, of course, suddenly and unhindered develop into a whole prolific tree, under the shade of which they could lie down in perfect peace, but it must develop, and develop, and grow inevitably, for it is watered with the blood of numerous sons of both the North and the West. Let us thank from the bottom of our hearts our Monarch, who in the treasury of his kind heart found the secret of how, without humiliating the dignity of Russia, to stop the flow of blood and extinguish the flame of enmity, which had no near end in sight. We will not deprive our most western opponents of the just praise, who, for whatever reason, having fallen into a great mistake - regarding the position of the East and the Christians there - did not, however, continue their blindness to the end and, having seen the truth, did not hesitate, giving one hand of peace to us, to extend the other - in the protection of the ill-fated East. In the midst of the present celebration of peace, can we finally forget you, our sovereign Worker who rested in God, who, after many other exploits, was destined to begin the great work of liberation of the Christian East? The goal you envisioned was so lofty, your intentions were so far from all human views and calculations that ordinary earthly wisdom could not possibly accommodate such generosity and unselfishness - and an incomparable one imagined it... But now you no longer need earthly truth, when you have been honored to see and experience the heavenly truth. It cannot be, however, that your spirit, even in the bosom of eternal peace, would not be indignant with grief over the streams of that blood, of which you yourself would not want to shed a single drop. Calm down now and rest in peace! Truth and righteousness have triumphed; the flame of war has gone out; and the liberated East will forever pronounce with tenderness the name of its only benefactor, Nicholas. “Glory to God in the highest, for there is peace on earth!” Amen. 31. Speech on the reading of the highest letter of gratitude given to the residents of the Kherson province, with the order to keep a copy of it in the Cathedral With what completeness and animation are depicted in this royal charter the deeds and exploits of our country and city during the past battle! Here we see with joy and amazement that all, one might say, our steps during the past battle were diligently noted, all our sacrifices and offerings were appreciated at a very high price, all our hardships and wounds were taken to the very heart of the Tsar... If such an image in praise of our country and city had not come from the royal hand, then even then, when hearing it, it would be impossible not to rejoice from the heart for our entire land: for “the name good, - as the ancient holy sage noted and said, - is better... than much wealth" (Proverbs 22:1). But such an extremely favorable review of us came from the lips of God’s anointed himself, came on the very day of his sacred crowning of the kingdom... How much does this raise the price and power of every word and expression in this royal charter! And what Russian region and city would not want to be in our place after this, despite all the severity and deplorability of our past situation! But I, as a humble shepherd of this country and your fellow sufferer in the past time of temptation, am especially touched in this charter by the place where it is said that our country and city, with all other commendable qualities, hitherto lacked the connection of suffering and patience with the rest of Russia, and that now this precious connection, thanks to the horrors of the past war, has received an unshakable foundation and is cemented forever. Why does this remark especially touch me? Because in this very thought, during our common sorrows, we have more than once found consolation both for you and for ourselves. For do you remember what we said to encourage you from this most sacred place on the days of Holy Pascha, after the fiery storm that broke out over us on Holy Saturday?.. And we said then that our city as part of Russia lacked a single connection with it - suffering for the Fatherland, and that after what happened to it then, our city, despite its youth, can shamelessly join the camp of the ancient, long-suffering for Fatherland of Russian cities. Now, as you see, our then presentiment and expectation has come true in full force, for now, as this charter testifies, it is no longer our weak opinion that places our city in this high and sacred place between Russian cities, but the hand of God’s anointed one, the Autocrat of All Russia!.. And how he puts it! It would mean a lot for our young city if it were worthy of comparison with any of the smaller royal utensils, so rich in elegant and precious decorations, but the mercy of the Autocrat in the abundance of gratitude knows no bounds, one might say, and Odessa, young and in this case weakened and not yet strengthened from the past struggle and hardships, is called the most precious pearl of the royal crown! That crown with which other, the brightest crowns would only like to be compared, and with which most of the not-bright crowns cannot even hope to become like!.. Understand, beloved city, the abundance of the royal attention and mercy of God towards you; understand and try to always be a true pearl, and not a fake one. The royal crown can find other decorations for itself even without you, but you will not find another similar crown or another likeness that is better for you. The most precious pearls are first of all purity and transparency; Be, God-saved city, pure and clear in all your thoughts, undertakings and actions, and always imagine yourself as what you really are, and not what you may seem. Remember that the most precious pearls are not found on the surface of the seas, but are hidden in the depths and are mined especially after severe storms, and do not be bored by the passing storm, which with its destructive excitement discovered your pearl before the royal eye; move away from dreamy desires and superficial enterprises, delving into such objects of activity that are useful significantly, and not for a short time, but for the most distant posterity, useful not for you only, but for the whole Fatherland! Paying attention to the very place of storage intended for this precious charter, I see here also traces of the most fatherly and tender providence for us of our beloved Monarch. It was to this very church that we all flocked most during the days of our past temptations and sorrows; here we poured out our sorrowful souls and hearts before the Lord; from here each of us brought into our homes the oil of consolation and the spirit of Christian courage. Where is it more appropriate, if not in this church, to be kept as a memory of future generations and this royal scroll, as a testimony to the past deeds and exploits of our country and city? But what did I say in terms of speed? About our exploits?.. No, let this earthly and proud thought be removed from us forever! It is enough that the most august father of the Fatherland knows about our deeds and gratefully approves of them; and before You, Lord and Autocrat of Heaven, we, with all our deeds and exploits, are cast into the dust, humbly confessing Your power and goodness, and our insignificance. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy most holy name” (Ps. 113:9) may there be honor and glory for all, now and ever and unto ages of ages! Amen. 32. A word about what success in battle and victory or defeat depend on If anyone, then a warrior especially needs to know what determines the success of a battle, victory or defeat. This depends on many reasons: on courage and skill, on the favorableness of places and times, on the weakness and powerlessness of enemies, and so on. That’s why they try to be prepared for battle in advance; That’s why they constantly train themselves in the art of fighting even without fighting; that is why experienced military leaders are elected; That’s why they stock up on information about the very location of the enemy, and so on and so forth. But, besides all this, the success of the war does not depend on people, but on God, from above. If the Lord bless, then the small number will overcome the larger number; if he does not bless, then the numerous will not help. If the Lord bless, then even the weak will be inspired by courage, where will strength and strength come from! If he does not bless, then the courageous will lose their spirit, and the hands of the strong will weaken. If the Lord bless, then the wind will be favorable, and the underwater stones and shallows will seem to be removed from their places; if he does not bless, everything will interfere with success, and the wind will begin to blow against, and underwater stones and shallows will seem to follow the ships. Therefore, with all the art, courage, with all the abundance of means for battle and victory, one more thing is necessary, one thing, without which everything else can easily lose power: the blessing of God is necessary. How is this blessing achieved? Obviously, not by art and courage, not by the large number of people and means, for all this can be with enemies; and what? Faith in God, trust in His help, prayer, purity of soul and body, fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord. For it is obvious that the Lord blesses those whom He loves: and whom does He love if they do not fear Him and do His will? A pious warrior is dear in the eyes of the Lord, his Guardian Angel is always with him, and therefore victory is with him. Just as a wicked warrior is a plague for the army, for the wrath of God is always upon him, and therefore defeat is not far away. So that it does not seem to anyone that I am telling you all this on my own behalf, listen to what the Lord once said in Scripture through the prophet Moses to His chosen people... Remember this, Christ-loving warriors, and since you always want victory over your enemies, then earn it from the Lord in advance by piety, abstinence, purity and other virtues. Amen. We greet you, brave warriors, with victory! The rumor about it will sweep on the wings of the wind throughout all the edges of the Fatherland, it will delight the heart of our Sovereign, it will cheer up the cities and villages, and both small and large will say: “We have won, our glorious sailors! God bless them!” Who should we turn to first after our victory? Let us turn to the Lord, in whose right hand is the power of the whole earth, who alone moves the winds and seas, gives and takes away spirit and courage. We won because our cause was just. Russia is not looking for conquest; it is already stronger than everyone else. We won because we fought for the Church of God, for the Orthodox Tsar, for Holy Russia. We won because we went out to battle with prayer, calling on God for help, surrendering ourselves and the fate of our weapons to His holy will. Therefore, now celebrating our victory, let us all exclaim with David: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory!” (Ps. 113:9). Praise is due to You, singing is due to You, glory is due to You, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. We greet you, brothers, with victory. The enemy is defeated and put to shame! You acted like true Russian warriors; honor and glory to you! Blessed on behalf of the Holy Church. Now our joy will fly on wings to the Fatherland, will gladden the heart of Tsarevo, spread joy throughout the towns and villages, comfort the elders and children, everyone and everywhere will say: “This is what our brave sailors have done! This is how they fought! They did not disgrace the Russian name! They let the enemies know what the Russian fleet means.” Let us fall, my brothers, before the Lord and thank Him for our victory. Let us give thanks not with words, but with our deeds. How good and kind to God and people is the winner who is not proud of his victory, but attributes it to help from above! Amen. 35. Word for the first service after the battle Apparently, it was not for nothing that we got the victory, beloved! I don't see some of you; some of them, suffering from wounds - God willing - will appear again among us, while others parted with us forever; such is the fate of war! This is the price of victory! And how could it be otherwise? And children's games often end in tears, but ours was not a child's game, not a child's one! One must also be amazed at how few casualties the war takes, judging by its ferocity. What we didn’t see in the middle of the battle! It was a semblance of hell: bullets, and cannonballs, and fire, and water, and screams, and groans... Many could have lay down here, and yet few had fallen down, and many of them would get up. Why did the victory cost so little? Because with God’s help they fought bravely, because no one lost spirit, everyone fearlessly did their job as much as they could. And battle is a wonderful thing! In it, the more courageously they act, the less losses they suffer; and on the contrary, the more they feel sorry for themselves and hide, the more they lose and fall. And it’s clear why. Bravery sooner decides victory and ends the battle, but slowness, especially cowardice, prolongs the battle and multiplies the sacrifices of soldiers. Remember this, beloved, and make it a rule in future battles, if you don’t already know, that after God’s help, not only victory depends on your bravery and courage, but also that it costs as few casualties as possible. And yet there will always be victims; This, we repeat, is the nature of war! This is the price of victory: victory without a fight is not a victory! Will we regret those whose deaths bought real victory? Of course, we lost their brave colleagues and comrades; but they did not lose anything, they died for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. What is earthly life in comparison with heavenly life, where for those who love God there is neither sorrow nor sighing? One thing is scary - to die as unrepentant sinners; but they, without a doubt, died with a feeling of repentance, having washed away, among other things, whatever sins they had committed with their own blood. Who shed His own Blood for us on the Cross, our Savior, cannot help but accept the blood that was shed for Him, and cannot help but reward those who shed it with a crown of mercy. Let us be at peace for our fallen comrades. The Church itself will not cease until the end of the world to offer prayers for the repose of their souls. They did their job - they lay down with honor, buying victory. May the Lord help us, when the time comes, not to deviate from our work, like them. Amen. 36. Word on removing enemies from Crimea Today is the day and memory of the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul; therefore, our conversation with you should be about them. And what subject could be more edifying to all of us than the apostolic labors of these not men, but angels in the flesh? Peter is the stone of faith, as the Leader and Finisher of our faith Himself called it. Paul is the trumpet that sounded the gospel to all ends of the universe, it is the lightning that burned and incinerated all the temples of idols, all the courage (thorn bushes) of paganism. The very eclipses of these luminaries, like the eclipses of celestial bodies, are more instructive than the light of others, and therefore serve, without a doubt, and are allowed by Providence to correct sinners, to encourage the most desperate. But with all the richness of this subject, we must turn our speech to something else, turn it not arbitrarily, but according to the instructions of Providence Itself. For under what circumstances do we see you now? We see each other for the first time after the last war, which was extremely noticeable and painful on all parts of the Fatherland; and on your land and on your city it fell with all its weight. So, here is the subject of our conversation, a subject, as I said before, not arbitrarily chosen by us, but given and indicated from above. I said: "Above." Yes, my brothers, this is the first and last thought from which everything else flows; this past, of which we were all such close witnesses and even accomplices, was not the result of some blind chance or circumstances, but moved and happened according to mania and under the finger of the Almighty. This is how a Christian should think about all the events of life, especially about the past battle, in which almost the whole world took part, where so many surprises arose that not only confused the entire ordinary order of things, but also confused the very concepts and judgments of men. (Not finished.) 37. Word on the occasion of the earthquake “Look upon the earth and make it shake: touch the mountains, and they smoke” (Ps. 103:32) At the end of our last interview, brothers, I already touched upon an extraordinary event that horrified many and recently shocked us all, and pointed out its purpose. But since this event continues to be the main subject of discussion both in meetings and at meetings, I decided to follow the general trend of thoughts and talk with you today about the same thing. Ah, the hearts of our listeners are so rarely shaken by the power of our words that ministers of the word should treasure those moments when they are shocked by at least something! But why do I say: “Something”? Let human wisdom be expressed in this way; let the explorers of nature examine this event, judge, delve into, argue, reconcile, in order to finally stop at something. We speak to you about the name of Him, before whose eyes “all... are naked and declared” (Heb. 4:13), whose words are “her” and “amen” (2 Cor. 1:20), therefore we can and must speak clearly and firmly where earthly wisdom does not know what to say. What will we tell you now?.. Let's say what the prophet said, who, perhaps a hundred times, saw the earth shaking beneath him and the mountains smoking before him and, more importantly, observed all this in the light not of his own mind, but of the Face of God. Do you want to know the reason for the past terrible event? Here she is! The Lord looked, looked at the earth in a special way, and it shook! Do you think that such events occur from the ignition of fire-breathing mountains? Perhaps, but the very ignition of the mountains is a consequence of the same Divine action. The Lord touches the mountains, and they smoke! Why dwell on the second reasons when the first is so obvious? Why blame creation when the Creator Himself is the cause? He Himself does this, and He Himself says that He Himself, and not anyone else, does this! “Look at the earth and make it shake: touch the mountains, and they smoke!” So, according to the testimony of the prophet, the earth shakes when the Lord looks at it. Is the gaze of the Lord so menacing and angry that the earth cannot bear it? No, this gaze, by its very essence, is a most good and all-reviving gaze; therefore, for the Angels and for the souls of the righteous there is no greater bliss than to enjoy the light of the Face of God. The Lord once looked upon the very earth, and it did not shake, but rejoiced and was glad, for the Lord saw that on it “all... a lot of good” (Gen. 1:31). How has the earth now sinned before God, that, like an unfaithful servant, it cannot stand before His Face without trembling?.. From whatever side you look at the earth, you will not find its guilt before God and man. She was ordered to revolve around the sun: and, despite the immeasurability of this path, what can compare with the accuracy and speed of her running? She is ordered to revolve around herself, in order to thus produce day and night; and when was there no day or night? Winter, spring, autumn and summer - and when was any of the seasons missing? For one thing one could blame the earth, that it often grows thorns and thistles where a person sows roses and wheat. But this is not the action of the earth itself, but the fruit of seeds from a forbidden tree, with which man sowed the entire face of the earth. What kind of fault is the earth guilty of, that the Lord cannot look at it without anger, and it cannot look at the Lord without trembling?.. The fault of its ruler, man. “Cursed is the earth because of your deeds” (Gen. 3:17), it was said to Adam after his crime; and the word of the curse immediately reflected on all ends of the earth, penetrated all the forces and its entire being, took away the perfection of all its works, covered it with all kinds of disorder and disorder. However, the earth groaning under the yoke of the curse does not always equally feel its weight; Her illness, one might say, sometimes weakens, and sometimes hardens. It becomes easier for the earth when its waters are sanctified by the immersion of the Holy Cross in them, when the air is filled with chants to the glory of the Almighty, when the surface of the earth is decorated with holy churches. It becomes easier for the earth when the explorer of nature, examining its surface and depths, learns to reach himself and lead others to the traces of the wisdom and goodness of God; when a farmer, cultivating a field, asks for God's blessing on it; when water, washing away our impurities, does not accept sinful filth; when the air filled with words is not affected by idle and rotten words. It becomes even easier for the earth when the number of God’s chosen ones increases on it, who, concentrating grace in themselves, spread it to everything around them. In this case, the Lord Himself, looking at the earth and finding objects worthy of favor, causes it not to shake, but to rest, to be girded with peace and joy. On the contrary, when those who live on earth forget the One who lives in heaven, when those condemned to cultivate the earth in the sweat of their brows become covered in sweat solely from the satiety of its fats, and from occupation with vain and insignificant objects they themselves become earthly and perishable, then the earth becomes heavier and worse. And when, among the corruption of the earth’s multipliers, the voice of repentance does not find a place for itself, then the earth, following the corruption of people, itself becomes even more corrupt; the cry of iniquity passes through the clouds, rises into the ears of the Lord of hosts and forces Him, as the supreme Lord of the House, to turn His gaze to the earth. He turns, but is angry, and the earth shakes; I would like, in the words of the seer, to flee “from the face” of the Lord (Rev. 20:11), but she cannot. This is how the Lord was forced to look at the earth before the flood, and the consequence of this look was the destruction of everything living on earth; So He was forced to look at the earth during the pandemonium of Babylon, and the consequence of the look was the confusion of languages ​​and the scattering of all people across the face of the earth; This is how the Lord looked at the earth, burdened with the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Dead Sea in their place remained forever a trace of this gaze. So He looked upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh in the Red Sea, and there was no one left to announce their destruction in Egypt. So He looked upon Jerusalem, which had killed its Messiah, and after this not one stone was left there upon another. We do not yet know the consequences of God’s recent gaze on the earth; and God forbid that our ears are not filled with news of disasters similar to those from which countries foreign to us have more than once suffered! But since even now the earth began to tremble under our feet with a clearly joyless trembling, it, without a doubt, trembled from the angry gaze; and since the Lord’s gaze was angry, it was, of course, not directed to the earth by human virtues. Where did the evil happen? In which country is the measure of untruths filled? Where is the complaint in heaven coming from? We don't know. But even without knowing this, we can say that it was not the sins of people who do not know the True God that caused this; not enlightened by the light of true faith, they are more excusable than Christians who are not faithful to their faith and law. Christians now have the unfortunate advantage of burdening the earth with their sins more than other peoples, irritating heaven with them more sensitively, and being more intolerable to the gaze of God’s truth. And when this is so, brethren, can we blame ourselves in this case? Did the earth shake under our feet in vain? Do not be afraid, I will not increase your sins, but I will only ask where we live? Is it not on those mountains where the grace of God first shone for the entire Fatherland? Is it not near that river which, in fairness, can be called the Russian Jordan? And, more importantly, is it not at the foot of a whole host of saints of God who rest here incorruptibly? What virtue is not embodied before us? In their faces, one might say, eternal and future life itself is brought down before us into the circle of present life, brought under our sight and touch. Well, what are we like? Is there much light of faith in all of us? Oil of love? Tears of repentance? The incorruptibility of the spirit? Tell me yourself, by what virtue do we differ from the inhabitants of other domestic cities? What vice and temptation, from which other countries suffer, do we not have? Are our courts not only secular, but also spiritual, aggravated by a multitude of complaints and bickering? Aren't our marketplaces filled with noise and disorder, abuse and oaths? Don’t our churches often remain empty, and when they are filled on holidays, with whom more - humble worshipers or disdainful (proud, arrogant) spies? What could not the very earth and our very mountains say against us, if they were given the power to speak? Ah, they would say, we suffered greatly when our peaks were covered with the idols of Perun and Volos, and thought of dying when they were decorated with the churches of the True God: the idols fell, the churches were erected, but the people are the same!.. Let us stop, brothers, from running our thoughts over the face of the trembling earth, and let us dive into our trembling conscience; she will tell us more clearly where the source of heavenly wrath is, where the fire-breathing volcano is! Here in our heart! Here, in our passions! Each one of you, look at yourself when you are angry: is your face not on fire, is your blood not burning as if from fire? Look at yourself in a fit of envy: aren’t you turning pale, as if an abyss was opening under you? Look at yourself in a fit of stinginess: doesn’t your hand shake from a small coin for a beggar, as if the earth were shaking under you? What is surprising, ruler of the earth, if the region under your control imitates your example and reflects your image? The surprising thing is that the terrible disorder of the elements will not teach us to value order in the circle of our lives, that the earth, restless under our feet, will not force us to be firm and unshakable in the law of the Lord. In fact, how many traces did the past earthquake leave not in the earth and houses, but in our conscience and souls? The city government is rejoicing that our homes are intact; and the Church laments that hearts are not broken. For how did we respond to the voice of God, which thundered so menacingly before the shaking of our earth? One says: “I then rushed to look at the clock or barometer”; another: “I hastened to take such and such a thing in order to run away from the house”; third: “I imagined that there was a terrible fire in my house”; fourth: “I was given over to sleep at that time...” Creator of heaven and earth! So, You shook the earth under us a little, for we did not awaken! Look at her again, look more menacingly, may our souls and hearts shake along with the earth! Touch the mountains again, and they will rise stronger and force us to raise our eyes to the sky! But, O righteous God, is it my voice to despise the depths of Your mercy? If You tamed Your anger, then, without a doubt, you saw that among us not everyone was immersed in the sleep of insensibility, that among us there were people who raised their clean hands to You for themselves and for us. Meanwhile, brothers, how far were we all from the last hour of life? How long would it take for our homes to collapse and bury us under the rubble? What would happen to us then? How would we appear at the Judgment? What would you say in your justification?.. That we are suddenly raptured? But can there be surprise for those who, from infancy, have been constantly told about the need for salvation, who themselves, from countless cases, know that there is no and cannot be a covenant with death? The danger has passed, the earth has hardened again under our feet, but for how long? Who can guarantee that the Lord will not look upon her again with the eye of truth and judgment? And can one shaking of the earth interrupt the thread of our life? Oh, it often breaks from the weak breath of the wind. Let us be prudent and stop being our own enemies. The door of repentance will soon open for everyone. Let us hasten to enter it - everything is forever, irrevocable. When, washed by the tears of repentance, we are reconciled with God and our conscience, then nothing will disturb the peace of our soul, then even if the mountains were crushed into the depths of the sea, even if we had to walk in the middle of the shadow of death (and everyone will certainly get to it someday), we will not fear evil; for the Lord, the Lord Himself, will be with us and for us. Amen. 38. Word before the prayer service on the occasion of extreme drought and fires on earth, darkness and smoke in the air Finally, my brothers, heaven itself teaches us all! And how he teaches! As the ancient Egyptians once taught - with fire and darkness! A strange and terrible sight! We are surrounded on all sides by fire, and at the same time covered in darkness! We are suffering from drought and cannot see the sun! Such is the wrath of heaven! Such is the same here - in time, on the land of mercy; What will happen there - in the land of retribution, where the law of justice and truth operates in full force? But is heavenly wrath really upon us? Isn't this just a coincidence and an unfavorable confluence of natural causes? Ah, can there be a case where everything moves under the finger of the Almighty and Omniscient? What is nature, with all its powers, if not the visible and varied vestment of a single invisible Creative force? If nothing important can happen in the house of a prudent householder without his knowledge and will, much less contrary to his intentions, then can anything similar happen in the house of the Heavenly Householder, Who is everywhere and fulfills everything with His Being and power? And if the gloomy brow and menacing appearance of the householder serve as a sure sign that there is something intolerable for him in the house, then the gloomy appearance of our sky, the burning face of our earth, do not they clearly tell us that among us and in us there is something that the King of heaven and earth cannot look upon without anger? What exactly is it? This is known to Him alone. It is enough for us to know, first, that every sin is an abomination in the eyes of God’s holiness, and we are all sinners, and there is no sin that is not found among us; the second is that to avert the wrath of heaven, sinners have no other means than repentance and correction of their lives. Therefore, before we approach the throne of Grace, and dare to raise our hands in prayer for the aversion of the execution that is facing us, let us turn to ourselves, look into our insides, and see what is there? what is the air like in our soul? what is the land of our heart? Isn’t there darkness and darkness here too, and perhaps Egyptian? Is there drought and petrification here too, perhaps Babylonian? Is there any fire and flame here, perhaps hellish? We have been given all the means to avoid remaining in spiritual darkness, to emerge from natural ignorance about God and the soul, about the fate awaiting us beyond the grave, and about the means to our eternal salvation; the sun of Divine revelation is always above our heads; the book of God's word is always in our hands; The Church, this school of God, is open from all sides to everyone: read and learn, listen and learn, watch and learn. There is light and truth all around. But are there many bright and God-enlightened people? Look at the millions of brethren in low places, and ask them about anything concerning the Christian faith and hope; Instead of answering, they will tell you: “We are dark people!” Turn to the so-called educated people, talk to them about the path to salvation, the Savior Himself; It will rarely turn out that they, with all their talents, with all their often extensive knowledge of earthly things and in relation to heavenly things, are ignorant people! There is darkness and ignorance all around! Why? Because they do not want to be illuminated by heavenly light; because they do not consider it necessary to know what will happen to them beyond the grave; because everyone has read and studied a hundred times, and, perhaps, have never picked up the Bible or church books. Do we have the right, when there is such darkness inside us, to demand that outside of us it should always be light and clear? Shouldn’t we rather wish that all sensual light should completely fade away, albeit temporarily, so that they would remember that there is spiritual light and begin to use it? We have been given all the strength and means necessary for life and piety, so that in this age we would be firm and immovable (immovable) in the truth, live righteously, chastely and piously, and be fruitful in every good deed. For this reason, clouds of spiritual gifts always hover over the earth of our hearts; the dew of grace is always ready to refresh them; there is no shortage of spiritual seeds for anyone; the very reins in the soul and heart are held in abundance by the invisible hand of Providence - through events in our lives. How not to vegetate with good thoughts and feelings! How could Christian faith and love not bloom in us! Do not ripen the fruits of humility, mercy, purity and truth! But look around you: where is the holiness of thoughts and purity of intentions? where are the feats of love and selflessness? where are the fruits of truth? Everywhere there is dryness and barrenness, thorns upon thorns, stone upon stone! Why? Because they are devoted to flesh and blood, they work with their whole being on the world and its lusts, and they consider the care of the one need, the soul and conscience, if only they consider it, the very last of their concerns. Ah, if only a hundredth part of the time and labor spent on cultivating the fields, improving the household economy, on fun and pleasure, were used to cultivate the immortal soul, far different would be with our morals and life! After this, do we have the right to demand that the land trampled under our feet be better than our spirit and heart? so that she constantly opens up the depths and returns the seeds to us a hundredfold when we close the “womb” at the sight of a brother in need? (1 John 3:17). Shouldn’t we, on the contrary, desire that, although at times the elements refuse to serve us, that the sources of all sensual gains and pleasures dry up, so that we stop drinking from them to the destruction of our souls, and remember the water that flows into eternal life? A Christian finally has a means to suppress the very flame of his passions - this is the grace of the Holy Spirit! To extinguish the very fire of heavenly wrath - this is the Blood of the Son of God, our Redeemer! What temptation can you overcome, what enemy cannot be overcome with the help of the Almighty Spirit? What truth cannot be satisfied, what sin cannot be cleansed through the atoning Blood of the Lamb of God? All that remains is to be sprinkled in the spirit of faith with this Blood; and we would be white as snow; and all our untruths would be erased forever. All that remains is to be clothed with the power of grace from above, to act with all the spiritual armor given to us; and we would be safe, strong and impregnable. And if during confession we appear before the mirror of God’s truth, then we are not convicted, by virtue of Christ’s merits, with a sense of the false righteousness of the Pharisees, and not in the spirit of the publican and the prudent thief; That’s why we depart without true peace in our conscience, without the divine verb of forgiveness in our soul. And even if we sometimes attempt to resist the temptation to sin, then we use only strength for this, or, better to say, only the weakness of our mind and conscience; That is why we constantly fall and are broken into dust. And so do the best of us; But what do most of them do? At the slightest spark of temptation, instead of extinguishing the flame of sin, they fan it in every way, turn it into a fire of the heart, and, engulfed from head to toe in fire, instead of crying out for heavenly help, they rejoice and triumph like those deprived of their minds; and finally burned in their conscience, they sit triumphantly on the ruins and ashes of the church of their soul. And we are surprised after this, how the eye of heaven is darkened with indignation, how the face of the earth is inflamed with anger! Let us rather marvel at how the sun can bear the spectacle of all the impurities and atrocities that it is forced to illuminate every day and every minute! How the earth will not faint under the weight of human untruths and, following the example of its inhabitant and ruler, will not itself deviate from the path around the sun! How is the air, constantly filled with rotten and harmful words, not completely corrupted by our unclean breath! How, finally, all the elements, constantly abused by man in every possible way, torn out of their rank, deviated from their goal, will not finally go completely out of the order assigned to them, will not rebel against their oppressor, will not rush towards the general disturber, will not burst out with all-destruction over the head of the enemy of God! And let us not think that the forces of nature surrounding us are insensitive, and therefore it makes no difference to them no matter what we do to them; no, in the world of God all life and action, feeling and meaning are everywhere. The Apostle once heard how all creation (note the expression - all creation) groans and sighs because man, by his fall into sin, deprived it of the freedom of the children of God and plunged it into the hard work of vanity and corruption. She sighs, but does not disobey the man who forced her to languish in chains; sighs, but continues to work in the hustle and bustle. Why? Because this is what was commanded to her by the One who does not want “the death of the sinner, but gives him time to be converted... and to live” (Ezek. 33:11). By virtue of this law of mercy, without a doubt, even now the darkness that surrounds us will dissipate, and we will again see the sun in all its glory, but what will this sun see in us? Will he see even a single tear of repentance on our faces? Will any poor family, any helpless orphan, be taken into the care of a rich man? Will the poor debtor, who has no means of repaying the lender, see the handwriting torn to pieces? Will he see the servant who has ceased to suffer from the cruelty and whims of his master? Will the churches of God be seen more complete, the Sacraments more acceptable and honoured, home prayer more observed? Will he see less noisy midnight games that kill soul and body, honor and fortune? Less blasphemy and idle words?.. Without a doubt, the earth will stop burning around us, for that terrible hour has not yet come when “the elements... being burned will be destroyed, and the earth with all the works that are on it” will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:10). But what will happen to those fruits that she will again begin to wear out from her bowels? With fruits washed with the sweat and tears of the poor farmer? Will they not be washed away, still mercilessly, from the smooth lips of his family? Will they not become food for luxury and whims? Will they not give themselves up for items that are completely useless and even harmful to the soul? Won't lawlessness and temptation be put at a direct price? I say this not for shame and reproach, but for teaching and general edification; I speak out of necessity; Among the fire of heavenly wrath with which we are surrounded, it is impossible to be a cold witness to human untruths. And who will speak when we remain silent? And how can we remain silent when heaven and earth itself cry out against us? The veil of darkness is extended by the right hand of the almighty over the preacher as well as over those listening. Everyone must humble themselves; everyone should take a look around! Tell us what needs to be corrected in us, and we will gladly listen to your words. Even without this, we feel completely our unworthiness; and - having descended from this place, into which the duty of our calling forced us to enter, we are ready to stand at the church door and cry with the publican: “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). But while we stand here, we must speak the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be for sensuality; and woe to us if we change her voice at a time when the very elements precede our preaching! So, my brethren, if you, moved not by the power of our meager words, but by the omnipotent voice of Him who commanded heaven and earth to speak to us all with fire and darkness, decide from now on to be more attentive to the work of your salvation, to correct in your life, and in your morals, and in the way of your thoughts that which is contrary to the Gospel, is not in accordance with the statutes of the eternal truth of God, and is destructive for your own soul, then we let us boldly approach the throne of grace, let us begin to push boldly into the doors of mercy; and we can be sure that mercy will not be denied to us. And if... But your glances, your sighs, your tears, your whole position shows that we have not gathered here in vain, that the right hand of God, which has burdened us, has achieved its goal, that heavenly anger has penetrated with its action to the depths of our souls and hearts, that each of us fully feels the importance of these moments and will not forget them throughout our lives. May the prayer of humble hearts and contrite spirits begin! Let the repentant psalm of the king of Israel, so fitting for our position, be proclaimed! Let the royal doors of mercy open! Lord and Master of our life and death! If at this hour we dare to stand before You, like Abraham, in prayer for this city and our country, then we dare, hoping not for the purity of our own prayers, but for the fact that we already see standing before You the great Intercessor and Mediator of heaven and earth, Your beloved Son, our Redeemer. At His name we open unclean lips before You, and lift up our unholy hands to You. Look upon us through the pure wounds of Your Son, and command Your sun to shine on us, command the fire to go out, and the earth to receive coolness and freshness. Do this “sign for good” over us (Ps. 85:17), so that we may know that You are the only Lord and Master of all, “You kill and make life” 4. Amen. 39. Word before the repentant prayer service on the occasion of the unusually frequent fires that occurred in Kharkov “The voice of the Lord on the waters... the voice of the Lord in the fortress... the voice of the Lord breaking cedars... the voice of the Lord cutting off the flame of fire" (Ps. 29:3-5, 7). So, between the different voices of God, Saint David once heard the voice of the Lord, “cutting off the flame of fire.” Oh, if this longed-for voice were now heard over our city! What precautions do vigilant management not take? - but the fire ignites. Who does not guard his own home? - but the fire ignites. The fierce elements seem to deliberately laugh at all our efforts not to give room to it. Since many of those who suffered from the rage continue to pour with their own tears those ruins that could not be saved from the flames by entire streams of water poured out on them. And those not affected by the fire are tormented hourly by the imagination of imminent danger and possible losses, so that no one can lie down peacefully at night. Willingly, therefore, or unwillingly, but everyone and everyone, imitating the Psalmist, has to lift up their “eyes” to grief and, putting aside hope for human means alone, expect help from the Lord, who created “heaven and earth” (Ps. 113:23). If He speaks, then all the elements will be silent; and the fire will continue to humbly illuminate and warm our houses, without destroying them to the ground and without depriving the inhabitants, along with shelter, of their daily bread. But who are we, that for our sake the Lord Himself should speak with a voice that cuts off the flame of fire? In ancient times there were, at least, people so visibly close to the Lord that one could confidently turn to them, as confidantes and friends of God, in every need and circumstance - so that they might stand before the throne of God's righteousness, and with the lifting of their venerable hands turn over the wrath of Heaven to mercy. Among us, for our sins, such chosen ones are not visible; and if they exist, then they are hidden “in the secret of the face of God from human rebellion” (Ps. 30:21). Therefore, despite all our uncleanness, it remains for us to turn to heaven and begin to push at the doors of mercy. And we will do this, my brothers, according to the duty of our calling. But what if the Lord, in this case, with us, as with the ancient Israelites, wants to create righteous judgment? In your needs and circumstances, He will say, you turn to Me for help; and in the midst of your contentment and joys you forget Me as if I am not the Existing One. When My elements rise up against you, you rush to My church and fall to the dust before Me; and when the forces of nature serve and subjugate you, then instead of churches, you uncontrollably strive for houses of games and entertainment, to worship the idol of worldly pride. You want to see me, your Master and Lord, always philanthropic and merciful towards you; and you yourself, being dust and ashes, are constantly evil and hard-hearted towards your own brothers. Come to despair from the flame that consumes your corruptible blood, and you value the flame of passions, from which your souls and hearts are corrupted. You are afraid and tremble of the temporary fire, which, no matter how raging, cannot but go out on its own; and you remain cold and indifferent to that terrible fire of Gehenna, which, once ignited, will not go out forever and ever. Didn’t I prove My love for you when I gave up My Only Begotten Son to death for you, who are sinners? But where is the feeling of gratitude? Where is the concern for your own salvation? Your houses are filled with uncleanness and destructive lusts; your markets are in turmoil with sedition and deceit; your judgment seats groan from the weight of untruths and bickering, even between brothers of the same blood; into My very churches you bring with you the spirit of contempt and the rumor of worldly vanities. What should My righteousness do after this? What remains for My mercy itself to do? Should we really allow you to fall unpunished into the abyss of passions, in order to then plunge forever into the depths of hell? When My gifts and blessings do not work on you, is it not enough to use fire and iron, so that the wound does not become inhealable? Isn’t that what your own doctors do to you? Instead of grumbling and complaining, it would behoove you to fall on your face before Me and give thanks that My mercy does not forget you, the unworthy, and although the voice of rebuke and fire thunders in your ears, so that you may arise from the sleep of sin. The disasters that I send are a sign of My wrath against the bitter, but at the same time a sign of love that seeks the lost. Beware of the opposite, so that you will not be left unpunished to the victim of your own passions! Woe to the sinner rejected by My grace! Tell me, my brothers, what are you going to contradict if the Lord speaks to us with this voice of judgment and rebuke? In such a case, the ancient Israelites could at least point to their adherence to the customs of their ancestors, their zeal for the Temple of Jerusalem, the many sacrifices they made, their fasts and festivals. What are we talking about and what are we pointing out? The holy customs of our ancestors are either completely forgotten in our country, or serve as the subject of mockery and gossip of the unreasonable; Our churches, even if we visit them from time to time, are mostly not for prayer, but out of sheer decency, and they see in us not repentant sinners, but people arrogant in their breed and wealth, apparently ready, if it were possible, to enter into an alliance with the Lord of the church Himself, so that for the glory of His village they should sometimes desire not our presence, but our absence. Our sacrifices to God - where are they? We affirm that it is necessary to sacrifice our hearts to the Lord, and under this pretext, for the duration of a whole year, we will not use a single penny for the glory of His name, while at the same time wasting hundreds and thousands, which cost the sweat and tears of our henchmen, on crazy whims, on games and amusements. I don’t think you would recommend mentioning our fasts before the Lord, for they have long ceased to exist for many of us. What do you say? Should we not point out our ability to live in the world and dexterity in handling, our ability to adopt everything foreign, no matter how reckless it is? Should we not mention how we managed to make someone else’s ours, to hide the most obvious truth in untruth, to create suspicion and where there is none at all, to set temptations for our brother and innocence? But, alas, the Lord has long seen all this! For this, without a doubt, we are deprived of His blessing, and we may be subject to even greater disasters if we do not feel the evil that has befallen us and do not turn to the path of truth and righteousness. What should we do, and what should we decide? All that remains is to cry out with the prophet: “It is true for you, O Lord, but it is a disgrace to us” (Dan. 9:7). All that remains is to admit and confess with the Psalmist: “It is good... for us, for you have humbled... us, that we may learn through your justification" (Ps. 119:71). It remains, finally, to do as the Ninevites once did. They were sinners like us, but when the prophet pronounced wrath on them from the face of God, then humbly admitting their iniquities, they immediately all put on sackcloth and sprinkled head with ashes, they commanded fasting and turned to prayer. For such humility, despite the multitude of sins, the Lord heard them: Nineveh was saved from inevitable destruction. Let us also clothe ourselves, if not in sackcloth and ashes, then in humility and confession of our sins; let us put aside luxury and whims and, calling on the Mother of God and the saints for help, we will stand before this throne and say from the depths of our souls: “Lord and Lord of our life, righteous and merciful Judge, blessed be Thy name! We thank You that You do not forget us, the obstinate and corrupted children, and although with the terrible voice of fire, You continue to speak to us, let us cease from our sins. You brought the hedgehog upon us, you brought it with judgment and righteousness. We humbly confess that through our iniquities and unrepentance we have deserved a hundred times more punishment and executions. But, O Most Merciful One, having punished the bitter, spare the repentant; Having shown a formidable right hand, show also a merciful one! From now on we will no longer be servile to our passions; and just as we served the world and sinful lusts, so we will serve You, our Lord and Creator. In our houses and dwellings there will no longer be the same uncleanness and senseless lusts; in our marketplaces no more sedition and deceit will be heard; places of entertainment will not distract us from Your churches; Let us no longer go to the courts of justice to oppress the innocent, but let us hasten, on the contrary, to the dwellings of poverty to provide assistance to our suffering brethren. By all means, Lord, let Your grace not depart from us, and we, who have been pardoned, will use all our strength and means, so that we may not appear unworthy of Your mercy!” With this prayer, my brothers, if it comes from a pure heart, we, although sinners, can stand before the throne of the Heavenly Lord with the hope of being heard. For what is our Lord looking for, blessing us with gifts of happiness, and visiting us with the rod of His wrath, as now? He is looking for one thing: let us arise from the sleep of sin, let us turn to Him and begin to work on the work of our salvation. Therefore, if we turn our face to the Lord, and prove the truth of conversion by good deeds - by correcting our morals and lives, then the Lord will not hesitate to turn His Face to us, and speak with a voice that stops the “flame of fire” that has surrounded us. May all the inhabitants of our city who are no longer with us here hear this! Let them hasten to protect their houses not only with external guards, but first and most of all with prayer, repentance and charity to the poor! Let them take care to destroy in their homes not only everything that can serve as food and stimulation for material fire, but also that which ignites the fire of passions, that serves as the subject of Heavenly wrath! We are still only afraid of danger and loss; and some have already suffered it, and, perhaps, have no property except the ashes that have not yet cooled. May they find help from those who have it and are able to turn their tears into joy! This will be the best guarantee of our repentance before God and at the same time the surest means of turning God’s wrath into mercy for all of us. For Heavenly mercy is not so reliably attracted by anything and is not preserved so firmly as through prayer, humility and mercy towards the poor. Amen. Easter canon. Song 3 Easter canon. Irmos 9 Songs The succession of thanksgiving and prayer songs to the Lord God, sung on the day of Christmas of our Savior Jesus Christ according to the flesh, and the remembrance of the deliverance of the Church and the Russian state from the invasion of the Gauls and with them the twenty tongues You might be interested in: