Confession and Communion: A False Problem

Is it that confession is obligatory before every communion or is that you take communion whenever you want and have confession whenever you want?

Such is the false question which I first heard over forty years ago, to which any answer must also be false, for false questions can only have false answers. What is the reality?

Confession and communion are two different sacraments. Thus, you can have confession and not take communion and you can, in some circumstances, take communion without confession. In other words, you can have confession very often and take communion less often. This is the opposite of the modernism’s apparent hatred of confession and love of obligatory communion – which is not part of the Church. The impression given is that modernism does not believe that its adherents have any sins and that therefore they have nothing to repent of. If this is so, then it is spiritual pride. Of course, this impression may be quite wrong, but it is the one made. After all, a doctor does not prescribe medicine, if he cannot first make a diagnosis, and confession is precisely diagnosis.

If we are talking about nominal Orthodox who take communion only occasionally, perhaps once or twice a year or once or twice every ten or twenty years, then confession before every communion is the rule.

What about communion whenever you want and confession whenever you want? This statement is a piece of consumerism that treats the Church as a supermarket and has its roots in the anti-sacramental and therefore anti-priestly Protestant mentality that lies behind consumerism: ‘Do whatever you want whenever you want’. Little wonder that this mentality is that of certain unChurched converts, precisely of Protestant origin, who always take communion without confession and even scorn cradle Orthodox who do not take communion at every Liturgy. The result is that cradle Orthodox no longer attend convert services, feeling hostility. And that is a pity because it means that unChurched converts can no longer meet anyone they can learn from, with the result that convert ghettos are only reinforced.

What then is the ideal? It is to take communion, voluntarily, according to personal spiritual needs, when you spiritually need it (not when you want it – ‘want’ is the word of consumerists) and to have confession beforehand because we should need confession before communion. If we do not feel the need for confession, it suggests that we do not need communion. Put simply, if a full dustbin does not know that it needs emptying (confession), then it does not need filling (communion).

There are exceptions to this. Firstly, in parish life, for example during Passion Week or Bright Week or at other times as before the Nativity or Theophany, when there may be liturgies on several consecutive days and simply we may feel no need for confession two or more days running because the faithful are striving to live a quiet and devout life ‘in all godliness and honesty’. The second exception is in monastic life or among those who are living a monastic-style life in the world and may take communion more regularly but only have confession every few days or even every few weeks, according to their spiritual father’s directions.

Preparation before communion assumes not only confession, but also that the fast days in the week before communion and due abstinence are observed, together with the fast from midnight, that the faithful attend the vigil service (or vespers and matins) before the Liturgy and that they also read the rule before communion.

Modernism which has more or less abandoned the sacrament of confession (if it ever knew it) will say that it does not need confession frequently because the ‘early Christians’ took communion every day. This is dangerous spiritual pride. Are modernists seriously claiming that they live on the spiritual level of Orthodox in the first centuries who faced possible martyrdom every single day? Let us face reality. Those in modernist groups who want weekly or even daily communion (impossible for menstruating girls and women) are simply copying heterodox, for whom, in any case, there is no Body and Blood of Christ, but just biscuit wafers with or without some wine. And what is unconsumed among them, they throw away. Such modernism is not Orthodox and should learn what the Apostle Paul says and tremble:

Wherefore whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. (I Cor 11, 27-30).

Confession and communion form a virtuous circle, for the benefits of communion depend directly on our preparation for it. Modernism which superstitiously misbelieves that communion is a sort of magic, which confers its benefits (listed in the prayers before and after communion) automatically, without any effort on our part, is sadly and dangerously mistaken. I have often seen the sorrowful consequences of this mistake in the past decades and they always lead to lapsing from the Faith, which is the only thing that Satan wants us to do.

Some Constructive Suggestions Towards Overcoming the Chronic Pastoral Crisis in Both Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church in the British Isles and Ireland

Introduction: The Russian Orthodox Presence in the British Isles and Ireland

There has been a Russian Orthodox presence in England for 300 years. And yet, incredibly, both dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church in our countries (that of the Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) and that of the Church based inside Russia (the Diocese of Sourozh)) have faced battles to get even the name of their diocese right! Although it is thirty years since the late Fr Mark (Meyrick) of the Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) painted his Icon of All the Saints Who Have Shone Forth in the British Isles and Ireland with the correct title, we recently had a battle at the Theological Commission of the Inter-Orthodox Committee of Bishops even to establish this title, since most of the foreign bishops had no concept that there was a difference between Great Britain, the United Kingdom and the British Isles and whether any of these names included Ireland!

The Present Crisis

Both Russian Orthodox dioceses here have been in crisis in recent decades, facing three problems.

The first problem faced by the small Diocese of Sourozh, directly under Moscow, has been a mixture of modernism, liturgical renovationism and a personality cult characteristic of small organizations, all problems inherited from the Paris School of modernist Orthodoxy. This battle for the integrity of the Faith against what was in reality Protestantization resulted in the 2006 Sourozh schism, when the Diocese lost over half its mainly convert clergy and 300 people, also mainly converts. Though this is all in the past, there is still a hangover from that period. The second problem faced by that Diocese is its chronic lack of properties because of its defective ecclesiology in the past. This entailed dependence on Church of England for borrowing properties and so a lack of independence and freedom to preach the Gospel in the Orthodox way. All that the Diocese possesses is a smallish Cathedral in west London and tiny chapels in Oxford, Manchester and Nottingham. The third problem is its chronic lack of (overworked) clergy, whose average age is about 65 and few of whom speak the language of the masses of the Russian-speaking people, whose average age is about 35 (excluding children)!

The first problem faced by the even smaller ROCOR Diocese of the British Isles and Ireland, has been a narrow nationalism mixed on the fringes with old-fashioned Anglo-Catholicism, which in the past created a dead end of insularity. This battle for the integrity of the Faith against such Sectarianism, mixed with personality conflicts characteristic of small organizations, resulted in the 2007 ROCOR schism, when the Diocese lost its only monastery and convent. Though this is all exactly ten years in the past, there is still a hangover from that period. The second problem faced by the Diocese is its chronic lack of properties because of its over-strict narrowness and rejection of any form of mission (there was even a missionary tax!) in the past. This entailed total exhaustion and demoralization of the clergy and so a lack of any encouragement to preach the Gospel in the Orthodox way. With one exception, the Diocese largely only exists in London (and missions dependent on London) and in East Anglia. All that the Diocese possesses is a very small Cathedral in a sidestreet in west London, the largest Russian Orthodox church in the British Isles and Ireland in Colchester (not London) and tiny chapels in a house in Essex, in a private garden in a Suffolk village, in Norwich in Norfolk and near a village in central Ireland, far from where Orthodox live. The third problem is its chronic lack of overworked clergy, whose average age is about 65 and few of whom speak the language of the masses of the Russian-speaking people, whose average age is about 35 (excluding children)!

A Future Solution?

As can be seen, the common crisis is today purely pastoral in nature. Given that two of the three problems of both dioceses, lack of church buildings and lack of clergy, who are elderly, overworked and exhausted, are identical, there should be some common solution. One shrewd commentator has said that the Diocese that will dominate will be the one that sets up proper, large churches in London to provide proper pastoral care for the tens of thousands of faithful there. Notably, churches are required in the south of London, around, Croydon, in the east, around Stratford and in the north, around St Albans. The scandal is that there is only one permanent Russian-speaking priest to cover the country to the east and south of London – one third of the whole country!

However, we should also take into account the wider Russian Orthodox world in continental Western Europe and beyond. The Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) dominates the Russian Orthodox presence in the English-speaking world, in North America and Australasia. However, the Russian Orthodox Church based inside Russia, dominates elsewhere, notably in South America and above all in Western Europe. Here, where 25 years ago ROCOR was dominant and representatives of the Church inside Russia hardly existed, today ROCOR hardly exists. Just the Diocese of the Church inside Russia in Italy is larger than all of ROCOR in Western Europe. This has only eight parishes outside its parishes in western Germany and the few in Switzerland. Surely it is the Russian Orthodox presence in continental Western Europe will one day come under representatives of the Church inside Russia, with its new Cathedral and seminary in Paris and active young bishops, large flocks and newly-built churches in Rome, Madrid and many other places?

On the other hand, perhaps at this point we should consider what can be called ‘the Brexit Factor’. With the United Kingdom, at least, leaving the European Union, it is inevitably returning to closer relations with the rest of the English-speaking world, former colonies, especially in North America and Australasia. Surely, ecclesiastically, this means the Russian Orthodox presence in the British Isles and Ireland one day coming under ROCOR? Rather than the canonically absurd arrangement of two dioceses of the same Local Church on the same territory, there should surely be some rearrangement, at least in the British Isles and Ireland. It may seem premature to talk of this to some, but, after all, the two parts of the Russian Church have been united for ten years now, since 2007. The only delay on such matters can be because of pastoral considerations, in the interests of economy, that the people may not be upset.

Conclusion: Divine not Human

Of course, none of this can take place without the right leader, that is, without the right bishop, one acceptable to both sides, and this must be a bishop who speaks English and understands English people. A pastor. It is no wish of ours to hurt anyone’s feelings with the above considerations. The above is all written in the spirit of throwing a stone into a pond and seeing what ripples there may be. In other words, surely it is time at least to begin discussing such possibilities as we have outlined above in the spirit of pastoral love and unity. Let us remember: All crises are man-made and all solutions are God-made. Let us all strive to discern and do God’s Will.

The Idolatry of Intellectualism

There is nothing wrong with the human intellect in itself. It is a wonderful tool for expressing spiritual revelation. That is how the Church Fathers used it – as a tool – and no more. However, there is a danger – when the intellect turns into an ism, intellectualism, in other words, when the intellect is used idolatrously as an end in itself, when it is no longer at the service of the expression of the heart cleansed and enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Then theology, the knowledge of God granted to the cleansed heart, is no longer expressed and, though this knowledge may still be called theology, in fact it is mere philosophy, the speculations of the intellect become an end in itself.

All heretics committed this error. It was the error of Judas, who thought that he knew better than God and, wanting to correct Him, so killed Him (which is also the error of modern Western Secularism, which so admires Judas, with its ‘God is dead’). It was the error of the Gnostic Origen, who idolatrously put intellectualism in the place of God and so is admired by modern renovationists. It was the error of Arius and Nestorius, whose little minds could not accept the mystery of Christ the God-Man and so put the personal pride of their rationalistic speculations above God. It was the error of the filioquists, who put their reason above the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

It was the error of the Western Scholastics, whose Greek heir was the heretic Barlaam, who could not personally know God because of the impurity of his heart and asserted that therefore no-one could no God, but was put in his place by the great St Gregory Palamas, who had seen the glory of God. It was the error of Paisius Ligarides, the papist sodomite intellectual who tried to betray the Russian Church in the 17th century. And it was the fantasy and error of the Parisian heretic Fr Sergius Bulgakov with his Sophiology heresy, denounced by two 20th-century saints of the Church Outside Russia, St John of Shanghai and St Seraphim of Sofia.

Such facts should be taken to heart by those still unrepentant intellectuals, conditioned by doctorates given them by the Gregorian University in Rome and Protestant Universities in Germany, who try and foist their heresies on us, most recently through their meeting in Crete. The Local Churches of Bulgaria, Georgia, Antioch and Russia (the latter despite certain impure temptations among individuals in the hierarchy) have thoroughly rejected that meeting. So too have the leading lights of the episcopate in Greece and Serbia, reducing the documents issued by that meeting to shreds. There is no need for anti-ecumenist schisms, be patient, for the truth always triumphs in the end.

Stephen Lendman Reports President Putin’s Response To Obama’s New Sanctions

We republish the following article since it shows what a bad loser and gross hypocrite soon to be ex-President Obama is. Having interfered in democratic elections all over the world, unseating the democratically-elected President of the Ukraine in 2014 through mob law and massacre, he then tried to interfere in the UK’s Brexit referendum, threatening us with being ‘at the back of the queue’ in the ridiculous and arrogant attempt to intimidate the UK public in the ‘Project Fear’ campaign of Cameron. Obama then accused Russian hackers of interfering in the US election. Bad losers always explain away their incompetence with excuses. After all the CIA employs teams of hundreds of hackers and trolls to interfere in other countries’ elections. Why not explain away your loss by accusing others of what you yourself do?

Obama’s present Russophobic actions seem to be linked with his thirst for petty revenge after he lost the war in Syria, which now has a ceasefire brokered by the three countries who are not thousands of miles away, but are concerned neighbours: Russia, Turkey and Iran. This ceasefire has been carried out without the US. It now counts for little in the Middle East, for it comes after the US financing and arming of the now defeated ‘moderate rebels’ (= terrorists from all over the Muslim world), who in their war in Syria are responsible for the deaths of 315,000 people, blood that is on the conscience of the White House (if they have a conscience). Syria is now divided into zones of influence between these three neighbours, with Russia protecting the Christians in the Syrian east, fulfilling its historic destiny as the protector of Christians in the Holy Land. (This came about after the massacre and expulsion of virtually all the Christians in Iraq, where the USA infamously meddled in 2003. seeing the anti-Christian and irresponsible Western indifference to their tragic fate, who but Russia could then defend the Christians of Syria?).

Obama’s crass hypocrisy means that he leaves the White House a loser and miserable failure, his only ‘achievement’ having been to increase the US national debt to a staggering $20 trillion. Russia awaits common sense from the USA.

It is clear enough who is the real leader of the world. That person is not in the White House. Putin’s Response to Obama’s New Sanctions

by Stephen Lendman

What Is The Obama Regime Up To? — Paul Craig Roberts

Both leaders are polar opposites – a person of dignity and honour in Moscow on the right side of history compared to a US menace in Washington waging war on humanity.

In response to Obama’s new sanctions, a same day article quoted Sergey Lavrov, saying Russia “cannot leave unanswered insults of the kind, reciprocity is the law of diplomacy and foreign relations.”

He recommended Putin respond tit for tat while blasting Obama’s deplorable action. It seemed certain, but didn’t happen. Putin took the high ground, in stark contrast to his disgraceful US counterpart, issuing a statement, saying:

“We regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing US administration as provocative and aimed at further weakening the Russia-US relationship.” “This runs contrary to the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American peoples. Considering the global security responsibilities of Russia and the United States, this is also damaging to international relations as a whole.”

“As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore Russian-US relations based on the policies of the Trump Administration.” “The diplomats who are returning to Russia will spend the New Year’s holidays with their families and friends. We will not create any problems for US diplomats.” “We will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and children from using their traditional leisure sites during the New Year’s holidays.” “Moreover, I invite all children of US diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas children’s parties in the Kremlin.” [The Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar for religious holidays, which puts Christmas on January 7.] “It is regrettable that the Obama Administration is ending its term in this manner. Nevertheless, I offer my New Year greetings to President Obama and his family.” “My season’s greetings also to President-elect Donald Trump and the American people.” “I wish all of you happiness and prosperity.”

Judge for yourself. Who’s the man of dignity and honour and who’s the menace? Which way will Trump go?

My personal year-end greetings and thanks to President Putin for doing the right thing consistently on major geopolitical issues. I proudly support his pre-eminent world leadership.

A Final Comment

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained that Obama’s expulsion order disrupts the lives of 96 Russian nationals – 35 diplomats and family members.

Some targeted diplomats only arrived in America two months ago. “It is not clear how they could have participated in (alleged) activities that, according to the secret services, took place in the spring of 2016,” Zakharova explained. They have until January 1 to leave – Obama’s happy new year greeting.

Akathist to the Holy Martyr Gregory the New

Treason in High Places: On the Hundredth Anniversary of 30 December 1916

Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesyings. But test all things, hold fast to that which is good.

1 Thess. 5, 19-21

Russia will not perish…it was and will be glorified; the tears of those who suffer, whoever they are, are higher than all idle talk.

Gregory Rasputin-Novy, 16 November 1916

Poor Russia bears a penance…It is our duty to cleanse the memory of the Elder from slander…This is vital for the spiritual life of the whole Russian Church…As Divine Truth begins to be revealed, everything will change in Russia.

Elder Nikolay (Guryanov) (1909-2002)

The West will never tolerate the rebirth of Holy Rus. It will always try to annihilate us, foisting on us as heroes its one-time agents of influence (to a greater or lesser extent): Lenin, Trotsky or Stalin. It will always strive by any means available to blacken and slander our Orthodox Civilization and our holy Tsar, in order through them to besmirch and compromise our Orthodox Church and our present State, blowing them apart from inside.

Petr Multatuli, Contemporary Russian Historian

Exactly 100 years ago, on 30 December 1916 (new style), the peasant elder Gregory Efimovich Rasputin-Novy was brutally and ritually murdered. Responsible were British spies and treasonous and parasitic Russian aristocrats, one of them an Oxford graduate, transvestite and occultist. Gregory, a ‘good, simple and religious man’, in the words of the Tsar, had been outrageously slandered by all the enemies of Christ and His Holy Church. These included ignorant, xenophobic nationalists, oligarchic February revolutionaries (and their ‘liberal’ Western and Westernized supporters to this day), as well as Bolshevik October revolutionaries with their German ideology and German/US finance and orders.

In the words of one of the assassins, Purishkevich, Gregory’s murder was ‘the first shot’ in the largely British-orchestrated February Revolution against the Christian Tsar. It anticipated by over two months the bloody torrent of the many millions of cruel deaths to come. His scapegoating, which had been going on for years before his death, which he had accurately prophesied, was only the self-justification of guilt-ridden murderers. Attitudes towards him have become a litmus test which shows the depth of repentance and mystical understanding necessary if the worldwide apostasy that began with the removal of the Tsar, who had held back Antichrist, is to be stemmed. Only then can the long-awaited restoration of our beloved Christian Emperor and Empire take place.

Below we present for the first time an English adaptation of the best-known of the three akathists to him, the one written by Nikolay Kozlov, all of which we have carefully read and compared. It is not an exact translation because the original, like the author’s full service to the New Martyr Gregory, at various points contains ambiguities in theological and other domains which could be misinterpreted by those of ill will. Although we give full credit to the author, this first ever version in a Western language is a long-considered adaptation, even original in parts, as much as a translation, with, for example, the words ‘Tsar’ generally translated as ‘Emperor’ and ‘Orthodox’ as ‘Christian’, as well as other changes.

May this be an English wreath laid on the gravesite of the still officially uncanonized but much venerated elder, healer, prophet and protomartyr of the Russian Revolution. This was ordered by anti-Christian sponsors and implemented by apostates, blinded by rationalism, from the anti-Christian globalist forces of evil. In their apostasy, folly and treachery these forces brought a curse of 100 years to the whole planet, not just an extended First World War and then Satanism in Russia, but a Second World War with its holocaust of 30 million Slav victims and a Cold War which endures to this day. It is from this that we may only now in 2016 be recovering, as the threat of a Third World War miraculously seems to be receding for now.

May the curse that has beset the whole world for 100 years at last be lifted!

Kontakion I

Called from the furthest bounds of East and West by the Most Holy Mother of God through her Image of Kazan to become a faithful servant of the Double-Headed Eagle, thou didst journey as a pilgrim to the holy places of the vast Orthodox Lands, even to the earthly Jerusalem, fearing God, honouring the Tsar and having compassion on the people. When the Spirit came down on thee, thou didst not forsake thy calling even unto death, acquiring boldness before the Lord and praying for those who sing to thee: Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Ikos I

Coming forth from the village of the Intercession of the Mother of God, thy destiny was revealed to be as an intercessor for the Imperial Family, O martyr Gregory, by thy prayers opposing the efforts of the dragon to overthrow the Christian Emperor and bestow his Empire on the beast from the bottomless pit. In wonder at thy service and protection beneath the veil of the Mother of God, we sing to thee thus:

Rejoice, thou who didst heal the heir to the throne after earthly doctors had laboured in vain.
Rejoice, thou who didst heal the future hope of the Christian Empire through thy prayers.
Rejoice, thou who didst turn the sorrow of the Empress into joy by the Holy Spirit.
Rejoice, thou who didst not seek any earthly reward for thy labours.
Rejoice, thou who didst imitate the mystical feat of the great martyr George.
Rejoice, thou who didst bear thy name as an evil for the sake of the Lord’s Anointed.
Rejoice, thou who didst obtain from thy Lord a new name that shines like a star in the heavens.
Rejoice, thou who didst speak words of the Lord like as a prophet of the New Israel.
Rejoice, thou who made the slanders and blasphemies of the enemies of Christ into salvation.
Rejoice, O spiritual warrior and companion in the battle for Sovereignty.
Rejoice, O invisible companion of the Emperor’s prayer.
Rejoice, O good and faithful servant even unto death.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 2

Seeing the Christian Empire troubled and shaken by the enemies of Christ, thou, O martyr Gregory, wast revealed after the repose of the Righteous John of Kronstadt as a new prophet to denounce the spiritual impurity of the Emperor’s foes and confirm the good estate of his faithful subjects, singing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

Having the mind of the saints of old, whom thou didst love, and concealing God’s gifts from the world behind the foolishness of the Cross, thou wast beloved by the Emperor and Empress. Slandered by the spite of apostates and the jealousy of traitors, thou, O blessed one, wast no friend to the dark forces that hated Christ. Teach us also by the knowledge that God inspired in thee to withstand temptations, the enemies of Christ and the devil, singing to thee thus:

Rejoice, O man of God, honoured by Imperial friendship.
Rejoice, O messenger of the will of God, revealed to the Emperor.
Rejoice, O treasury of the Wisdom of God, hidden from the world.
Rejoice, O servant of Christ, whose nobility was far greater than that of princes.
Rejoice, O bee made wise by God, who gathered mystical nectar from the Emperor’s flowers.
Rejoice, O sweetness feeding the lovers of honey with holy honeycombs.
Rejoice, O faithful keeper of the Sovereign Empire against the servants of Antichrist.
Rejoice, O untiring guardian and zealot of ancient piety against the demons.
Rejoice, O converser with the Imperial Family.
Rejoice, thou who didst suffer for the good order of the Empire.
Rejoice, O meadow of virtue cultivated from generation unto generation.
Rejoice, O fool for Christ blessed by God amid the intrigues of Babylon.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 3

Raised up from a distant province for thine Imperial destiny by the Divine Love of Providence, thou, O blessed Gregory, admiring the Redeemer, didst witness to Him. In thy vigilance, as prophesied by the Righteous John according to thy name, thou didst sacrifice thy soul for thy Imperial Friends, prophesying and calling out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 3

In thee the Sovereign Family found a new intercessor, a new prophet and a new martyr, for thou, O faithful Gregory, wast revealed to be a forerunner of the Imperial Martyrs, like them slain in the darkness of the night by the base in a basement. As the offering of thy soul for the Emperor was accepted, now pray for those who call out to thee in this wise:

Rejoice, O trusted intercessor for the Imperial City come from a lowly village.
Rejoice, O protection against those who plotted to slay the Emperor.
Rejoice, thou who gavest thy life for the Tsar as a protomartyr.
Rejoice, thou who didst suffer at the hands of those who then martyred the Imperial Family.
Rejoice, thou who didst repeat the famed patriotic feats of old.
Rejoice, thou who didst mystically sacrifice thy soul for the Emperor.
Rejoice, thou who didst accept royal hallowing from God.
Rejoice, thou who wast revered by thine Emperor and Empress as a man of God.
Rejoice, thou who wast crowned on earth with a crown of thorns.
Rejoice, thou who wast crowned in heaven with a royal crown.
Rejoice, O friend of the ancient and sacred union of Emperor and people against apostates and traitors.
Rejoice, O spiritual offshoot of the Imperial Family.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 4

Rightfully spurning the wisdom of the world as vainglorious and impure and preferring the foolishness of the Cross, thou, O blessed one, didst denounce the lies and delusions, intrigues and evil schemings of those who had rejected Christ and didst pray with the greatest simplicity for those who sing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Hurling slanders and blasphemies at the Emperor who had been crowned by God, in their folly the traitors forced the Anointed of the Lord from his ancestral throne and led him like a lamb from his Gethsemane to his slaughter. Seeing the depth of thy love for the Emperor, who looks down on us now, we sing to thee, O Gregory, thus:

Rejoice, thou who in thy life with the Imperial Family wast falsely accused of every sin and vice.
Rejoice, O ever-watchful guardian of the Ruling Family who suffered for the sins of Russia.
Rejoice, thou who art not parted in death from their heavenly glory.
Rejoice, O gatekeeper in the heavenly mansions, guiding those who are called to speak of the Imperial mystery.
Rejoice, thou who denouncest unfaithful ministers before the Imperial Family.
Rejoice, O stumbling block for those gone astray from Christ, who even now scorn the Emperor’s glory.
Rejoice, thou who didst abide night and day in prayer for the Christian Ruler.
Rejoice, O never-slumbering eyes of the Tsar, delaying the appearance of Antichrist.
Rejoce, O holy standard of all the faithful servants of the Emperor.
Rejoice, O denouncer of treason, cowardice and deceit.
Rejoice, O humble ploughman who didst put thy hand to the plough of the Empire.
Rejoice, O mystical shield and protection of the Christian Emperor.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 5

Like a star shining forth from the Russian Lands in the distant east and moving on its God-given course to Christ, thy soul, O martyr Gregory, burned like a bright flame amid the delusions of the spiritual night in the west, going before the Emperor who cried out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 5

Seeing thee going before the Emperor as a prophet and fool for Christ, and witnessing to the grace of God resting on His Anointed, in their folly the traitors turned on thee like wolves in order to part thee from the Emperor. Wondering at the many miraculous acts of Divine Providence which guide the Christian Empire, we sing to thee thus:

Rejoice, O pilgrim who during many years prayed at the holy places.
Rejoice, O sower of the noble seeds of beauty, goodness and truth among the Orthodox people.
Rejoice, thou who didst mystically see the Imperial destiny of Holy Rus.
Rejoice, O fisherman, who gavest wise counsel to those caught in thy spiritual nets.
Rejoice, thou who didst come like a prophet unto thine own and wast not known by them.
Rejoice, O pearl of great price who was cast before swine.
Rejoice, thou who didst love God, Tsar and Empire.
Rejoice, O citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Rejoice, thou who didst worship in the Holy Land and the earthly Jerusalem.
Rejoice, O pilgrim to Patmos, where John the Theologian saw the vision of the last times.
Rejoice, thou who didst eclipse the dark star of the enemies of the Tsar with the Sun of Righteousness.
Rejoice, thou who gavest sight to those made spiritually blind by the world.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 6

False brethren, weak in faith and cold of heart, did not wish to honour the see of Tobolsk, but thou, O wondrous Gregory, zealous for the greater glory of the Empire, didst intercede before the Tsar for the glorification of the holy hierarch John Maximovich, who is wonderful among the saints, calling out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

By thy prayers and intercessions before the Emperor, the light of Christ shone forth from the shrine of the holy relics of the sainted John of Tobolsk, for thou, O martyr Gregory, didst diligently labour to keep thy land faithful to the Tsar; through thy intercessions forsake not us who call out to thee such things as these:

Rejoice, O fulfilment of the mystical prophecies of Holy Rus for all the peoples of the world before the end.
Rejoice, thou who didst proclaim the city of Tobolsk to be Christ’s.
Rejoice, O hope of the land that suffered the blood of idolatry in former times.
Rejoice, O intercessor for the Empire made white by the red blood of the first martyred Tsar.
Rejoice, O spiritual guardian of the prison, which received the Imperial Captives.
Rejoice, O native of the land where mystically met the earthly and heavenly paths of Emperor and prophet.
Rejoice, thou who didst bear chains on thy body like a hidden schema.
Rejoice, thou who tookest the sanctuary of Tobolsk from its enemies with the sword of the Spirit.
Rejoice, thou who didst work many wonders and healings in thy lifetime.
Rejoice, thou who gavest repentance to the hierarch Germogen, appearing to him after death.
Rejoice, thou who didst mystically accompany the Tsar through the land of Tobolsk.
Rejoice, thou who lookest down on us from Heaven together with the Imperial Family.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 7

Desiring that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, thou, O blessed one, didst guide both the good and the bad through life’s sorrows, giving spiritual treasures to the faithful, who call out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 7

Christ showed thee to be a new passion-bearer, for thou didst not render any of thy persecutors evil for evil, praying for them and making ready for the Day of Judgement. Help us to escape the horrors of Gehenna that await Satan and his henchmen, as we call out to thee thus:

Rejoice, O generous almsgiver who didst love the poor.
Rejoice, thou who didst bar the gates of hell for the faithful.
Rejoice, thou who didst help the poor and naked.
Rejoice, thou who gavest every good gift for Christ and the Tsar.
Rejoice, thou who hast the exceeding great power to console in sorrow.
Rejoice, thou who didst call the rich and powerful to repentance from their spiritual impurity.
Rejoice, thou who dost ever sorrow for all who were guilty before the Tsar and sinful before God.
Rejoice, for none who came to thee with faith departed sorrowing and unconsoled.
Rejoice, thou who in wisdom didst conceal thy deeds from traitors with the foolishness of the Cross.
Rejoice, thou blessed by God who wast wiser than the enemies of Christ, the world and the devil.
Rejoice, thou who didst appear deaf and mute before those who insulted thee.
Rejoice, thou who didst pray for the enemies of God before the Day of Wrath.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 8

Seeing thy life of struggles and labours in the world through the eyes of spiritual impurity, O holy Gregory, some fell into temptation, for they heeded the words of the enemies of Christ, whose slanders against thee described their own vices, raising up a persecution against thee and thy spiritual children, who call out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

Thou didst endure all the filth and torment of the enemies of Christ with valour, O martyr Gregory. Struck by cutting words and piercing slanders sharper than swords and spears, thou didst accept bodily wounds, foreknowing thy violent death at the hands of enemies of Christ and traitors. As thou didst smite the old dragon, who rose up against the Christian Emperor with the Cross of the Lord, pray for us who call out to thee thus:

Rejoice, O protomartyr, against whom the demons inspired slander in every enemy of Christ.
Rejoice, thou whose life God had already preserved from death.
Rejoice, thou who didst bear the feat of martyrdom by the power of Christ.
Rejoice, thou who wast pierced in the side like the Saviour, with the cross in thy hands.
Rejoice, thou who wast thrown down beside a dead dog according to the evil custom of the enemies of Christ.
Rejoice, thou who wast cast into a freezing watery grave.
Rejoice, thou whose body was buried by the Imperial Family in a place of honour.
Rejoice, thou whose body was taken up and burned by the enemies of Christ, so having suffered both ice and fire.
Rejoice, for the enemies of Christ slew thee in a basement at night like the Imperial Martyrs.
Rejoice, for apostates and traitors of the Imperial line were guilty of thy peasant blood.
Rejoice, thou who wast raised up from afar for an Imperial destiny.
Rejoice, thou who didst beforehand show the Emperor a martyr’s end.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 9

Having shared and passed through every temptation of thine Imperial Friends by the grace of God, thou didst confess the Imperial mystery of the Incarnation, O blessed Gregory, which none knows, save the pious Orthodox who truly confess Christ and so are faithful to the Tsar, singing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

All the long words of orators and all the airy works of philosophers are unable to express the depth of the spiritual impurity of those in seats of authority, who had lost the Orthodox Faith and so fell into envy, spite, slander and treason against the Emperor, the Empress and thee; but as for us, we see and honour only the glory of thy cross and call out to thee thus:

Rejoice, thou who didst share the Imperial burden before their Golgotha.
Rejoice, thou who didst eat at the Emperor’s table.
Rejoice, thou who didst choose the path of loyalty to the Emperor, refusing the pieces of silver of the traitors.
Rejoice, thou chosen out of distant Siberia who becamest one of the Ruler’s own.
Rejoice, thou who didst look on the Emperor and Empress as a faithful son.
Rejoice, O holy new prophet blessed by God to protect Sovereign Rus.
Rejoice, for thou didst shame those who shamed Holy Rus in the sight of the whole world.
Rejoice, thou who wast rewarded by the Empress.
Rejoice, thou who voluntarily tookest on thyself the sorrows of the Emperor.
Rejoice, thou who didst gain the envy and spite of the enemies of Christ.
Rejoice, thou who wast the Emperor’s faithful servant.
Rejoice, for thou wast one of those of whom the world is not worthy.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 10

God entrusted thee with the protection of the Christian Emperor, the faithful Empress and their godly children, O prophet and wonderworker Gregory. Thou didst stop the issue of blood of the heir, shedding thine own blood instead, that with the piety and holiness of the Orthodox spirit thou couldst feed the souls of thine Imperial Friends, who call out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

In their cunning and jealousy the enemies of Christ, greedy for power, tried to build a dividing wall of slander and lies between the Emperor and the people, that they might slay first him and then them, but thou, O wise one, pulled down that dividing wall, interceding for the people before the Emperor and showing the people to him, thus interceding for us too, who call out to thee such things as these:

Rejoice, for the Imperial Family were among thy spiritual children.
Rejoice, for in thy person they mystically adopted the Russian people.
Rejoice, O wise and patient mentor of thine Imperial disciples.
Rejoice, thou who didst savour their souls with the salt of Divine grace.
Rejoice, thou who didst teach the Imperial Family prophecy and holiness.
Rejoice, thou didst bless them with the simplicity of wisdom.
Rejoice, O offshoot of the Church sacredly grafted onto the Imperial vine.
Rejoice, thou who by thy grafting dost break off the withered branches of the Church.
Rejoice, thou who gavest a good answer for thy sacred pledge.
Rejoice, for thou makest us too, who honour thee, the Emperor’s friends.
Rejoice, thou who mystically askest for the Tsar’s forgiveness for those who betrayed him.
Rejoice, for in thee we await the restoration of the nobility of old.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 11

Loving the Church and partaking of the Holy Mysteries more eagerly than of all the treasures of the world, thou, O Gregory, tookest up thy cross of serving the Emperor in accordance with thy destiny appointed by Divine Providence, calling out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

The hierarchy was divided; brave and humble-minded missionaries, serving the Tsar and the people in east and west, blessed thee with warm hearts; proud and self-admiring functionaries, serving themselves and the worldly in ease and wealth, despised thee with cold hearts. Praying for the enlightenment of scribes and pharisees, we honour thy memory and that of all those faithful to the Imperial Family, singing praise to thee in this wise:

Rejoice, thou who wast mystically raised up from among the people by the Emperor.
Rejoice, thou who wast blessed by many faithful hierarchs such as Aleksiy, Makariy, Pitirim, Barnabas, Isidore and Melchizedek.
Rejoice, O pleaser of God, who didst honour Christ our God in every place of His dominion.
Rejoice, thou who hadst spiritual power, shaming the powerless wisdom of this world.
Rejoice, O unmercenary builder of the church in thy home village.
Rejoice, thou who didst love the Mother of God and wast zealous for piety.
Rejoice, O resolver of disputes, not with the booklore of scribes and pharisees, but with simplicity of heart.
Rejoice, O peacemaker sent by God among the disorder of men.
Rejoice, thou who didst fulfil the prophecies of the holy wonderworker Seraphim.
Rejoice, O lover of the Scriptures through the Spirit, who gavest the name of God all glory and honour.
Rejoice, thou who didst receive from Christ the gift of discernment.
Rejoice, thou who didst fight the serried ranks of heretics.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 12

By thy prayers increase the grace of intercession of Christian Emperors for the whole world, O martyr Gregory, for the prayer of the righteous avails much. After God had raised thee up from among the people to shame the apostasy and so lack of love of the rich and powerful, the treason of princes, the cowardice of generals and the deceit of the fleshly-minded ushered in an age of bitter persecution, but of sweet glory for the faithful, who called out to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Singing of the wonders worked in thy life by the grace of God, the healing of infirmities, the casting out of evil spirits, the granting of victory in battle, the foretelling of things to come, the consoling of the sorrowing with a single word and wise counselling for all life’s needs and cares, we call on thee, O wondrous Gregory, cease not to pray for us who are scattered across the face of the earth, awaiting the coming restoration of the Christian Empire and the new Tsar, who will sweep away the unworthy and the unfaithful, and calling out to thee such things as these:

Rejoice, O wise husbandman of the Imperial garden.
Rejoice, O fence against the thorns of the rich and powerful.
Rejoice, for no man has ever been slandered in his life like unto thee.
Rejoice, for even after thy martyrdom those who honoured thee were slandered.
Rejoice, O spiritual cloth with which every tear is wiped from every eye.
Rejoice, that evil words against thee may be forgiven.
Rejoice, O mystery of peasant nobility, tilling the earth of the soul.
Rejoice, O faithful servant of the holy ones of God.
Rejoice, for by thy martyrdom the dragon was run through.
Rejoice, O bright star of Siberia and martyr for Holy Rus.
Rejoice, for the Imperial Family loved thee.
Rejoice, O fair flower from the Imperial meadow.
Rejoice, O martyr Gregory, friend of the Emperor and guardian of the Empire!

Kontakion 13

O glorious new martyr and wonderworker Gregory, by the cross of foolishness for Christ’s sake and voluntary suffering thou didst defeat the dragon, like the martyrs George, Theodore and Mercurius of old, and as the friend who fought for the Emperor of the Russian Lands thou dwellest with the holy ones in eternity, pray for the servants of Christ that by thine intercessions we unworthy sinners may also be accounted among the number of the friends of the Emperor, singing to Almighty God: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

The above kontakion is read three times, then the first ikos, followed by the first kontakion.

Prayer

O holy new martyr and wonderworker Gregory, the Emperor’s friend who fought against the traitors who took Holy Rus to the depths, show the foes of the Orthodox Lands on the left side and on the right side the might of the double-edged sword of Divine justice. May they not destroy the holy seed of Sovereignty, may the Christian Empire and Emperor be restored for all before the end, still mightier than before, according to the prophecy, through thine intercessions and the prayers of the Imperial Martyrs, that all who love the Name of God in Orthodox wise all over the world may make glad forever. Amen.

Troparion, Tone IV

O friend of the Emperor, who fought for Christian Rule, / thou didst appear as a fool for Christ to the world, / which did not know thee and evilly slandered thee. / O holy passion-bearer and martyr Gregory, / as thou didst offer thyself up as a sacrifice to Christ for the Emperor, / so pray for us that we too may be delivered from the injustices of enemies, / becoming the friends of the Sovereign Emperor // and seeing the Resurrection of Holy Rus.

Sixty Facts about the Last Christian Emperor and His Reign

1. Tsar Nicholas II spoke five languages fluently and received a brilliant higher education in military and legal affairs. This was combined with a deeply religious, sensitive and modest nature.

2. He was physically very fit, loved gymnastics, canoeing, swimming, skating, hiking and played tennis, hockey and billiards.

3. The Tsar was in no way responsible for the greed that provoked the tragic stampede in Khodynka in Moscow in 1896. When he learned of it, he at once gave very generous financial and also moral aid to all those who had suffered and their families.

4. Thanks to the monetary reform that he alone insisted on carrying out in 1897, the rouble was guaranteed by gold.

5. In 1898 he introduced a universal medical welfare system that cost the tiny sum of one rouble per year. The Swiss hygienist Friedrich Erismann praised this system as ‘the greatest achievement in the world in the field of social medicine’. Russia was third in the world for the number of its doctors.

6. The Hague International Tribunal of Justice, suggested by the Tsar in 1898 to prevent wars but derided by other European leaders, was the personal brainchild of Tsar Nicholas. If it had been implemented as the Tsar wanted, there would never have been any First World War, let alone later wars. Thus, those who derided it signed their own death warrants.

7. The clothes and shoes of the Tsar’s children were handed down from one child to the next. Until the end of his life he still wore the same clothes as he had worn as a young married man.

8. From June 1903 all employers in the Russian Empire were obliged to pay a benefit and pension to all employees and their families who had suffered an accident. This amounted to between 50% and 66% of their salary. Trade Unions were formed in 1906 and from June 1912 compulsory health insurance at work was introduced to cover illness or accident.

9. Social insurance legislation was introduced before other European countries and the USA.

10. The US President William Taft declared that: ‘Your Emperor has created such perfect labour legislation that no democratic state can boast of’.

11. When in February 1904 Japan, urged on, financed and armed to the teeth by the imperialists of Great Britain and the USA, treacherously attacked the small and poorly-armed Russian Imperial Navy without first declaring war (as it later did at Pearl Harbour), it only took the non-militaristic Russian Empire eighteen months to recover. However, instead of continuing the war and crushing by then bankrupt Japan militarily, Tsar Nicholas entered peace negotiations, but imposed such terms at the talks in the USA that Japan, forced to agree to them, went into mourning.

12. On so-called Bloody Sunday in 1905, it was the revolutionaries who opened fire and troops merely defended themselves. There were 130 victims (not 5,000, as claimed by the Russophobic liar and later mass murderer Lenin). All were given immediate medical care. The Tsar was not even in the city at the time. When he learned of it, he at once gave each family that had suffered the enormous sum of 50,000 roubles. This came from his personal money. The Japanese-financed Revolution of 1905-7 was averted only by the strong will of the Tsar.

13. The Trans Siberian Railway was completed at the insistence and according to the vision of the Tsar despite opposition.

14. Compulsory primary education was introduced in 1908. By 1916 literacy in the Empire had reached 85%. By 1914 there were 150,000 students studying at university institutions. In terms of numbers of students the Russian Empire was joint third in the world with Great Britain. Educational finance rose from 25 million roubles to 161 million roubles in 20 years. Another 300 million roubles was spent in 1913 on country schools, a budget up from 70 million in 1894. In less than 20 years the education budget rose by 628%. By 1913 there were 130,000 schools in the Empire with 6 million pupils. All education, primary, secondary and tertiary, was free.

15. Kindergartens, orphanages, maternity hospitals and hostels for the homeless were built in unheard of numbers.

16. By 1913 the Russian Orthodox Church had 67,000 churches and 1,000 monasteries. It had great influence in the Holy Land, Asia and seventeen Russian churches were built in Western Europe to witness to the Faith. The Tsar personally paid for the building of St Nicholas Cathedral in New York and he ensured that the number of bishops in North America went from one to three. In 1916 there were plans to make sure that every Western capital would have a church and that the service books of the Church would be translated into all the main Western languages.

17. By 1914 100% of usable land in Russia in Asia belonged to the peasants and 90% of it in European Russia.

18. Personal taxation in the Russian Empire was half the level of that in France and Germany and a quarter of that in Great Britain. Average earnings were higher than those in any Western European country, less only than those in the USA.

19. Prices were among the lowest in the world.

20. The budget increased threefold during the Tsar’s reign.

21. There were a large number of patriotic organizations and parties covering the Empire.

22. Between 1890 and 1913 GNP increased fourfold. There was a fourfold increase in the extraction of coal and the production of cast iron, and a fivefold increase in that of copper. Between 1911 and 1914 investment in engineering increased by 80%. In 20 years the length of railways and telegraph networks doubled. The largest fleet of river ships in the world doubled in tonnage during that period. In 1901 the USA extracted 9.9 million tons of oil, Russia 12.1 million tons. Between 1908 and 1913 productivity surpassed that of the USA, Great Britain and Germany.

23. It was prohibited to export crude oil, as it was all refined in situ.

24. In 1913 the number of civil servants in the Russian Empire stood at 163 per 100,000 people. (In the Russian Federation in 2010 it was 1,153).

25. National income and productivity increased at a rate unrivalled anywhere else in the world. The Empire was the biggest exporter of textiles and one of the biggest of metals and engineering.

26. The rate of railway construction was one of the highest in the world, the later Soviet rate being a mere fraction of it.

27. Inflation and unemployment were practically non-existent.

28. The Empire was the biggest exporter of cereals, flax, eggs, milk, butter, meat and sugar in the world. The wheat harvest was one third larger than that of the USA, Canada and Argentina combined.

29. Cereal production doubled during his reign.

30. The number of cattle increased by 60% during his reign. The Empire was number one in the world for the numbers of horses, cows, sheep and one of the biggest for the numbers of pigs and goats.

31. A number of territories voluntarily joined the Empire or became its protectorates, without a shot being fired. Among others these included Northern Manchuria, Northern Iran, Eastern Galicia and Western Armenia.

32. The Sovereign stood outside and above narrow party, group and class interests. He personally insisted on introducing economic reforms and measures against alcohol abuse, often in spite of the Duma. Contrary to popular myth, they were introduced by him alone and not others.

33. Alcohol consumption per head was one of the lowest in the world and the lowest in Europe outside Norway.

34. In 1913 the number of mentally ill was 187 in every 100,000, compared to 5,598 per 100,000 in the Tsarless Russian Federation in 2013.

35. The number of suicides in the Empire was 4.4 per 100,000. (In the Tsarless Russian Federation in 2012 it was 19.5 and 12.1 in the USA).

36. Crime was lower than in Western Europe and the USA. At an international forum held in Switzerland in 1913, Russian detection rates were considered to be the best in the world.
37. In 1908 56 people per 100,000 were imprisoned. (In the Stalinist Soviet Union in 1949 the figure was 1,537 per 100,000 and in the Russian Federation in 2011 555, with 724 per 100,000 in the USA in the same year).

38. There was a free press and freedom of speech, such as there had never been before and certainly not afterwards during the Soviet period.

39. The Empire had the largest gold reserves in the world and the Russian gold rouble remains one of the safest investments in the world.

40. In 20 years of the Tsar’s reign the population of the Empire increased by 62 million.

41. At the beginning of his reign the Tsar had inherited 4 million roubles held in a London Bank. By the end of his reign he had given it all away to charity.

42. The Tsar never rejected a single petition for pardon. Fewer death penalties were carried out during his whole reign than in any single day in the Soviet Union until the death of Stalin.

43. Russian culture went through a period known as the Silver Age, with developments in science, philosophy, art, architecture, music and literature. The French writer Paul Valery stated that Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th century was ‘one of the wonders of the world’.

44. The Russian Empire produced the inventors of: the wireless telegraph, the helicopter, the television, cinenews, the tramway, hydroelectric power stations, the electric plough, the submarine, the parachute, the radio, the electron microscope, the powder fire extinguisher, the astronomical clock, the seismograph, the electric omnibus, the flying boat, the icebreaker, the motorcycle, the airship and double-decker railway carriages.

45. The car industry was on a par with the German, Russian cars winning races at rallies in Monte Carlo and San Sebastian, the plane industry was on a par with that of the American and its locomotives were among the best in the world.

46. Two of the five founders of Hollywood came from Russia. Chanel No 5 was invented by the Russian émigré Verigin and Mercedes and Daimler engines were invented by the Russian engineer Boris Lutskoy.

47. All of this was achieved without terror, collectivization (State enserfment), concentration camps and millions of deaths in State-sponsored massacres and famines.

48. The Tsar had created the strongest and most prosperous Empire the world has ever seen.

49. The Tsar personally tried out new infantry equipment and clothing, marching 24 miles to do so.

50. He decreased the length of military service to 2 years in the Army and five years in the Navy.

51. He created one of the strongest and best-equipped armies in the world, which would have been the best by 1917 if Germany had not started the First World War.

52. The Russian Imperial Air Force, founded in 1910, was by 1917 the largest in the world, with 700 planes.

53. By 1917 the Russian Imperial Navy was one of the strongest in the world.

54. In 1914 the Russian Empire sent 2,000 engineers to help the USA at its request to set up a heavy armaments industry.

55. During the Great Patriotic War (as the First World War was then known) the Tsar constantly visited the Front together with his son, showing that he was not afraid to die for his country. In 1915, given the incompetence of the the former supreme commander, his uncle, the Tsar took on supreme command, against the advice of all, showing his strength of will, and immediately began winning the greatest victories of the War, advancing huge distances and taking huge numbers of prisoners, undreamed of by the Western Allies, bogged down in immobile and bloody trench warfare. Had it not been for the treason of the Allies, most of the aristocracy and many in the middle class, historians consider that the Tsar would have occupied Vienna and Berlin in 1917, thus ending the murderous war. He treated the 2,417,000 captured enemy soldiers with every dignity and over 95% of them returned home safely after the War.

56. Only 39% of males aged between 15-49 were mobilized in the Russian Empire, as against 81% in Germany, 79% in France, 74% in Austro-Hungary, 72% in Italy and 50% in Great Britain. Per 100,000 of its population, the Empire lost 11 people, as against 34 in France, 31 in Germany, 18 in Austria and 16 in Great Britain.

57. The plotters of the February Revolution, orchestrated by Great Britain, Germany and the USA, issued a forged document of abdication, ‘signed’ with a pencil (!) in handwriting that is not the Tsar’s.

58. When the Provisional Government wanted to accuse the Tsar of treason, someone suggested publishing his personal letters to the Tsarina. To which he received the reply: ‘Don’t do that, otherwise the people will recognize them as saints’.

59. Imprisoned in Tobolsk, the Family constantly worked. The Sovereign chopped wood, cleared the snow and did gardening. One of the soldiers, a peasant, commented: ‘If he we gave him some land, he would turn Russia around again with his own hands’.

60. The Tsar never abdicated from the throne, it was the elite that abdicated from him. As he wrote: ‘All around, treason and cowardice and deceit’. Refusing to leave the Empire, when he could have, he was ritually murdered with all his family.

THE DEATH RATTLE OF GLOBALISM?

The neocon globalists, led in the USA by the defeated Clintons and Obama, in the EU by the discredited Hollande (popularity rating – 4%) and the reviled Merkel (as for Cameron, who has heard of him?), are showing all the signs of being bad losers. Having lost the war in Aleppo, they are now turning to desperate measures and not just propaganda lies about hacking or Russian ‘threats’. Having failed last summer in the CIA-run Gulenist coup to overthrow and murder the Turkish President Erdogan, they have now had the Russian ambassador, Andrey Karlov, murdered, a terrorist shooting him in the back in typically cowardly fashion.

Designed to spoil Russian-Turkish cooperation, it will not. This situation is not the same as last year, when a Russian pilot was killed by the Gulenist network. After the murder of the ambassador by a Gulenist, the Turkish side sent its apologies to the Russian people and government immediately. Vladimir Putin directly blamed the CIA-backed network of Islamists that were behind the murder and sympathized with the anti-NATO President Erdogan. On the same day there was a terrorist attack in Germany, organized by ISIS. We are witnessing the death throes of anti-Christian globalism, forced out of the White House by popular consent.

The US organizer will pay a huge price for this assassination. Russia and Turkey will work together in Syria and create peace in the cradle of Christendom, the Middle East. The Russo-Turkish alliance is deepened, as is the acceleration of the Turkish withdrawal from NATO, creating a new Central Asian alliance, together with Iran. Our enemies – the globalists – fear this more than anything else. Nothing will stop progress to the creation of a multi-polar, democratic world order against the globalists and their pathetic, Neo-Cold War, bad loser propaganda. The regiments of CIA hackers always accuse their enemies of doing what they do.

Having thrown off the Western-imposed, Soviet yoke, Russia’s agricultural exports are now returning to those before 1917, the exports bringing in more than its arms sales: Russia is independent. Obama, who supported the terrorists (‘resistance-fighters’) in the Middle East, especially against the democratically-elected and very popular Assad government (‘regime’ in CIA mediaspeak) has lost. The neocons’ meddling has lost the USA not only Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Syria, but now also Turkey. Eurasia will now be united under Chinese and Russian leadership. A diplomat assassinated: a new Empire is born.

At Last a Real Cathedral for all Orthodox in London?

One of the greatest pastoral problems in London is the chronic lack of Orthodox churches. For example, St Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Moscow Road is very small, hardly a Cathedral at all, and the medium-sized Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Knightsbridge is smaller than St John’s Russian Orthodox church in provincial Colchester. Of course, there is one church building that would suit Orthodox in London, providing it was frescoed and fitted with iconostases and other Church furnishings. One person who works there would be glad to help us use it.

St Paul’s Cathedral is located on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. Its dedication to the holy apostle Paul dates back to the original church on the site, founded in 604, though unproven stories assert that this was because St Paul actually preached here. The present Cathedral, dating from the late 17th century, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was until 1967 the tallest building in London.

The first recorded Orthodox Bishop of London was called either Restitutus or Adelphius and attended the Council of Arles in 314. However, the location of his Cathedral is unknown. St Bede recorded that in 604 St Augustine consecrated Mellitus as the first Bishop of the East Saxons, whose territory covered London, and their King, Sabert. Sabert’s uncle and overlord, Ethelbert, King of Kent, built a church dedicated to St Paul in London, as the seat of the new bishop. It is assumed that this first Cathedral stood on the same site as the present one.

On the death of Sabert in about 616, his pagan sons expelled Bishop Mellitus from London and the East Saxons reverted to paganism. Christianity was restored later in the seventh century and it is presumed that either the Cathedral was restored or else a new one was built as the seat of seventh-century bishops like St Cedd and St Erconwald, ‘The Light of London’, who was buried in the Cathedral in 693. This building, or a successor, was destroyed by fire in 962 but rebuilt in the same year.

In 1016 King Ethelred the Unready was buried in the Cathedral. This was burned down with much of the city in a fire in 1087. The Norman occupiers then built a new Cathedral, known to history as ‘Old St Paul’s’. This Gothic building was in turn gutted by the Great Fire of London of 1666. While it might have been possible to rebuild it, a decision was taken to build a new Cathedral. The task of designing it was assigned to Sir Christopher Wren in 1669.

The design process took several years, but the result was the present St Paul’s Cathedral, modelled partly on St Peter’s in the Vatican. St Paul’s is still the second largest church in Britain. The building was financed by a tax on coal and was completed within the architect’s lifetime. It was declared officially complete by Parliament on 25 December 1711, though in fact construction continued for several years after that. In 1716 the total costs amounted to £1,095,556 (£148 million in 2015 money).

Today, though with a small but active Protestant congregation, St Paul’s is largely a tourist monument. With an area of some 6,000 square metres and several altars, it is ideally suited for London’s huge numbers of Orthodox Christians. Consecrated to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, it could become the Cathedral for all Orthodox in London. Fantasy? But our God works miracles.