Obedience to the word of God leads to silence, peace, and all order in the family, political, and economic world; to obedience to spiritual and civil authorities.These two words – the word of God and the word of the bodiless enemy, we all obey to this day; we listen to either one or the other. Having listened to the murderous enemy in the beginning and obeying him to this day, the human race has fallen into endless madness, it has exchanged life for death, light for darkness, beauty for ugliness, wisdom for madness, incorruptibility for corruption. during the senseless vacillation of minds that have tasted a little earthly wisdom and dreamed of themselves beyond measure; for knowledge is arrogant, according to the word of God, but love edifies. It is obvious to everyone that the Russian kingdom is wavering, tottering, close to falling.Why is it that the Russian kingdom, so great, which was so firm, powerful and glorious before, is now so weakened, weakened, destroyed, shaken? Because it has departed from the firm and unshakable foundation of the true faith and in the majority of the intelligentsia has fallen away from God, Who alone is an eternal power that cannot be shaken forever. By which heaven and earth are firmly held in wondrous harmony for so many centuries. That is why our kingdom is wavering: and is it only the Russian kingdom, which occupies a sixth of the earth, that is wavering from godlessness and anarchy? No, all the kingdoms of the earth are shaking and shaking, which have abandoned the true faith; and some kingdoms and cities, which were before Christ and after Christ, have completely departed from the disgrace of the world because of unbelief and lawlessness. And the further the adulterous and sinful world exists, and abounds in iniquity, the more and more it grows weaker, decrepit, and wavering, so that at the end of the world it will become a corpse and a smoking brand, which will utterly decay from the last terrible universal fire: for the earth and all the works in it will be burned up, according to the Apostle, and we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, according to the promise of God, in whom righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:10; 13).We, the Russian Orthodox believers, as children of the Christian Church, after receiving the sacrament of Baptism, have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem and to the host of angels, to the triumphant assembly and church of the firstborn, written in heaven, and to the Judge of all, God, and to the spirits of the righteous, And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkling blood (the blood of Christ), which speaks better than Abel's. "Take heed," says the Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews, "do not turn away from Him who speaks." If (the ancient Hebrews who were in the time of Moses) who did not listen to him who spoke on earth did not escape punishment, how much more shall we not escape if we turn away from God who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, and who now has given such a promise; once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. The words, "once more," signify the change of that which is shaken as created, so that the unshakable may remain. Therefore, we, having received the kingdom of heaven, will preserve grace, which we will serve pleasingly to God with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:22-26; 29).I have quoted these words of Paul from the Epistle to the Hebrews because they also apply to us, the Russian people, who have apostatized from God and from the New Zion, the Church of Christ, founded on the indestructible Rock-Christ, on Whom whoever falls will be broken, and on whom He falls, He will crush (Matt. 21:44). There is no doubt that all Russians who have fallen away from the faith and the Church will be broken like clay pots (poor vessels, Psalm 2), if they do not turn and repent. And the Church will remain unshaken to the end of time, and the Monarch of Russia, if he remains faithful to the Orthodox Church, will be established on the throne of Russia until the end of time. And if you fall away from your faith, as many intellectuals have already fallen away from it, then you will no longer be Holy Russia or Russia, but a rabble of all kinds of heterodox who seek to exterminate each other. Remember the words of Christ to the unfaithful Jews: "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to the tongue (people) that produce its fruits" (Matt. 21:42-43).

Seventh HomilyOn the Day of Remembrance and Celebration of the Holy Anointing and Coronation of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia

May 14, 1907We remember and celebrate the day of the holy anointing and coronation of our most pious Sovereign.These two or three years of his reign are confused and full of internal sedition, and the royal crown with porphyry was almost stained with blood recently. Deadly weapons are already ready. On this occasion I allow myself to be transported mentally to the ancient sacred history of the Jews and to tell about one suitable event similar to our sad state, which took place in the time of the judges of Israel.Among the judges of the Jewish people was, among other things, one raised up by God to govern and protect them from foreigners, famous for faith, courage and love for his fatherland, Gideon, who was engaged in agriculture. With God's help, he saved the Jews from the warlike Midianites, who wanted to subjugate the Jews to their pagan godless yoke. When he died at a ripe old age, he had 70 sons, for he was a polygamist; besides, he had a son by a maidservant, Abimelech. After the death of his father, Abimelech came to a certain city of his land and begged his relatives on his mother's side to try to win over its inhabitants in his favor, making it seem to them that it would be disadvantageous for them to submit to the seventy sons of Gideon, and it would be better to recognize the authority over them of one, moreover, the one who was close to them by kinship. And the inhabitants of that city (Shechem), the Jews, had already introduced the service of the pagan deity Baal, and managed to build a pagan temple to the Phoenician deity, called Baal-berif, i.e. the guardian of alliances and oaths. Among these people, apostates, Abimelech found adherents. They called him their brother and gave him money from the temple of their god. For a small sum he hired idle and homeless people, went with them to the house of his deceased father and beat the brothers on the same stone, with the exception of one younger brother Jotham, who managed to escape. After that, all the inhabitants of the city gathered in one place and there by the oak they made Abimelech king. At the same time, on a nearby mountain, Gerizin suddenly appeared to Jotham and shouted in a loud voice: "Listen to me, inhabitants of Shechem, and God will listen to you." When there was silence, he continued: "Once upon a time the trees decided to anoint the King over them. And they said to the olive tree, Be thou our King. The olive tree answered, 'Will I part with my fatness, which is used to honor gods and men, and will I tremble over the trees?' And the trees said to the fig tree, Come, reign over us. The fig tree answered, 'Shall I part with my sweetness and with my beautiful fruit, and shall I tremble over the trees?' The trees said to the vine, "Come, reign over us." And the vine answered, 'Shall I part with my sap, which rejoices gods and men, and shall I tremble over the trees?' Finally, all the trees offered to the thorns: "Come, reign over us." "The thorn tree said, 'If you truly anoint me king over you, then go and hide yourselves under my shadow (and what a shadow the thorn has), but if not, then take heed lest fire come out of the thorns, and burn the very cedars of Lebanon. "Consider, then, whether you have done justice in making Abimelech king, and have you rewarded Gideon and his house properly?" (now we have the house of the Romanovs). Why did my father put his life in danger for you, and delivered you from your enemies, and you killed his seventy sons, and made Abimelech the son of a handmaid king? Let fire come out from Abimelech and burn you." And when Jotham had said this, he fled, and hid himself from his brother. Abimelech did burn in the city tower the inhabitants who were hiding from his threat for disobedience, and Abimelech himself was killed by a woman who threw a piece of millstone at him. Thus the curse of Jotham befell both the Shechemites for impiety and Abimelech for fratricide!The sons of Russia celebrating the royal chrismation.Will not God's righteous punishment befall our traitors, who attempted to kill our Tsar anointed by God, whose ancestors, once anointed by God for the Russian kingdom, exalted him and elevated him to the rank of the first power in the world? And what would we, Russians, become without the Tsar? Our enemies would soon try to destroy the very name of Russia, since the Bearer and Guardian of Russia, after God, is the Sovereign of Russia, the Autocratic Tsar, and without him Russia is not Russia. manifested in Russia in previous centuries, through the intercession and intercession of the Mother of God and the holy Russian wonderworkers, of whom the Russian Church and the Russian land are not lacking.

Eighth HomilyOn the Day of the Accession to the All-Russian Throne of His Majesty the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich

On October 21, 1904, Russia and the Church now celebrate the triumph of the ascension to the All-Russian ancestral throne of our most pious Sovereign, Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich.The Holy Tsar and Prophet David, contemplating with his prophetic gaze the infinite greatness of the beginningless God, the Father, the Almighty, the Creator and King of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, His eternal goodness, righteousness and wisdom, says in one of the Psalms: Thy kingdom, O God, the kingdom of all ages, and Thy dominion unto all generations. God is naturally in His very essence a King, as the Creator, Lawgiver and Providence of the visible and invisible world created by Him, and creatures fulfill His laws exactly: rational creatures – angels and pious people – freely and voluntarily, and not rational and good-natured, according to the necessity of nature and the exact will of the Creator. Only God can authorize a chosen person to reign, and entrust him with autocratic power, investing him with glory, majesty and power. The Most High possesses the kingdom of man, says the prophet, and to whom He willeth He giveth it (Dan. 4:29). For this reason kings ascend the throne, are crowned, chrismated, and reign on earth by divine right. So it was in the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, the eternal King, and in the New, after His coming to earth, during His life and teaching on earth: and He Himself, the King of heaven and earth, and of every creature, obeyed the royal power according to humanity, and commanded that it be given due respect and obedience. His answer to the scribes and Pharisees is known: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God's God" (Matt. 22:21). The multi-leadership and multi-member government of the people has never been a permanent and universally recognized government in the world. "Obey the king as the predominant, if you are a prince, as sent by him, for vengeance, for you are evildoers, but for the praise of a benefactor (1 Peter 2:13, 14), says the Apostle. The King is the image of the King of Heaven; God is one – and the king is one. Our reason, in its cognition, generalizes all the innumerable things and phenomena in the world, and raises them to unity. The world, with its infinite variety of things, phenomena and actions, is one common harmonious whole, united by the One Creator and Provider and one common goal – to serve the glory of the Creator and the well-being and bliss of creatures, rational and irrational, to manifest His wisdom, beauty and infinite goodness. His almighty power. His eternal righteousness. Its unity and trinity. God is the only King of heaven and earth, as long as they stand and are not destroyed. For the time will come when they also will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10), according to the word of God. And so God alone cloths and girds kings with His power, splendor and beauty, and places a royal crown on their heads. And in vain do the enemies of the autocracy want and try to undermine the tsar's throne. The Lord Himself establishes him by His power on the throne. God! exclaims the king the prophet David, the king rejoices in thy power, and rejoices immeasurably in thy salvation. Thou hast given him what his heart desired, and hast not rejected the petitions of his mouth. For Thou hast greeted him with the blessings of goodness, Thou hast placed upon Thy head a crown of pure gold. He asked Thee for life; Thou hast given him longevity for ever and ever. Great is his glory in Thy salvation. Thou hast bestowed honour and majesty upon him. Thou hast blessed him for ever, and hast made him rejoice with the joy of Thy countenance. For the king trusts in the Lord, and according to the goodness of the Most High he will not be shaken. Thy hand shall find all thy enemies, and thy right hand shall find all those who hate thee. In the time of Thy wrath Thou shalt make them like a furnace of fire; in His wrath the Lord will destroy them, and will consume their fire. Thou shalt destroy their fruit from the earth, and their seed from among the sons of men. For they have done evil against Thee, they have devised schemes, but they have not been able to carry them out. Thou shalt set their targets, and with Thy bows Thou shalt shoot arrows into their faces. Be lifted up, O Lord, by Thy power: we shall sing and glorify Thy might" (Psalm 20:2-14). May the autocracy, the pledge of its power and glory, abide forever in Russia, may the King of kings establish in the Tsar's hand the scepter and the orb, and may His glorious sword be turned to defeat the enemies of the kingdom and Orthodoxy.

Ninth HomilyOn the day of the transfer of the honorable and multi-healing relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg, St. Right-believing Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky in 1724

The Russian Church of the Fatherland, and especially the capital of Petrov, now celebrates the glorious day of the transfer of the honorable relics of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the former invincible Knight of the Russian land, who in his time won a glorious victory on the banks of the Neva over the border Swedes, and for this reason was called Nevsky. For the better adornment of the capital, as well as for the glorification of the labors and exploits of the Holy Prince, who several hundred years earlier had gloriously fought against the Swedes, Peter the Great wished to transfer his holy miraculous relics from the city of Vladimir to his new capital, St. Petersburg, having previously ordered that a magnificent reliquary be built for them at his royal expense. when a bloody war of extermination is raging in the Far East with a fierce and cunning pagan people, symbolized by the dragon, I want to compare two signs revealed to John the Theologian in revelation, and which have applications to us, to our Orthodox Church, and to the dragon land of Japan. I mentioned these signs at the beginning of the word. They point us to the future victory of our church over the dragon, the ancient serpent, and over pagan Japan. The first sign. This is a woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon, illuminated by the sun of righteousness, Christ, the earthly church, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. The woman clothed with the sun – Christ – is the Mother of God and at the same time the holy Church of Christ, clothed in Christ, Who is her head. The twelve stars are the twelve apostles who planted and established the Church on earth; It is now represented, among other things, by our Orthodox, Eastern, Universal Church. The woman was with child and cried out from the pains and pangs of childbirth – this is Russia, which has in it the children of its Orthodox Christians, who are now being born and baptized in the rivers of their blood into eternal life. Another sign in heaven. Here is a large red dragon with seven heads (generals). This dragon stood before the woman – Orthodox Russia and the Church – to devour her child. And she gave birth to a male child Christ – here we mean Christians, in whom Christ was imagined, Who was to shepherd all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God (the Ascension of Christ) and His throne. Here is also meant all those who have fought the good fight and have transmigrated to heaven. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God, that she might be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (three and a half years). This signifies the last difficult times for the church.And there was a war in heaven (for the church). Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them. But they did not stand, and there was no place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan (now working in the Japanese), who deceiveth the whole world, was cast out to the earth, and his angels (demons) were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice speaking in heaven; now is salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast down, who slandered them before our God day and night. They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and did not love their own souls even unto death (Rev. 12:10, 11). now has come salvation and power, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ.It is opportune now to bring to mind the following difficult circumstance from the glorious military life of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky. At the time when his father Yaroslav was reigning in Vladimir, and he in Novgorod the Great, the peoples who lived then (in the 13th century) around the Baltic Sea – the Varangians, now called the Swedes, led by their king with a multitude of military ships – came to our borders with the intention of taking possession of Izhora, Ladoga, Novgorod and capturing all the Russian land. They approached the Neva River and stopped at its mouth at the confluence with the Gulf of Finland; the king, proud of his army, sent his ambassadors to Novgorod to the Grand Duke Alexander to say: if you wish, submit to me; and if not, know that I am already in your land, and will soon take her captive. Alexander, not having a sufficient army in readiness and not being able to inform his father, Prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, of his difficult situation because of an accidental attack by the enemy, – alone, placing his hope in the one glorified God in the Trinity and praying for help to the MostHoly Mother of God, and calling for help from his kinsmen, the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, without an army, with one small retinue, set out against a numerous army of his opponents. Having come to the Neva River, he took up arms not far from the Swedes. And when there was with him one of the governors of the Izhora region, a God-fearing man named Philip, who was entrusted with the night watch so that he could secretly scout how much strength the enemies had. Seeing a large army of the enemy and being in fear and bewilderment, he returned to report to the Prince about what he had seen; And as he walked by the sea, at sunrise, he saw a ship by the shore, and in the midst of it two splendid youths in scarlet robes, putting their hands on each other's shoulders; the oarsmen sat as if covered with mist. He hears a voice! Brother Gleb! let us go quickly – let us help our kinsman, the Grand Duke Alexander, against the adversary. And the other answered: "Very well, brother Boris!" The scout, hearing this, hastened with fear and joy to tell the holy Prince Alexander about it, and he heard about it, glorified God, the Most-Pure Mother of God, and the holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb. Having fought with the enemies, Alexander's small retinue defeated the enemy hordes, and the Prince himself struck the king himself in the face – who, with a small remnant of his army, fled.Thus, with God's help both the Mother of God and the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb, St. Alexander won a glorious victory and delivered his country from foreign slavery, and from this glorious victory at the Neva he was called Nevsky. And more than once he liberated Novgorod from these enemies. After this glorious victory, the Swedes attacked Pskov, beating up many people, and placed their governors in it. St. Alexander with his brother Andrew and a hastily assembled army, having surrounded all the Pskov roads, slew a multitude of enemies and returned the city of Pskov to their state. The name of Alexander Nevsky became terrible among the Swedes.Such is the strength of faith and piety in the Christian army, especially in its leaders. May God grant that our present leaders will also be imbued with faith and hope for help from above, and not only on their own minds and on the strength and number of the army. We believe and hope that our glorious leaders and our Christ-loving army, not only by strength, skill and bravery, but especially by their faith in the almighty help of God, will soon overcome our enemies.

Tenth WordFraternal Appeal to Our Valiant Troops in the Fields of Distant Manchuria

My dear brothers, Christ-loving warriors, of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, standing face to face with a treacherous and cunning enemy! Russia, our dear fatherland, is now experiencing difficult days, such as have not happened in all the times of its existence. But do not forget for a moment, beloved, that the calamities we are experiencing, within and without, have been sent upon us by righteous and all-good Providence because the Russians have forgotten their God. His Saviour as he had never been; they boldly trampled on all His commandments, and each one began to fulfill the evil will of his heart, turning his whole life inside out, especially our so-called, unfortunate and distraught intelligentsia. Heavy and extremely painful are the blows sent to us from the Lord God, but these are the blows and punishments of the fathers, temporary, for admonition and punishment.After God and the Mother of God, and all the saints, all of Russia turns its gaze to you, dear brothers, pinning its hopes, expecting a complete victory in the name of the Lord over the enemies who are arrayed against us on all sides. Be of good cheer, stand still, and see salvation from the Lord (Exodus 14:13), says the inspired prophet on behalf of God. And he also says, "When you go out to war against your enemy, and you see horses and chariots and more people than you have, then do not be afraid of them; for the LORD thy God is with thee. And when you come to battle, then let the priest come and speak to the army, and say to him, "Listen, today you are going to fight with your enemies, let not your heart faint, do not be afraid, do not be troubled, and do not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God is coming with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deuteronomy 20:1-4). But do not forget to keep the commandments of your God; keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will be blessed when you go in and when you go out. The Lord will smite your enemies before you, who rise up against you; in one way they will come out against you, and in seven ways they will flee from you (Deuteronomy 28). Remember, dear brethren, who are bravely fighting on the battlefield for the faith, the king, and the fatherland, that the Lord is with you, and will fight with you Himself, if you firmly place your hope in Him; for the Lord will not save with a multitude of warriors (Psalm 32:16), nor with deadly instruments, but with His almighty power. Remember the solar appearance of the cross in heaven to Emperor Constantine and his army with the inscription in stars around the cross: "By this you will conquer, i.e. by the cross, this is where the power of the Christian army is in the cross, for Christ has conquered and will conquer our enemies, visible and invisible, by the cross." Firmly believe that the Lord is with you: behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), He says. Remember our chosen Voivode, the Mother of God, who saved Russia without number in battles with enemies. May God grant that even now, after the glorious victory, we may sing with all one heart and one mouth: To the victorious Commander who has been chosen... In a brotherly manner, I advise all of you, before any battle, to speak or sing the dogmatics of the Church: the universal glory of man vegetated (sprung up – from the word germination) and the Lord who gave birth, the heavenly door, let us sing the Virgin Mary, the bodiless hymns and the fertilizer (praise) of the faithful, for this is the heaven and the temple of the Divinity; Thou hast destroyed this barrier of enmity, Thou hast brought peace and opened the Kingdom. For this is the affirmation of faith. The champion of the Imam, the Lord born of Her. Be of good cheer, be of good cheer, ye people of God: for He shall conquer the enemies, for He is all-powerful. (Learn this song by heart).With this sacred song go out to battle – and you will win.Amen.

Eleventh HomilyOn the Day of the Glorious Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos

October 1, 1905What a holy, divine, joyous sight God revealed to the hearts of two righteous men, once enlightened by the holiness of life – and in the mouths of two or three witnesses every testimony – who saw in the vaults of the majestic Blachernae church, the shining Mother of God, the Queen of heaven and earth with the multitude of the Archangel and the faces of all the saints, praying to God and stretching out Her shining omophorion over a multitude of praying people! What joy, hope, and joy this vision instilled in the hearts of all who were in the temple, when this joyful news flew around them with the swiftness of lightning! What profound truth and real help were revealed soon after the miraculous manifestation! For the city of Constantine the Great, besieged by the Saracens, was delivered from the enemy, not by sword and spear, but by the power of God, and the enemies fled, frightened by the power of heaven, leaving their whole camp besieged. Such is the wondrous, salvific protection of the Mother of God the Church celebrates today! I say they are worthy, because, according to the testimony of Church history, at that time the prayer was universal, unanimous, fervent, in the presence of the Tsar and the Queen, the people, and the two great righteous men – Andrew and his disciple. And everywhere we were defeated or voluntarily surrendered with our ships, men and supplies at sea and on land (the fortress of Port Arthur), because we did not have enough faith, courage, loyalty to duty, but we had enough confidence in impunity and acquittal in court! Some of the commanding gentlemen at sea were still guided by the accepted conviction of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy of non-resistance to evil. These traitors betrayed the faith, the Tsar, and the fatherland, and if only our fate had been in their hands, we would all have been betrayed with all our dear possessions. What heavenly help could be given in our lack of faith, unpreparedness, cowardice, neglect of state property, with the moral and disciplinary laxity that existed in some military men, which was proven in practice! In order to deserve heavenly help in the difficult circumstances of the fatherland, we need a firm faith in divine help – and most importantly, repentance for the sins that provoked God's wrath against Russia – the correction of morals, and not the strengthening of vices during the very height of the war. Righteous heaven cannot be in communion with human unrighteousness. What communion can there be between light and darkness, between righteousness and iniquity, between Christ and Satan? (2 Corinthians 6:15). What kind of evil have not yet been done by the Russian people, who live in Russia? What other sins have you not corrupted yourselves? Everything, everything, has done and will do that the righteous wrath of God moves against us: blatant unbelief and blasphemy, the rejection of all true principles of faith, debauchery, drunkenness, all kinds of amusements, instead of putting on the mourning of public repentance and sorrow for sins that anger God, – disobedience to the authorities. Incomprehensible autonomy, which ensures complete unbridled and disobedience to the authorities; a self-willed strike, harmful to everyone, complete anarchy. We have rejected the will of God, we live according to our own will – and soon we will see what it will lead to or has already led. If you bite and devour one another, says the word of God, then take heed that you do not destroy one another (Gal. 5:15). If we do not repent and reform, we will be forsaken by God. Behold, your house is left desolate (Matt. 23:38), says the Lord. But, let it not be. There are still faithful and chosen righteous in Russia, as St. Andrew, Epiphanius, and others were once in the reigning city.

Homily TwelfthOn the Day of the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

September 26, 1905The Holy Repose of the Beloved Disciple of Christ is a Lesson in the Resurrection and Immortality.Today the Church of Christ commemorates the glorious memory of the repose of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian from temporal life to eternal life, from perishable to incorruptible, from laborious and sorrowful to eternal rest and joy, from laborious to royal rest, for he, together with the rest of the Apostles, was promised by the Truth Itself, by Christ, a royal seat and judgment over the twelve tribes of Israel. The repose of Christ's beloved disciple and confidant was supernatural: three days after his burial, his body was not found in the ground in which he was buried; he was transferred with the body to the heavenly dwellings, to the throne of God, having at the same time received the lot – to remain on earth at will, until the second terrible coming of Christ, in fulfillment of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: If I want him to remain (in the body) until I come, what does it matter to you? such a loud, all-wise, divine Theologian and teacher of the true faith was given to mankind in the person of the beloved Apostle John. His divine, wondrous Gospel, full of divine simplicity and majesty, penetrated to all corners of the world; has taught and is teaching all peoples who have accepted the faith of Christ the true, soul-nourishing and soul-saving Theology.

Let us, dear brothers and sisters, learn our resurrection and immortality from the wondrous death of the Apostle of Christ John, and let us unceasingly prepare for our resettlement into another, eternal world. The Apostle reposed, but did not die, but lives both in body and does not depart from the earth, as the Church says, and awaits the second terrible coming of the Lord to judge the whole world (Stanza for the Lesser Eternity, glory). – and for this reason they have completely lost their way from the vital, rational one. Divine foundations and have become not intellectuals (reasonable), but madmen, doing absolutely insane things; they were imbued with hatred for the faith, for Christian piety, for truth and righteousness, for everything holy, honest and praiseworthy; they proclaimed savage freedom to their senseless passions, declared war on their superiors and on all public order, gave themselves over to disobedience, to all outrage, to murder in broad daylight, to all lies and slander against those whom they hate; proclaimed in word and deed, the so-called terror is kept in fear, while they themselves should be afraid of the authorities: for it is said: there is no power except from God; And the powers that exist are made by God, are they who do not want to fear power? Do good, and have praise from him; If you do evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword without reason (Rom. 13:4).And this is what is surprising: the authorities are afraid to use the sword against those who raise the sword or throw murderous projectiles, while the seditious use murderous weapons against the authorities with impunity; power does not possess the sword given to it by God. But the faithful servants of the fatherland, like sheaves, fall down and there is no one to protect them.And when I say this, I think that these notorious enemies of all truth, enemies of the Church of Christ, are raising their sword against me. But may the Eternal and Cheerful, who dwellest in heaven, preserve those who struggle against iniquity. Behold, he shall not slumber, he shall keep Israel asleep. (Psalm 120:4). We see a phenomenon that has never happened before: youths and youths, who have just entered life and do not understand it, its goals, want to rule over men of experience and science, over people who have served their fatherhood with benefit, honor and glory, over people in power, invested with royal trust. In truth, boys rule over the elders, according to the prophet Isaiah. "When will this end?" When will the authorities carry the sword wisely? When will he receive the power bestowed by God and strike fear into those who want to rule the authorities with fear? Oh, how the Russian people, and especially the so-called liberals, have become unworthy of their Christian calling, unworthy of the Gospel, because they oppose it in everything – unworthy of Christ, the Lamb of God, Who redeemed us with His blood from the righteous wrath of God, from the hereditary corruption of sin, from damnation and death. We accept Thee, Who fell on Thy Persian. Pray to Him, O Theologian, to disperse the impending darkness of the Russian intelligentsia, asking for us peace and great mercy (Troparion of the Feast).