A Putrid Christmas, And A Rotten New Year !

Like a second Herod, Putin the Pious saw fit to brutally mock and viciously destroy an entire country, by drowning it in senseless bloodshed and unspeakable violence, smearing it with the stench of death and despair, defiling it with the dismembered and decomposing corpses of its defenseless women and innocent children, whose lost lives and shattered limbs, as globes and tinsel upon Christmas trees, now adorn its once beautiful landscape.

Prayer For The Ukraine

Arise, O Lord, and judge thine own cause ! Incline thine ears to our prayers !

For foxes have arisen, seeking to destroy the vineyard, whose winepress thou alone hast trod.
The wild boar from the forest seeketh to destroy it, and every wild beast feedeth upon it.

Pope Leo the Tenth, Exsurge, Domine

The One True Faith

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Saint Vladimir of the Ladder

Innocence Interrupted

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The Fine Line Between Observer And Collaborator

People like to wash their hands of the violence. But we all wash our hands in blood.

In This Sign, Conquer

Psalm 151
1 I was small among my brethren, and youngest in my father's house. 5 My brothers were great and handsome; but the Lord was not pleased with them. 6 I went forth to meet the Philistine; and he cursed me by his idols. 7 But I drew his own sword, and beheaded him, and removed reproach from the children of Israel.


Troparion of the Holy Cross
Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance, granting our rulers to prevail over adversaries, and protecting Your commonwealth by Your cross.

On (Dis)Honoring One's Parents

The throne of Kiev held a dominant position in Ancient Rus. This had been the custom since the late ninth century. The Tale of Bygone Years captured for posterity the words of Oleg the Prophet about Kiev: May it be the mother of all Russian cities.

Vladimir Putin,
On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them; 19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

Matthew 15:4 For God commanded, saying: Honour thy father and mother; and: He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Mark 7:10 For Moses said: Honour thy father and thy mother; and: Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Feeling Blue: Summertime Sadness

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The sky hung high and blue; the child was staring at it, mouth open, hand above his forehead. The bright, cool morning breeze enveloped his sunburned cheeks, and dusty feet. Somewhere far away, at the edge of the plain, muffled, faded bangs were heard at times. There was no single cloud upon the clear sky, nor any smell of rain being brought on by the wind. The child stopped on the footpath near the road, openmouthed, beholding the unencompassed blue sky. He kept dragging his feet through the dew-soaked grass, to wet them. He whistled, constantly gazing at the azure sky. His father's jacket, which he had on, reached below his knees, his hands barely visible.

The child was short in stature, blue-eyed, no older than, say, seven or eight. He was returning home, from his grandmother's neighboring village, carrying, in a twig basket he could barely hold in his hands, a fat, white goose, he named Lyla on the way. He covered her in wide burdock leaves, least someone might see her. The child was whistling, to embolden himself, even though he was not particularly shy, and there was no one nearby. He was whistling out of habit, so the goose might seem less heavy.

As he passed the middle of the road separating the two villages, he laid his basket upon the grass, and took off his garment, breathing in the warm summer breeze. The goose was honking, softly flapping her wings, and making him giggle. He admired the red cloth he tied around her neck, to ward off the evil eye. After tying her wings to a hemp rope, he let her walk freely on the path before him. She treaded slowly, pecking grass, turning, from time to time, towards the boy, with her small, round eyes. She tried flying off, a few times, but the rope kept her in place.

On the road, far ahead, the child saw a dust cloud coming his way. The dusty truck drove straight past him. He found a dried up rod, and picked it up. The goose was neither answering him, nor turning around to look at him anymore. Instead, she kept on walking idly by. The knot of the red cloth around her neck reached up to her nape, looking like a bow. The sky was clear. The child was whistling, holding the basket and the rope in one hand, and the rod in the other. He wore his father's coat upon his shoulders, like a grownup. He was biding his time.

At the turn of the road, as he was about to cross the river, he saw a car, crossways before the bridge. He stopped in front of the car, to say hello. Would you let me across the bridge ?, he asked, looking at the two young, blond men, leaning on the car wheels. The two laughed, and, one of them, handing him a piece of chocolate, asked him his name. Emil, answered the boy, and her name is Lyla. — And whereto are you going, Emil, with Lyla ? — Home, if you'd let me cross the bridge. — We'll let you, but first, tell us more about Lyla.

The child started telling them anything that crossed his mind. The men were besides themselves with laughter, and Emil was glad he'll get to go home with the goose. At some point, a man came up from underneath the bridge, all smutty, and covered in mud. You can cross now, but quickly, very quickly, said the young blonde, handing him another piece of chocolate. Emil thanked him, and went on to cross the bridge. The three got into the car, setting off towards the village the child came from.

Upon reaching the middle of the bridge, Emil stopped, and, whilst still eating his chocolate, looked behind him, seeing the car now far gone. He wanted to say something, but felt Lyla flying out of his hands, and a deafening blow hitting him hard over the ears, as if the bridge itself was being lifted up, towards the sky, and torn apart. Lylaaa ! His thoughts dissipated into thin air. Far away, within another dust cloud, the car raced. Upon the field, and upon the river, like unto a faded echo, the silence of an August morning eventually fell. The sky was clear, like the child's eyes.

Dumitru Radu Popescu, August Clear

Prophecy Against Russia's Czar

1 Kings 21:17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: 18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria. 19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying:

Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou killed, and also taken possession ? In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 20 Because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, 21 I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.

23 And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying:

The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. 28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Fighting To The Last Slav

Paraphrasing the above prophecy:

Were the [Slavs] to succeed, in dragging the nations once again, into yet another world war, then its result will not spell the triumph of [Slavism], but rather the destruction of the [Slavic] race in Europe.

Russian Orthodox Crusade Against The Wicked West

The Apostolic Canons
28. We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught us such things. On the contrary, “when Himself was stricken, He did not strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not.”

I couldn't help but notice the Kremlin's ever-increasing employment of Chechen Muslim troops, in Russia's special military operation against its sovereign Orthodox neighbor. Perhaps someone should inform Rasputin that Jihad has never been an Orthodox tradition.

In its ostensive desire to fight the west, Russia has become just like it, crusades being a product of the schism, which, ironically enough, even westerners themselves have long since repudiated.

Fire From Heaven

Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Genesis 19:24

Then it rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

After tainting this year's Easter holidays, marking Christ's holy resurrection, by defiling them with the stain of death, like a second Herod, Putin the Pious saw fit to mock the sacred day of Pentecost as well, by turning it from a day of divine fire, descending from the celestial spheres, unto the spiritual enlightenment of many nations, into one where the hellish flames of an ever-burning Gehenna of his own making, fueled by explosions raining down from heaven upon countless innocents, whose lives are lost and limbs are shattered, demonically deride and ultimately fall short of, not only God's highly elevated standards of moral sanctity, but even those of basic human decency.

Tuesdays On Mars

After Constantinople, the New Rome, eventually fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks, half a millennium ago, Moscow gradually became the third Rome. The Christian empire lasted for an entire millennium, reckoned as the seventh from creation, according to the Byzantine calendar era.

Prior to the time of its Christianization, following the conversion of Constantine, pagan Rome was worshipping ancient idols, such as Mars, the god of war, in whose honor both the third day of the week, and the third month of the year, March, were named.

Russia's special military operation in Ukraine started shortly before the beginning of March, close to the feast day of Saint Nicholas Salos of Pskov, the fool for Christ. Throughout the entire month, the term war was not applied to it, in defiance of the deity whose name it bears; a brazen impiety, continuing up to the present moment. This undoubtedly constituted an affront to Mars, thereby incurring his wrath, thus explaining their slow, snail paced progress, and subsequent withdrawal.

On the other hand, the besieged declared martial law from the very beginning, honoring the latter's memory, and gaining his favor. The ides of April, unlike those of March, fall on the month's thirteenth day. On this occasion, Neptune, the Roman god of stormy seas, avenged Mars' offended honor.

Lessons In Agronomy: On The Importance Of Cereals

Russia and the Ukraine are among the world's largest grain producers:

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

1 Corinthians 15:35 But some man will say: How are the dead raised up ? And with what body do they come ? 36 Thou fool ! That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but mere seeds, perchance of wheat, or of some other grain.

Weather Forecast

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Official Eastern Orthodox Stance On Pride Parades

Genesis 19:24

Then it rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

Lessons In Misguided Optimism

What atheism, Holocaust denial, and Russian war propaganda have in common:

John 20:25 Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

Crucifying A Country For Easter

Apparently, Halloween came early this year...
After pseudo-religious civil disobedience of the most divinely uninspired kind tainted the last two Easters, by turning them from celebrations of life into festivals of death, thus marking the triumph of death over life, rather than the other way around, as would normally have been expected, this year, a certain Czar of the same stock as Ivan the Terrible, deemed it expediently appropriate to smear the sacred Holidays, by defiling them with the corpses of raped women and children, thereby trampling human life once again underfoot, as an anti-Christ mocking the Savior's resurrection, by which He trampled on death by death, as our Orthodox Paschal anthem, sung every spring, so beautifully puts it.

A putrid, rotten Easter, filled with the stench of decaying bodies, whose unbearable smell rises to the high heavens, demanding justice and retribution, and a bloody Bright Week, to all !

Pharaoh, Moses, And The Exodus

As the Egyptian Pharaoh oppressed the people of Israel,
so the Russian Czar oppresses the people of the Ukraine.

As Moses turned Egypt's rivers into blood,
so Russian invaders make rivers of blood flow in the Ukraine.

As the Jews left Egypt during the Exodus,
so Ukrainians are fleeing their homeland.

Why Russian Leaders Are Exempt From Fasting

It was the first week of Lent...
Hearing that the Tsar was coming to visit him, Nicholas found a piece of raw meat and, when the Tsar entered his cell, Nicholas bowed down, and offered the meat to the Tsar:

Eat, little Ivan, eat !

The terrible Tsar answered him furiously:

I am a Christian, and do not eat any meat during Lent !

To which the man of God promptly retorted:

You do that, and much worse !
You feed on men's flesh and blood,
forgetting not only the Fast, but God as well !

This lecture entered deeply into the heart of Tsar Ivan, and he immediately left Pskov in shame, having intended to wreak great slaughter there.

Lenten Recipe

2 Esdras 15:58
They that be in the mountains shall die of hunger, and eat their own flesh, and drink their own blood, for very hunger of bread, and thirst of water.


Joseph Flavius, The Jewish War, 6:3:4
There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan; her name was Mary. She was eminent for her family, and her wealth; and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion. But none of them, out of commiseration of her case, would take away her life. And if she found any food she perceived her labours were for others, and not for herself; and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels, and marrow. When also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself. She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, which was a child sucking at her breast, she said:

“O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee, in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us. Come on. Be thou my food, and a by-word to the world. Which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews.”

As soon as she had said this, she slew her son; and then roasted him; and eat the one half of him; and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently; and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately, if she did not shew them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, that “She had saved a very fine portion of it for them;” and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with an horror, and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to them:

“This is mine own son; and what hath been done was mine own doing. Come, eat of this food, for I have eaten of it myself. Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother. But if you be so scrupulous and do abominate this my sacrifice; as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also.”

After which those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at any thing as they were at this; and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while every body laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard-of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine, were very desirous to die; and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear, or to see such miseries. This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of whom could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were under.

The Ides Of March

...according to the original Julian calendar.

The Slavic Czar stems from the Latin Caesar.

Brotherly Love

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Slavic Brotherhood





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From Russia With Love





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Lovelorn Slavs

Come And See

More on this topic.

John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him: We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him: Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him: Come and see.

History Repeating Itself

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Old Saint Nick

on the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia

The incursion of the troops of the five socialist countries into Czechoslovakia constitutes a great error – a grave danger – for [preserving] peace in Europe, and for the fate of socialism throughout the world.

It is inconceivable, in today's world, when people are rising up in battle, to defend their national independence, [fighting] for equal rights, for a socialist state, for socialist states, to infringe upon the freedom and independence of another state.

There is no justification, nor can any reason prove acceptable, in admitting, even for a single moment, the mere idea of a military intervention, in the affairs of a rightful socialist state.

[...]
Choosing the [right] way of constructing socialism, is [ultimately] a question facing every party, every state, every nation:

No one can erect themselves as advisor, or as guide, of the way in which socialism is [meant] to be constructed.

[Rather], it is each nation's [own] concern, and we consider that [...] the immixture in the affairs of other states, and of other parties, has to cease, once and for all.

[...]
We are determined to act, with all [our] might, and with all our responsibility, so that we may contribute to determining the [best] way for quickly solving this situation, created by the incursion of foreign troops into Czechoslovakia, so that Czechoslovakians might [finally] be able to conduct their business in peace.

We are firmly determined to act, so that, together with other socialist countries, with other communist and workers' parties, we may [eventually] contribute to eliminating divergences, [thereby] strengthening the unity of socialist countries, and of communist parties, because we are convinced that, only in this manner, do we serve people's interests, as well as the interests of socialism throughout the whole world.

The above words belong not, as one might initially be inclined to think, to a democratically elected leader of the free world, but to one of the fiercest communist dictators known to history, heading, for many decades, one of Europe's most brutal and repressive totalitarian regimes.

Nor were they spoken today, but rather well over half a century ago, all of this only serving to show Russia's current president's increasing inadequacy, on the world's geopolitical stage, within the larger historical context.

Mother Russia

Protecting Her Ukrainian Daughter From The West

There are the stories you tell yourself,
and then there's the truth...

Khary Payton as King Ezekiel in The Walking Dead

Valentine's Day Special

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I am neither Roman Catholic, nor a Priest,

so why do I constantly feel like one ?