I was invited to share a park bench by this colorful elderly gentleman, who spoke nonstoped for over an hour, on a multiple of topics ranging from football to politics.
He was of the opinion that President Putin gave too much thought to what the West would think, which to him made no sense, since the West was certain to think poorly of Russia in any case.
He was quite positive that if Stalin were president this war would have been won a long time ago. Just look how quickly he put Czechoslovakia in order.
I am seventy six years old and this man is younger than me by possibly ten years. I don’t have any personal memory of Stalin although he was the party chairman when I was born. The first chairman I remember was Nikita Khrushchev.
I didn’t get a word in edgewise so he never knew that I wasn’t a Russian. He was a jolly fellow and I didn’t mind one bit listening to his diverse opinions. Which he offered up in copious quantities.
After about an hour of continuous lecture, he had somewhere else to be. He said goodbye, we shook hands and he walked a way with a pronounced limp. Quite an experience for me.
A big shout out to the people who follow me. Unfortunately I’ve had to leave Russia. It became impossible to receive any funds from the US. I am currently living in Batumi, Georgia.
This is my family in the living room of my apartment in Kimovsk, Russia. I am a disabled Vietnam veteran. Seventy six years of age. My son Aleksandr (left), and my granddaughter Dasha (center) look in on me. Here, I had hoped to live out my retirement years.
February 19. Third preparatory week for Great Lent. Cheesefare Week – continuous. No fasting. Tone 3. LEAVE OF THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD.
February 19. - 987580477586
Forty days after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and after the days of legal purification had been fulfilled, the Most Pure and Most Blessed Virgin Mother, together with Saint Joseph the Betrothed, came from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to the Temple of God, bringing the forty-day-old Infant Christ to fulfill the Law of Moses. According to this law, it was necessary, firstly, to purify oneself after birth by bringing a proper sacrifice to God and through priestly prayer, and, secondly, it was necessary to present the firstborn child before the Lord and make a ransom for him at the established price (Lev. 12:7). This was commanded by the Lord in the Old Testament to Moses, in whose books about the law of purification of the mother it is written thus: "If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be unclean for seven ...
A person's epiphany usually comes at the moment of death. Until the last moment, he is certain that the world belongs to him. But then he sees everything leaving him, everything turning out to be a dream, and he is left with only what he managed to acquire in his heart. That is why the memory of death is so hateful to the Devil.
A person must always expect death and constantly remember that every day could be his last. This is precisely why today, through repentance, can become his day of salvation.
For those who do not remember death, death comes to them suddenly as an enemy and takes them captive. For those who remember it and prepare for it, it comes to them as a liberator from labor and suffering, leading them to the land of eternal peace.
For a Christian, the memory of death, combined with prayer, is a fiery sword directed against the Devil. As long as a person remembers the impending end and the mystical experience of death makes their heart tremble, they cannot sin, just as they cannot, ...
