Words and Speeches (1879-1882)

Contents 1. Speech on entering the department of the Moscow diocese, delivered at the Assumption Cathedral on May 10, 1879 2. Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society in Moscow on May 13, 1879 3. Speech delivered to the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on May 18, 1879 4. Speech given in the Academic Church on May 21, 1879 5. Word spoken on the day of the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Moscow Sretensky Monastery on June 23, 1879 6. Word spoken on the day of St. Equal to the Apostles and Grand Duke Vladimir in the church at the house of the Moscow Governor-General on July 15, 1879 7. Homily on the day of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, spoken in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 15, 1879 8. Homily on the day of the sacred wedding and anointing of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, said in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 26, 1879 9. Speech on the consecration of the church in the Moscow Central Transfer Prison on September 23, 1879 10. Speech at the funeral service of the Honored Professor of Moscow University Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, in the University Church, October 7, 1879 11. Speech at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Organization of Public Readings in Moscow, October 12, 1818 12. Speech on the consecration of the church in the Lyceum of Tsarevich Nicholas on November 16, 1879 13. Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich upon His Majesty’s entry into the Great Assumption Cathedral on November 20, 1879 14. Speech at the meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society on May 11, 1880 15. Speech at the opening of the monument to Pushkin, after the memorial service for him in the main church of the Passion Monastery, June 6 1880 16. Speech on the occasion of the opening in Moscow of the Shelter for the terminally ill and crippled of all classes on June 12, 1880 17. Word on the day of the anniversary celebration of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery on August 9, 1880 18. Word on the day of the sacred wedding and anointing of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, delivered in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 26, 1880 19. Speech on the occasion of the opening of the Brotherhood of St. Sergius, delivered in the assembly hall of the Moscow Theological Academy on September 25, 1880 20. Speech delivered in the Great Assumption Cathedral on May 17, 1881 21. Speech at the meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society on May 17, 1881 22. Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich before the entry of His Imperial Majesty into the Great Assumption Cathedral on July 17, 1881 23. Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich upon the entry of His Majesty into the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra on July 11, 1881 24. Speech after the prayer service on the occasion of the opening of the All-Russian Industrial-Artistic exhibition in Moscow on May 20, 1882. 25. Systematic index of Words and Speeches delivered in Vilna and Moscow in the period from 1868 to 1882 Hitherto published collections of preaching works of the late author of Orthodox-Dogmatic Theology, Introduction to it, History of the Russian Church and Schism, known under the title: Collection of Words and Speeches of Macarius, Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna (St. Petersburg, 1869) and Words and Speeches of Macarius, former Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna (St. Petersburg, 1880), contain the works of church oratory art of the late Archpastor for the period of time from the first Word spoken by him in Kyiv in 1841, as soon as he assumed the position of bachelor of the Kyiv Theological Academy, until his appointment in 1879 as Metropolitan of Moscow; The words and Speeches spoken by him during his three-year archpastoral activity at the department of the Moscow Metropolis, published separately in magazines and newspapers, have not yet been collected and published in a separate book, like the above. The insignificant number (twenty-four) of the preaching works of the late Metropolitan in the Moscow diocese is explained by his short stay at the Moscow see, during which he was present at the Holy Synod for about half of each year, and therefore could not address his spiritual flock often, mainly in the summer months, when he was in his diocese. In this collection of Words and Speeches, as in the collections mentioned above, both are arranged in chronological order, indicating the time and place of their utterance. To prevent difficulties in finding that Word or that Speech, which at the moment, for one reason or another, the reader is interested in, to this collection of Moscow sermons, as was done in the collection published in 1869 and containing Words and Speeches for the period from 1841 to 1868, i.e. before the call from the Kharkov pulpit to be present in St. Synod, enclosed is a Systematic Index of Words and Speeches delivered in Vilna from 1868 to 1879 1 and in Moscow from 1879 to 1882, both of which are arranged by subject or subsumed under certain classes. Speech upon entering the department of the Moscow diocese, delivered in the Assumption Cathedral on May 10, 1879 Fear God, honor the king. 1 Peter 2:17. In times of sorrow, I come to you, my brothers in the Lord, in the title of your archpastor. You yourself know what our common grief is now, deep, inexpressible. An epidemic appeared in Holy Rus', never before heard of in our country; the epidemic is not sensual, but mental and moral, the most destructive of all types of epidemics. It consists in the denial of God and everything spiritual in the world and man, in the denial of royal and generally God-established power. The epidemic threatens death and destruction of every religion, every moral and social order, it threatens to shake the very foundations of our sacred. Churches and states. My heart laments for those unfortunates who have already become carried away and infected with this spiritual infection, who were previously our brothers in faith and fatherland, but have now become our enemies and have doomed themselves to such terrible encroachments and atrocities. The heart languishes even more at the thought that the infection can spread further and further, can carry away new victims, lead to new atrocities. All true sons of the church and fatherland are now most concerned about how to counteract the terrible epidemic, how to protect themselves and their neighbors from its deadly breath. What should be the main concern of the pastor of the church today? And with what words could I address you now, at my very entrance to the see of the Moscow high priests, at my very first spiritual communication with you, if not with words of conviction and prayer: watch out, holy is that priceless treasure that the epidemic threatens to steal from us; keep within yourself, firm and unshakable, that faith in God, that love and devotion to the Anointed One of God, which Christianity planted, nurtured and established in us? Fear God, honor the king. And not only now, but at all other times, it would be most natural for me to begin my pastoral conversations with you with these very apostolic words. It is my duty to lead you to eternal life, to proclaim to you the truths of faith and salvation, to preach to you about God our Creator and Provider, about God our Savior, about God our Sanctifier and Judge, and about everything that God taught and commanded us to achieve eternal bliss. But for whom, tell me, can all this preaching of the Gospel be intelligible, meaningful and powerful? Only for those people who truly believe in the existence of God and recognize His relationship to the world and man. And for unbelievers, for whom there is no God at all, it is as if Christianity does not exist for them: their ears are completely closed to the perception of the Gospel teaching. It is my duty to proclaim to you those truths of divine revelation that relate to our temporary life: for the faith of Christ, as the apostle puts it, has a promise not only of the future, but also of the present life (1 Tim. 4:8). Teaching us everything that we need to know and do for eternal salvation, she teaches us together our most important responsibilities in family and social life, and with her life-giving teaching, with her sublime commandments about self-sacrifice and love, with all her grace-filled means, preparing worthy citizens for the kingdom of heaven, she prepares together the best citizens for the kingdoms of the earth. But, in a series of revealed truths concerning our temporary life, especially our civil life, the first and fundamental one is that the Most High owns the kingdom of man, and He will delight and give it (Dan. 4:22), that He appoints kings and deposes (Dan. 2:21), He anoints them with His holy oil (Ps. 89:21), and that in general there is no power, if not from God, but the existing powers were created by God essence (Rom.13:1). On this truth are based all others that the holy faith instills in us, as guiding rules for our civil activities, and with the rejection of this truth they inevitably lose all their binding force and all meaning for us. Fear God, honor the king. Sons of Russia! We all love our fatherland and wish it well. And who among us does not know what faith in God, true, Orthodox faith, and love for the Monarch, the Anointed of God, illuminated by our St., have been for Russia at all times and what remains to this day? by faith? Haven't they primarily united and are still uniting the entire Russian people into one people, into one living organism, powerful, indestructible? Didn't they support, encourage and save the Russian people during their most difficult trials and disasters? Haven't they always excited and moved all classes of the Russian land to make all kinds of sacrifices for the happiness of their native land? These are the two most important and essential elements of our national life: everyone who holds the fatherland dear must unite to guard and defend them. May Russia prosper and prosper more and more; let all kinds of changes and transformations for the better, all kinds of improvements take place in it - and how many and what radical and beneficial transformations have been accomplished in our days by the sovereign hand of our great, God-preserved and God-wise Sovereign! But among all such changes and improvements, may those foundations on which the entire edifice of our state is established remain forever unchanged and inviolable: Orthodox faith in God and love for the Anointed of God - the most pious Monarch. Moscow, the capital city! All of Russia is looking at you, and since ancient times it has been accustomed to see in you the first guardian of the Russian spirit and the true principles of the Russian people. The greatest saints of the Russian land, who were the pillars of not only the Church, but also the state, lived and worked here, and here they still rest incorruptibly, as a lesson to all. The most holy deeds and the highest feats of Russian patriotism were performed here. May you continue to remain forever, God-loving and king-loving, an example and model for all Russian cities and villages in adherence to St. the Orthodox faith and the Church and in unshakable loyalty and devotion to the Throne and the Fatherland. Amen. Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society in Moscow on May 13, 1879 For the first time, the Orthodox Missionary Society, celebrating its annual holiday, does not see in its midst the one who from the very foundation of the Society was, one might say, not only its head, but also its soul. Let us honor the memory of the deceased high priest, the great missionary, who worked so hard in preaching the gospel; Let us honor him not only with prayerful remembrance of him, but also with a firm determination to follow in his footsteps and continue with all zeal what he started. Thank the Lord! Our missionary Society is already firmly established, and counts its members in different places in Russia in the thousands. Honor and praise to everyone, and especially to the Moscow clergy, who zealously served to strengthen the Society! But no matter how significant the number of its members is, one cannot help but admit that it is still very small: small for such a multi-million people as the Russian people; It’s not enough for such a populous city as our capital. It's about spreading our St. Orthodox faith, about spreading it among our compatriots who have not yet known the One True God and Jesus Christ sent by Him (John 17:3). Here is everything that should be close to the heart of every Orthodox son of Russia, who truly loves his faith, his neighbors, his fatherland. Who among us does not know with what zeal the Latins and Protestants in their main branches try to spread their confessions, which they recognize as true? What enormous capital they make with their donations for this purpose; which missionary institutions support them; and wherever they send their missions to preach the gospel! Do we, Russians, really love our faith, truly Orthodox, less? And is it possible to assume that those of us in whom this saint really lives? love for his faith, did not want to contribute, to the best of his strength and means, to its spread within his fatherland? There are many types of charity in which Christian love for others is manifested, and there are a great, countless number of pious souls in all layers of our society, in all cities and villages of the Russian land - such souls who love to do good and do not deny those in need anything they have the means to help. But let no one forget that the highest benefit that we can provide to our neighbors is to enlighten them, if they are not yet enlightened, with the true Christian faith: because their eternal fate, and to some extent also their temporary fate, depends entirely on this faith. Christianity always and everywhere, wherever it penetrated, brought with it the first rays of popular education and citizenship; for entire centuries, various foreigners have lived under the rule of Russia, who, despite repeated attempts to convert them to Christianity, still remain among the masses ignorant of the true God. They are united with us in a civil sense: they recognize the Russian authorities over them, are subject to Russian laws, and fulfill the duties imposed on them by our government. But they do not have an internal, spiritual connection with us and cannot have it, because they are separated from us by their religious beliefs and convictions. In order for these our fellow citizens to unite with us completely and form with us not only one body, but also, as it were, one spirit, there is only one possible means - to enlighten them with the same saving faith with which we are enlightened. Do I need to explain how important this would be for our fatherland? No, our Orthodox Missionary Society should count its members throughout Russia, and even in Moscow alone, not in thousands, but in tens of thousands. For there are not thousands, we are convinced, but there are tens, even hundreds of thousands of Russian Orthodox Christians who truly love their St. faith, their neighbors, their fatherland, and are always ready to make all possible sacrifices for their good. Let us pray to the Lord that He will bless our missionary Society in the coming summer of its activity, as He has blessed hitherto: may the number of members of this Society increase more and more, may sympathy for it increase and strengthen in all regions of Russia, may its funds increase with new and new zealous offerings from the Orthodox, and may we be honored to see new, most desired successes of Evangelical Orthodox preaching among ours compatriots not yet enlightened by the light of Christ. Speech delivered to the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on May 18, 1879 Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16. With these words of our Savior I address you now, brothers of St. of the miraculous Lavra Father Sergius, at my very assumption of the position of your rector and spiritual leader. I see how many Orthodox people have gathered to see you for your upcoming holiday. I know how countless Orthodox Christians flock to you from all over Russia at other times of the year. Why do they flock? Then, without a doubt, to venerate St. the relics of the great saint of God, the founder of the Lavra, as well as other saints of God who labored here; then to pray, together with you, in your saints. churches in which former ascetics of the Lavra prayed; then, finally, to look at the way you live and learn from you faith and piety. Do you feel what a high duty lies upon you and together, what a grave responsibility before God and the entire Church? If in any monastery monks should remember their vows and be distinguished by strict morality, then it is mainly here. Your monastery is called to be, as it were, an open school of piety, not only for the surrounding country, but also for all the Orthodox sons of our vast fatherland who flow here. May she fulfill her calling sacredly and steadfastly! Live your life in a way that serves as a lesson to others. May these zealous pilgrims, who often come to you from the most distant places and bring here their last mites as a sacrifice to God and the Holy One. monasteries, let them return from you with spiritual gain and the consciousness that they did not come here in vain, that they found here what they were looking for, they found spiritual consolation, reinforcement, and edification. Good for those of you who, with your deeds of selflessness and love, with your zeal and reverence when performing church services, contribute to the achievement of this high goal. But woe, deep woe to those who, by their inattention to duty, their deviations from the rules of monastic life, serve as a temptation for visiting pilgrims and, instead of moral benefit, cause them only harm. Pray more earnestly to the Lord God, that He will help you to be fully worthy of your calling. Work yourself, with God’s help, tirelessly on your moral improvement for the teaching and edification of others. Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Speech given in the Academic Church on May 21, 1879 When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. John 16:13. The descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, an event of extreme importance for the entire Church, still has special meaning for you, my brethren in the Lord! What is the main subject of your studies? Is this not the same divine truth that the Spirit of truth brought to earth and to which He instructed the Apostles? What is your main goal? Is it not the same one for whom the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and guided them into all truth? Some of you, whom the Lord judges, will yourself be shepherds and teachers of the Church, that is, continuers of that very holy and great work that the Apostles began and accomplished, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Most of you, almost all of you, are meant to be mentors and preparers of other young people for pastoral service in the Church. There is, however, a significant difference between the way this divine truth was communicated to the Apostles and the way it is assimilated by you. It was communicated to the apostles in a supernatural way. The Holy Spirit Himself was their direct teacher, mentor, and leader. He enlightened their minds and hearts, and He Himself instilled in them everything that they had to preach to the world, everything that they later set out in writing and that they orally conveyed to the Church. You try to assimilate this divine truth or body of truths in a natural way - with the help of your mentors, who are people like you, with the help of various sciences that you study, both in order to develop your mind and make it capable of assimilating the truths of the Christian revelation, and in order to make it easier for yourself to understand and comprehend them. But, having assimilated in this way the truths once forever taught by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles of St. Church, do not forget that the natural means that you use in this matter alone are not enough for you, that you also need constant guidance from the Spirit of truth, which guided St. Apostles, and you are obliged to have Him as your supreme Guide. The truths of Christian revelation, for the most part, relate to the higher, spiritual world, not subject to our feelings and research, and therefore contain much that is mysterious and incomprehensible to us. We are not able to embrace them and explain them with our own mind. Left only to ourselves, we will inevitably fall into various misunderstandings, delusions, and heresies. The Holy Spirit alone, who first spoke these supernatural truths, fully knows and can teach us how to correctly understand and interpret them. Having descended on St. The Apostles, from that time He remains in the Church throughout the century (John 14:16) and, having taught these truths to the Church, He Himself guards them in it, protecting it from all error and error. Therefore, in the teaching of the true Church of Christ, which it has always and everywhere contained and still contains unchanged, we must hear the voice of the Holy Spirit himself, guiding it to all truth, and find that reliable guidance that He teaches us for the correct understanding and assimilation of the truths taught by Him at the beginning through the Apostles. But besides this external guidance, He can act directly on our soul. With his grace he can open our minds so that we understand more clearly, more fully, and more deeply the truths of divine revelation; can, by the same grace, arouse, strengthen and confirm in our heart a living and unshakable faith in all the most incomprehensible truths of revelation, of which we are not fully convinced by natural means alone - as a result of which this saving faith is called the gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:8). Brothers and together my beloved children in the Lord! Entering into close communication with your Academy, accepting it under my direct jurisdiction and care, I considered it a sacred duty to pray now, on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, together with you and with you, in order to call upon you His blessing. Naturally, I now wish and cannot help but wish your Academy every good thing; I wish that it flourishes more and more, that all sciences, and especially theological science, are developed in it, for the benefit of our saint. Church and fatherland. But I am convinced that this latest science cannot be developed completely successfully and fruitfully without special assistance from the Holy Spirit. No matter how great your abilities and talents are, no matter how diligent and persistent your work in studying revealed truths, you will not achieve your goal and will not bring all the benefit that you could bring; on the contrary, you can even bring harm to yourself and others if you are not guided by the broadcasts of the Holy Spirit, expressed in the teaching of the universal Church, and you do not call on His grace to your aid, which would open your mind to a better understanding of the truths of revelation and strengthened your heartfelt confidence in their truth and immutability. May He, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom and reason, be your constant supreme teacher and guide in your zealous pursuits of theological science. Amen. Word spoken on the day of the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Moscow Sretensky Monastery on June 23, 1879 O seven, everyone understands that you are My disciples, if you have love among each other. John 13:35. Among the processions of the cross in which our capital is so rich, the current procession in honor of the Vladimir miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most remarkable. It is remarkable already for its antiquity: it was installed in 1480, and therefore has existed for almost exactly four centuries. But it is even more remarkable for the occasion on which it was installed: it was installed in memory of the final deliverance of Russia from the Tatar yoke. And the Tatar yoke was for Russia the greatest disaster that it had ever experienced during its entire thousand-year existence. The Tatar yoke weighed on Russia for more than two hundred years, although inconsistently to the same extent. The Tatar yoke kept Russia in shameful slavery and humiliation, and forced it to submit to wild barbarians, pay them tribute, and depend on their whims and tyranny. The Tatar yoke began and was often accompanied by terrible devastation for Russia. The Tatar hordes invaded the Russian borders like fiery lava, and destroyed everything they came across on their way; cities and villages were turned into ruins and ashes, residents were beaten, giving no mercy to anyone or anything. Russian blood flowed like a river; screams and groans were heard throughout the entire Russian land. It is difficult to imagine, and even more difficult to put into words, what long-suffering Russia endured at that time. Why did the Lord punish our fatherland so much by sending such a great and lasting disaster upon it? Because, our ancestors themselves, who lived at that time, confessed, “because the sons of Russia angered God with their sins, especially because of the lack of mutual Christian love between them, mutual hatred, continuous internal strife and civil strife. Before its enslavement by the Tatars, Russia, although it recognized the power of one grand-ducal family over itself, was divided into many appanage principalities between members of this family. There were principalities - Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl; principalities - Rostov, Vladimir, Ryazan, Murom; principalities - Smolensk, Polotsk, Pskov, Novgorod and others. All these principalities, despite the close relationship of their princes, were almost constantly at enmity with each other and at war. Wars were fought, for the most part, for the most insignificant reasons and were characterized by extreme cruelty. In vain were the efforts of the best princes to stop and put an end to these fratricidal feuds: in vain were the advice, persuasion, prayers and tears of the most worthy shepherds of the church. The Russians seemed to forget that they were Russians and brothers among themselves; they even forgot that they were Christians, and often, having taken possession of one of their own Russian cities, for example, Kiev, Chernigov, they barbarously plundered and devastated it, killed innocent inhabitants - elders, wives and children, robbed, destroyed and burned churches of God and holy monasteries and indulged in all kinds of furies. Such civil strife, which lasted for centuries, had a double disastrous consequence for Russia: they gradually weakened and weakened it, they called upon it the wrath of God. And this anger finally broke out over her. From the depths of Asia, countless hordes of Tatars moved into the borders of our fatherland, and Russia, fragmented and weakened by internal strife, was unable to withstand the onslaught of countless external enemies, and, cast into the dust, had to drink to the bottom the bitter cup that it had prepared for itself with its previous iniquities. Why then and when did the Lord have mercy on Russia, saving it from painful enslavement? You know that the Almighty, if He punishes those who have sinned before Him, He always punishes them like a father does his children, with the goal of admonishing them and correcting them. For the same purpose, He punished our fatherland. Unfortunately, for a long time, even too long, our ancestors were unable or unwilling to take advantage of heavenly admonition. Our appanage princes, and after them their subjects, did not cease to quarrel with each other even after the Tatar pogrom and continued to wage civil strife, and sometimes even more bloody and disastrous than what they had fought before. There were also princes who turned to the Horde for help and brought Tatar hordes from there with them to ruin their native land. Moscow, then still young and barely formed into an independent principality - this is where for the first time the idea was clearly and deeply realized that the source of all the evils of Russia was its division into appanage principalities, which gave rise to and supported constant enmity, strife, clashes and bloodshed between Russian brothers, and that in order to save Russia it was necessary to destroy this division into appanages, to establish peace, harmony, brotherly love between her sons and to unite them all into one vast, powerful state. Imbued with this idea, the Moscow princes tried to gradually increase their principality at the expense of other principalities and little by little annexed villages, cities, even entire regions from foreign possessions, either by force of arms, or by purchase, or through marriage alliances, or by force of letters, which they begged for themselves from the Tatar khans. The small principality of Moscow very slowly, quietly and almost inconspicuously, but it grew, expanded, absorbed other principalities, and turned into the great reign of all Russia. In the days of the Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich Donskoy, it had already grown and strengthened so much that this pious prince, with the help of some other princes who still retained their inheritances, but who already recognized him as their head, boldly entered into the fight with the formidable Tatar Khan Mamai and, supported by the blessing, convictions and prayers of the great modern ascetic, St. Sergius of Radonezh, defeated proud enemy a brilliant victory on the Kulikovo field. It was a bright dawn and the most joyful herald of our future liberation from Tatar power. Another hundred years passed, and there were no appanage principalities in Russia. Her repentance was accomplished: internal strife, civil strife, and bloodshed, which had caused her so much harm and angered God so much, ceased. All Russians, as brothers by blood and faith, united into one vast state under the rule of one autocratic sovereign of Moscow. And this sovereign, who destroyed the last inheritances in his fatherland, John Vasilyevich III, in the consciousness of his strength, came to the conviction that the time had finally come to completely throw off the shameful Tatar yoke from Russia, and resolutely refused to pay tribute to the khan. And the Lord God, who had already turned to us with His mercy, blessed the intention of our monarch. The Tatar Khan Akhmat, enraged by John’s refusal, moved to the Moscow borders with his entire Golden Horde. The force was enormous and brought involuntary terror to the Russians. Our regiments marched against the enemy; but there were faint-hearted people near the great prince himself, who advised him to humble himself and submit to the khan. The Russian saints, who then gathered in Moscow, in the name of faith and fatherland, convinced the sovereign to boldly go against his adversaries, encouraging him with help from above, and they themselves, together with all the people, performed prayers day and night, especially in the Assumption Cathedral in front of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir. And a miracle really happened that amazed everyone. Akhmat, who had been standing on the banks of the Ugra River for more than a month against the Russians, after small skirmishes with them, suddenly retreated from this river and, for no apparent reason, completely withdrew from the borders of Russia. The Russians clearly understood that it was not they who drove out the enemy with their strength and weapons, and unanimously recognized and confessed that God had arranged this by His invisible power, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, before Whose miraculous icon they prayed so earnestly. Akhmat, who fled from Russia, was soon killed within his borders; The Golden, or Great, Tatar Horde collapsed, splitting into small hordes, and Russia was finally freed from the yoke that had weighed on it for more than two centuries. In gratitude to the Almighty for such a miraculous deliverance from the greatest disaster, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and in memory of future generations, the council of our then saints established the current holiday and procession in honor of the miraculous icon of Her Vladimir. Brothers in the Lord! The lessons of history are the most powerful and indisputable lessons. The Tatar yoke was hard for Russia, but what led to it? The division of our fatherland into small principalities, which aroused constant enmity, continuous discord, clashes, civil strife, and bloodshed between our ancestors. The Lord punished us for this; but His punishment was more a mercy for us than a punishment: because if it had not befallen Russia, if the previous reckless and destructive strife had continued in Russia, then in a century or two it might have been completely depopulated, collapsed and perished. The Tatars, if they ruled our country for a long time, then ruled from afar, almost without interfering in its internal affairs and leaving it to live its own special life. And Russia, taught by bitter experience, healed, during its painful enslavement, quietly and inconspicuously its internal ulcer - the source of its disasters, united its sons under the rule of one autocratic sovereign, and, having overthrown itself, with the miraculous help of God, the shameful Tatar yoke, at once appeared as a powerful state before the eyes of astonished Europe. From that time on, Russia no longer ceased to be a single indivisible power and not only did not split into any destinies, but gradually reunited with itself those parts that were torn from it by foreign powers during the time of its disasters; gradually absorbed many neighboring peoples, including its former enslavers - the Tatars, and united them in its state body. The idea of ​​the unity of the Russian land under the rule of one tsar-sovereign, of the necessity and beneficialness of this unity for the happiness of Russia, penetrated deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the Russian people and took root in them forever. The Tsar and the Fatherland became inseparable in the concepts of the Russian people, so that love for the Fatherland became for them together love for the Tsar, and loyalty to the Tsar and the Royal Throne became loyalty to the Fatherland. At the same time, the Lord, in His mercy to Russia, sent her a whole series of worthy sovereigns, who, with their love for the people under their control, with their concerns for their happiness, even more strongly tied the hearts of their subjects to themselves and with their wise plans and tireless labors, they constantly led their dear Russia from strength to strength, from glory to glory. And now, under the power of our Most Pious Monarch Alexander Nikolaevich, who, with his truly paternal love for his subjects and caring for them, undoubtedly surpassed all his predecessors and with his great transformations did as much for the good of our fatherland as no one had done before, now the united, great, most powerful Russia is rightly considered one of the leading kingdoms of the whole world. Judge after this how we should look at people who, in various secret ways, are trying to steal from us what has so strengthened, elevated and glorified our fatherland; they think to break that living internal union that has united and unites us all into one powerful state organism, and at the same time unites us with our royal Head and Leader; They are trying to create discord and enmity between us, inciting us against the existing order in our fatherland, against the authorities and the Autocratic Power itself. What do they want, these dark people? Is it possible that the terrible civil strife that destroyed Russia in the pre-Tatar period will be repeated among us? Is it possible that, if not the Tatar, then some other, even more difficult, foreign yoke will befall us again? No, they want much worse for us; they dream of destroying our entire state building, destroying its entire structure, causing general chaos in which all public and private wealth must perish. And in return for all this, they cannot give anything lasting: because, with the rejection of royal power, they also reject Divine power; they reject the very existence of God, the existence of the immortal soul, and the afterlife, and therefore all the highest moral principles, without which no civil order can ever be established anywhere. A society of people without faith in God and the immortality of the soul is almost a herd of wild animals, although gifted with reason, who are always ready to torment and destroy each other. Oh, brothers, let us pray more earnestly to the Almighty, may this terrible moral epidemic sweep away from us sooner, may He heal those unfortunate ones who have already become infected with this leprosy, and may He protect those who are capable of becoming infected with it due to their foolishness or depravity. And we ourselves will unite more friendly and stronger around the throne of our beloved Monarch, our Sovereign Father, whom the Lord so clearly and so miraculously saves from the attacks of enemies for their admonition and for the happiness of Russia. Amen. The word spoken on St. Equal to the Apostles and Grand Duke Vladimir in the church at the house of the Moscow Governor-General on July 15, 1879. I am the light of the world. John 8:32. On the Day of the Enlightener of Russia, what is more natural to talk about if not about enlightenment? And what kind of enlightenment, if not the one with which he enlightened Russia? And he enlightened or wanted to enlighten her with a double light. The first light with which our Equal Apostle truly enlightened Russia was the light of Christ, the light of faith, the light of the teachings of the Gospel. You know that at that time this heavenly light already existed on earth in two forms. In the east, in the Orthodox Church, it was preserved in all its primitive purity and shone with the full brilliance of divine truth. In the West, in the Roman Church, he was already weakened, diminished, darkened by an admixture of human opinions and errors. Let us thank the Lord that He destined us to be enlightened by light from the east, and not from the west. Let us also thank our Enlightener, who now hovers among the saints and prays for Russia, enlightened by him. He accepted a new faith for himself and for his people, not somehow hastily, thoughtlessly, not just of his own free will; no, he tested for a long time the faiths that were offered to him; He consulted more than once with his boyars and national elders, and decided to accept the faith from Greece only according to their common desire and according to his inner conviction. The consequences of this holy determination were fatal for us. We have established the true Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church, the only infallible guardian of the faith of Christ in all its purity and integrity, and therefore the most reliable guide to eternal salvation. The supreme shepherds of this church, as a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36), were never carried away among us by the spirit of worldly pride and dominance, as, unfortunately, the high priest of the Western Church was carried away, they did not interfere in political affairs, and did not encroach on the rights of sovereigns. And therefore Russia did not experience those terrible upheavals that occurred in the West as a result of the struggle between secular and spiritual power. On the contrary, our church has always tried to fulfill only its holy, high calling and, raising its children in the spirit of faith and piety, in the spirit of Christian self-sacrifice and love for neighbors, in the spirit of perfect obedience to the powers that be, has always prepared Russia for the best citizens, the most faithful and useful servants for the Tsar and the Fatherland. Another light with which our Equal Apostle wanted to enlighten Russia was the light of science and natural knowledge. Of course these were barely the beginnings of science; but the important thing is that our Enlightener recognized the need for his people, and as soon as he baptized them, he opened schools for them and ordered noble people to send their children there for book learning. The important thing is that St. Vladimir wanted to instill in us a science that would serve as an assistant to the new faith, prepare shepherds and teachers for it, promote its spread and establishment among the Russian people, and therefore constantly live in peace and harmony with the faith, and did not antagonize it, did not oppose it. Nowadays, science is not at all what it was in the days of Saint Prince Vladimir. Nowadays it has expanded its limits extremely and has entire areas in which it develops freely and unhindered, without encountering the Christian faith at all. But even now there are areas for science in which it inevitably comes into contact with our holy faith and can either serve as a good helper for it or harm it. Oh, how I would like that even now, in our fatherland, science would always and invariably maintain itself in the same relationship to faith in which our Equal-to-the-Apostles Enlightenment wanted to place them! How we would like both of these lights, natural and supernatural, originally brought to us by St. Vladimir, continued to jointly and amicably influence the education of the Russian people and strengthened them more and more in the holy principles of pure morality and civil order, for the good and happiness of Russia! Let us wish, brethren, and to each other, on the present holiday of our Enlightener, that the light of faith, which he brought to Russia, shines unquenchably in the consciousness of each of us, warms our hearts and illuminates our path to the kingdom of heaven, and that our convictions, planted in us by holy faith and obtained by us with the help of science, are always in agreement with each other and bring peace, joy, admonition and reinforcement to our souls amid all the circumstances of our earthly life. wanderings. Amen. Homily on the day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, spoken in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 15, 1879 Great will be the glory of this church, the last greater than the first. Ag. 2:10. This prophetic word, referring to the second Jewish church, was fulfilled in its entirety in our holy church, in which we are present and which now celebrates its main holiday. The Jews had only one church - in Jerusalem, and when the first church, created there by King Solomon, disappeared, the second temple in Jerusalem could only be compared with the first and the glory of the second church with the glory of the first. We, in Holy Rus', have had and now have thousands, even tens of thousands of holy churches. And among all these churches, the Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Moscow, from its very origins, has always occupied first place, and its glory has always been great, greater than the glory of each of them. We are not talking about the splendor of our church and not about its internal wealth and beauty - although in this respect, for several centuries, it surpassed all Russian churches - but about the high, special significance that it had and still has for the entire Russian church and for our entire fatherland. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Moscow was erected according to the thought, desire and assistance of the great saint of God, Metropolitan Peter, and, as soon as it was consecrated, it became the seat of the department, or cathedral of the Russian high priests. It was the cathedral of all our metropolitans, starting with St. Peter, who was the first of them to settle in Moscow; remained the cathedral of all our patriarchs, who also lived in Moscow. There were cathedrals in other cities of Russia; but these were cathedrals of local diocesan rulers and were considered the main churches of each of one diocese. And the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, as the cathedral of the first hierarchs of the Russian Church, was and was called the “first altar” church of not just Moscow, not just one diocese, but all of Russia. Its most important advantage over all other cathedrals and churches was that Russian bishops were consecrated here, not only bishops and archbishops, but also metropolitans and patriarchs themselves. Here, through the sacramental ordination of the hierarchs, our bishops received Divine grace, which they then distributed, each in their own diocese, through the sacramental ordination to the entire priesthood, and through the priesthood to their entire spiritual flock. From here, the entire Russian land was consecrated in this way. And although now, since, instead of one supreme shepherd, the permanent Holy Synod of equal rights and equal honor began to govern the Russian Church, the consecration of our archpastors has ceased to be the exclusive advantage of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, and is almost always performed in the main churches of our northern capital, where the ruling Synod resides, but even now, as always before, the Moscow Assumption Cathedral clearly stands out from among all Russian cathedrals and rises above them: since it is the only one of them that is under the direct authority not of the diocesan bishop, but of the governing Synod itself, which extends its power over the entire Russian Church. Why even now the Moscow Assumption Cathedral remains the first altar cathedral of all Russia. Intended, at its very foundation, to be the seat of the cathedral for the Russian high priests, from that time this cathedral also became a place of rest for them after death. Saint Peter was buried here when the construction of the church was not yet completed, and then almost all All-Russian metropolitans and patriarchs were buried here. But the most important thing is that here rest, among others, those great high priests of the Russian land, whom the Lord glorified with incorruptibility and miracles for their holiness and deeds for the church and fatherland; here the saints of God rest with their holy relics: Peter, Jonah, Philip, the wonderworkers of Moscow and all Russia. That is why the Russian people flock here to worship their illustrious high priests, learn from them the love of fatherly faith and piety, express their joys and their sorrows to them, and pray to them as their vigilant intercessors and intercessors before the throne of the Almighty. If you listen to me, my son,” said Saint Peter to the Moscow prince John Danilovich Kalita, “and erect a church of the Most Pure Mother of God in your city, then the saints will live here, and your city will become famous among all Russian cities, and you yourself, with your descendants, will become famous more than all other princes.” The prince fulfilled the desire of the saint, erected a church of the Most Pure One in Moscow: the prediction of the great saint was also fulfilled. Moscow was then still a small town and the Moscow reign was one of the young appanage princedoms. Many other cities stood much higher than it, especially: Vladimir, where our princes then ascended the grand-ducal throne, Ryazan, Tver, Smolensk, Novgorod, Pskov. But as soon as the see of the Russian high priests was established in Moscow, in the newly created Assumption Cathedral, Moscow suddenly became the first city in the concepts of all Orthodox sons of Russia, no matter where they lived - of course, the first in church terms: because they imagined here the head of the Russian church, they saw here their common supreme archpastor and father. Hardly a year had passed after the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, when its creator, Prince John Danilovich, with the approval of the Tatar Khan himself, under whose authority the Russian land was then, was elevated to the dignity of Grand Duke, and this dignity later became hereditary in his offspring. And about a century later, the descendants of Ivan Danilovich Kalita, the Moscow princes, began to ascend to the grand-ducal throne, no longer in Vladimir, but in Moscow itself, in the Assumption Cathedral, that is, Moscow, and in civil terms, became the first city of Russia, the grand-ducal capital. Even more important, not only for Moscow and the Moscow prince, but also for our entire fatherland, was another consequence of the establishment of the primate see in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. Russia at that time remained divided into appanage principalities and continued to suffer a lot from princely civil strife. The Moscow Grand Dukes, starting with Ivan Danilovich Kalita, set out to gradually destroy this division, disastrous for the fatherland, and unite all Russians under their rule into one great Moscow state. The department of metropolitans, established in Moscow, served as one of the first and most important means for this. All our bishops from all appanage principalities, and after the bishops, all the clergy, naturally began to direct their gaze here, to the cathedra of their high priest. Here, around their supreme shepherd, they often gathered, together with other noble members of the hierarchy subordinate to them, for cathedral meetings and, in their own person, represented all their spiritual flocks united here. From here, from the high priestly see, spiritual life spilled out, through the bishops, to all corners of Russia, to all its Orthodox sons. Thus, little by little, the unification of the Russians, which the Moscow princes so desired, took place in Moscow and through Moscow, although this unification was still only ecclesiastical. On the other hand, our high priests themselves, having constantly their see in Moscow and therefore considering themselves subjects of the Moscow Grand Duke, naturally tried to support him with their spiritual authority in his aspirations to create a unified state on Russian soil. For this purpose, they turned to the appanage princes with their archpastoral exhortations - to stop strife and civil strife, humble themselves before the Grand Duke and submit to him; sent the same letters of exhortation to Novgorod, Pskov, Tver and other cities; sometimes they acted on rebellious princes and entire regions through local bishops, and sometimes they punished even the stubborn with church excommunication, in cases when all measures of meekness and persuasion turned out to be powerless and there were no other means left to prevent terrible disasters from the fatherland. With such powerful moral assistance from the metropolitans, the Moscow great princes finally achieved, by the end of the 15th century, their desired goal: they overthrew, one after another, the appanage principalities that had caused so much evil to Russia, and on their ruins they founded and established one great state. But at the same time, a new and very important significance for Russia began for the Moscow Assumption Cathedral - the cathedral of the Russian high priests: it became the place of the sacred wedding and anointing of our sovereigns to the kingdom. Grand Duke John III, who dealt the final blow to the destinies and established autocracy in Russia, was the first to crown here with the Monomakh crown, according to a special church rite, his grandson Demetrius, whom he desired to have as his successor, although the married young man was not destined to sit on the throne. Here, later, all our great princes and kings were married and anointed with chrism, with all solemnity, and all our emperors were married and anointed with chrism. Here they received and are receiving, through mysterious anointing, from the Holy Spirit new grace-filled gifts and strengths in order to worthily carry out their great service to God and Russia and ensure the good and happiness of their subjects. The Assumption Cathedral is for us, brothers, as for the residents of Moscow, the first shrine. With its foundation, the foundation was laid for the rise of Moscow among all Russian cities. At first it became the capital or cathedral city of the Russian high priests, and then gradually rose to the level of the first-throne capital of the Russian sovereigns. The Assumption Cathedral is, if not the first, then one of the first shrines, and for all the sons of Russia. Here, around the high priest's see, the unification of the Russian land, then fragmented into small fiefs, began and took place, first a church unification, and then a state one. Here, over the course of centuries, the installation of all our archpastors took place, and from here the grace-filled sanctification spread to the entire Russian land. Here, for centuries, the sacred coronation of our most pious sovereigns and their anointing from the Holy One for their high service to the Russian land took place. Here the famous saints of the Russian land rest incorruptibly, who labored a lot for her during life, vigilant prayer books for her after death and incessant mentors for us on how to live, how to please God and how to work for our native land. The Assumption Cathedral is for us and for all our compatriots a holy and centuries-old monument to those great benefits that our Orthodox Church has accomplished here in Moscow, both for Moscow and for all of Russia, - one of the most precious monuments, of which there are quite a few scattered throughout the Russian land and which constantly preach to us how much we owe in our very state life to our holy faith, and how we should continue to value its beneficial influence on the fate of our beloved fatherland. Amen. Homily on the day of the sacred wedding and confirmation of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, spoken in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 26, 1879 I have lifted up the chosen one from My people... and anointed him with My holy oil. Now all of Russia is triumphant, reverently remembering the sacred wedding and anointing of its Most Pious Sovereign. Now warm prayers are being offered for him, as God’s anointed, in all churches throughout the vast expanses of the Russian land. But our lot, brethren, has been given an advantage over all our compatriots: we are now celebrating in the very church where the sacred wedding and anointing of our beloved Monarch actually took place, in the church where He himself, crowned by God and anointed by God, for the first time performed this great celebration with extraordinary splendor, in the face of all of Russia and all of Europe, who had their representatives here. And therefore, if anyone and where, then first of all, it is fitting for us here now to understand for ourselves: why is this event so solemnly remembered by us now both for our sovereign father and for all of us, his loyal subjects? The service of the Sovereign is the highest of all services that exist in human societies, but for that it is also the most difficult. It is supplied by God over an entire kingdom, over an entire nation or several nations. Millions, sometimes tens of millions of people are entrusted to the king's care and leadership. He is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the welfare and happiness of all these millions of his subjects. The king elects his assistants and trusts them to manage various branches of state life; but the choice of these assistants lies with him, the main direction of their activity lies with him, the final decision of state issues lies with him, the highest responsibility before God lies with him. What kind of strength is needed, mental and moral, to worthily carry out such a great, such a difficult, such a responsible service? If we, each in a small circle of our activity, which is indicated to us by Providence, often feel the weakness of our strength; If we, in order to do good, need grace-filled help from above, then how much more necessary is it for the Sovereign, whom God calls to such a vast field of activity! For all of us, as Christians, the Lord established in His New Testament church the sacrament of anointing, through which He teaches us all the Divine powers, including life and godliness (2 Peter 1:8), powers that are completely sufficient for us to be able to fulfill our duties, Christian and civil, and to do all good. For kings, He also established in the Old Testament church, as soon as the Jews wished to have a king, a special mystical ritual, a special anointing or anointing for the kingdom (1 Samuel 10:1; 15:17), with the aim of teaching the kings the special, abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit, necessary for their highest royal service. This sacred rite, performed in the Old Testament church, starting with the first kings Saul and David, passed on to the New Testament church. It was performed by the Orthodox Church over the pious Greek kings, and it is also performed over our most pious sovereigns. The Holy Scripture clearly testified to his gracious actions, speaking about King David: and his anointing (Samuel) was in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord moved over David from that day and after (1 Samuel 16:13). If this mysterious anointing of kings was so effective in the Old Testament, then it should be even more effective in the New, when in general the grace of God is taught to people much more abundantly than it was taught before the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, we undoubtedly believe that on our Most Pious Sovereign, as soon as he was anointed, the Holy Spirit descended with all His grace-filled gifts and from that day on hovered invisibly over our sovereign Crown-Bearer. We believe that this Spirit, as the spirit of wisdom and reason, enlightens, instructs and makes wise the anointed of God in all his decisions and actions; as the spirit of advice and strength, instructs and strengthens him in all his great and difficult exploits for the good of Russia and invisibly protects him from enemies; as the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of God (Is. 11: 2, 3), reveals the truth to him, warms his heart with love for his subjects, directs his will to all good for our prosperity and happiness. Thus, the anointing that the Lord performed through His Holy church over our Most Pious Sovereign during his sacred coronation, was an event of extreme importance for the whole of his subsequent reign: then he was clothed with power from above and received from the Almighty all the necessary grace-filled gifts in order to fulfill his high calling with dignity and sacredness. The anointing of our Most Pious Sovereign is no less important for us, his loyal subjects. The Lord placed him high when he called him to reign over us and seated him on the throne - one of the highest thrones in the world. But the Lord exalted our King even more in our eyes when He anointed him through His Holy Spirit. church and abundantly poured out His All-Holy Spirit on him. Since that time, we see in our Sovereign not only a human king placed over us by God, but a king - the anointed of God, sanctified and sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit, the anointed one who rules us with special assistance from the Holy Spirit, the anointed one through whom God Himself rules us. And therefore, everything that comes to us from our God-anointed King, we accept as coming as if from God Himself. The king places all the lower authorities over us: we believe that they are appointed by God Himself, and we confess that there is no authority except from God, but the existing authorities are created by God (Rom. 18:1). The king makes laws for us: we submit to them, as given by God, who said: By me kings reign and the mighty write the truth ( Proverbs 8:15 ) The king finally decides questions concerning the fate of our entire fatherland, questions about peace and war, about various great events and transformations - and we treat these decisions with complete confidence, being convinced that the king’s heart is in the hand of God, and may even please turn tamo evade e (Proverbs 21:1). Sometimes our own personal fate is decided by the will of the king, and we unquestioningly submit to this decision, even if it does not correspond to our desires, and we say: that’s right, it pleases God, who directs the will of His anointed one. The power of the king extends to a certain extent to the affairs of the Church of Christ, which exists within our fatherland: since the members of this church are together members of the fatherland, subjects of the king. And the saint reverently entrusts himself to this sacred power of God’s anointed. the church, which itself sanctified him and blessed him with Divine gifts through mysterious anointing and considers him both its firstborn son and its supreme patron and protector on earth. Sons of Russia! The sacred anointing of our Most Pious Sovereign, which elevated him so much in our eyes and which we remember today with such solemnity, naturally reminds us of our duties to him: fear God, honor the king (1 Peter 2:17), the Word of God commands us: and he who truly fears God cannot but honor His anointed one. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God's God (Matthew 22:21): and the one who renders what is God's unto God, fulfills His holy law, cannot but do the will of God's anointed, not submit to his commands, and not render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Do not touch My anointed (Ps. 104:15): and whoever undoubtedly recognizes the king as God’s anointed will never dare to encroach on him, not only in deed, but even in thought, even in intention. In a word, all our duties to the king, the anointed of God, are based on faith in God, as it was taught to us by Christ our Savior, and everyone who contains this faith, who is imbued with it, cannot fail to fulfill these duties. May it live and reign among us, this holy Orthodox faith of Christ, firmly and unshakably throughout all generations, and then our reverent commitment to the king, as God’s anointed, and our unconditional devotion to his throne will remain firm and unshakable forever. Amen. Speech on the consecration of the church in the Moscow Central Transit Prison on September 23, 1879 Praise mercy in court, said St. Apostle (James 2:13). But no less, if not more, worthy of praise is mercy after the trial, mercy for those who, with all the mercy possible at the trial, could not be justified, but were condemned according to the law of righteousness. An example of such mercy after the trial is before us. This St. a church built and consecrated now by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the very building that is intended to be a temporary home for criminals already condemned, what is it if not the greatest mercy towards them? Here they can find for themselves everything that they most need now; everything we can wish for them, out of a feeling of brotherly love, in the name of humanity and Christianity. First of all, they now need spiritual consolation: because they are unhappy - unhappy both because of the crime they committed and because of the bitter fate they have prepared for themselves. But no one and nothing will give them such consolation as our saint is able to give to every unfortunate person. faith, and nowhere else will they find this consolation more quickly than here - in the sanctuary of our St. faith. They now need strength not so much physical as spiritual, in order to cheerfully and humbly endure the misfortune that has befallen them, so as not to fall under its burden, not to give in to despondency or despair, not to commit a new crime, not to perish completely. But nothing can strengthen us in the midst of disasters and in the fight against disasters as faith in God, who cares for us, faith in Christ the Savior, who, to deliver us from sins and disasters, sacrificed Himself on the cross, and no help can be compared with the grace-filled help that is given to us through faith in Christ, and is taught primarily here - in the church of God through the sacraments of the church. Finally, they, these unfortunate, convicted criminals, need to come to their senses, recognize their guilt, repent and correct themselves, so that later, if they return to society, they become useful members of society, and in any case, so that after temporary punishments for their sins, they do not suffer eternal condemnation in the afterlife for the same sins and for their impenitence. And St. the church is precisely that medical clinic where sinners and criminals can heal their souls: here they will constantly hear the voice of the Savior calling them to repentance; will be present at the sacred rite of the bloodless sacrifice offered for the sins and sinners of the whole world; here the very sacrament of repentance will always be open to them to give them permission and forgiveness from God, as soon as they confess their iniquities. Blessed be God, who instilled in the creators of this huge building, intended as a home for unfortunate criminals, the good idea to build St. church, so that they can find in it consolation, reinforcement, and spiritual healing. Let not all of them take advantage of the mercy offered to them, if at least some of them, even a few, take advantage of it; it is enough if even one of them uses it completely. And this will be a great acquisition and merit before God: because the soul of one person, rational, God-like, is more valuable than the entire material world (Matthew 16:26); and for her the priceless blood of the Redeemer of the world was shed; There is joy in heaven even for one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7). Amen. Speech at the funeral service of the Honored Professor of Moscow University Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, in the University Church, October 7, 1879 Be imitators of me. 1 Corinthians 11:1. Russia has lost one of its most valiant sons. The capital of the Mother Throne - one of the most reasonable and honest of its citizens. Domestic science - one of its most famous representatives and devotees. The oldest Russian University has lost the one who for so long was its best adornment and glory. The loss is great and, perhaps, unrewarded for a long time! But... this tomb is not a place for sorrow and lamentation, but a place for spiritual edification. We lost him, our dear compatriot, but not completely lost. He died for us with his body; but did not die in his immortal scientific creations. He parted with us with his soul, which soared into the heavenly world; but he remained among us with the treasures of his soul, which he bequeathed to us in his writings. His earthly life was not long enough, and we are sorry that he died so early; but even in the period of time given to him, he accomplished as much as others would not have accomplished in the course of even a hundred-year life. And how did you do it? Before us is his gigantic work, his multi-volume History of Russia surrounded by many other similar, albeit smaller, works of his. What are they telling us? They speak, first of all, about his extraordinary talent, about the extraordinary abilities of the soul that God endowed him with, and which the deceased himself developed, strengthened, and perfected to the last degree through his own efforts. They talk about his extraordinary diligence, without which it would have been impossible to erect such a colossal scientific and literary monument: the deceased’s entire life was continuous, tireless, selfless labor, and not a year passed when he did not give us one or even several of his works. They talk about his extraordinary love for science and, at the same time, for his homeland: only a fiery, unquenchable love for science, which he chose as his specialty, could inspire him in his intense, amazing work, which lasted for decades; only holy love for the fatherland could kindle and support in him the courage, patience, self-sacrifice with which he spent days and nights over ancient charters in order to study in detail the past fate of his native land, worthily portray it for his compatriots and thereby contribute to a more complete and comprehensive disclosure of self-awareness in the Russian people. Finally, the learned works of our deceased brother tell us about his warm and sincere commitment to our holy saving faith, which he knew how to combine with the highest intelligence, with the most extensive education, and preserved unshakable in the midst of all the corrupting influences of modern unbelief. Brothers! At the tomb of such a compatriot, we are not ashamed to learn how to serve our fatherland. Grant us, Lord, to work just as hard for the benefit of our native land as our deceased brother worked, and to love his calling and calling in society as passionately as he loved his calling and his science. Grant us, Lord, to be distinguished by the same firm and indestructible love for the fatherland that the deceased was distinguished by, and to invariably preserve and preserve until the end of his life, as he preserved, a living faith in God and in Christ the Savior, which serves as the first condition for our happiness, both eternal and temporary, both private and public. Amen. Speech at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Organization of Public Readings in Moscow on October 12, 1818 There are cases about which we usually express ourselves: the case speaks for itself, - cases whose meaning is so obvious that any word about it seems unnecessary. Among such cases, it seems to me, is the one about which we just now had the pleasure of hearing a report. To talk about the importance and usefulness of public readings, when they are conducted in good faith and with good intentions, would be a waste of time. One thing can be said about this matter: one can wish for more and more sympathy for the national readings on the part of our society, especially on the part of those who can take direct part in them, that is, on the part of our clergy and people of knowledge - science. Folk readings by clergy serve and can serve as a continuation and addition to church sermons. Our church interviews, given the length of our church services, are inevitably brief; there is little to teach the people. During public readings, much more time is revealed. Here, the pastors of the church can communicate more fully and comprehensively to the people information, not only about objects of faith and morality, but also about the worship of the church, and about sacred history, and thus lead the people to the goal to which they are obliged to lead - to affirm the saving faith among the people and contribute to the elevation and strengthening of people's morality. In the same way, folk readings by people of science can serve as a continuation and addition to those readings that are conducted in schools and colleges. Only there, that is, in schools and colleges, is information communicated to children and young people, and in folk readings - to people of all ages, and mainly to adults. People's readings are a kind of school, only in a broad sense, a school of the entire people, accessible to all. Here, people of knowledge and science, if only they really love the people and wish them well, have the opportunity to show their love in practice, communicating to the people true and sound concepts about everything that the people need to know and that can bring the people significant benefit in their everyday life, domestic, economic, civil and in all other respects. I invoke God’s blessing both on the very work of the people’s readings, so that it is conducted honestly and holy, and on all those who sympathize with this work and especially on all those who take a living, direct and conscientious part in it. Speech on the consecration of the church at the Lyceum of Tsarevich Nicholas on November 16, 1879. Now I have chosen and sanctified this house, and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days. 2 Chronicles 7:16. To you, beloved children and young men in the Lord, who are being brought up here, to you is my real word. This educational institution exists for you. This church, now consecrated thanks to the Holy Spirit, was built for you. You need to know what significance it can have for you in your upbringing. Every church or church, after its consecration, is rightly called the house of God (Ps. 5:8): because God really dwells in it. But this house of God is not actually needed for God, but for us. Heaven is My throne, God said back in the Old Testament, and earth is My footstool: what house will you build for Me (Is. 66:1)? Do I not fill the heavens and the earth with food (Jer. 28:24)? But limitless and omnipresent in His essence, He, condescending to our limitations, Himself commanded people to build special buildings and dedicate them to His name, in order to approach us here and show Himself to us in the most tangible way, here primarily to listen to our prayers and accept sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving from us, and here primarily to pour out His mercies on us (Ex. 25:8-22). In His churches He, “who is everywhere and fills everything,” dwells for us with the abundance of His grace, which He distributes to all who flow to Him with faith through the Holy Spirit. sacraments of the church. In churches, out of His infinite mercy towards us, and only in churches, a bloodless Sacrifice is constantly offered for us and for the whole world, imparting special power to our prayers and attracting God’s special favor to us. Do you now feel what this saint can and should be for you? a church built in the place where you grew up? Here, especially here, your warm prayers should be offered to God; here, more than anywhere else, they can be strong before God and bring down gracious help from Him to you. And you have something to pray for during the days of your upbringing, there is something to call on divine help for yourself. They are trying to give you mental education here; Many sciences are presented to you in order to develop, strengthen your mind, and enrich it with diverse knowledge. But to master these sciences, you need to love them, it requires work, not small and not easy; and work requires health and strength. Pray to the Lord, may He kindle the love of science in your hearts, may He constantly preserve your health, may He strengthen your strength, physical and spiritual, may He bless your studies and labors with happy successes. Among other sciences, the Law of God is explained to you here, in which the most important truths are incomprehensible to our reason and can only be perceived by us by faith. Oh, pray, pray more earnestly to the Lord, that He may plant and grow and establish in your souls this saving faith, which constitutes the first condition for our eternal and temporary happiness. This prayer, always necessary, has become especially necessary in our time, when unbelief is spreading so strongly and quickly, which, having an infectious effect on everyone, most captivates, as is natural, young people who are capable of being carried away quickly, and causes so much evil and grief to themselves, their parents, and the whole society. Along with mental education, they are trying to give you a moral education here, they are trying to reveal and understand in your mind the requirements of the moral law, to implant in your hearts the rules of Christian piety and little by little to accustom your will to fulfill these requirements and these rules, in order to thus prepare in you good Christians and good citizens, faithful and useful servants of the Tsar and the Fatherland. But remember firmly the word of our Savior: without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5); remember that we, by our corrupt nature, are more attracted to evil than to good, and on our own, without the assistance of God, we are unable to overcome evil in ourselves and do good. Remember this, and constantly pray for grace-filled help from above. The main root of all our evils and sins is unbridled pride and pride, which are so common among people, and, unfortunately, so often and so sharply manifest themselves now and in the younger generation. Pray that the Lord will help you, from an early age, little by little, to moderate, tame, and weaken these evil principles that live in us. The main principles of truly moral, Christian activity are self-sacrifice and love for God and neighbors. Pray that the Lord will help you from an early age to establish yourself in these holy and beneficial principles. And then only if you establish yourself in them, you will appear in the field of life from the walls of this educational institution as the most worthy sons of the church and the fatherland, capable of serving them with faith and truth, making every sacrifice for their good, laying down your very souls for them, in cases of need. Amen. Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich upon His Majesty’s entry into the Great Assumption Cathedral on November 20, 1879 Most pious Sovereign! Our Lord and Savior said: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). The heart of Russia is Moscow, as the common voice of the Russian people has long called it. The Treasure of Russia, the first Treasure is You, its crowned Head and Anointed of God. And the heart of Russia, although invisible, but unchangeable, is always where You are. And with your heart, all Russia, faithfully devoted to You, is always and everywhere with You and around You with its sincere, grateful, boundless love for You, its unshakable, inherited from its ancestors, commitment to Your throne; and watches, protects, protects his priceless Treasure with his vigilant, never-silent prayers for You. But now especially, when Your capital has been honored with the happiness of seeing You face to face again - to see You for the first time after Your recent miraculous salvation - now, overwhelmed with the most lively feelings of love and devotion to You, combined with feelings of boundless joy and delight about the new, just accomplished, wonderful salvation of Yours, now especially Moscow, as the heart of Russia, pours out for You in the most ardent thanksgivings and prayers to Thy Savior God, on behalf of all Russia. May He protect You, our Treasure, our Father-King, for many, many, many more years, and may He bless all Your royal undertakings and deeds for the good, happiness and glory of our beloved Fatherland. Speech at the meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society on May 11, 1880. It is with feelings of joy that I open this meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society. The Lord blessed us with new mercies last year. Our Society has grown significantly and strengthened: in several dioceses, thanks to the diligence of archpastors and other persons, clergy and secular, new committees of our Society have been opened; in some others new ways have been found to increase its material resources. The general sympathy of the Orthodox for the goals of our activities was expressed by new abundant offerings. But the outstanding feature of the past year in the history of our Missionary Society was the living, extraordinary sympathy with which Russia responded to the needs of the Japanese mission. Here, in the capital, the first to show this sympathy, as one would expect, was our Society itself, and, not embarrassed by the fact that the Japanese mission was not directly within the scope of its jurisdiction and concerns, unanimously assigned it an annual allowance in an amount that it had not previously assigned to any of its Russian missions. Then numerous private donations from Orthodox Christians began in Moscow for the same mission, small and large, small and large, even very large, which have not stopped until now. Our northern capital reacted just as much, if not more sympathetically, to the Japanese mission. And there, both among the clergy and in other classes, there were pious zealots of the faith of Christ who took care of this mission with love and made valuable contributions to it, following the high example of the August Patroness of our Society. And the most important thing is that, by the will of our Sovereign Father, the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor, a constant sufficient salary has been determined for the Japanese mission from the amounts of our State Treasury; This mission was given a permanent bishop in the person of its venerable leader, whom we now have the pleasure of seeing among us, and thus, if possible, both the existence and further spread and organization of the young Orthodox Church in Japan were ensured. May the Lord reward a hundredfold to all who, zealous for the glory of His holy name, with their high patronage, their attention, participation, and their offerings in the past year, assisted our Missionary Society in its feasible aspirations towards its chosen goal. He will bless the Japanese mission, to which Orthodox Russia showed so much sympathy last year, with new successes. May your grace help all other zealous workers of our spiritual missions, who are laboring in the difficult field of preaching the Gospel to the pagans within the borders of our fatherland. Speech at the opening of the monument to Pushkin, after a memorial service for him in the main church of the Passion Monastery, June 6, 1880 And create eternal memory for him. Today is a bright holiday of Russian poetry and the Russian word. Russia solemnly honors the most famous of its poets with the opening of a monument to him. And the Russian Church, consecrating this celebration with a special sacred service and prayers for the eternal repose of the soul of the honored poet, proclaims his eternal memory. Everyone who cherishes their native word and native poetry, throughout all the spaces of Russia, without a doubt, participates with their hearts in this celebration and is, as it were, present here in the person of you, honorable representatives and lovers of Russian literature, science and art! And for you, Moscow, the first-throne city, it is natural to rejoice now more than anyone else: you were the birthplace of our glorious poet; on one of your hills a worthy monument has been erected in his honor, and under your hospitable roof a real celebration is now being celebrated by the sons of Russia, who have flocked to you from all sides. We honor the chosen one, whom the Creator himself distinguished and elevated among us with extraordinary talents, and to whom with these very talents he indicated a special calling in the field of Russian poetry. We honor our greatest poet, who understood and was fully aware of his calling; He did not bury the talents given to him by God, but used them for the very work for which he was chosen and sent, and accomplished as much for Russian poetry as no one else had accomplished. He placed her at a height on which she had never stood, and above which she had not risen before. He imparted to the Russian word in his works such naturalness, simplicity, and at the same time such charming artistry, which we would in vain look for in our former writers. He created for the Russians a verse that Russia had not heard before, a highly harmonic verse that amazed, amazed, delighted his contemporaries, and gave them inexpressible aesthetic pleasure, and which will remain exemplary for Russian poets for a long time. We honor not only our greatest poet, but also our national poet, as he appeared, if not in all, then in his best works. He responded with his sensitive soul to all the legends of Russian antiquity and Russian history, to all the peculiar manifestations of Russian life. He was deeply imbued with the Russian spirit, and everything he received from the Russian people, transforming with his brilliant mind, embodied and passed on to the same people in the sweet-sounding songs of his lyre, with which he delighted his compatriots, and imperceptibly strengthened them in feelings of patriotism and love for everything native. We erected a monument to our great national poet because even before he himself erected a “monument not made by hands” in his immortal creations, and in this monument he erected monuments for us, for all of Russia, which will never lose its value for it and to which therefore “the people’s path will not become overgrown.” Distant descendants will also come to him, just as we come and as our contemporaries came. Sons of Russia! Now dedicating a monument to the most famous of our poets, as a tribute of gratitude to his extraordinary talents and the extraordinary creations that he left us, can we resist offering the most lively, nationwide gratitude to the One who gave us such a poet, who endowed him with such talents, who helped him fulfill his calling? And with this gratitude, so natural for us in these moments, can we not also combine a warm prayer on behalf of the entire Russian land, may the Lord send it more and more brilliant people and great figures, not only in literature, but in all fields of public and government service? May she, our dear one, be adorned in all her lands with worthy monuments in honor of her most worthy sons. Amen. Speech on the occasion of the opening in Moscow of a shelter for the terminally ill and crippled of all classes on June 12, 1880 While consecrating this shelter, which was opened for the terminally ill and crippled of all classes, I involuntarily recalled the words of St. Apostle: My children, we love not in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and truth (1 John 3:18). Here it is, love in deed and truth is before us! And this matter is all the higher, all the more before God and people, the more in need of help and the more deserving of compassion the unfortunates for whom it is intended. Many different institutions appeared on Russian soil in memory of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the glorious reign of our Most Pious Sovereign: one of the most expedient among them, in fairness, can be called the establishment of a real shelter. Here, true Christian love for neighbors and concern for their needs was so clearly and tangibly reflected. And what was the main thing for twenty-five years, what remains the entire reign of our beloved Monarch, if not the manifestation of His constant, inexhaustible, unstoppable love for us and His fatherly concern for our needs? May God's blessing rest both on the shelter that is now opening with its inhabitants, present and future, and on those who, with their living participation, contributed to the establishment of this shelter, or will contribute to its further existence. Word on the day of the anniversary celebration of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery on August 9, 1880 I will remember the days of old, and learn from all your deeds. Ps.142:5. With sincere joy, we hastened to you, brothers of the honorable monastery of Ugreshskaya, to take part in your great celebration, on the occasion of the completed five-hundredth anniversary of your monastery, to greet you with such a rare, extraordinary celebration, and to pray with you to the Lord and offer up feelings of gratitude to Him for all the mercies that He poured out on your monastery during the past five-hundredth anniversary. But, out of pastoral duty, we cannot leave you now without teaching, to which your very triumph calls us. Let us take our thoughts back to the beginning of your monastery. When did the Lord destined for her to come into being? That was the best time of Russian monasticism, at least in central Russia - a time when the great monk of the Russian land, our Reverend Father Sergius of Radonezh, was still alive, and was already famous for his exploits and miracles, and with his life, his prayers and spiritual advice he was already exerting a beneficial influence not only on monks, but also on the laity, on the affairs of the church itself and the fatherland. That was the time when worthy disciples of Sergius founded monasteries in Moscow, around Moscow and in other adjacent regions, and, gathering the brethren for community life, they themselves served as living examples of monastic life. That was the time when the Russian people looked with true respect at their monks, shining with holiness, and flocked to them with love, wanting to be edified by their piety, to ask for their prayers, to hear from them words of teaching, consolation, and admonition. Remember often this bright time of Russian monasticism; be zealous to imitate these high ascetics; try to be imbued with the same spirit and the strict rules that they followed, so that you not only fulfill the monastic vows you made and save your own souls, but also bring a share of moral benefit to the people from which you came, and to the country in which you enjoy peace and prosperity. Let us follow with attention the entire continuation of the life of your monastery. Little historical information has been preserved about it; but, as far as has been preserved, her fate often changed. It happened that the number of inhabitants of the monastery quickly increased and reached a high level; it happened that it dropped significantly and did not even rise to ten. In the first centuries of its existence, its material resources gradually increased, and the Ugresh monastery, in terms of its land holdings, soon began to be considered among our rich monasteries; and then these funds gradually decreased and reached the point where she became one of the meager and wretched. More than once it was subjected to devastation, even complete ruin: either from fires, or from the raids of the Crimean Tatars, or from Polish people and Russian traitors in the troubled times of the fatherland. And despite all such changes, devastation, devastation, it never ceased to exist for five centuries, while many of our other monasteries that arose before and after it have long ceased to exist and remain known almost only by name. What does this mean? This means that in the Ugresh monastery the holy seed has never become scarce, for the sake of which the Lord spares and preserves the monasteries of monks, just as he spares and preserves villages and cities, entire kingdoms and peoples. The mercy of the Lord from everlasting to everlasting is upon those who fear Him (Ps. 103:17), and such and such those who fear God have probably always been in this monastery and attracted the mercies of God to it. It is also known that our great princes and kings loved to visit the Ugreshskaya monastery, especially the founders of the Royal House, the pious Mikhail Fedorovich and his son Alexei Mikhailovich, and after them all Orthodox Christians loved to visit it, make their sacrifices to it, and seek for themselves in it the last peace after death. Whole dozens of princely and noble families recorded in your synodics still testify to this. What more could your monastery arouse and support all this love and affection for itself, if not the piety of its monks? We do not know the names of these worthy monks; but they undoubtedly existed, and they bequeathed to you, their spiritual descendants, to walk in their footsteps, to fight a good deed both for themselves and for the good of their native abode, and with their holiness to attract to it God’s favor and respect from people. Let us finally take a look at the last years of your monastery coming to us. What do we see? We see her prospering in everything. The number of her brethren rose to a degree to which it had hardly ever reached before. The ancient social order and rank were restored in it. For those who want greater solitude and higher feats, a special monastery has been built. Its material resources have improved so much that in this regard it occupies one of the first places among the monasteries of our entire region. The holy churches and other buildings in it boast splendor, and some even splendor. With her and at her expense, there are educational and charitable institutions. There were pious Christians who did not and do not spare their treasures to maintain and decorate it. God's blessing apparently remains over your monastery. Give thanks to the Lord, who has done so much good to you; Thank you especially for the fact that He has recently sent you such a father-rector, who for so many years and with such tireless zeal and love has worked and works for the monastery entrusted to him and brought it to such a flourishing state, and who, to our common regret, due to his serious illness, could not take part in our present divine service, although in spirit, without a doubt, he participates more than others in your present celebration. And the more clearly you see God’s favor over you, the more diligently try to become worthy of it through your deeds. The more the external well-being of your monastery rises, the more you take care of its internal well-being, that is, about the prosperity of monasticism in it, about the strict fulfillment of your vows, about the moral elevation and improvement of your souls. Brothers of the honorable monastery, now celebrating its five hundredth anniversary! All these five centuries of your native monastery tell you one thing: be true monks. And then the Lord will not abandon her with his mercies, and good people will not cease to show her their favor and zeal. Amen. Homily on the day of the sacred wedding and confirmation of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, delivered in the Great Assumption Cathedral on August 26, 1880 Make His father rejoice over his children. These are the words from the prayer that in a few minutes, triumphant and kneeling, we will offer to the King of Kings for our Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. The words are truly touching! The sons of Russia see in their Monarch not only the Tsar placed over them by God, not only the Anointed One of God, endowed through the mysterious anointing with power from above, but they also see in Him their Father. And so, solemnly remembering His sacred wedding and anointing to the kingdom and, expressing various good wishes to Him in their prayers, as the King and as the Anointed of God, they express their good wishes to Him and as the Father, calling on God: make His father, for the children rejoicing. Brothers! Don’t you feel that in this touching prayer of ours for the Tsar there is a prayer for ourselves, a prayer that may the Lord help us to be such children of our Sovereign Father that His fatherly heart will rejoice for us? You know what is the first thing children can do to please their father. What if not sincere love for him and devotion, not sincere respect and respect for him? Thanks be to God! From ancient times, the Russian people were distinguished by the most sincere and boundless love for their Monarch, the deepest not only respect, but reverence for Him as God’s Anointed One, and the most firm, unshakable commitment to the royal throne. This is known to the whole world, and this has hitherto been our best glory among other nations. But, alas, hasn’t it, our best glory, begun to darken lately? Dark personalities appeared on Russian land who, rejecting everything holy in heaven and on earth, armed themselves secretly and against the sacred power of the tsar and several times already dared to encroach on the most precious life of our beloved Sovereign, whom only God, with his invisible power, miraculously saved from their villainous attempts. It is painful, inexpressibly painful for every truly Russian person to realize that in this dark environment there were persons of purely Russian origin and, moreover, persons from almost all classes of the Russian state. How much grief and grief must the kind heart of our Sovereign Father, against whom their hellish plans were directed, have to endure? Shame and shame on the Russian name! Everyone who only sincerely loves their Tsar and their fatherland, who values ​​the name of the Russian and has the opportunity to counteract this terrible evil, especially parents and educators of children and youth, are all obliged to use their efforts to eradicate it and to protect especially our younger generations from it. And for our unfortunate brothers, already carried away by the destructive infection, we will not cease to pray to the Almighty, may he enlighten their minds and soften their hearts with his omnipotent grace, may they also be imbued with that pure, unshakable love for their Sovereign, which our ancestors bequeathed to us, which the entire Russian people still lives on, and which has always constituted one of the highest joys of the Russian Crown Bearer. But, brothers, just as faith without works is dead (James 2:26), so is love. If you love Me, Christ the Savior said to His disciples, keep My commandments (John 14:15). If we truly love our Sovereign, then we must fulfill His commandments. All these royal commandments or laws have one goal - our good and the happiness of Russia. And the more diligently we submit to them, the more fully we implement them in our lives, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the high goal for which they were given, the more clearly we will testify to our love and devotion to our Supreme Lawgiver, the more we will rejoice His fatherly heart. He gave us a law of the greatest importance, the like of which our entire thousand-year history does not represent, the law on the liberation of almost an entire third of Russia from serfdom, and granted it with the goal of elevating, ennobling, improving the condition of all these millions of our fellow citizens, and thereby elevating and improving the condition of the entire state. May the liberated never forget this highest act of paternal love for them by the Anointed One of God; let them firmly remember why they were given new civil rights and independence, and with all zeal fulfill the new duties indicated to them, work tirelessly to improve their life, not only material, but mental and moral, and thus contribute to the prosperity and happiness of our entire fatherland. Our royal Legislator has granted us a new court, a public court, quick, just, a court of conscience, which is accepted in all educated countries of modern Europe and is recognized by everyone as the best in its plans. Oh, if only he were always the same to us in reality! If only he were always and everywhere fast, and did not sometimes resemble our previous ships of bad memory! If only the right was always and everywhere done, according to conscience, without any partiality towards the defendants, no matter what class of society they belong to, never acquitting the undoubtedly guilty, never accusing the innocent, so that we could all say with conviction and unanimously: now we really have a better court than we had before. Our royal Legislator gave us zemstvo institutions so that the inhabitants of each specific region of the Russian land, forgetting all differences in rank and status, united with each other and amicably, through their elected representatives, took care of the various needs and benefits of their region and contributed to its prosperity. Oh, God would grant that this concern would always be close to the hearts of our zemstvo leaders, so that they would zealously strive to fulfill the duty entrusted to them and would have in mind the needs and benefits not of individuals or just any one, but equally of all classes of their area! We will not list the other legalities of the present reign, and it would be impossible to list them: they embrace all branches of state life, extend to all classes, to all institutions, to all citizens of our vast kingdom. But let’s say in general that only when each of us, no matter what rank he may be in, will sacredly fulfill his duties expressed in these laws, when the fulfillment of our duties will achieve both our private good and the good of the entire fatherland, only then will we appear worthy children of our Monarch and will serve as true joy for Him. Sons of Russia! More than twenty-five years have passed since the Almighty, in His infinite mercy, “justified His beloved servant,” the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, to reign over us. All His reign and all His royal deeds are before us. Tell me, honestly: has there ever been a Sovereign in Russia more worthy of the name of the Father of his subjects? What great transformations He accomplished for the good of our fatherland, and He accomplished them solely at the inclination of His kind heart, which loves us! How much love and goodness He poured out and is pouring out on all classes of His people, how many mercies He showed and continues to show to all those in need, the unfortunate and the burdened! And if more than once for all His paternal benefits they paid Him with the most blatant ingratitude, then is it because of this that He changed towards us? Doesn't he still love Russia and care about it? Doesn’t he extend his mercies even to the most ungrateful and bitter? In the consciousness of this high, unchanging, abundant love for us of our Great Monarch, we will draw for ourselves new and new motivations to love Him with all our hearts, like a Father, to sacredly fulfill all His commands and laws and to pray for Him to the Lord unceasingly, may He “multiply the days of His life in indestructible health and unchangeable well-being,” may He bless all His royal undertakings and deeds, and yes He will make His father rejoice over his children. Amen. Speech on the occasion of the opening of the Brotherhood of St. Sergius, delivered in the assembly hall of the Moscow Theological Academy on September 25, 1880 May God's blessing always be on the now opened Brotherhood! May it grow, strengthen, and prosper under the prayerful protection of the great Pleasant of God, whom it itself chose as its heavenly patron and after whose name it was named. The purpose of the Brotherhood is so holy and its establishment is so timely that it would be a sin not to sympathize with it, not to wish it complete success. And we hope that there will be sympathizers with our Brotherhood in all parts of Russia, among those people who understand the importance of higher spiritual education and would like to see it spread more and more in their fatherland; there will be such sympathizers, especially among former students of the local Academy, who, no matter where they are now and in what field they act, no doubt remember what a priceless treasure they acquired for themselves here in the days of their youth, and cannot help but wish the same for other young men, rich in love for science, but completely poor in material means for life. Most of all, we hope that our capital, always ready for any good deed, will not deny our Brotherhood its living sympathy and participation. The Moscow Theological Academy does not exist for Moscow alone; but on Moscow, the first, it exerted and is exerting its spiritual and educational influence; for Moscow, more than for any other city or locality, it has given and continues to give enlightened and zealous shepherds to the church; For Moscow, therefore, she served and serves, through these worthy pupils, as the main spiritual educator and leader in matters of faith and salvation. Grant, Lord, that these hopes of ours may be fulfilled. Having called on God's blessing on the new Brotherhood and expressed our good wishes to it, we also call on God's blessing on those young people who will come here and be raised here with benefits from the Brotherhood, and we wish them that they would work here with their zeal to educate their minds and hearts, and try to stock up on diverse knowledge and firm religious convictions, and so that later, when the time comes, they could thank the Brotherhood with their fruitful service to St. Church and fatherland. Word spoken in the Great Assumption Cathedral on May 17, 1881 Be careful, no one will deceive you. Matthew 24:4. If always, then especially at the present time, it is necessary for us, my brothers, to firmly remember this testament of our Savior. Today there are so many deceivers among us! And these seducers most of all direct their attention to those who are more convenient to seduce, to young men who are not yet strengthened in their convictions and are easily carried away, and to ordinary people, illiterate or completely illiterate. And what terrible consequences such seductions and hobbies lead to! A living example is before us. You have heard what is happening or has recently happened in some cities and villages of our southern region, how our poor people, seduced and incited, rose up in masses against the Jews, destroyed and devastated their homes, destroyed or plundered their property, and destroyed their most prayerful houses. And, alas, this is how people who call themselves Orthodox Christians acted; This is how the sons of Russia acted. Oh shame, oh shame! Is this what the true, Orthodox faith of Christ teaches us? Is this how Russians who are devoted to their Sovereign and their fatherland should act? The distinctive commandment of Christianity, which determines all our relationships with people, is the commandment of love, and such love as the world had no idea about before. I give you a new commandment, said Christ, that you love one another as you have loved (John 13:34). How and to what extent did He love us? He loved so much that, being the only begotten Son of God, he humbled himself and took on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7) and became the son of man; He loved so much that, being completely sinless and innocent, according to divinity and humanity, he took upon himself the sins of the whole world and suffered for them what we had to suffer according to the laws of eternal Truth; He loved us so much that he tasted the most shameful and painful death on the cross for us, shed his priceless blood for us, laid down his very soul for us. And for whom did He endure so much suffering? For friends? No, for enemies; because we all, all people, as sinners, are enemies of God; every sin, every lawlessness is a violation of the will of God, resistance to God, enmity against God. Sinner people condemned Christ to death; sinful people crucified Him on the cross. But He also prayed for His crucifiers themselves, hanging on the cross: Father, let them go; They do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). Having shown us an example of such perfect love in his own example, Christ taught us the same thing in his word. Hear, He said to his followers, as it is said: love your sincere one and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who attack you and drive you out (Matthew 5:43, 44). This is what our love for people should be, Christians! If we love only our relatives, those close to us, our fellow tribesmen and fellow believers: there is still little Christian here; This is how non-Christians love it too. And love all people without distinction, near and far, no matter what tribe they are, no matter what faith they adhere to, whether they are Christians of other non-Orthodox confessions, whether they are Jews, Mohammedans, pagans; love your enemies themselves. If we do good, do not do evil and do no violence or oppression only to those who do good to us, we are not offended or oppressed: and there is nothing exclusively Christian here. But do good even to those who hate you, bless even those who curse you, do not repay evil for evil to your persecutors and oppressors, and pray for them: this will be truly Christian! Judge for yourselves, Orthodox Christians, how gravely those unfortunate of our brethren who, out of passion or foolishness, take up arms against the Jews and mercilessly destroy their property, sin against our holy faith; how these unfortunates insult the very Leader of our faith and the Perfecter of the Lord Jesus (Heb. 12:2), who is all goodness, all is love, and commanded us only love for all people, even for enemies; how these unfortunate brothers of ours grieve our common spiritual Mother, the holy Orthodox Church, to which we already cause constant sorrow with our everyday sins. But this is not the limit of the guilt of these erring brothers of ours. As sons of Russia, they are still guilty before their Sovereign Father and fatherland. Just recently, we all pronounced before Almighty God and His Holy Gospel an oath to serve with faith and righteousness our new true and natural most merciful Sovereign Emperor, to always and in everything obey Him, to follow His plans and laws, to submit to the authorities placed over us by Him, to sacredly fulfill our civil duties, without any violation of the rights of our fellow citizens, and thus to contribute, to the best of our ability, to the common good and happiness of our dear fatherland. But what are these Russians doing, who, for whatever reason, rebel against the Jews, violate their rights, take away or destroy their property? After all, Jews, like Russians, like all tribes and peoples that make up the Russian state, are subjects of one and the same Sovereign and our fellow citizens, are the children of our common Sovereign Father and our brothers in the Fatherland. How dare we raise our hands against our brothers in the civil sense, no matter what faith or tribe they may be? If they offended us in any way and violated our rights, then we have laws for this, there are authorities placed over us by the most pious Monarch: it is to them that we must turn and seek from them protection and justice against all untruths. But to arm ourselves arbitrarily against our fellow citizens, no matter who they are and no matter what they have sinned against us, to take revenge on them and persecute them arbitrarily throughout their entire tribe and without distinction between the guilty and the innocent, to do them all kinds of violence, to show disobedience and resistance to the authorities themselves, which, naturally, must protect and protect the persecuted and stop arbitrariness - this is blatant opposition that cannot be tolerated in any way. well-organized state. Any resistance to the authorities performing their duty is, at the same time, resistance to the Sovereign himself, from whom they were appointed and sent. By recklessly attacking Jews and their property, ignorant and passionate people imagine that they are harming only Jews; and yet at the same time they harm themselves and their families. They don’t want to think that they will then have to give an answer to the court and the law for their self-will, arbitrariness and outrageous violence; they will have to suffer a well-deserved punishment, perhaps even a very serious one, which will have a disastrous effect on their entire subsequent fate. And they not only harm themselves, but also the entire society, the entire state. This illegal movement, directed against the Jews, or against any of our fellow citizens, inevitably disrupts public order and peace, disrupts and weakens all kinds of industry, trade and all functions of social and state life in general, produces confusion in the minds, anxiety in the hearts, arouses general sorrow and anxiety. Thank the Lord! Among us, my brethren, in our capital city there was nothing similar to that regrettable movement that was discovered in various places in our southern region. But now, like everywhere else in Russia, we need special caution, constant vigilance against this dangerous movement. And you, without a doubt, gratefully accepted the warning appeal with which the chief commander of the capital, to whose care it has been entrusted by our Autocratic Monarch, addressed you the other day, and you will fully try, if necessary, to take advantage of the instructions set out there. The Russian land is now going through a difficult and alarming time. Pray more fervently to the Lord, sons of Russia, that He may instruct, strengthen, and protect us all with His grace. But do not cease to be vigilant over yourself, lest, by mistake, we be carried away by one or another of the evil machinations of our enemies; protect yourself and each other from their various seductions, which they secretly spread everywhere and are entirely aimed at the harm of our state. Let us unswervingly adhere to those fundamental, immutable rules that our holy faith instills in us, and which our ancestors always adhered to: fear God, honor the king (1 Peter 2:17); Let every soul obey the powers that be; There is no power except from God (Rom. 13:1). Let us remain invariably faithful to the sacred oath that we all recently gave to the most pious Sovereign Emperor bestowed upon us by God, “to serve him faithfully and unfeignedly and to obey in everything, not sparing our belly to the last drop of blood,” and thereby serve our beloved fatherland and contribute to its strengthening, prosperity and prosperity. Amen. Speech at the meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society on May 17, 1881. Beloved brothers in Christ! Another year has passed in the life of our Society, and this year was marked for us by the greatest losses and sorrow. At the beginning of it, we lost our Most August Patron Mother, who, from the very foundation of our Society, took it under her direct care, and with her inexhaustible love, her constant attention and care, revived, directed and expanded our activities to enlighten people with the light of the true faith of Christ. At the end of the year we lost - and how did we lose? - and our Sovereign Father, who, with his royal word, gave the very existence of our Society, and under whose scepter it for so many years unhinderedly developed its strength, strengthened and prospered. Our losses are the losses of all of Russia. Our grief is the common grief of the entire Russian people. And so we, having gathered now for the first time after the death of our royal Benefactors, first of all offered our warm prayers for Them, that Their souls may rest in the kingdom of heaven and proclaimed eternal memory to Them. But as the Lord lives, and blessed is God, and may the God of our salvation be exalted (Ps. 18:47). According to His inscrutable destinies, a new Sun rose over the Russian land, as our people from ancient times loved to call their Sovereign. And the rays of the new Sun are already illuminating and warming and giving life to everyone and everything in the vast expanses of our beloved Fatherland. And along with the Sun, the new Moon, receiving its light from it, rose over Russia - and our Society, one of the first, has already been honored with the happiness of receiving Her quiet, meek, sweet and beneficial influence! May both new Luminaries, which God gave us, shine above us for a long time! May our new Tsar and Queen live and prosper, with His gracious help, for many, many years for the happiness of Russia! And may our Orthodox Missionary Society prosper more and more under the protection and guidance of its new August Patroness! Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich before the entry of His Imperial Majesty into the Great Assumption Cathedral on July 17, 1881 With joy and prayer, Your first-throne capital now meets You in this centuries-old first-throne church. And our joy is all the more lively and deeper that we have the happiness of meeting You for the first time, as our King-Father, after Your accession to the ancestral throne; it is all the more complete and sweet that together with You we have the joy of beholding Your Most Pious Spouse, our Queen Mother and with You Your Most Blessed August Children; the more sudden and unexpected your very coming to us was, the more powerful and enthusiastic it was. And our prayer, which is always and unceasingly offered up for You and for Your entire August family, Your first-throne capital, together with all of Russia, becomes now, amid our most joyful triumph, even more ardent and ardent, when we, contemplating You before us, more clearly recognize and feel what a great burden the Almighty has placed on You, calling You to reign over the most extensive Empire in the world, under what difficult and difficult circumstances He judged You to begin Your reign, and how You need His all-powerful, gracious help so that You could worthily fulfill Your extraordinary calling and accomplish Your highest feat. May the Lord Almighty hear our prayer - the prayer of all Your faithful subjects! May He protect You like the apple of His eye on all the paths of Your life and activity! And may He bless You with all His blessings in Your great royal service to Russia for her happiness, prosperity and glory! Speech to the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich at the entry of His Majesty into the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra on July 11, 1881 The monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh is, in the concepts of the Russian Orthodox people, a cherished sanctuary, where they flock from all sides, often in thousands, so that here, at the shrine of the great Pleasant of God, they pour out their heartfelt desires in prayer, and here they find for themselves consolation, encouragement, and reinforcement for the further feat of life. Sharing the completely holy beliefs of the people entrusted to You by God and following the example of Your pious ancestors, You now go with Your Most August Spouse and Most August Children to pour out Your warm prayers at the shrine of our God-bearing Father Sergius. Oh, may Your believing soul find here what it desires! May she draw from this miraculous cancer new vigor, new strength and strength, so necessary in Your high and great field! We believe that our Reverend Father Sergius is the most zealous intercessor and prayer book in heaven for his earthly fatherland - Russia. May He be Your unceasing representative and prayer book and invisible helper in Your royal labors for the good of our dear fatherland! And may he always overshadow with his prayerful cover both You, and Your August Family, and the entire great Russian family entrusted to You from God! Speech after the prayer service on the occasion of the opening of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Moscow on May 20, 1882. Man is born to work. Job. 5:7. Through work, a person develops, strengthens, and improves his strengths and abilities, spiritual and physical; through labor he acquires for himself everything necessary for life and to satisfy his needs; through labor he also achieves what can elevate, decorate, and ennoble his life, domestic and social. That is why his work is dear to a person, and sometimes the more expensive it is, the more it requires effort and overcoming obstacles. And a person rejoices, seeing the fruits of his labors, blessed by God; a person triumphs, with his loved ones and those he knows, in the consciousness of his successes, achieved by honest labor, with the help of God. This kind of triumph is now with us, and the triumph not of one person, but of an entire people. Before us are several of the most important branches of all-Russian labor in their best works and examples. And we have the opportunity to see closely what successes various types of industry, crafts, arts, practical applications of science have achieved in our fatherland. These successes are sweet for us simply because they are ours; and even more so because they do not come to us as easily as to other enlightened peoples of Europe, who entered the field of mental development and education before us, and do not encounter in their development such obstacles as we encounter under the climatic conditions of our country. And if, despite all this, we, with God’s help, move forward; If in many ways we are already on par with advanced nations on the path of self-improvement in various branches of national labor, then what son of Russia, who truly loves His Fatherland and wishes it every perfection, will not rejoice at this with all his heart? Blessed be God, who gives us strength, means, and his gracious help for our success in the field of national industry and the arts! Honor and praise and full sympathy of compatriots to all of you who zealously strive in this field and have now presented, to our joy, the fruits of your labors! May the Lord continue to bless your efforts for your continued success; May he equally bless every work in our beloved fatherland, aimed at its benefit, and may it flourish more and more, with our united efforts and labors at all levels of state life, under the power of the royal Leader given to us by God, the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich! Systematic index of Words and Speeches delivered in Vilna 2 and Moscow in the period from 1868 to 1882 3 I. Words and Speeches for Church holidays: 1. On the feasts of the Lord: 1) On the Ascension of the Lord. 2) On the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit. 3) On the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord. 2. On the feasts of the Virgin Mary and Saints: 4) For the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 5) For the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 6) On the day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. 7) On the day of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. 8) On the day of the beheading of John the Baptist. 9) On the day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. II. Words and Speeches for church and civil holidays: for royal days. 10) On the name day of Her Majesty the Empress Maria Alexandrovna. 11) Word on the day of the sacred wedding and anointing of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. 12) Word on the day of the sacred wedding and anointing of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. III. Words and Speeches for special occasions: For occasions in the author's life: 13) Upon joining the department of the Lithuanian diocese. 14) Upon joining the department of the Moscow diocese. 2. For cases in the author's diocesan ministry: 15) On the occasion of the award by His Majesty the Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich of the icon to the Vilna Prechistensky Cathedral. 16) Upon the consecration of the chapel in the name of Archangel Michael. 17) Upon the consecration of the church built in the “Menagerie” near Vilna. 18) Upon the consecration of the regimental church. 19) After the consecration of the church in the transit prison. 20) In the Great Assumption Cathedral. 21) To the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. 22) On the occasion of the anniversary celebration in. Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery. 23) Newly appointed abbess. 3. For occasions in the life of the August Persons: 24) Upon the entry of His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich into the Assumption Cathedral. 25) At the entry of His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign-Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich into the Assumption Cathedral. 26) At the entry of His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich into the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 4. For occasions in public life: 27) Before the opening of the council of the Society of Zealots of Orthodoxy in the North-Western Territory. 28) On the occasion of the second anniversary of the same Society. 29) At the opening of the Military District Court. 30) Before the opening of the Society for the Care of Wounded and Sick Soldiers. 31) Upon the consecration of the Hospital of the Red Cross Society. 32) At the annual meeting of the Orthodox Missionary Society. 35) At a meeting of the Commission for the organization of public readings. 36) On the occasion of the opening of the Shelter for the terminally ill and crippled. 37) At the meeting of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. 38) On the occasion of the opening of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition. 5. During sacred services in educational institutions: 39) At the Vilna Diocesan School of theological ranks. 42) Upon the consecration of the church at the Higher Women's School. 43) Upon the consecration of the church of all secondary educational institutions in Vilna. 44) Upon the consecration of the church at the Lyceum of Tsarevich Nicholas. 45) In the church of the Moscow Theological Academy. 46) In the assembly hall of the Moscow Theological Academy on the occasion of the opening of the brotherhood, St. Sergius. 47) At the Vilna Theological Seminary on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. 6. During burial and commemoration of the dead: 48) At the burial of Metropolitan Joseph. 49) About the burial of Honored Professor S.M. Solovyova. 50) After the memorial service for the deceased T.B. Potemkina. 51) After the memorial service for Pushkin at the opening of the Monument. Printed, as indicated above, in the collection: Words and Speeches of Macarius, former Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna. See Words and Speeches of Macarius, former Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna St. Petersburg. 1880 The letter B in front is indicated. countries means Vilna, and the letter M means Moscow.