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, in their right mind, sleep by a snake's nest or revel in a house engulfed in flames.
If a person remembered death, prepared for it with repentance and prayer, then death would become a transition to a blissful life, not an executioner chopping off their head. But people have repressed the memory of death from their consciousness and live as if the earth were their eternal home.
The world intoxicates a person, but the memory of death sobers them. It puts everything in its place.
Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)
from the book "BRIEFLY ABOUT THE INFINITE"
The Russians like the Finns love their Sauna. There a hot springs near Batumi that rents out saunas with a four hour minimum for parties. I rented such a sauna for my granddaughter and her friends as her eighteenth birthday present.
Russian traditional Christmas/New Year’s music. Santa Clause comes and gifts are given on New Year’s Day. Christmas is a completely separate and religious holiday on January 7th.
"She's only fourteen! What if she can't bear Napoleon a child in the first year of marriage?" Empress Maria Feodorovna asked. "Then he'll want to divorce her or have children at the cost of her honor."
Alexander listened thoughtfully to his mother. Napoleon had offered Poland if he were allowed to marry Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. But knowing the French Emperor, the Russian Tsar doubted anything would come of his proposal. Napoleon always turned situations to his advantage. If their relationship with him worsened even further, his sister could find herself in a very difficult situation.
"If you agree to the marriageu, you will ruin Anna."
"Calm down, Mother," Alexander replied softly. "Only you can decide her fate." I will submit to your decision.
Anna Pavlovna was born in January 1795. She was the eighth child of the Grand Ducal couple Maria Feodorovna and Pavel Petrovich. Empress Catherine, upon learning of the birth of her sixth granddaughter, sadly remarked:
"There are so many girls, we can't marry them all off!"
The Empress never learned of her ...
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.
In the memory of posterity, Tsar Feodor Ivanovich, son of Ivan the Terrible, remains an almost comical figure—a gentle, pious, "simple-minded" monarch whose reign was merely a prologue to the rise of Boris Godunov. This image of a benevolent ruler incapable of power, who preferred the ringing of bells to matters of state, is firmly ingrained in history. However, the actual circumstances of his rise to power shatter this stereotype. They are full of drama, fierce political intrigue, and surprising paradoxes. The first days of the reign of the last Rurikovich on the Moscow throne were not a quiet transfer of power, but a veritable political thriller. Let's uncover some of the most unexpected facts hidden behind the façade of official history.
1. "Child of the Great War": The Tsar Whose Childhood Was Spent to the Roar of Cannons
The year of Feodor's birth, 1557, was perhaps the "last year of tranquility" for the Muscovite state. The country stood at the height of its power, enjoying the fruits of recent victories. The ...
Introduction: The Gentle Son of a Terrible Father
When we hear the name Ivan the Terrible, the image of a powerful, furious, and cruel autocrat springs to mind—a titan whose will redrew the map of the Russian state, and whose wrath terrified boyars and entire cities. Against this colossal figure, his son and heir, Tsar Feodor Ivanovich, seems almost a shadow. Contemporaries and subsequent generations of historians often described him as a man of "simple mind," otherworldly, immersed in prayer and church services, completely unsuited to the burden of power.
He was called the "monk tsar" and "the blessed one on the throne." His entire life seemed the complete opposite of his father's: silence instead of thunder, mercy instead of executions, humble piety instead of sovereign ambitions. But what if behind this mask of meekness lurked a character of unexpected depth and a steely will? What if, at key moments in his life, this "quiet" tsar displayed a firmness capable of crushing both the will of his formidable father and the plots of the most cunning...
