Words for highly solemn days

Contents A word during the second week of Lent, regarding the brazen and daring murder by villains of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, March 1, 1881 A word during the liturgy on the day of the funeral of the Blessed Memory of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II. A word on the birthday of the Heir to the All-Russian Throne, the Most Blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich From Publisher A word in the second week of Lent, regarding the brazen and daring murder by villains of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, March 1, 1881 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). Beloved brothers and sisters! Our good, sovereign Shepherd of all Russia, GOVERNOR EMPEROR ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH, has passed away. Villains, seditious people, fiends of hell, forerunners of the Antichrist, deprived us of our bright sun: and now all of Russia was covered in the darkness of grief and sadness. All of Russia is crying, praying and crying. You and I prayed and cried. But, brothers and sisters, everything must have its own measure, there must be a measure for our grief, although our loss and that of all Russia is so great and sensitive, the misfortune is so amazing, the villainy is so brazen that you would like, but you cannot leave lamentation and sorrow, sighs and tears. How do you think such a terrible murder could happen in broad daylight - of such a kind, powerful, glorious Tsar for his deeds and love for Russia and the people! Why, O God,” we said to ourselves, “this time also You did not deliver Him, as You have delivered Him many times before, so that this time all of Russia would sing a hymn of gratitude and praise to You! Why did you allow the enemies of the Tsar and Russia, who have now raised their eyebrows, to triumph? Why did you allow these evil kites to attack our gentle Dove and tear Him to pieces so terribly? But forgive, O God, our God, that we dare, in this way, to compete with You and demand, as it were, an account of Your wise, gracious and untested destinies. The overwhelming sorrow in our hearts prompts us to cry out and ask questions. How can we console ourselves with you in our inexpressible grief for the murder of our beloved King and Father? - Let us console ourselves, firstly, with the fact that the late LORD in his death became an imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself; for just as the Lord laid down His life for us, having been betrayed by Judas and killed by the hands of the lawless, nailed to the cross, so our King, betrayed and killed by his own subjects, laid down his life for us, for His greatest benefits shown to us during His wise reign - for love for us and the most sincere and broad desires for good and prosperity for all of us and His enemies and villains themselves. He truly, like a good shepherd, laid down and laid down his whole life for his sheep, among which there were stinking goats - and on the very day and hour of violent murder from the murderers, He wanted to save from death the youth who had become the unfortunate victim of an assassination attempt on His royal Person. If He, following the fatherly movement of his heart, had not gotten out of his carriage to take part in the situation of the wounded youth and had gone forward, then perhaps he would not have become a victim of death, and his enemies would have been caught. However, apparently His hour has come; for the sovereign lands are under the special Providence of God, and the heart of the king is in the hand of God (Prov. 21:1), according to Scripture. May the will of the Lord be done! Secondly, let us temper our sorrow by reflecting that the Lord ended His days, so dear to us, not in the prime of life, not in adulthood, but on the western slope of His days, when He already began to feel some of the ailments of approaching old age - and yet we all must certainly die; - cut short His days after a quarter of a century of His beneficent reign. Thirdly, let us be comforted by the fact that the Lord deigned to call Him to Himself in the bright and beautiful crown of the Martyr, - more brilliant than His royal crown, - and in the incorruptible scarlet robe of the Passion-Bearer, incomparably more precious and beautiful than His royal scarlet robe - in a crimson robe, stained with His own blood, mixed with the life-giving blood the Lord, whose communion He was honored with before His death; Let us be comforted - I will add - by the fact that the Lord called Him into His incorruptible, unshakable and endless kingdom, where there are no enemies, envious people and evildoers, and where most holy love reigns forever, truth and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Fourthly, let us be consoled by the fact that He left us behind Him wise, kind and tested in the crucible of everyday experience, an Heir in the years of mature courage, who already promised with His sovereign word to follow in the footsteps of His Parent - the Martyr-Tsar, and in whom we can contemplate the image of the deceased. Fifthly, let us be comforted by the fact that the all-good, all-seeing, cheerful, wise and all-powerful Providence will not allow such misfortune to happen to us in the future, for He does not allow temptations beyond our strength, but with temptations leaves an excess so that we can endure (1 Cor. 10:13). But, with Christian consolation in the unexpected and terrible death of the LORD, let us not forget that such a death of His - for all of us there is a thunderous, accusatory voice - of the Heavenly Father, testifying that - according to our morals - we have become unworthy of such a LORD, and therefore the Lord took Him from us to Himself, so that He may rest from His labors and escape new fetters of evil, and what if with the green tree arrived, what will happen to the dry trees (Luke 23:31), i.e. with us sinners who do not bear the fruits of repentance? – We must correct ourselves if we want our Kings to reign long and prosperously. At one time, just before the captivity of Babylon, the Jews had a very pious king Josiah, who showed fiery zeal for the true faith and destroyed idolatry in the land of Judea. But the Jews at that time were extremely corrupt, and therefore were deprived of a pious king, who was killed in battle 39 years from birth. – Let’s take a good look at what is not good with us, what is displeasing and disgusting to God. Oh, there is much, much that is unkind and displeasing to God in us! For example, now is fasting, and yet many have forgotten that now is fasting. There were public entertainments or theaters during Lent, and all sorts of other sinful, unclean pleasures for the multi-passionate flesh, passions that more and more inflamed it, also existed during Lent, and still exist today - I mean well-known houses - and many, many people are not allowed to take the least care of the salvation of the soul, while fasts were established precisely for this purpose. And really, is this how it will always be? But isn’t the salvation of human souls dear to God? Didn’t He buy them at the price of His most pure Blood? Will He again give them over to the power of the devil? However, people themselves surrender to the power of Satan through sins and unrepentance, and if they perish, then they themselves will be to blame for their destruction, for they destroyed the ready-made salvation. - And now, for the terribly developed ulcer of sin, terrible blows are unleashed on us, striking heavenly thunders: now there is a crop failure, and therefore the extreme high cost of living needs, now widespread diseases, now floods and storms, now destructive fires, and to top it all off, here is another blow for us! Now everyone has woken up, awakened, perked up! Everyone is crying; everyone exclaims: oh, what a crime! what barbarity, malice! But is this all that is needed from us? What is needed is moral cleansing, deep national repentance, a change in pagan morals to Christian ones. Let us wash ourselves with tears of repentance, we will purify ourselves, we will be reconciled with God, and He will be reconciled with us, and, like chaff, He will scatter and destroy all the enemies of the Tsar and the people. Behold, he who keeps Israel will not slumber; he who guards Israel will fall asleep (Ps. 120:4)! Let us take care of each other - the rich for the poor; the strong and noble about the humble and the simple and the weak; Let us wipe away the tears of widows and orphans, groaning in their hopeless poverty and often cursing their fate, reaching despair, but there are many of them, and their cries reach God. Let's give up luxury, which is the enemy and scourge of mercy and to which we so readily get used. Let us willingly share with the poor who need a piece of bread, clothing, or shelter. Forgive me for reminding you of this often: my duty is to awaken a sense of mercy in everyone; for only the merciful will receive mercy. We are all members of one another in Christ, and in the body if one member suffers, all suffer with it (Matt. 5:7; 1 Cor. 12:26). The late LORD took care of us all, like the good Shepherd of the entire Russian land, and laid down His life for us. We will take care of each other; do not shun anyone from mercy if you want to be Christ’s and rightfully be called a Christian, and if you are unmerciful, then you yourself will not receive mercy from God. With the measure you use, it is said that it will be measured to you (Luke 6:38). Amen. Homily during the liturgy on the day of the funeral of the Blessed Memory of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II Whoever loses his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it (Mark 8:35). Brothers and sisters! Today Russia will bury the mortal remains of its beloved Tsar-Father and greatest benefactor, who died a martyr’s death at the hands of villains. My God! what have we come to? What atrocities! In broad daylight, in sight of people on foot and traveling, people in human form, but animals or demons in their souls, killed the meek and gentle GOVERNOR, who had benefited millions of his subjects and strangers, our fellow believers! How many tears and sobs were shed before the Lord for the Martyr Tsar, whom we so quickly and unexpectedly had to lose! What king was ever so mourned! But let us not grieve excessively, as those who do not have the hope of the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:13). Let us turn to the divine book of the covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ and draw from it consolation for ourselves in the current sorrowful circumstances. Let us read from it some words of the Gospel read today, which contain no small consolation for those mourning the death of good people and benefactors, and are directly related to our present grief on the occasion of the death of our kind and wise LORD. The Lord says: whoever loses his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it, i.e. whoever loses his here, temporary life by force at someone else’s hands, for the truth, or who voluntarily crucifies his flesh with passions and lusts, will save it. But who will deny, who does not know that our late GOVERNMENT lost his temporary life for his good deeds, for his love for the people, for the fact that he dedicated his whole life to the well-being of his own people and those of others, our fellow tribes? And so, although His death is the greatest loss for all of us, for Him it is a gain; having lost his life for this world, he gained it for the heavenly, imperishable world; having lost the kingdom of earth, he inherits the kingdom of heaven. Oh, may the Lord rest His soul in a place that is brighter, greener and more peaceful, from where sickness, sorrow and sighing have fled (Isa. 51:11), but where life is endless and carefree, without any fear or apprehension. Isn't it illness, isn't it constant fears and apprehensions - what would the life of our beloved LORD be like if he still continued to live on earth? The villains of Russia and the Tsar, as we read in printed news, did not sleep either in Russia or outside it - and were constantly preparing to deal a terrible blow to all of Russia. And so, the King of heaven and earth, immortal, eternal, all-powerful, all-good, deigned to call our king, after His great labors, to Himself, so that he might get rid of all his enemies and may he rest from his labors there in heaven. Peace to your spirit, Orthodox Tsar! Rest in Abraham's bosom! And You, O all-powerful King of heaven and earth! preserve our new autocratic Tsar under Your power for many years and grant in His days truth and plenty of peace, silence and success in His royal wisdom. We, brothers, will learn from the deceased LORD - to live not only for ourselves, but also for the good of our neighbors; let us learn to deny ourselves, our deadly and all-destructive passions; let us learn to mortify these passions warring against us in order to save forever our infinite souls, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed - at an infinitely great price - by the blood of the Son of God. Amen. Word on the birthday of the Heir to the All-Russian Throne, the Blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow, for her year has come; When the child gives birth, he who does not remember the sorrow, for the joy that a man was born into the world (John 16:21). The birth into the world of man, a rational creation of God, in the image of God, is a wondrous work of the omnipotence, goodness and wisdom of God; a new creature appears in the world from non-existence into being, a creature that, apparently, is not insignificant and weak at the beginning, but which later often has an important influence on the fate of its fellow tribesmen, an entire people and sometimes on the fate of the world. But the entry into the world of this creature, which is called man (which means verbal), is most often accompanied by great sorrow for the mother giving birth to him due to the sinfulness of conception and birth. When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow, for her year has come, i.e. time of birth. All those born of wives should remember this, and pay them with love and reward for the pain of birth. However, after the mother gives birth to her baby, she soon forgets her grief because of the joy that a man was born into the world. Thus, the feeling of sorrow is replaced and absorbed by a feeling of joy. And how can one not rejoice at a mother! She became the mother of a child, the most heartfelt and dearest creature for her, who lived her life in her womb and will now live her life for quite a long time. How can a mother not be happy? She gave birth to a man, a future member of the Church of God, a Christian, an heir to the Kingdom of God and a citizen, and if the mother is the wife of the GOVERNOR, then she also gave birth to an heir to the throne, or a great figure in the fatherland. In this last case, the joy of the father and mother becomes the joy of the entire state, the entire fatherland. Such is the present joy on the occasion of the celebration of the birthday of the Righteous GOVERNOR TSESAREVICH and Grand Duke ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH! The joy of the birth of the Righteous Tsarevich is the joy of the whole kingdom, and the triumph of his birth is the triumph of the whole kingdom: for the heir is the hope of the whole kingdom, its support, the guarantee of its power and prosperity. That is why the Holy Church of God today solemnly offers thanks to the Chief of our life and the King of kings for His gift, preservation and success and prays to the Lord to continue to preserve Him in all prosperity for many years to come. Let us, brethren, add to the prayers of the Church our heartfelt thanksgiving and glorification to the Lord for bestowing upon the Russian state a good and wise Heir after the hearts of the Russians, for the preservation, multiplication and prosperity of His house, and let us pray with all our hearts that the Lord above may grant Him to be a worthy heir of His Great Parent, the successor of His plans and destinies, and may He preserve Him for many years with His Blessed One. family. God! Save and preserve the son of Tsarev for many, many years to the glory of Russia and the Orthodox Church. Amen. “The root, unshakable foundation of the Russian land is the Tsar’s power, united, autocratic, having its source in God’s will. The entire structure of our state and people’s life, the indestructible order and improvement of the Russian State, its strength and power is based on this power.” This profound truth, so significant in the history of the Russian people, was chosen as the subject of his teaching by the revered shepherd of the Church in Russia, O. John of Kronstadt, in a sermon delivered in Kronstadt on the second anniversary of the accession to the throne of the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich. When publishing the highly instructive word of the people's evangelist, the publisher considers it his duty to explain that the late publication of this publication was solely due to the excessive modesty of the Preacher. The publisher is fully convinced that the publication now going into public circulation will meet with the most cordial response everywhere in Rus'; he is happy to please his ordinary readers from the people with the appendix to the sermon of the Tsar’s portrait, in which the Russian people will see the personification in the Tsar-Crown of young, fresh strength, blooming health and tireless zeal to work for the good of Russia dear to Him, for the joy of His beloved people.” You might be interested in: