WEBVTT 00:00:00.401 --> 00:00:05.383 - [Fr. Seraphim] Eminences, reverend fathers, brothers and sisters. 00:00:09.653 --> 00:00:13.675 Every Orthodox Christian is placed between two worlds: 00:00:14.734 --> 00:00:18.479 this fallen world where we try to work out our salvation 00:00:19.908 --> 00:00:22.247 and the other world, heaven, 00:00:22.247 --> 00:00:24.766 the homeland towards which we are striving 00:00:25.287 --> 00:00:28.354 and which if we are leading a true Christian life 00:00:28.768 --> 00:00:31.462 gives us the inspiration to live from day to day 00:00:31.462 --> 00:00:33.687 in Christian virtue and love. 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:38.300 But the world is too much with us. 00:00:38.300 --> 00:00:41.389 We often in fact nowadays, usually, 00:00:41.795 --> 00:00:43.708 we forget the heavenly world. 00:00:44.668 --> 00:00:47.428 The pressure of worldliness is so strong today 00:00:47.601 --> 00:00:49.878 whether we look at the Soviet Union 00:00:49.878 --> 00:00:52.233 where it is enforced by the government 00:00:52.255 --> 00:00:55.712 or to the free world where we voluntarily go on this way 00:00:56.483 --> 00:00:58.486 that we often lose track of what our life 00:00:58.486 --> 00:01:00.139 as Christians is all about. 00:01:01.714 --> 00:01:05.515 Even if we may be going to church frequently, 00:01:06.748 --> 00:01:08.457 even if we may consider ourselves 00:01:08.457 --> 00:01:10.543 to be active church members, 00:01:11.763 --> 00:01:15.146 how often our being in church, our churchliness 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:19.107 is only something external 00:01:20.775 --> 00:01:23.441 bound up with beautiful services with the whole richness 00:01:23.441 --> 00:01:24.818 of our Orthodox tradition, 00:01:24.818 --> 00:01:27.478 but lacking in something much more fundamental: 00:01:27.576 --> 00:01:29.627 the deep conviction in our hearts 00:01:29.627 --> 00:01:33.382 that Orthodoxy is the faith that can save our souls for eternity. 00:01:34.793 --> 00:01:36.793 But often in the midst of outward splendor, 00:01:36.793 --> 00:01:40.076 we are lacking for real love for and commitment to Christ, 00:01:40.076 --> 00:01:43.487 who is incarnate the God and the Founder of our faith. 00:01:44.173 --> 00:01:47.139 And often for us church becomes just a matter of habit. 00:01:47.523 --> 00:01:49.486 Something we go through outwardly 00:01:49.486 --> 00:01:51.567 which does not change us inwardly, 00:01:51.755 --> 00:01:53.338 does not make us grow spiritually 00:01:53.338 --> 00:01:55.298 and lead us to eternal life and God 00:01:55.298 --> 00:01:57.757 which is the whole purpose of our existence. 00:02:00.108 --> 00:02:02.681 Keeping this mind, we can see that we are living 00:02:02.681 --> 00:02:04.580 in those times 00:02:04.580 --> 00:02:07.700 which our Lord Jesus Christ warned us about in the Gospel 00:02:07.700 --> 00:02:10.442 when He said, "The love of many shall grow cold." 00:02:11.710 --> 00:02:13.647 These are the latter times. 00:02:14.718 --> 00:02:16.764 When the Christian Gospel which was received 00:02:16.764 --> 00:02:18.990 with such fervor by the first Christians 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:21.965 has become only one small part of our worldly life 00:02:22.717 --> 00:02:25.213 instead of the center and meaning of our life, 00:02:25.660 --> 00:02:28.598 which is what it would be if we realized what our faith is. 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:31.423 Orthodox Christianity, 00:02:31.423 --> 00:02:34.628 as a burning faith which we are not ashamed to confess 00:02:34.628 --> 00:02:37.115 and to have as the most precious thing in our life, 00:02:37.225 --> 00:02:39.617 is to a great extent in a state of decline 00:02:39.617 --> 00:02:41.629 and retreat in the world today. 00:02:42.933 --> 00:02:46.509 But quite ironically and quite providentially 00:02:47.201 --> 00:02:50.183 as Orthodoxy and Christianity have seemed to retreat, 00:02:50.585 --> 00:02:54.461 on the other hand Russia or rather the Soviet Union, 00:02:54.702 --> 00:02:57.774 the atheist regime which has ensnared the Russian land 00:02:58.426 --> 00:03:00.781 has advanced from strength to strength 00:03:01.108 --> 00:03:03.504 and now has a leading, perhaps the leading position 00:03:03.504 --> 00:03:05.648 in the world history of our time. 00:03:06.445 --> 00:03:08.922 Therefore what is happening in the Soviet Union today 00:03:08.922 --> 00:03:11.633 is looked to with great interest by the rest of the world. 00:03:12.139 --> 00:03:14.493 And significantly a good part of what is happening 00:03:14.493 --> 00:03:16.006 in the Soviet Union today 00:03:16.006 --> 00:03:19.005 and what undoubtedly will be happening in the future 00:03:19.661 --> 00:03:23.160 is bound up with the real Russia, with Orthodox Russia. 00:03:26.215 --> 00:03:29.430 The Orthodox revival in Russia today is closely bound up 00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:32.193 with the future of the Russian land. 00:03:33.653 --> 00:03:36.833 In 19th and 20th century, early 20th century Russia, 00:03:37.445 --> 00:03:40.490 there were many prophecies of spiritual men 00:03:41.027 --> 00:03:43.064 not only concerning the coming of atheism 00:03:43.064 --> 00:03:44.925 and the revolution to Russia 00:03:44.986 --> 00:03:47.343 and the epoch of blood and slavery 00:03:47.343 --> 00:03:49.307 which was introduced into the world, 00:03:49.687 --> 00:03:52.574 but also what would happen to Russia after this epoch 00:03:52.688 --> 00:03:55.396 if the Orthodox Russian people would repent of their sins 00:03:55.396 --> 00:03:57.026 which produced the revolution. 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:00.230 This morning, therefore, I would like us 00:04:00.230 --> 00:04:02.347 to look at some of these prophecies 00:04:02.657 --> 00:04:05.890 and the way they are bound up with what is happening in Russia today. 00:04:07.055 --> 00:04:09.769 We will try to look not from the superficial point of view 00:04:09.769 --> 00:04:11.630 of the popular newsmagazines, 00:04:11.812 --> 00:04:14.633 but deeper, and try to see something 00:04:14.633 --> 00:04:17.366 of what is happening to the soul and heart of Russia 00:04:17.426 --> 00:04:18.898 and what may be expected there 00:04:18.898 --> 00:04:20.437 according to these prophecies 00:04:20.567 --> 00:04:22.803 and our knowledge of the more general prophecies 00:04:22.803 --> 00:04:25.471 concerning what is to happen before the end of the world. 00:04:26.830 --> 00:04:28.380 Immediately the question arises: 00:04:28.380 --> 00:04:30.957 why should we talk about the end of the world? 00:04:31.537 --> 00:04:33.616 Are we really living in the last times? 00:04:33.893 --> 00:04:35.888 Why do we have to bind together the subject 00:04:35.888 --> 00:04:38.434 of the future of Russia and the end of the world? 00:04:39.674 --> 00:04:43.305 But it so happens that even secular writers nowadays speak 00:04:43.305 --> 00:04:45.351 of our times as being apocalyptic. 00:04:45.936 --> 00:04:48.267 And truly the problems that plague the world today— 00:04:48.267 --> 00:04:51.318 such as the exhaustion of resources and food, 00:04:51.924 --> 00:04:53.239 overpopulation, 00:04:53.675 --> 00:04:55.725 the literal monsters which have been created 00:04:55.725 --> 00:04:57.380 by modern technology, 00:04:57.380 --> 00:04:59.450 and especially the weapons which are capable 00:04:59.450 --> 00:05:01.321 of destroying entire countries 00:05:01.419 --> 00:05:03.510 or even the whole civilized earth— 00:05:04.035 --> 00:05:06.685 all these point to the approach of a time of crisis 00:05:06.685 --> 00:05:08.091 in human history 00:05:08.170 --> 00:05:11.134 which is quite beyond anything the world has ever seen, 00:05:11.677 --> 00:05:14.657 and perhaps points to the literal end of life upon earth. 00:05:16.214 --> 00:05:17.734 At the same time, 00:05:18.622 --> 00:05:20.775 religious thinkers of various kinds point 00:05:20.775 --> 00:05:23.519 to a blossoming of non-Christian religious movements 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.658 in our time, 00:05:24.965 --> 00:05:27.173 and speak about the coming of a new age 00:05:27.173 --> 00:05:29.004 in which a new religious consciousness 00:05:29.004 --> 00:05:30.588 will dominate men's minds 00:05:30.739 --> 00:05:33.742 and put an end to the 2,000 year reign of Christianity. 00:05:34.731 --> 00:05:36.859 Astrologers talk about the Aquarian age 00:05:36.859 --> 00:05:39.440 which they think is to begin around the year 2000. 00:05:40.156 --> 00:05:42.629 And the very approach of the year 2000 is enough 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:45.411 to inspire in many minds the idea of a new epoch 00:05:45.627 --> 00:05:48.352 somehow different from the rest of human history. 00:05:49.714 --> 00:05:51.952 Among many non-Orthodox Christians, 00:05:52.225 --> 00:05:54.404 these ideas take the form of a teaching 00:05:54.937 --> 00:05:57.228 which is extremely important for us to understand 00:05:57.228 --> 00:05:59.133 in connection with the future of Russia, 00:05:59.574 --> 00:06:01.155 and it's called chiliasm: 00:06:01.176 --> 00:06:03.366 the belief that Christ is soon to come to earth 00:06:03.366 --> 00:06:05.230 and reign right here with His saints 00:06:05.230 --> 00:06:06.709 before the end of the world. 00:06:07.293 --> 00:06:09.550 This teaching is a heresy which was condemned 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:11.683 by the early Church Fathers and councils 00:06:12.168 --> 00:06:14.132 and has its origin in a misinterpretation 00:06:14.132 --> 00:06:16.547 of the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse. 00:06:17.638 --> 00:06:20.329 The Orthodox teaching is that the reign 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:22.706 of Christ with His saints when the devil is bound 00:06:22.706 --> 00:06:24.486 for a 1,000 years which is described 00:06:24.486 --> 00:06:26.874 in the Apocalypse 20:3 00:06:27.539 --> 00:06:29.413 is the period we are now living in. 00:06:29.413 --> 00:06:30.773 The whole period, 00:06:30.773 --> 00:06:33.775 1000 being a symbolical number indicating wholeness, 00:06:34.082 --> 00:06:35.754 this whole period between the first 00:06:35.754 --> 00:06:37.332 and second coming of Christ. 00:06:38.003 --> 00:06:40.890 In this period the saints do reign with Christ in His church, 00:06:41.597 --> 00:06:43.045 but this is a mystical reign 00:06:43.045 --> 00:06:45.889 which is not to be defined in the outward political sense 00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:48.017 which is given to us by the chiliad. 00:06:48.507 --> 00:06:50.502 The devil is truly bound in this period, 00:06:50.502 --> 00:06:55.353 that is restricted in exercising his ill will against humanity. 00:06:55.797 --> 00:06:57.901 And believers who live the life of the church 00:06:57.901 --> 00:06:59.840 and receive the holy mysteries of Christ 00:07:00.036 --> 00:07:02.088 live in this period a blessed life 00:07:02.201 --> 00:07:05.017 preparing them for eternal kingdom of heaven. 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:08.309 The non-Orthodox who do not have holy mysteries 00:07:08.309 --> 00:07:10.836 and do not taste of the true life of the church 00:07:11.125 --> 00:07:13.571 cannot understand this mystical reign of Christ, 00:07:13.571 --> 00:07:16.052 and this is why they look for something outward. 00:07:16.902 --> 00:07:18.864 And so it is that the future of the world 00:07:18.864 --> 00:07:21.271 in which Russia obviously will have a central place 00:07:21.421 --> 00:07:24.371 is bound up with ideas that you can call apocalyptic, 00:07:24.740 --> 00:07:27.706 either with the literal end of the world in a physical sense 00:07:27.966 --> 00:07:30.228 or the end of the civilized world as we know it, 00:07:30.287 --> 00:07:34.701 and the expectation of some entirely new paradise-like reign. 00:07:36.573 --> 00:07:39.352 Some people have interpreted Russia's place in this new era 00:07:39.352 --> 00:07:41.295 in terms of the heresy of chiliasm. 00:07:41.585 --> 00:07:43.868 In fact, if we look at the teaching of communism, 00:07:43.868 --> 00:07:46.749 we see that it is exactly a teaching of chiliasm. 00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:54.711 We can see that it teaches that a totally new historical epoch 00:07:54.711 --> 00:07:56.142 begins with communism, 00:07:56.142 --> 00:07:58.376 that when communism finally dominates the world 00:07:58.376 --> 00:08:00.028 there will be universal happiness 00:08:00.028 --> 00:08:02.121 and the liberation of mankind from everything 00:08:02.121 --> 00:08:04.603 that is bounded in the past, including religion. 00:08:06.637 --> 00:08:08.795 Today after over 60 years 00:08:08.795 --> 00:08:10.821 of the communist experiment in Russia 00:08:10.897 --> 00:08:12.908 and a shorter period in other nations, 00:08:13.165 --> 00:08:16.477 we can see how foolish is this belief underlying communism. 00:08:17.006 --> 00:08:19.448 The reality of communism is not paradise on earth 00:08:19.448 --> 00:08:21.891 but what we call now gulag. 00:08:22.457 --> 00:08:24.413 Mankind has not been liberated at all, 00:08:24.413 --> 00:08:26.690 but enslaved worse than ever before. 00:08:27.578 --> 00:08:30.495 But Russia, the first country to experience the communist yoke 00:08:31.197 --> 00:08:33.813 is also the first country to begin to wake up from it 00:08:33.813 --> 00:08:35.237 and to survive it. 00:08:35.444 --> 00:08:38.270 Despite the continued reign of communist tyranny in Russia, 00:08:38.270 --> 00:08:40.839 atheism has not captured the soul of Russia. 00:08:41.208 --> 00:08:43.982 And a religious awakening that can be seen now in Russia is 00:08:43.982 --> 00:08:46.010 undoubtedly only the beginning of something 00:08:46.030 --> 00:08:48.093 quite immense and elemental, 00:08:48.666 --> 00:08:51.444 namely the recovery of the soul of a whole nation 00:08:51.444 --> 00:08:53.034 from the plague of atheism. 00:08:54.045 --> 00:08:56.491 This is the reason why Russia today can speak a word 00:08:56.491 --> 00:08:58.309 of significance to the whole world, 00:08:58.649 --> 00:09:01.185 which is plunging into the same trap of atheism 00:09:01.185 --> 00:09:02.994 from which Russia is emerging. 00:09:03.072 --> 00:09:05.964 And this is why the future of Russia is so closely bound up 00:09:05.964 --> 00:09:08.654 with the future of the whole world in a religious sense. 00:09:10.841 --> 00:09:13.986 Before turning specifically to the prophecies about Russia, 00:09:14.288 --> 00:09:15.904 I would like to summarize briefly 00:09:15.904 --> 00:09:18.234 the general Orthodox teaching of what is to happen 00:09:18.234 --> 00:09:20.118 just before the end of the world. 00:09:20.416 --> 00:09:22.999 This will give us a background in which 00:09:22.999 --> 00:09:25.647 to place the prophecies regarding the future of Russia. 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:29.106 The events before the end of the world are described 00:09:29.106 --> 00:09:31.321 in a number of places in Holy Scripture: 00:09:31.541 --> 00:09:33.425 the 24th chapter of Matthew 00:09:33.656 --> 00:09:36.335 and other similar chapters in the other Gospels, 00:09:37.795 --> 00:09:39.955 almost the whole Book of the Apocalypse 00:09:40.444 --> 00:09:42.532 especially from chapter 8 onward, 00:09:42.807 --> 00:09:45.641 the 2nd chapter of 2 Thessalonians of St. Paul, 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:48.003 and St. Peter's 2nd epistle the 3rd chapter, 00:09:48.630 --> 00:09:50.561 several chapters of the Book of Daniel, 00:09:50.561 --> 00:09:52.075 and many other passages. 00:09:53.364 --> 00:09:55.032 The Apocalypse describes the events 00:09:55.032 --> 00:09:57.597 before the end of the world in a series of visions. 00:09:57.957 --> 00:10:00.391 Some of these visions are bright and positive 00:10:00.391 --> 00:10:02.470 relating to the fulfillment of God's justice 00:10:02.470 --> 00:10:04.647 and the salvation of His chosen ones. 00:10:04.747 --> 00:10:06.480 And some are dark and negative 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:09.164 relating to the terrible plagues that will come on earth 00:10:09.164 --> 00:10:10.705 for the sins of mankind. 00:10:11.609 --> 00:10:13.119 Sometimes, in fact quite often, 00:10:13.119 --> 00:10:15.746 we tend to overemphasize the dark and negative side 00:10:15.746 --> 00:10:16.918 of this book, 00:10:17.058 --> 00:10:19.762 because we see how much evil is increasing around us. 00:10:20.067 --> 00:10:22.734 But this comes from our faintheartedness and worldliness. 00:10:22.734 --> 00:10:25.400 To get the whole picture of what is to happen at the end, 00:10:25.400 --> 00:10:28.252 we must bear in mind all the events that will happen 00:10:28.252 --> 00:10:30.269 both the negative and the positive. 00:10:32.806 --> 00:10:34.218 As the time of the end comes, 00:10:34.218 --> 00:10:36.732 it is true that there will be a time of tribulation 00:10:37.380 --> 00:10:39.087 such as the world has never seen, 00:10:39.397 --> 00:10:42.619 as described in Matthew 24:21. 00:10:43.541 --> 00:10:45.702 There will be famines, plagues, earthquakes, 00:10:45.702 --> 00:10:47.520 wars and rumors of wars, 00:10:47.520 --> 00:10:50.431 persecutions, false prophets, false christs, 00:10:50.909 --> 00:10:53.870 and the love of many including Christians will grow cold. 00:10:55.020 --> 00:10:57.911 But at the same, the Gospel will be preached to all nations, 00:10:58.062 --> 00:11:00.070 and those who endure with the aid of Christ 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:03.470 all the trials to come upon men at that time will be saved. 00:11:04.725 --> 00:11:06.656 The evil and false religion in the world 00:11:06.656 --> 00:11:08.930 which we see increasing about us today so much 00:11:09.624 --> 00:11:12.314 will come to its peak in the reign of antichrist, 00:11:12.760 --> 00:11:14.768 a world ruler who will seem to bring peace 00:11:14.768 --> 00:11:16.233 out of world disorder, 00:11:16.373 --> 00:11:18.588 and will seem to be Christ come again to earth 00:11:18.848 --> 00:11:22.032 reigning over the whole world from the restored temple in Jerusalem. 00:11:23.290 --> 00:11:25.808 But there will be those who see through the deception, 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.492 and in particular two Old Testament prophets who never died. 00:11:30.128 --> 00:11:33.040 Elijah and Enoch will return to earth. 00:11:33.291 --> 00:11:34.624 Elijah to covert the Jews 00:11:34.624 --> 00:11:36.621 and Enoch to preach to the other nations. 00:11:37.331 --> 00:11:40.220 The short reign of antichrist only 3.5 years will end 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:42.003 in new disorders and wars, 00:11:42.138 --> 00:11:44.858 in the midst of which Christ himself will come from heaven 00:11:44.858 --> 00:11:46.605 preceded by the sign of the cross. 00:11:46.605 --> 00:11:49.663 And this world will be consumed by fire and totally renewed 00:11:49.885 --> 00:11:51.419 at the same time that the bodies 00:11:51.419 --> 00:11:53.187 of the dead will arise from the tombs 00:11:53.187 --> 00:11:55.426 and be rejoined to their souls in order to stand 00:11:55.426 --> 00:11:57.238 before the final judgement of God. 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:01.522 This in a very brief scope 00:12:01.737 --> 00:12:05.243 is the sort of things which one can expect to happen 00:12:05.344 --> 00:12:07.368 as the world actually comes to its end. 00:12:09.068 --> 00:12:10.484 And now about Russia. 00:12:11.829 --> 00:12:13.391 In 19th century Russia, 00:12:14.142 --> 00:12:15.471 a number of prophets 00:12:15.471 --> 00:12:18.035 and even farseeing laymen like Dostoyevsky 00:12:18.388 --> 00:12:20.389 foresaw the coming of the revolution 00:12:20.414 --> 00:12:23.001 which would come upon Russia as a result of unbelief, 00:12:23.041 --> 00:12:26.527 worldliness, and a purely formal attitude to Orthodoxy 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:29.353 devoid of the burning, self-sacrificing faith 00:12:29.353 --> 00:12:30.816 which Orthodoxy demands. 00:12:34.198 --> 00:12:36.015 Some people saw this in general terms 00:12:36.015 --> 00:12:39.096 as a terrible disaster ready to overtake the Russian land. 00:12:39.150 --> 00:12:41.134 As did Bishop Theophan the Recluse 00:12:41.134 --> 00:12:43.471 when he looked at the lack of true Christian faith 00:12:43.471 --> 00:12:44.491 in so many people 00:12:44.491 --> 00:12:47.518 and cried out, "In 100 years what will be left 00:12:47.518 --> 00:12:49.076 "of our Orthodoxy?" 00:12:50.520 --> 00:12:52.997 Others saw more specific to the frightful revolution 00:12:53.098 --> 00:12:54.970 which would spread to the entire world. 00:12:55.280 --> 00:12:56.929 Thus St. John of Kronstadt said 00:12:57.019 --> 00:13:00.179 in a sermon delivered in 1905, quote, 00:13:01.300 --> 00:13:03.323 "Russia, if you fall away from your faith 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.671 "as many of the intellectual class have already fallen away, 00:13:07.330 --> 00:13:09.877 "you will no longer be Russia or Holy Russia. 00:13:10.427 --> 00:13:13.157 "And if there will be no repentance in the Russian people, 00:13:13.157 --> 00:13:14.903 "then the end of the world is near. 00:13:15.525 --> 00:13:18.150 "God will take away the pious tsar and will send a whip 00:13:18.319 --> 00:13:21.165 "in the person of impious, cruel, self-appointed rulers 00:13:21.472 --> 00:13:24.561 "who will inundate the whole earth with blood and tears," 00:13:25.235 --> 00:13:26.322 end of quote. 00:13:28.255 --> 00:13:30.883 This is the state in which the world now finds itself 00:13:31.801 --> 00:13:33.804 with nearly half of it drenched with blood 00:13:33.804 --> 00:13:36.056 and enduring the tyranny which began in 1917 00:13:36.056 --> 00:13:37.587 with the Russian Revolution. 00:13:39.114 --> 00:13:40.357 Somebody asked a question. 00:13:40.357 --> 00:13:42.029 "Is there any hope for deliverance, 00:13:42.085 --> 00:13:44.320 "or will atheism simply conquer the whole world 00:13:44.400 --> 00:13:46.403 "and set up the kingdom of antichrist?" 00:13:47.454 --> 00:13:48.794 We have good reason to doubt 00:13:48.794 --> 00:13:51.050 that future events will be as simple as this. 00:13:51.413 --> 00:13:52.808 Both because the very country 00:13:52.808 --> 00:13:55.454 that began the reign of atheism, Russia, 00:13:55.543 --> 00:13:57.593 is now undergoing a religious awakening 00:13:57.722 --> 00:14:00.302 which is already a hindrance to the spread of atheism. 00:14:00.947 --> 00:14:04.224 And also because antichrist according to Orthodox prophecy 00:14:04.495 --> 00:14:07.082 will not be simply an atheist tyrant like Stalin 00:14:07.395 --> 00:14:08.614 but a religious figure 00:14:08.614 --> 00:14:11.821 who will persuade rather than compel people to accept him. 00:14:14.230 --> 00:14:15.994 The holy men who were alive in Russia 00:14:15.994 --> 00:14:17.619 at the beginning of the revolution 00:14:17.849 --> 00:14:20.567 were aware of the apocalyptic nature of this event, 00:14:20.886 --> 00:14:23.792 that is that it is bound up somehow with the end of the world. 00:14:24.359 --> 00:14:27.022 And they knew that it would be a long and difficult trial 00:14:27.022 --> 00:14:28.282 for the Russian land, 00:14:28.582 --> 00:14:31.742 but they also foresaw that there would be an end to this trial. 00:14:32.002 --> 00:14:36.234 And here we can see the difference between our normal human wisdom 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:38.652 and the inspired wisdom of these prophets, 00:14:38.742 --> 00:14:40.558 because according to our human wisdom 00:14:40.558 --> 00:14:42.435 things look bad, they're getting worse, 00:14:42.435 --> 00:14:43.873 and there seems to be no hope. 00:14:43.952 --> 00:14:46.410 According to those inspired by God they saw 00:14:47.024 --> 00:14:49.458 dependent of course upon man's repentance 00:14:49.983 --> 00:14:52.759 that there would be something positive happening in Russia. 00:14:55.760 --> 00:14:58.371 The Elder Alexius of Zosima Hermitage— 00:14:58.747 --> 00:15:01.726 he was the monk who drew the lot that elected Patriarch Tikhon— 00:15:02.208 --> 00:15:03.923 heard people crying in church 00:15:03.923 --> 00:15:05.792 in the Chudov Monastery where he was 00:15:05.836 --> 00:15:07.684 in the early months of the revolution. 00:15:08.512 --> 00:15:10.615 People were calling out, "Our Russia is lost. 00:15:10.655 --> 00:15:12.173 "Holy Russia is lost." 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:14.812 To this he answered as follows. 00:15:15.499 --> 00:15:17.816 "Who is it that is saying that Russia is lost, 00:15:17.816 --> 00:15:19.258 "that she is perished? 00:15:19.653 --> 00:15:21.350 "No, no, she is not lost. 00:15:21.548 --> 00:15:23.851 "She has not perished and will not perish. 00:15:24.087 --> 00:15:26.055 "But the Russian people must be purified 00:15:26.101 --> 00:15:27.888 "of sin through great trials. 00:15:28.275 --> 00:15:30.305 "One must pray and fervently repent. 00:15:31.052 --> 00:15:33.599 "But Russia is not lost and she has not perished." 00:15:35.216 --> 00:15:39.090 This of course is a very general idea opening up the idea 00:15:39.126 --> 00:15:41.144 of hope in the future of Russia, 00:15:41.144 --> 00:15:43.870 that there will be something after this communist tyranny. 00:15:44.468 --> 00:15:46.535 Starets Anatole the Younger of Optina 00:15:46.865 --> 00:15:50.122 in the very first days of the revolution in February 1917 00:15:50.841 --> 00:15:54.193 made a more specific prophecy in the form of a vivid picture 00:15:54.313 --> 00:15:55.724 of the future of Russia. 00:15:56.267 --> 00:15:57.475 He said, quote, 00:15:58.108 --> 00:15:59.504 "There will be a storm, 00:15:59.544 --> 00:16:02.099 "and the Russian ship will be smashed to pieces, 00:16:02.794 --> 00:16:05.713 "but people can be saved even on splinters and fragments. 00:16:05.957 --> 00:16:07.737 "And not everyone will perish. 00:16:08.184 --> 00:16:12.117 "One must pray, everyone must repent and pray fervently. 00:16:12.826 --> 00:16:14.507 "And what happens after a storm? 00:16:15.004 --> 00:16:16.283 "There will be a calm." 00:16:16.873 --> 00:16:19.589 At this everyone cried out, "But there is no more ship. 00:16:19.589 --> 00:16:21.599 "It is shattered to pieces, it is perished. 00:16:21.599 --> 00:16:22.820 "Everything is perished." 00:16:23.429 --> 00:16:25.856 To this the elder said, "It is not so. 00:16:26.624 --> 00:16:28.982 "A great miracle of God will be manifested. 00:16:29.132 --> 00:16:30.844 "And all the splinters and fragments 00:16:30.844 --> 00:16:32.616 "by the will of God and His power 00:16:32.648 --> 00:16:34.605 "will come together and be united. 00:16:34.822 --> 00:16:36.871 "And the ship will be rebuilt in its beauty, 00:16:36.928 --> 00:16:39.596 "and will go on its own way as foreordained by God. 00:16:39.965 --> 00:16:43.528 "And this will be a miracle evident to everyone," end of quote. 00:16:45.195 --> 00:16:48.806 Again Elder Barnabas of Gethsemane Skeet spoke 00:16:48.852 --> 00:16:50.190 before the revolution 00:16:50.276 --> 00:16:52.167 of the disaster coming upon Russia 00:16:52.167 --> 00:16:54.739 and the cruel persecutions against the Orthodox Faith. 00:16:55.721 --> 00:16:59.341 He said as the revolution was breaking out, quote, 00:16:59.381 --> 00:17:02.381 "Persecutions against the Faith will constantly increase. 00:17:02.867 --> 00:17:05.638 "There will be an unheard of grief and darkness, 00:17:05.729 --> 00:17:08.110 "and almost all the churches will be closed. 00:17:08.546 --> 00:17:12.118 "But when it will seem to people that it is impossible to endure any longer, 00:17:12.428 --> 00:17:14.192 "then deliverance will come. 00:17:14.550 --> 00:17:16.279 "There will be a flowering. 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:18.287 "Churches will even begin to be built. 00:17:18.610 --> 00:17:21.928 "But this will be a flowering before the end," end quote. 00:17:23.997 --> 00:17:26.876 Schema-hieromonk Aristocleus not long before his death 00:17:26.876 --> 00:17:29.424 in August 1918 said, 00:17:29.541 --> 00:17:32.482 "It is now we are undergoing the times before antichrist, 00:17:32.864 --> 00:17:34.761 "but Russia will yet be delivered. 00:17:35.011 --> 00:17:37.208 "There will be much suffering, much torture. 00:17:37.398 --> 00:17:39.393 "The whole of Russia will become a prison. 00:17:39.510 --> 00:17:42.076 "And one must greatly entreat the Lord for forgiveness. 00:17:42.555 --> 00:17:44.145 "One must repent of one's sins 00:17:44.145 --> 00:17:46.181 "and fear to do even the least sin, 00:17:46.439 --> 00:17:48.807 "but strive to do good even the smallest. 00:17:49.140 --> 00:17:50.955 "For even the wing of a fly has weight 00:17:50.955 --> 00:17:52.800 "and God's scales are exact. 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.625 "And when even the smallest of good in the cup overweigh, 00:17:57.069 --> 00:17:59.514 "then will God reveal His mercy upon Russia." 00:18:00.837 --> 00:18:02.627 Ten days before the end of his life 00:18:02.897 --> 00:18:05.067 he said that the end would come through China. 00:18:05.545 --> 00:18:09.404 There would be an extraordinary outburst and a miracle of God would be manifested. 00:18:09.578 --> 00:18:11.732 And there will be an entirely different light, 00:18:11.732 --> 00:18:13.587 but all this will not be for long. 00:18:15.885 --> 00:18:18.404 St. John of Kronstadt also said the deliverance 00:18:18.844 --> 00:18:21.388 from this terrible yoke of the 20th century 00:18:21.388 --> 00:18:22.909 would come through the East. 00:18:24.378 --> 00:18:27.226 Elder Nectarius of Optina in the 1920s prophesied. 00:18:27.592 --> 00:18:29.246 Quote, "Russia will arise, 00:18:29.592 --> 00:18:31.847 "and materially it will not be wealthy, 00:18:32.087 --> 00:18:33.991 "but in spirit it will be wealthy. 00:18:34.320 --> 00:18:37.705 "And in Optina there will yet be seven luminaries, seven pillars." 00:18:40.329 --> 00:18:42.998 Abbot Theophan of Poltava summed up in the 1930s 00:18:42.998 --> 00:18:45.953 the prophesies which he had received from such elders as these. 00:18:46.050 --> 00:18:47.430 He said the following. 00:18:48.278 --> 00:18:51.143 "You ask me about the near future and about the last time. 00:18:51.841 --> 00:18:53.539 "I do not speak on my own, 00:18:53.539 --> 00:18:55.439 "but give the revelation of the elders. 00:18:55.835 --> 00:18:58.685 "The coming of antichrist draws near and is very near. 00:18:59.414 --> 00:19:02.710 "The time separating us from him should be counted a matter of years, 00:19:02.884 --> 00:19:04.907 "and at most a matter of some decades. 00:19:05.435 --> 00:19:08.580 "But before the coming of antichrist Russia must yet be restored 00:19:09.036 --> 00:19:10.752 "to be sure for a short time. 00:19:11.066 --> 00:19:13.212 "And in Russia there must be a tsar forechosen 00:19:13.212 --> 00:19:14.646 "by the Lord himself. 00:19:15.033 --> 00:19:18.366 "He will be a man of burning faith, great mind, and iron will. 00:19:19.061 --> 00:19:21.135 "This much has been revealed about him. 00:19:21.505 --> 00:19:24.215 "We shall await the fulfillment of what has been revealed. 00:19:24.575 --> 00:19:27.005 "Judging by many signs it is drawing near, 00:19:27.245 --> 00:19:29.891 "unless because of our sin the Lord God shall revoke, 00:19:29.990 --> 00:19:31.711 "shall alter what has been promised. 00:19:32.012 --> 00:19:35.021 "According to the witness of the Word of God this also happens." 00:19:36.375 --> 00:19:37.413 End of quote. 00:19:38.564 --> 00:19:41.375 Thus you may see in the prophecies of these God-inspired men 00:19:41.375 --> 00:19:43.076 in the early part of the century 00:19:43.401 --> 00:19:46.421 a definite expectation of the restoration of Holy Russia 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.318 and even the restoration of an Orthodox tsar 00:19:49.775 --> 00:19:52.493 for a short time, not long before the coming of antichrist 00:19:52.493 --> 00:19:53.976 and the end of the world. 00:19:54.679 --> 00:19:56.313 This is to be something miraculous 00:19:56.313 --> 00:19:58.269 and not an ordinary historical event. 00:19:58.761 --> 00:20:00.477 But at the same time it is something 00:20:00.477 --> 00:20:02.775 that depends upon the Russian people themselves, 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.016 because God always acts through the freewill of men. 00:20:06.618 --> 00:20:09.122 Just as Nineveh was spared when the repented 00:20:09.207 --> 00:20:11.141 and Jonah's prophecies proved false 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:13.664 so also the prophecies of the restoration of Russia 00:20:13.664 --> 00:20:14.814 will prove false 00:20:14.814 --> 00:20:17.110 if there is no repentance in the Russian people. 00:20:18.723 --> 00:20:21.212 Archbishop John Maximovitch of blessed memory— 00:20:21.393 --> 00:20:23.538 his tomb is in the cathedral of this city— 00:20:24.433 --> 00:20:27.094 reflected deeply on the meaning of the Russian Revolution 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:29.174 and the exile of so many Russian people, 00:20:29.174 --> 00:20:30.619 a million or more people. 00:20:31.287 --> 00:20:35.743 In his report to the All-Diaspora Sobor in Yugoslavia in 1938 00:20:36.186 --> 00:20:38.221 he gave his reflections on this subject. 00:20:38.631 --> 00:20:40.003 He said, quote, 00:20:41.681 --> 00:20:44.405 "The Russian people as a whole has performed great sins 00:20:44.405 --> 00:20:46.693 "which are the cause of their present misfortune. 00:20:46.928 --> 00:20:49.562 "The specific sins are oath breaking and regicide. 00:20:49.813 --> 00:20:52.526 "The public and military leaders renounced their obedience 00:20:52.526 --> 00:20:55.016 "and loyalty to the tsar even before his abdication, 00:20:55.367 --> 00:20:57.104 "forcing this latter from the tsar 00:20:57.104 --> 00:20:59.392 "who did not desire bloodshed within the country. 00:20:59.642 --> 00:21:02.426 "And the people openly and noisily greeted this deed, 00:21:02.931 --> 00:21:04.929 "and nowhere did it loudly express its lack 00:21:04.929 --> 00:21:06.481 "of agreement with it. 00:21:06.573 --> 00:21:09.331 "Those guilty of the sin of regicide," killing of the tsar, 00:21:09.561 --> 00:21:11.800 "are not only those who physically performed it, 00:21:11.800 --> 00:21:15.600 "but the whole people which rejoiced on the occasion of the overthrow of the tsar 00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:18.096 "and allowed his abasement, arrest, and exile, 00:21:18.569 --> 00:21:21.189 "leaving him defenseless in the hands of the criminals, 00:21:21.199 --> 00:21:23.861 "which fact in itself already predetermined the end. 00:21:24.638 --> 00:21:27.529 "Thus the catastrophe which has come upon Russia 00:21:27.871 --> 00:21:30.293 "is the direct consequence of terrible sins. 00:21:30.616 --> 00:21:32.616 "And the rebirth of Russia is possible only 00:21:32.616 --> 00:21:34.117 "after cleansing from them. 00:21:34.352 --> 00:21:37.070 "However, up to this time," 1938, 00:21:37.327 --> 00:21:39.212 "there has been no genuine repentance. 00:21:39.212 --> 00:21:42.232 "The crimes that have performed have clearly not been condemned. 00:21:42.232 --> 00:21:44.848 "And many active participants in the revolution continue 00:21:44.848 --> 00:21:48.765 "even now to affirm that at that time it was not possible to act in any other way. 00:21:49.611 --> 00:21:53.033 "And not expressing their direct condemnation of the February Revolution, 00:21:53.033 --> 00:21:55.103 "the uprising against the anointed of God, 00:21:55.333 --> 00:21:58.071 "the Russian people continued to participate in this sin 00:21:58.266 --> 00:22:01.023 "especially when they defend it through to the revolution." 00:22:02.446 --> 00:22:03.504 End of quote. 00:22:04.806 --> 00:22:07.462 Of course regicide, the killing of the anointed tsar 00:22:07.462 --> 00:22:09.745 is not the only sin that lies upon the conscience 00:22:09.745 --> 00:22:11.454 of the Orthodox Russian people. 00:22:11.698 --> 00:22:13.486 This crime is as it were a symbol 00:22:13.486 --> 00:22:15.492 of the whole falling away of Russia 00:22:16.236 --> 00:22:18.087 from Christ and through Orthodoxy, 00:22:18.418 --> 00:22:20.471 a process that took up most of the 19th 00:22:20.471 --> 00:22:22.408 and early 20th centuries, 00:22:22.707 --> 00:22:26.118 and only now is perhaps beginning to be reversed. 00:22:26.890 --> 00:22:29.362 If you read the works of Bishop Theophan the Recluse, 00:22:29.362 --> 00:22:31.892 St. John of Kronstadt, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, 00:22:32.278 --> 00:22:36.138 and other inspired men of that time, you will see that they were 00:22:36.138 --> 00:22:39.813 constantly talking about the falling away of the Russian people from Orthodoxy 00:22:40.396 --> 00:22:43.015 and the terrible results that will come because of that. 00:22:43.942 --> 00:22:46.550 It is most interesting that in Russia itself today 00:22:47.098 --> 00:22:50.856 the question of the canonization of the tsar together with the other new martyrs 00:22:50.936 --> 00:22:53.221 is bound up with the lifting of the literal curse 00:22:53.221 --> 00:22:55.911 which has lain upon the Russian land since his martyrdom. 00:22:56.780 --> 00:22:59.921 Father Gleb Yakunin who is now suffering a cruel imprisonment 00:22:59.921 --> 00:23:02.045 precisely for making statements like this 00:23:02.370 --> 00:23:05.527 has written a letter to the Orthodox Russians of the diaspora, 00:23:05.835 --> 00:23:08.272 signed also by several of his fellow strugglers. 00:23:09.993 --> 00:23:12.325 His letter expresses the same ideas about the tsar 00:23:12.325 --> 00:23:14.020 that Vladika John has expressed. 00:23:15.057 --> 00:23:17.064 At the end of this letter he writes, quote, 00:23:17.561 --> 00:23:20.081 "The meaning for a world history of the martyr's death 00:23:20.081 --> 00:23:21.746 "of the imperial family, 00:23:21.766 --> 00:23:25.063 "something that likens it to the most significant biblical event, 00:23:25.421 --> 00:23:27.322 "consists of the fact that here 00:23:27.322 --> 00:23:28.874 "the Constantinopolitan period 00:23:28.874 --> 00:23:31.745 "of the existence of the church of Christ comes to an end 00:23:32.065 --> 00:23:35.242 "and a new martyric, apocalyptic age begins. 00:23:35.837 --> 00:23:37.881 "It has begun with the voluntary sacrifice 00:23:37.881 --> 00:23:40.765 "of the last anointed Orthodox emperor and his family. 00:23:41.140 --> 00:23:43.801 "The tragedy of the imperial family has lain like a curse 00:23:43.801 --> 00:23:45.120 "on the Russian land, 00:23:45.120 --> 00:23:47.272 "having become the symbolic prologue 00:23:47.272 --> 00:23:49.161 "of Russia's long path of the cross, 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.107 "the death of tens of millions of her sons and daughters. 00:23:52.751 --> 00:23:55.556 "The canonization of the imperial martyrs will be for Russia 00:23:55.556 --> 00:23:57.940 "the lifting from her of the sin of regicide. 00:23:58.293 --> 00:24:00.946 "This will finally deliver her from the evil charms," 00:24:01.067 --> 00:24:02.345 end of quote. 00:24:04.338 --> 00:24:06.090 It is of course too simple 00:24:06.750 --> 00:24:08.945 to say that the canonization of the new martyrs 00:24:08.945 --> 00:24:10.393 including the imperial family 00:24:10.456 --> 00:24:12.720 will bring about the restoration of Holy Russia. 00:24:13.273 --> 00:24:16.285 But if the Orthodox people both in Russia and abroad 00:24:16.596 --> 00:24:18.665 will receive this act with all their hearts 00:24:18.901 --> 00:24:22.052 and use it as an opportunity to repent deeply of their sins, 00:24:22.177 --> 00:24:24.007 there is no calculating the impact 00:24:24.007 --> 00:24:25.734 this might have upon Russia. 00:24:27.152 --> 00:24:29.577 One great prophecy of the future of Russia was known 00:24:29.577 --> 00:24:31.559 to only a few before the revolution. 00:24:31.806 --> 00:24:34.521 It was so daring that the church censor would not allow it 00:24:34.521 --> 00:24:35.537 to be printed. 00:24:36.278 --> 00:24:37.975 It was found in the same collection 00:24:37.975 --> 00:24:39.783 of the manuscripts of Motovilov 00:24:39.783 --> 00:24:42.726 that gave to the world the famous conversation of St. Seraphim 00:24:42.726 --> 00:24:44.536 on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. 00:24:45.301 --> 00:24:48.870 This prophecy which has now appeared in several printings in the last decade 00:24:49.128 --> 00:24:51.415 concerns the literal resurrection of St. Seraphim 00:24:51.415 --> 00:24:53.097 before the end of the world. 00:24:53.405 --> 00:24:56.073 This is what St. Seraphim told to Motovilov. 00:24:59.403 --> 00:25:00.245 Quote, 00:25:01.947 --> 00:25:03.391 Motovilov begins, 00:25:03.691 --> 00:25:06.497 "Many times I heard from the mouth of the great God-pleaser, 00:25:06.497 --> 00:25:08.258 "the Elder, Father Seraphim, 00:25:08.388 --> 00:25:10.924 "that he would not lie in Sarov with his flesh. 00:25:11.442 --> 00:25:14.155 "And behold once I, Motovilov, dared to ask him, 00:25:14.563 --> 00:25:16.657 "'Batiushka, you deign to say all the time 00:25:16.738 --> 00:25:19.060 "'that with your flesh you will not lie in Sarov. 00:25:19.391 --> 00:25:22.292 "'Does that mean that the monks of Sarov will give you away?'" 00:25:23.595 --> 00:25:25.292 And St. Seraphim replied, 00:25:25.502 --> 00:25:27.575 "Your godliness, the Lord God has ordained 00:25:27.575 --> 00:25:30.082 "that I humble Seraphim should live 00:25:30.082 --> 00:25:32.190 "considerably longer than 100 years. 00:25:32.737 --> 00:25:35.114 "But since toward that time the bishops will become 00:25:35.114 --> 00:25:37.894 so impious that in their impiety they will surpass 00:25:37.894 --> 00:25:40.606 "the Greek bishops at the time of Theodosius the Younger," 00:25:40.606 --> 00:25:42.035 in the fifth century, 00:25:42.520 --> 00:25:45.329 "so that they will no longer even believe in the chief dogma 00:25:45.329 --> 00:25:47.676 "of the Christian faith," the resurrection, 00:25:48.301 --> 00:25:50.488 "therefore it has been pleasing to the Lord God 00:25:50.488 --> 00:25:54.604 "to take me humble Seraphim from this temporal life until the time 00:25:55.199 --> 00:25:56.712 "and then resurrect me. 00:25:56.831 --> 00:25:59.070 "And my resurrection will be as the resurrection 00:25:59.070 --> 00:26:01.152 "of the seven youths in the cave of Ochlon 00:26:01.152 --> 00:26:03.118 "in the days of Theodosius the Younger." 00:26:03.310 --> 00:26:05.164 That is the seven sleepers of Ephesus 00:26:05.164 --> 00:26:07.540 who were walled up in a cave, 00:26:07.738 --> 00:26:11.376 and after nearly 200 years were dug out and woke up. 00:26:13.068 --> 00:26:15.595 "Having revealed to me this great and fearful mystery, 00:26:15.595 --> 00:26:17.311 "the great elder informed me 00:26:17.311 --> 00:26:20.314 "that after his resurrection he would go from Sarov to Diveyevo. 00:26:20.728 --> 00:26:23.725 "And there he would begin the preaching of worldwide repentance. 00:26:23.756 --> 00:26:27.185 "For this preaching and above all because of the miracle of resurrection, 00:26:27.185 --> 00:26:30.655 "a great multitude of people will assemble from all the ends of the earth. 00:26:30.887 --> 00:26:32.745 "Diveyevo will become a lavra, 00:26:32.890 --> 00:26:34.860 "Vertyanova will become a city, 00:26:34.949 --> 00:26:36.772 "and Arzamas a province. 00:26:37.072 --> 00:26:39.037 "And preaching repentance in Diveyevo, 00:26:39.037 --> 00:26:41.729 "Batiushka Seraphim will uncover four relics in it 00:26:42.065 --> 00:26:45.252 "and after uncovering them, he himself will lie down in their midst. 00:26:45.587 --> 00:26:48.074 "And then soon will come the end of everything." 00:26:49.992 --> 00:26:52.264 This prophecy was never printed in Russia, 00:26:52.482 --> 00:26:54.303 and yet it is known there today. 00:26:54.917 --> 00:26:57.460 In a letter from a priest published in the first issue 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:00.504 of "Nadezhda", a collection of materials from Russia, 00:27:01.172 --> 00:27:03.677 describing his visit to Sarov and Diveyevo 00:27:03.986 --> 00:27:06.675 and his discovery there that Holy Russia was still alive, 00:27:06.675 --> 00:27:09.733 and that some nuns from Diveyevo were still living there. 00:27:11.778 --> 00:27:13.737 This monastery was closed in 1926 00:27:13.737 --> 00:27:17.285 and the nuns remained in private houses, a few of them. 00:27:18.586 --> 00:27:21.440 He heard there, this priest who was traveling toward Diveyevo 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:24.031 heard the prophecy from an old woman, Evdokia, 00:27:24.449 --> 00:27:26.633 who had just received Holy Communion from him. 00:27:27.568 --> 00:27:29.050 Addressing the priest she said, 00:27:29.050 --> 00:27:32.530 "Soon, soon here in Diveyevo there will be a celebration. 00:27:32.968 --> 00:27:35.658 "No it is not years, not months but days and hours 00:27:35.658 --> 00:27:37.973 "that remain until the opening of the monastery 00:27:37.973 --> 00:27:39.950 "and the manifestation of four relics. 00:27:40.290 --> 00:27:42.884 "Those of the Saint, the Foundress Alexandra, 00:27:43.113 --> 00:27:45.726 "Matushka Martha and Blessed Evdokeyushka, 00:27:45.777 --> 00:27:47.906 "who was tortured and killed by the atheists. 00:27:48.208 --> 00:27:50.791 "The Saint commands me: say to him and no one else 00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:53.483 "that soon, soon both the monastery 00:27:53.483 --> 00:27:55.073 "and the relics will be opened. 00:27:55.074 --> 00:27:57.931 "He commands to tell you that without fail you must come here 00:27:57.931 --> 00:28:00.133 "for the opening of the church and the relics." 00:28:00.653 --> 00:28:01.718 End of quote. 00:28:03.575 --> 00:28:06.165 Of the fact that Holy Russia is still alive 00:28:06.302 --> 00:28:08.962 despite the continued reign of atheism in Russia 00:28:09.086 --> 00:28:12.270 we have the testimony now of many observers in Russia itself. 00:28:12.573 --> 00:28:16.025 Here is but one of them, Gennady Shimanov says, 00:28:22.147 --> 00:28:24.123 "Holy Russia cannot be buried. 00:28:24.584 --> 00:28:26.276 "It cannot pass away. 00:28:26.537 --> 00:28:28.323 "It is eternal and victorious. 00:28:28.485 --> 00:28:30.233 "And it is precisely to it 00:28:30.497 --> 00:28:33.682 "that the final word in the history of our people will belong. 00:28:38.901 --> 00:28:40.947 "Holy Russia went away only from the surface 00:28:40.947 --> 00:28:42.472 "of contemporary life, 00:28:42.608 --> 00:28:44.747 "but it continues to live in its hidden depths 00:28:44.747 --> 00:28:46.552 "germinating until the time. 00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:49.570 "So that in the time pleasing to God having survived the winter 00:28:49.686 --> 00:28:51.686 "it will again break through to the surface 00:28:51.686 --> 00:28:53.740 "and adorn the face of the Russian land, 00:28:53.830 --> 00:28:57.066 "which has been so cruelly lashed by fiery and icy storms." 00:28:57.724 --> 00:28:59.925 This is the word of someone in Russia today 00:29:00.094 --> 00:29:03.161 who sees the awakening faith in Russia, 00:29:03.535 --> 00:29:06.475 who has hopes that this will produce something great 00:29:06.475 --> 00:29:08.229 and positive in the future. 00:29:08.673 --> 00:29:11.253 And this testimony can be repeated many times 00:29:11.253 --> 00:29:14.097 by people in the Soviet Union and those who come from there. 00:29:15.830 --> 00:29:18.353 In the book which most thoroughly describes the events 00:29:18.353 --> 00:29:20.357 which are to occur at the end of the world, 00:29:20.357 --> 00:29:22.576 the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, 00:29:23.448 --> 00:29:25.548 at the opening of the seventh seal 00:29:25.585 --> 00:29:28.714 which precedes the final plagues to come upon mankind, 00:29:29.384 --> 00:29:30.765 it is said, quote, 00:29:31.048 --> 00:29:34.090 "There was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour." 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:36.489 Apocalypse 8:1. 00:29:37.737 --> 00:29:40.355 Some people have interpreted this to mean a short period 00:29:40.355 --> 00:29:42.691 of peace before the final events of world history, 00:29:43.245 --> 00:29:46.058 namely the short period of the restoration of Russia 00:29:46.344 --> 00:29:49.434 when the preaching of worldwide repentance will begin with Russia, 00:29:49.743 --> 00:29:52.639 the new ultimate word which even Dostoyevsky hoped 00:29:52.639 --> 00:29:55.532 Russia would give to the world in his Pushkin speech. 00:29:57.238 --> 00:29:59.007 Under present world conditions 00:29:59.007 --> 00:30:02.618 when the events of one country are known to the whole world almost instantly, 00:30:03.050 --> 00:30:05.615 and when Russia cleansed by the blood of its martyrs 00:30:05.773 --> 00:30:08.071 indeed has a better chance than any other country 00:30:08.071 --> 00:30:10.603 to awake from the sleep of atheism and unbelief, 00:30:10.871 --> 00:30:13.769 we can already conceive the possibility of such an event 00:30:13.991 --> 00:30:16.739 of Russia preaching repentance to the world. 00:30:17.773 --> 00:30:20.090 As Father Dimitry Dudko and others have said, 00:30:20.090 --> 00:30:22.899 "It cannot be that the blood of Russia's innumerable martyrs 00:30:22.899 --> 00:30:24.094 "will be in vain. 00:30:24.144 --> 00:30:26.620 "Undoubtedly it is a seed of the last great flowering 00:30:26.620 --> 00:30:28.074 "of true Christianity." 00:30:29.686 --> 00:30:32.015 However it is easy to become lost in dreams 00:30:32.015 --> 00:30:33.661 of the future of the world. 00:30:34.321 --> 00:30:37.301 We should be aware of what is to happen at the end of the world 00:30:37.503 --> 00:30:39.416 and of what may happen in Russia. 00:30:39.781 --> 00:30:42.877 But spiritual events such as the restoration of Russia 00:30:43.242 --> 00:30:45.918 do not happen automatically or by themselves. 00:30:46.512 --> 00:30:48.649 They depend upon each individual soul. 00:30:49.472 --> 00:30:51.901 This event will not happen without the participation 00:30:51.901 --> 00:30:53.347 of the Orthodox people, 00:30:54.090 --> 00:30:55.937 our repentance and struggle. 00:30:56.488 --> 00:30:59.267 And this involves not only the people of Russia itself, 00:30:59.625 --> 00:31:02.437 it involves also the whole of the Russian diaspora 00:31:02.608 --> 00:31:04.912 and all the Orthodox people of the world. 00:31:05.806 --> 00:31:09.728 Archbishop John in the same report to the Sobor of 1938 00:31:09.728 --> 00:31:11.096 which I've already quoted 00:31:11.817 --> 00:31:14.388 speaks of the apocalyptic mission of the Russian people 00:31:14.388 --> 00:31:15.643 outside of Russia. 00:31:15.954 --> 00:31:16.812 Quote, 00:31:17.969 --> 00:31:20.881 "In chastising, the Lord at the same time 00:31:20.881 --> 00:31:23.759 "also shows the Russian people the way to salvation 00:31:24.382 --> 00:31:27.671 "by making it a preacher of Orthodoxy in the whole world. 00:31:28.466 --> 00:31:30.537 "The Russian diaspora has made all the ends 00:31:30.537 --> 00:31:32.686 "of the world familiar with Orthodoxy. 00:31:33.122 --> 00:31:35.956 "The mass of Russian exiles for the most part is 00:31:35.956 --> 00:31:38.349 "unconsciously a preacher of Orthodoxy. 00:31:39.271 --> 00:31:41.272 "To the Russians abroad it has been granted 00:31:41.272 --> 00:31:44.042 "to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, 00:31:44.348 --> 00:31:46.440 "so that other people seeing their good deeds 00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:48.725 "might glorify our Father who is in heaven, 00:31:48.933 --> 00:31:51.332 "and thus obtain salvation for themselves. 00:31:51.967 --> 00:31:55.059 "The diaspora will have to be converted to the path of repentance, 00:31:55.094 --> 00:31:57.404 "and having acquired forgiveness for itself 00:31:57.404 --> 00:31:58.811 "through prayer to God 00:31:58.811 --> 00:32:00.962 "and through being reborn spiritually, 00:32:01.072 --> 00:32:03.570 "it will become capable also of giving rebirth 00:32:03.664 --> 00:32:06.441 "to our suffering homeland," end of quote. 00:32:08.390 --> 00:32:10.312 Thus the Russians abroad 00:32:10.312 --> 00:32:12.752 by their living the true life of Orthodoxy 00:32:13.255 --> 00:32:15.067 should be already preparing the way 00:32:15.067 --> 00:32:17.900 for St. Seraphim's preaching of worldwide repentance. 00:32:18.520 --> 00:32:20.412 To some extent this is happening. 00:32:20.764 --> 00:32:22.739 And one can even begin to see a parallel 00:32:22.739 --> 00:32:24.646 to the Orthodox revival in Russia, 00:32:24.954 --> 00:32:27.275 a genuine Orthodox awakening in America 00:32:27.275 --> 00:32:29.209 and other lands outside of Russia. 00:32:29.461 --> 00:32:31.446 Particularly in the past few years 00:32:31.446 --> 00:32:33.282 this has become quite noticeable 00:32:33.282 --> 00:32:37.766 as searching people in America, simple Orthodox people, 00:32:37.766 --> 00:32:40.284 have been coming to Orthodoxy, becoming baptized 00:32:40.284 --> 00:32:43.330 and taking up their life of fervent Christianity. 00:32:48.045 --> 00:32:50.256 All of this depends upon each one of us. 00:32:51.384 --> 00:32:53.942 If we are awakening to true Orthodox life, 00:32:54.259 --> 00:32:56.664 then Holy Russia will be restored. 00:32:57.368 --> 00:32:59.820 If we are not awakening to Orthodox life 00:33:00.531 --> 00:33:02.488 and becoming reborn spiritually, 00:33:02.714 --> 00:33:04.987 then God can withdraw His promise. 00:33:06.279 --> 00:33:09.253 Archbishop John ended his report to the 1938 Sobor 00:33:09.463 --> 00:33:11.165 with a prophecy and a hope 00:33:11.545 --> 00:33:13.553 that there will be a true Pascha in Russia 00:33:13.553 --> 00:33:15.498 that will shine forth to the whole world 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:17.555 before the very end of all things 00:33:17.555 --> 00:33:20.109 and the beginning of the universal kingdom of God. 00:33:20.632 --> 00:33:22.797 He spoke about this in the following words. 00:33:25.379 --> 00:33:27.754 "Shake away the sleep of despondency and sloth, 00:33:27.754 --> 00:33:29.113 "O sons of Russia. 00:33:29.712 --> 00:33:32.496 "Behold the glory of her sufferings and be purified. 00:33:33.317 --> 00:33:35.126 "Wash yourselves from your sins. 00:33:35.574 --> 00:33:37.735 "Be strengthened in the Orthodox Faith 00:33:37.825 --> 00:33:40.439 "so as to be worthy to dwell in the dwelling of the Lord 00:33:40.459 --> 00:33:42.310 "and to settle in His holy mountain. 00:33:42.790 --> 00:33:44.733 "Leap up, arise O Russia, 00:33:45.001 --> 00:33:47.284 "you who from the Lord's hands have drunk the cup 00:33:47.284 --> 00:33:48.337 "of His wrath. 00:33:48.878 --> 00:33:50.709 "When your suffering shall have ended, 00:33:50.709 --> 00:33:52.616 "your righteousness shall go with you 00:33:52.746 --> 00:33:55.110 "and the glory of the Lord shall accompany you. 00:33:55.715 --> 00:33:57.431 "The people shall come to your light 00:33:57.431 --> 00:34:00.122 "and kings to the shining which shall rise upon you. 00:34:00.743 --> 00:34:02.781 "Then lift up your eyes and see. 00:34:02.891 --> 00:34:04.510 "Behold, your children come to you 00:34:04.510 --> 00:34:07.414 "from the west and the north, and sea and the east, 00:34:07.526 --> 00:34:09.676 "blessing in you Christ forever." 00:34:10.063 --> 00:34:10.963 Amen.