Beloved pastors and children of our Church and Fatherland, which are faithful to God!

The date commemorating the beginning of the tragedy of the great Russian nation, which was preordained to endure all those frightful woes and to emerge victorious in the Meeting of the Lord, has drawn nigh.  In 1917, nearly a hundred years ago, the so-called �International Woman�s Day�, upon which women went out demonstrating in the streets of Petrograd, fell upon 23 February / 8 March, which coincided with the first day of Russian �Passion Week�.  With the assistance of the ages-old enemies of Orthodoxy, they awakened the savage instincts of [Russia�s] renegades, the nethermost social stratum of our people.  In that year, the week of 23 February / 8 March to 2/15 March saw the victory of satanism, which dark forces had been preparing for over a period of many years, by means of anti-monarchical and anti-Orthodox propaganda.  This helped them to deluge Holy Rus� in blood and to make slaves of our freedom-loving people.

The mind cannot comprehend all the evil wrought by the overthrow of the Tsar from that day on, upon which hostile forces emerged victorious over the Orthodox Monarchy; the mind cannot comprehend: the tens of millions of our Fatherland�s faithful sons who were slain in battle and in reprisals against those who had risen to liberate it from the invasion of bolshevik fanatics; or who were destroyed by the artificial famines of 1922 and 1933; or who were tortured to death in dungeons and murdered by firing-squads.  Hundreds of millions of people were cast into perdition through forcibly instilled unbelief and by having the revolutionary spirit implanted within them.

Everything started on this fearsome week.  It was revealed in those days that the ruling class of the country, the entire body of people around Tsar-Martyr Nicholas Alexandrovich, had already been fully corrupted by the agitation of those enemies who, once upon a time, had crucified Christ.  The Duma, the military leadership, and the ministers, all of whom had betrayed our Native Land without a second thought, were already opponents of the Sovereign Emperor.  That is why the Sovereign�s grief-stricken words: �Betrayal, cowardice and deceit surround me� resounded.  All had betrayed him, had left him alone to be torn to pieces, and then had acquiesced to the enthronement of the cannibals.  On that account, it is imperative that we all bring forth tear-filled repentance before God, the Church and the Fatherland.

The Sovereign Nicholas the Second did not abdicate from the Throne as his enemies declare, bringing their charges against him on this basis.  He conveyed the government of the country to his brother Mikhail.  Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was the one who executed a genuine abdication, shifting the structure of governing the state onto the will of the people, in violation of the Oath of 1613.  But, that is his sin.

It was precisely this that Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich repeated, likewise renouncing not only the succession, but also the governing of the House of Romanov, by shifting the form of state structure to the will of the people.  And now, following his renunciation, the Kirillovich branch lays claim to the Imperial Throne, therewith also sweeping away the fact that Tsar Nicholas the Second had deprived it and its descendants of the right of succession.  And other members of the House of Romanov at that time also did not support the Sovereign Nicholas Alexandrovich.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, however, did not abandon the Tsar and the Russian nation, having preordained that they would have to endure great trials and suffering, and thereby attain victory and great glory.  The assurance of this is the appearance of the newly-revealed ikon of the Regnant Mother of God on the day that Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich descended from the Throne.  Therefore is this day not only a day of grief, but likewise one of joy, inasmuch as the appearance of this ikon is the promise of the protection of the Mother of God unto the end of the age.

Also comforting is the fact that our people are beginning to awaken [to what is going on].  The fact that there were five hierarchs found in the Moscow patriarchate who, at the beginning of December 2003, signed an appeal for national repentance of the sin of apostasy, of the violation of the Oath of 1613, and of permitting the murder of the Tsar, should be related to this.  Also linked with this is the appeal to the Prosecutor-General of the RF [the Russian text of which can be found here], which was signed by five hundred prominent citizens and twenty deputies of the State Duma, with a demand that the privilege of jewish extremist organizations to corrupt our people be abated.  And, on 19 February 2005, there was a gathering in Moscow of over a thousand officers, who announced the creation of a people�s militia.

Finally, on 6 March, there followed a letter to the State Duma of the RF from veteran submarine commanders, in which they thoroughly, almost with mathematical precision, pointed out all the evil done by bolshevism -- and especially by its founder: Lenin.  In their letter, they suggest that: �the body of Lenin should be burnt and his ashes scattered�, the mausoleum should be destroyed, �the satanic stars should be removed from the towers of the Kremlin, being replaced with double-headed eagles�, and the White Movement, its leaders, officers and soldiers, as well as all the participants in the uprisings against bolshevism, should be rehabilitated.

Following such acts, which testify to positive attempts at an awakening and to a realization of what is happening roundabout us, a �chain reaction� can be expected among our people.  And who should rejoice, if not we -- the Orthodox -- who have preserved our fidelity in all things to Christ, to Orthodoxy, to the Fatherland, and to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, under the omofor of the Most-Blessed Metropolitan Vitaly!

It is in connection with this that I ask that our pastors serve a moleben in our churches on 2/15 March 2005, the day on which the Tsar was overthrown and the ikon of the Regnant Mother of God was acquired, with the lifting up of heartfelt prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ and to His Most-Pure Mother.  That prayers be lifted up in honour of the acquisition of the ikon of the Regnant Mother of God, as well as to Tsar-Martyr Nicholas Alexandrovich, together with his holy family, that through them our Fatherland might be delivered from godless and evil men, and that the forces of Christ�s betrayers: the sergianists, the ecumenists and other schismatics might be cast down.

May the Lord strengthen you in your fidelity to Him.

Slaviansk on the Kuban', Russia
25 February / 10 March 2005



Translated into English by G. Spruksts, from the Russian text of «��������� ������� � ���� ��������� ����» (�������� ������ ����� ������).  English-language translation copyright © 2005 by THE RUSSIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY,  THE ST. STEFAN OF PERM� GUILD,  AND THE TRANSLATOR.  All rights reserved.

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