32. What is delirium tremens?

Fever means the delusional state of the patient during serious illnesses with a high fever. In the literature related to wars, we often encounter the expressions: wallowing in typhus fever, i.e. delirium. The name "delirium tremens" is an old name associated with the patient's normal body temperature. This condition is not caused by a severe infectious disease, but by prolonged exhaustion and a change in the psyche by alcohol. We had such patients in intensive care very often. A person lives for himself, like many others: he goes to work, drinks every day – the family endures and is glad that he does not scold, he brings some money home. And suddenly appendicitis. Anesthesia, surgery. After the operation, they brought him to the ward, put him on the bed. And a few hours later, provoked by anesthesia and breaks in alcohol intake, alcoholic psychosis or, in other words, delirium tremens begins. Such a sick person sits on the bed and begins to look for his underwear. He is asked: "Where are you going?"

"To work," he said, "stop lying here, it's time to go."

"You're after the operation!"

"What kind of operation is there?" I have to go to work, it's time." They put him, my dear, on a gurney and to us, in the intensive care unit, under close supervision and care. And so, bound hand and foot, they mutter, so sick, without sleep all day long, talk to ghosts, to demons that appear to them in the form of animals, monsters, relatives, etc. I explain this to you in a popular way.

33. Why is there such veneration of icons of the Mother of God in Russia?

The Mother of God loved Russia, its simple and sincere people, and revealed Herself in numerous wondrous icons. The Lord poured out grace, healing, and protection through these images. The answer to this was the love of the common people, for whom the protection and help of the Mother of God was sometimes the last hope. And the Orthodox people did not depart from the miraculous icons of the Mother of God, lifting up praise to God and glorifying His Most-Pure Mother. It was more difficult with the aristocracy. For her, since the eighteenth century, Orthodoxy began to be associated with the common people, with the peasants. Not knowing it, not understanding it, and sometimes laughing and mocking, they were only listed as members of our Church. At the same time, they became high-ranking officials and the course of serious events in the life of the country and many thousands of people often depended on them. Here is what we read in S.A. Nilus:

"At the first shot aimed at the Sevastopol bastions from enemy ships, he [Motovilov] sent to the Tsar to send to Sevastopol a copy of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Joys", before which he had prayed all his life and in prayer St. Seraphim died and in bitter anticipation awaited the wrath of God.

Events proved that Motovilov was not mistaken...

...На одном из вечеров у князя Ивана Феодоровича Звенигородского ему довелось встретиться с одним из героев Севастопольской обороны адмиралом Петром Ивановичем Кислинским. Мотовилов не преминул поинтересоваться, что сталось с посланною им покойному государю иконой и была ли она доставлена в Севастополь. Кислинский ему ответил:

— Икона Божией Матери была от государя прислана, но наш светлейший /князь Меньшиков/ на нее не обратил никакого внимания, и она долгое время хранилась в каком-то чулане, пока сам государь не запросил, куда она помещена. Тогда ее разыскали и поставили на Северную сторону, и только Северная сторона, как вам известно, и не была взята неприятелем. Да чему вы удивляетесь? У нас еще и не такие дела делывались. Как-то раз я был у светлейшего, и мы с ним засели играть в шахматы. Вдруг входит адъютант и докладывает, что явился гонец от архиепископа Херсонского Иннокентия и хочет видеть главнокомандующего. Не отрываясь от игры, светлейший сказал:

— Спросите у него, что ему нужно.

— Гонец сказал, что ему нужно лично видеть вашу светлость!

— Ну, зовите!