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:
The terrible Tsar answered him furiously:
To which the man of God promptly retorted:
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.
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.
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.
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.
There are the stories you tell yourself,
and then there's the truth...
Genesis 19:24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
Lamentations 4:6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
Ezekiel 16:1 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 48 As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord.
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Throughout your entire life, people will die in front of you – some, physically; others, morally – and, with every single loss, a part of you also fades away, until, at the very end, after having already buried them all in some deep, dark corner of your traumatized psyche, and with the last glimmer of light that was still left within you being finally extinguished, you yourself will also, at long last, ultimately perish...
Luke 23:27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning unto them said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children !
John 1:11 Unto His own He came, and His own received him not...
Actually, I'm looking forward to being 50...
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Luke 10:30 A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead...
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