Vasily PICHUGIN

He moaned but held on

When we come to any city (no matter abroad or at home), we are always taken to local architectural monuments - most often to churches - and they begin to “correctly” tell who was the customer of this temple, who was the architect, in what style the temple was built, how many years it took to build it, what materials were used, who was buried in it, etc. and so on.

Arguing with the information provided by all sorts of reference books and guides is absurd. This is why we value them. But the history of the temple is not only the history of its individual parts connected together. The temple is not only the sum of the correct information about it. This is not only a special place where the meeting of the visible world and the invisible world takes place. This is also living personality who fights for the embodiment of Divine plans in this world. And it is important to be able to see this person in the temple and to be able to tell something very important from the living history of this temple, some of the most important deeds.

Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Well, what could be simpler? Customer - Pavel the First, architect - Voronikhin, style - classicism, stands on Nevsky, in many ways repeats St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, is closely connected with the history of the War of 1812, Kutuzov is buried in it, in front of it there are monuments to Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly .

In fact, the Kazan Cathedral was still just a boy when it began the struggle, and the struggle was of such intensity as had not been seen in Rus' for a long time.

A little background.

St. Petersburg is a special city in Russia. Nobody argues with this. The capital of the Russian Empire from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout Europe, the secular principle at that time surpassed the religious - palaces were stronger than temples. A similar dissonance was typical for St. Petersburg.

The competition between “palaces and co” and temples in this city took place for more than one century. And oddly enough, the temples won this competition. And the role of the Kazan Cathedral in this competition, in this struggle is special.

It began to be built precisely at a time when the St. Petersburg elite ceased to see the truth in Orthodoxy. To understand this, you just need to remember the tragic fate of Alexander the First, who was brought up on the ideas of the Enlightenment, which uniquely combined rationalism and Freemasonry. The grandmother tried, Catherine the Second, who had long admired the ideas of the Enlightenment, who dreamed of raising an ideal monarch and for this purpose removed the parents of Alexander the First from raising their own son.

To evaluate from an architectural point of view the retreat of the Russian elite from Orthodoxy, you need to remember the building that is present in all textbooks on Russian culture of the 19th century - this is the Exchange building (one can say that Alexander the First began his reign with this building, it is this building that shows us his plans). We have become so accustomed to admiring the Vasilyevskaya Strelka, the majestic Exchange building and the rostral columns built by the Swiss architect Thomas de Thomon that we cannot understand that best place for an Orthodox church glorifying God and the Russian victories of the 18th century bestowed by Him, it is impossible to imagine anything better than the Vasilyevskaya Strelka.

Instead, the Exchange was built on this site, which for some reason looked like an ancient temple. And the entire architecture of Thomas de Thomon spoke, on the one hand, an extremely dry, rational thing: Russia’s victories led to the prosperity of its economy and involvement in the civilized world; and on the other hand, a terrible mystical thing with which the biblical tradition has been at war for thousands of years: mammon is good, the accumulation of wealth is not only useful, but also mystical.

It’s hard to believe, but at that time the majestic building of the Exchange was a terrible challenge to traditional Russia.

We are lulled by late buildings. The “Sacred” Exchange is now in a dense environment Orthodox churches: Isaac was added to Kazansky, the courtyard of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery on Vasilyevsky Island.

Who took up this challenge? Of course, Kazan Cathedral. The young emperor, implicated in the death of his father, did not dare to curtail the construction of the cathedral planned by Paul the First.

Its location was unique - it turned out to be the only large Orthodox cathedral in the center of St. Petersburg. After all, Peter did not imagine that Nevsky Prospekt would become the main street of St. Petersburg and Russia. He saw the center of St. Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Island. But man proposes, but God disposes. It so happened that there simply were no large Orthodox churches on the main street of Russia (of course, at the beginning of the avenue there was the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which, in fact, gave the name to the avenue, but its location is rather the nearest suburb). Once upon a time, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, built by Zemtsov under Anna Ioannovna, performed this role perfectly. But after the majestic Catholic, Lutheran and armenian church, to which a bunch of shops were added, the Nativity Church was a little lost. And such a loss very accurately reflected the spirit of the times: Orthodoxy in the Russian Empire was gradually washed out. Many representatives of the elite of the Russian state were confident that Orthodoxy was not the basis of the Empire, not its spiritual core, but only one of the religions, along with Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. It is no coincidence that Freemasonry became so widespread at this time. It was in Freemasonry that many saw the religious tradition that makes it possible to unite and reconcile such different religions in the vastness of a single state.

Paul the First, who himself had been tempted by Freemasonry, categorically disagreed with this and managed to conceive and choose the project of the Kazan Cathedral, which, by its sheer size, refuted Masonic rationalism in leveling Orthodoxy. In addition to the size, Paul the First chose a new dedication to the cathedral being built. On the one hand, everything is logical, the cathedral began to be named after the main shrine of St. Petersburg - the Kazan Icon Holy Mother of God, which was kept in it (it was under the shadow of this icon that the militia of Minin and Pozharsky overcame the Time of Troubles and liberated Moscow in 1612), but on the other hand, such a renaming is a direct prophecy of the tsar, who foresaw the trials that were in store for Russia: “Europe We will soon be welcomed again, and then we should again rely on Kazanskaya.”

Alexander the First, who was present at the foundation of the cathedral in 1801, could not even imagine how much his fate would be connected with this temple. In fact, it was the Kazan Cathedral that connected the young sovereign, who in the initial period of his reign was very far from the faith of his ancestors, with Orthodoxy.

The emperor often came into it, was proud of the grandiose building that had been built, and he, together with the priest’s son Speransky, who had a religious raisin in his head, prepared reforms designed to “make Russia happy.” At the same time, the cathedral took full responsibility for the sovereign. The Nevsky of shops and stores, which was supposed to flow smoothly into the Stock Exchange, unexpectedly ran into the great dam of the Kazan Cathedral. Kazansky groaned, but held on. Russia was in danger of being torn apart - here you have the Old Believers, and the Orthodox Christians, and nobles who sympathize with Catholics and Protestants, and advanced nobles who are passionate about Freemasonry, and completely advanced ones who do not believe in God. And all this brethren needed to be united, and Kazansky united. The cathedral was consecrated in 1811, and a year later the invasion of twelve languages ​​shocked Russia - Napoleon came to visit us with an all-European army. What to do? - the great Russian question.

There is an equally great answer: until the thunder strikes, the man will not cross himself. Napoleon struck, and the diverse Russian people began to unite and be baptized. And, of course, this was best done under the shadow of Kazansky. Many Russian nobles had strayed so far from their culture that a sudden return to it could have caused them tragic consequences, similar to those experienced by people who had eaten too much after a long period of starvation. And Kazansky came in handy here: if you’re afraid right away, you can do it gradually. The architectural forms of the cathedral allowed the gradual adaptation of Russian Westerners to Russian culture - both Russian Catholics and Russian Freemasons.

But most importantly, the cathedral with its shrine reminded that if unification on the basis of Orthodoxy does not occur, there will be no victory.

It is symbolic that it was under the arches of the Kazan Cathedral that the royal decree was read out on the appointment of Field Marshal Kutuzov as commander of the St. Petersburg militia. By its existence, the Council reminded that this time a regular army alone would not be enough; spiritual feat all the people.

Since childhood, we have all become accustomed to the hero of the War of 1812, Field Marshal Kutuzov. It is difficult for us to imagine that it was possible to appoint someone else in his place: Kutuzov is a great patriot of Russia, even the Tsar did not like him - this was learned from his school desk. But if you look at this appointment from back in 1812, then everything does not look so obvious. Kutuzov was a Freemason. It would seem, what’s wrong with this, it’s unprecedented. At that time, almost the entire Russian elite was involved in Freemasonry. It was much more difficult not to end up in the Masonic lodge. But still, most people were “stray” Freemasons, like Pushkin, for example, or Suvorov. Well, it so happened - we visited some kind of box a couple of times, nothing more - we went to a nightclub. But with Mikhaila Illarionich the situation was completely different. He took Freemasonry very seriously and achieved significant heights in it. Now let’s imagine: the Patriotic War is beginning in our country, and Freemasonry is, to put it mildly, an international matter, not to mention some difficulties with Orthodoxy (although it must be said that many Russian people then were sure that one did not interfere with the other), and Here we put a real Freemason at the head of the people's militia! What is it like?! No wonder many patriots greeted this appointment with caution. And when Kutuzov surrendered Moscow without a fight, Rostopchin, the governor of Moscow, directly said: “This Masonic bastard did this so that Napoleon the Antichrist would desecrate our Orthodox shrines.” And Rostopchin, of course, had formal grounds for this. But he did not know that in 1812 many people became different after they entered Kazansky, stood for the liturgy, took communion and venerated the great shrine. Unique metamorphoses took place. One of them is Kutuzov. The enlightened Freemason became a great national Orthodox commander (let us at least remember how the field marshal, before the Battle of Borodino, venerated another Orthodox shrine - Smolensk icon Holy Mother of God). The other is Alexander the First. A young agnostic, deist begins to read the Gospel and becomes the great Russian Tsar. And those miracles that took place in 1812 were so obvious that no one questioned which temple was the main one in Patriotic War 1812. Therefore, it was here, where his rebirth took place, that Kutuzov was buried, a monument to Barclay de Tolly was erected here, and French war trophies were brought here.

Vasily Pichugin

Tell me what you believe and I will tell you who you are. This maxim is truer today than ever.

We live in a time when the dominance of Western Christian civilization in the world is becoming a thing of the past. Moreover, the existence of civilization itself is in question. On the one hand, it is rapidly aging, the process of de-Christianization is proceeding by leaps and bounds, on the other hand, other civilizations are “increasing their momentum.” Although, at first glance, Western civilization is still strong, its problems are so obvious that only the lazy do not talk about them.

In the 20th century, Western civilization discussed Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous words “God is dead” on such a serious intellectual and emotional level, and so closely and critically examined the Savior, Whose personality is at the foundation of this civilization, that beginning of XXI century, it suddenly turned out: the only thing that unites both old Europe and America is “common economic interests,” simply money. And the desire to live for your own pleasure. For a long time, Europeans and Americans were confident that their culture was so superior to that of other civilizations that everyone was simply doomed to imitate it.

The greater the surprise when it was discovered that other civilizations did not follow their path - they did not engage in destruction religious ideas, underlying them. Therefore, the strongest armies in the world - the American and Israeli - with all their training and technical perfection, cannot completely defeat the Muslim armed formations, which are inferior to them in almost everything except the space of the spirit. Muslims are ready to die for their faith. But the times when Western Europeans and Americans were ready to do the same are long gone into history. After all, “dying for pleasure is no pleasure at all.”

Christianity was still considered in Western civilization while the Soviet Union was alive. In the ideological struggle with the Union, it was very beneficial to compare enlightened Christian Europeans and Russian atheist barbarians. The collapse of the USSR left no reason why Christianity would be needed in the new Europe. And therefore, the European constitution (despite all the requests from the Vatican, Poland, Italy and Ireland, where Christianity is still taken seriously) did not include any mention of the special merits of Christianity in the creation of European civilization.

Having survived persecution, Christianity very quickly revived in the countries of the former socialist camp (the exception is the Czech Republic), and in terms of the level of religiosity they are now noticeably superior to Western European countries.

Thus, the 20th century showed that - no matter how scary it sounds - a blown up temple is better for faith than a temple sold by the Church for a restaurant or swimming pool due to lack of funds for its maintenance (similar things, unfortunately, happen in some European countries).

Christianity in the West has been modernized for so long, adapted to the spirit of the times, forced to repent of its “obscurantist past”, that the most important thing has disappeared from it. The Gospel clearly states that if salt loses its saltiness, it is thrown away. That is why in most super-modernist parishes, where everything seems to have been done to attract young people: they have modernized, simplified - but there are precisely no young people. And in parishes that are distinguished by extreme conservatism in worship, it, oddly enough, exists.

But since the weakness of Christianity in Europe became the talk of the town, many did not note the main event in religious life XXI century. Faith, which until now had preferred to hide, entered the arena. The main rival of Christianity, which had been waging a secret struggle against it for a long time, the “great engine of democracy” came out of hiding.

Who is he? This is a religion of gender, more simply – the cult of the golden calf, famous since biblical times. Towards the end of the second millennium from the Nativity of Christ, occultists of all stripes, all kinds of astrologers talked so much about the end of the era of Pisces - the era of Christianity - and the era of Aquarius, which was obvious - “this is not without reason”, “someone is preparing”, “ They’ll tell us something.” And in confirmation, the Western culture industry has produced a whole series of anti-Christian projects. This “incomparable” series was crowned by the “Da Vinci Code” project (a whole series of books plus a film). It already openly promoted the religion of gender.

The earthly essence of the golden calf is very simple: “This world is ruled by money and women.” One very important addition is needed here. Sexual religion deifies sex, and therefore all sexual perversions. Therefore, the full formula is: “This world is ruled by money, women and sexual minorities.”

Propaganda for sexual minorities has become the hallmark of the “free democratic world”, without which it is no longer possible to imagine Western democracy.

I think that more than one person wondered: why do they need to organize gay pride parades everywhere? So, after all, these are “anti-crucifixion processions,” the most important ritual of the religion of the golden calf. It is no coincidence that during his visit to France our Patriarch drew the attention of the European public to this problem. This caused an angry rebuke from high-ranking officials of the united Europe. Moscow was also included in the blacklists of European cities because of the position of its mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who does not allow gay pride parades to be held in the capital.

The brainwashing of the population of Western civilization by the ministers of the sex cult is ongoing. Most recently, Madame Rowling “delighted” Harry Potter fans with the fact that one of the main characters in the Potter series, Professor Dumbledore, is gay. Even official sources of information of a “democratic” orientation were forced to admit that after this statement, silence reigned in the audience, and only then there was liquid applause, and about 70 percent of Potter fans opposed such an author’s revelation. The question immediately arises: why was Rowling silent before?

It seems that the author was not at all worried about this issue for the time being. But the editors of the project, who fished out “Potter” from hundreds of similar works and ensured the “correct” ideological content of the project and its promotion - apparently, very much. The editors, who constantly measure the “degree of tolerance” of European society, apparently reminded Rowling that millions of dollars are not earned just like that, and they friendly recommended making an “educational statement.” Which was done.

There is a lot of talk about old lady Europe, who smokes weed, gradually changes her faith and skin color, and becomes “more and more tolerant.” But does European Christianity have any prospects?

In our opinion, of course there is. The Christians of Europe have by no means said their last word.

There are blank spots on the map of tolerant Europe, and very large ones ( Orthodox Greece and Bulgaria, Catholic Croatia and Hungary). The largest is Poland. Among the countries of the former socialist camp, Poland was the most opposed to socialism and was distinguished by Russophobia. That is why Poland was the first country admitted to a united Europe. But it soon became clear (oh, horror!) that the Poles are completely intolerant. And if Polish Russophobia, of course, would be forgiven with the help of references to complicated story, then the negative attitude of the Poles towards the sin of Sodomy is for nothing. Many Poles are sincerely surprised by such a strange view of their country - after all, the Holy Scriptures say everything clearly. Position Catholic Church, unlike Protestants, is unshakable on this issue, and it is impossible to imagine Poland without Catholicism.

There is not a single serious politician in Poland who would fundamentally political activity put only a denunciation of the sin of Sodom. It's too small. But the topic of Polish homophobia does not leave the pages of the European tolerant press.

However, this is understandable: supporting sexual minorities and promoting their way of life is the most important component of the “creed” of a united Europe. And today that's all larger number Europeans understand that Europe is united on principles that are directly opposite Holy Scripture, and that such a unification means the destruction of European Christianity.

Often the level of religiosity in former socialist countries is noticeably higher than the level of Western European countries (although there are exceptions here too).

And then you begin to understand that the collapse of the socialist camp gives another chance to European Christianity. What can break through a “comfortable” person? Fiery faith and a real threat to his comfort. There is also the fiery faith of neophytes from the former socialist countries, and the harsh tread of the supporters of Islam, who have launched a new - now “peaceful” (well, except that sometimes they blow up something) - attack on Europe.

The result is already noticeable. On the one hand, there is a sharp increase in anti-Christian propaganda through the consistent destruction Christian values, on the other hand, people vote with their feet and slowly begin to go to churches again. Look, they’ll start doing something else...

R.S. A friend of mine, an art critic, has just returned from a long trip to Europe. He visited more than a hundred churches in different European countries. I shared my impressions: in the Czech Republic and Holland the churches are empty, in Italy, Poland, Austria, Southern Germany and Northern France people go to church. And what especially struck him: everywhere, in almost every church - both Catholic and Lutheran - there is Vladimir icon Holy Mother of God...

Orthodox youth
Magazine "Heir", No. 17, 2007

Vasily Pichugin

Without these 16 books published by the monks of Optina Pustyn in mid-19th centuries, modern Russia not enough

Reply to reader

A modern reader, who knows how thousands of all kinds of books are published every month, who sees Orthodox bookstores filled with spiritual literature, including the works of the holy fathers, can ask a reasonable question: what do we care about the “great” project? then 16 books published in the middle of the 19th century? It is likely that he even recognizes Orthodoxy as an important cultural heritage, but, according to the modern reader, now it’s the 21st century!

The answer for the modern reader is quite simple. If Russia wants to survive in the 21st century and remain itself at the same time, then it cannot do without these 16 books. Russia cannot exist without monasteries. The monastery is her spiritual archetype, a school on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven, to heavenly Jerusalem. And the spiritual life of not a single monastery can be established without the deep assimilation of these books by the monastics.

A monastery in Rus' is also a university, since it was the monastery that set the main directions of education from the position of Orthodoxy, and the enterprise is an example of relationships within any team (from an army company to the state), which “produced” one of the unique Russian “technologies” - Russian asceticism. Thanks to the latter, even the formally atheistic Soviet Union achieved phenomenal success - just remember the victory in the Great Patriotic War (having destroyed the monasteries, the Soviet system cut off the branch on which it was sitting - each subsequent generation of Soviet people wanted to give less and more, and more and more to receive... The results of the latter known). But, of course, a monastery is, first of all, prayer, prayer for the living and the dead, prayer for past deeds and present deeds.

Intolerable situation

In the summer of 1846, in the Kaluga province, on the noble estate of Dolbino, which belonged to the great Russian thinker Kireevsky, the confessor of his family, the Optina elder, the Monk Macarius, visited.

The previous year and the beginning of 1846 turned out to be extremely difficult for Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky and his wife Natalia Petrovna. During this period, several people dear to them passed away, among them their three-year-old daughter Katya.

Elder Macarius tried his best to console his spiritual children. He constantly cited examples from the works of the holy fathers, whose works he knew perfectly. During general conversations we came up with the topic of acute shortage good books in Russian and Church Slavonic languages, instructing in the Christian life. It so happened that the pearls of patristic ascetic literature were almost never published in Russia (some were not even translated from Greek and other eastern languages, and the translations of others were lost) and were practically unknown to the bulk of monks and laity.

This state of affairs was intolerable. Russian empire, practically the only independent Orthodox state at that time, the main custodian of the treasures of Orthodoxy, actually did not have access to one of the most important parts Orthodox Tradition - patristic literature. It is the Orthodox Tradition through patristic literature that, in essence, sets the view of Orthodoxy on the world. Without this, one could not even dream of building one’s own original school, original science. And the process of absorption of Russian culture into Western European culture would be only a matter of time.

It is providential that both Elder Macarius and the Kireevskys had translations of the patristic works. U St. Macarius translations were kept made by the Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky himself, who in the middle of the 18th century, in fact, began the process of moving the patristic heritage to Russia. He made a pilgrimage to Athos, where he managed to find precious manuscripts of the works of the holy fathers, and began a grandiose cultural project - their translation. The Kireevsky family received translations of patristic works from their first confessor, hieromonk of the Novospassky Monastery, Elder Philaret (Pulyashkin). It so happened that it was he who blessed the Kireyevskys to be cared for by the Monk Macarius before his death.

Saint of saints

The Kireyevskys and their confessor already had experience of working together. In the previous year, 1845, Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky helped publish the life of St. Paisius Velichkovsky in the journal “Moskvityanin” to Elder Macarius. And the couple had no doubt that when translating the patristic works, not only excellent knowledge of ancient languages ​​is necessary, but also real experience of ascetic life. Therefore, only Elder Macarius was able to lead such a project both spiritually and practically.

As a result of this agreement, over 15 years, under the leadership of Elder Macarius, 16 books were published, of which five were in Russian, one in both Slavic and Russian, the remaining ten in Slavic. Among these books are the pearls of patristic ascetic literature: the works of St. Isaac the Syrian, Abba Dorotheus, John Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, Theodore the Studite, Fathers Barsanuphius and John, and Simeon the New Theologian. And if the book of the Venerable Isaac the Syrian is intended for experienced ascetics of piety, then the book of the Venerable Abba Dorotheos is accessible to any monk and layman. These books were received by all academic and seminary libraries, all diocesan bishops, rectors and inspectors of theological academies and seminaries, laurels and all cenobitic Russian monasteries, many Slavic monasteries on Mount Athos.

Participants

This unique publishing work brought together the brightest representatives of the Orthodox intellectual elite of that time: Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret himself; spiritual censors - professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, philosopher Archpriest Fyodor Alekseevich Golubinsky, founder of Russian theistic philosophy; Inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy Archimandrite Sergius (Lyapidevsky), future Metropolitan of Moscow; professor of Moscow University, poet, historian and philologist Stepan Fedorovich Shevyrev; Konstantin Karlovich Zederholm, son of a Lutheran pastor, master in the field of ancient languages ​​(later he converted to Orthodoxy, took monastic vows and became the hieromonk of the Optina Monastery, Father Clement).

Directly in Optina, the Monk Macarius had no less remarkable assistants: the future famous Optina elder, then hieromonk, the Monk Ambrose; monk Yuvenaly (Polovtsev), former artillery officer, future governor of Alexander Nevsky and Kiev-Pechersk Lavra; future Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna monk Father Leo (Kavelin); also a former officer, future Archimandrite Leonid, abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a prominent church historian and writer.

Several years to hear

This work required colossal efforts - both spiritual and intellectual. In fact, the translation of patristic works into Russian for people of the 19th and 20th centuries was done in such a way as to show the utmost relevance of the patristic tradition both for this time and for all times. With such a translation, it was necessary to make the works of the holy fathers as accessible as possible, but at the same time not to lose the entire spiritual depth of what was being translated. The main burden of this work, of course, fell on the shoulders of the Monk Macarius. In the life of the saint, Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) described his activities as follows: “For these activities, all the above-mentioned persons gathered daily in the cell of the elder, who did not stop his usual activities with the brethren and those who came... nevertheless, he took the most active part in these activities: one can affirmatively to say that not a single expression, not a single word was included in the manuscript sent to the censor without his personal approval... His activity in this regard was truly amazing: the elder, gifted by nature with a lively energetic character, seemed to forget himself in these activities, often sacrificing for them, that short rest, which was obviously necessary for his weary and infirm body. But how generously we were rewarded for our small efforts! Who among those who listen to themselves would not give several years of their lives to hear what our ears heard: these are the elder’s explanations of such passages of the fatherly writings, about which, if not for these studies, none of us would have dared to ask him ... "

To the Guardians of the Great Project

IN modern world, where the amount of natural resources is rapidly decreasing, the best chances will be for those peoples who will be able to master the technology of asceticism on a massive scale, that is, will be able to reduce their needs and, in addition, will have their own idea. Only a real idea gives the people strength.

For Russia this idea is known - the idea of ​​Holy Rus', the idea of ​​the Third Rome, the last bastion of truth in the modern world. Both of these ideas are based on Orthodox asceticism. And if now we see with horror how “free”, “democratic” Americans behave in New Orleans, then in 10-15 years after the mass processing of the population with programs like “The Last Hero” and “The Weakest Link” we will get our own domestic New Orleans . When, in the face of a new real threat, we will not be able to unite, but will each begin to save our own skins, destroying all the “weak links” along the path of “salvation.”

Therefore, asceticism (helping one’s neighbor, sacrificing one’s own interests for the sake of the interests of society) will be required in the 21st century both from a simple worker, and even more so from the highest authorities. Without an ascetic leadership, an ascetic elite, Russia’s chances in the 21st century are minimal.

“War is the measure of all things,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. In the modern world there are wars of various types: “classical”, economic, ideological, demographic... But the main war that is raging in this world is a spiritual war. And our opponents understand this very well. Unfortunately, most of our compatriots have little idea about this; their minds are dominated by the idea of ​​a “classical” war - with tanks, guns, and missiles. Spiritual war - the war of good and evil - has its own laws. These laws are beautifully set out by the holy fathers. The figures of the Great Project made them available to us. And if we want to survive the coming trials, then we must become creative guardians and continuers of this project.

Dream Interpretation