In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Every nation has treasured names that are never forgotten. On the contrary, the further the historical life of the people develops, the brighter and brighter becomes in the grateful memory of descendants the religious and moral image of those figures who, having given all their strength to the service of Holy Russia, fulfilled with their very lives the Gospel commandment, which reads: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
The holy and blessed Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky belongs to the number of such chosen ones of God. His name is one of the most glorious in the history of our Fatherland, one of the brightest and most beloved names by the Russian people.
A great feat fell to the lot of Saint Alexander: to save Russia, he had to simultaneously demonstrate the valor of a warrior and the humility of a monk. At the same time, the prince faced a feat of military glory on the banks of the Neva and on the ice of Lake Peipsi: the aggressors of other faiths (dog-knights of paramilitary Catholic orders) sought to enslave Rus' and desecrate the shrines of Russian Orthodoxy. Feeling with all his soul the “pillar and affirmation of Truth” in the Church, understanding the fateful significance of this Truth of Christ in Russian life, Holy Prince Alexander took upon himself the heavy cross of the sovereign defender of the purity of faith, guardian and preserver of the spiritual fullness of Russian Orthodox statehood.
A feat of humility awaited him in his relations with the arrogant and satiated Mongol Horde. Khan Batu sent to tell the prince: “God has conquered many nations to me: are you the only one who doesn’t want to submit to my power?” Seeing in what happened God's permission and punishment for the sins of internecine princely enmity, Saint Alexander decided to recognize the seniority of the khan, not wanting to torment his Fatherland with the horrors of another war.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, declares the Word of God. — Fear more the One who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28). The soul of Russia has always lived and breathed the grace of the Church. Mongol slavery did not threaten it, bringing death only to the state body of fragmented appanage Rus'. But the heretical Latinism threatened mortal damage to Russian life. The noble prince knew this, and therefore the work of his whole life became the concern for maintaining peace in the East, under the cover of which he could throw all his strength into repelling the aggression of the insidious West.
Having made reliance on the truths of the Law of God and the commandments of Christ the main principle of his activity, Saint Alexander was the first to lead Rus' onto that path, following which it grew and strengthened year by year, turning as a result from a community of small warring principalities into a great and formidable Orthodox Empire, the defender and custodian of Ecumenical Orthodoxy. All our current troubles and turmoil, all the shame of today’s ruined, plundered and slandered Russia is the terrible result of the fact that in the 20th century we rejected the shrines of faith and, in the madness of our pride, turned away from the only saving path that was commanded to us by the blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky.
Even at the beginning of the century, the great prayer book of the Russian land, the holy righteous Father John of Kronstadt, threateningly warned the Russian people about the terrible consequences of apostasy. “In Russia,” he said, “in the space of centuries, what great miracles have been created, what signs have been sent from Heaven; what kind of figures the Lord raised up, the builders of Russia, its way of life and people’s piety! What great miracle workers: Sergius of Radonezh, Alexander Nevsky, Kirill of Beloozersky, Peter, Alexy - metropolitans of the Russian land - the Lord raised and glorified! Is all this in vain, and not for the strengthening of saving faith and Christian piety in us? How respectfully, all-mercifully, wisely the Lord creates our salvation!
And with all this, Russia, in the person of the intelligentsia, and part of the people, became unfaithful to the Lord, forgot all His blessings, fell away from Him... But think about it, Russian people, soberly, sensibly - what are you striving for? You forgot God and abandoned Him, and He abandoned you through His fatherly providence and gave you into the hands of your own unbridled wild tyranny! Come to your senses, come to your senses, repent, correct yourself! Start living peacefully and work out your salvation with the fear of God (Phil. 2:12). May there be glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and in Russia, and goodwill toward men.”
Today, more than ever, it is important for us to understand that our salvation, both personal and national, all-Russian, directly depends on whether we are able to overthrow the disgusting mental yoke of atheism that has tormented Rus' for almost eighty years in a row! I firmly believe that, by the great mercy of God, the prayers of the sovereign defender of the Russian Land, the blessed Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky, will help us along this path.
Wake up, wake up! Amen.
Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga John (Snychev) Articles, conversations, appeals. - St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe Delo, 2006.