This name is gratifying, desired for my heart! But in the pleasant consciousness of this name, I confess, like St. Solomonia, the mother of the Holy Martyrs Maccabees, that I do not comprehend how a living being was formed and grows, for it was not I who arranged the tender members of his body, nor did I animate him with life. Thou, O Lord, hast given existence and life to this tiny creature, which by its movement in me informs me of its existence!

Make me a true Christian mother and vouchsafe the fate of those holy mothers who have gained eternal salvation with the children born of them. And grant me, like the mother of Samuel the prophet, to learn the name of a mother through fasting and prayer. Cleanse me from all sinful defilement, for I realize that just as in sin I myself was born, so in sin I conceived the creature felt in me.

Therefore, believing and confessing that Thou alone art sinless, O Christ the Saviour, I give myself over entirely to Thy paternal providence for me, and with all the strength of my soul I beseech Thy goodness: complete Thy creation, conceived in me, and support by Thy grace my weakness in bearing this burden, and grant me patience always, but especially in my present state!

Knowing that, according to the determination of His all-holy truth, pronounced in the person of the first mother to all women, I am still waiting for the sickness of childbirth, I submit to this holy decree with humility and complete devotion to Thy will. But, O Lord, strengthen my weakness in the hour of my deliverance from burdens, send down Thy strength to my weakness for this, support my weak physique with it, protect me with Thy creation that I am born of by Thy holy angels."

Does the Lord punish children for disrespecting their parents? Punishes. Here are two examples out of many. "A peasant of my parish," writes a priest, "of the village of Burnykovka, named Alexei, was given to military service in 1855. His father, left with two young grandchildren, grieved much for his only son. But what was his joy when, two years later, his son unexpectedly came on vacation with a ticket — henceforth, on demand!

His father, as usual, made a feast, summoned his relatives and acquaintances, and entertained them as much as he had. But Alexei, freed from surveillance, unfortunately began to lead a dissolute life with his friends, which is why his father did not calm him down at first and looked through his fingers, as they say. This merry life, which began with joy, gradually became a habit — and Alexei began to drink with his acquaintances to excess.

Then my father, sober and compassionate, turned his joy into bitter sorrow. "Child, child," he used to say, "it is time to stop; You have a wife, little children, you should teach them and be an example, but what are you doing? Today he is drunk, tomorrow - the same, the day after tomorrow - with friends. Did the Emperor, our father, let you go to me for that?" — "I will stop," was the answer, "when there is no hunting."

So the father wanted to support his weakened son; he added both caresses and threats, but the son did not heed his words, and was angry at the threats. A year or two passes, and Alexei does not even think of correcting himself. Finally, in 1860, on the evening of May 19, Alexei came to his father in a rather drunken state. The father still began to scold his son, who had long been tired of parental admonitions.

And so he wanted to go up to the old man who was standing by the jamb of the middle window and say something; but before reaching it, he staggered a little and leaned his hand, instead of a jamb, directly into the frame. From the strong onslaught the glass broke, shattered and cut off Alexei's arm above the hand; blood flowed like a stream; In fright, Alexei threw himself on a nearby bed and clamped the wound with his other hand. "Alyosha, what's wrong with you?

"Nothing, father," he answered, "everything will pass"; and meanwhile he hid the circumcised hand in his clothes. Seeing, however, that the blood was running from under his clothes, the father snatched out his hand and found a wound above the hand, made as if by the point of a knife. The bandaging has begun, and the blood is gushing out; The old man's hands are trembling with fright, the bandage does not go well, blood is flowing. At last they bandaged it, the blood subsided; but unfortunately for the sick man, he was attacked by a violent cough, and as soon as he began to cough, the wound under the dressing opened again, and the blood again began to run violently.

Six days after this, the father of the sick man came to me and asked me to guide his son. I get ready, go to the patient, see him in a strong exhaustion, white as a sheet. "What's wrong with you, Alexei?" "The Lord punished me," was his first word, "for disobeying my parent and for living a drunken life. I gave Alexei his parting words.

"Father, mother, wife, children, forgive me," he said, "but forgive me, I am dying." And indeed, soon after my departure he died" (Strannik, 1866, pp. 125-126). Children! Remember the fifth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be good for thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth" (Exodus 20:12). See how true the word of God is..

This son, for disobedience to his parent, lost his blessing by leading an intemperate life, and was found to be short-lived, dying at the age of thirty, as the same priest further declared. "In the parish of the appanage department," writes one sexton, "in the village of N., I know of one family, consisting of the mother of an old woman and her two sons with their families. The father left his children as minors; they grew up under the care of their mother, who brought them up in piety and the fear of God, saved up a decent capital for them, built them a new house instead of a dilapidated one, provided them with everything that a peasant needed, and married them.

Being under the care of their mother, the children obeyed her, lived well, piously, and soberly. But after marrying and entering the Volga trade, called piloting, they soon changed completely, became depraved, impudent, disorderly and, especially, drunk; foul language almost never left their tongues. At the same time, they became extremely disrespectful to their mother, and by their insolent treatment of her they gave reason to their families not to respect her.