October: Day 21: Teaching 1: The Day of the Accession to the Throne of His Majesty Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich

October: Day 21: Teaching 1:
The Day of the Accession to the Throne of His Majesty Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich
 
(God is with us!)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. "God is with us, understand, O nations, and submit" (Isaiah 8:9)! Blessed is God, who has justified the Most Pious, Most Autocratic, Great Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich to reign over us. Faithful to God and His Anointed, Tsar-loving Russia, if ever, then especially now, on this bright day of our national triumph, having formed from thousands and thousands of hearts into one loyal heart, will offer up a fervent prayerful song of praise and thanksgiving to the Most High King of kings, who has granted her a king after His own heart.

II. There is one, brethren, the supreme source of this and all other blessings, under the shadow of which our Orthodox fatherland stands unshakable; one source of our prosperity, power and glory - God is with us!

Let us pay reverent attention, for our edification and consolation, to this bright and desired truth for us.

a) When faith grows, the kingdom grows, and enlightenment flourishes among the people, not the falsely so-called enlightenment of the wise men who close their eyes to the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2) – Jesus Christ, and who seek light in the darkness of contradictory inventions, but the true enlightenment, which comes from above from the Father of lights (James 1:17) and is based on the wisdom (1 Cor. 2:7) revealed to us in the Gospel. Faith is firm, the kingdom is firm; faith wavers, the kingdom wavers; faith weakens, the kingdom weakens; faith dwindles, the prosperity of the people dwindles; faith disappears, the kingdom disappears. This law is immutable, as is the truth of God unchangeable. Only that prosperity of the people is firm, unchangeable, which is based on piety, on humble faith in God.

From the pure source of true faith in God, naturally flows unwavering loyalty, love and reverence for the Tsar, the Anointed of the Lord. One is connected with the other by an inseparable union, one cannot exist without the other. Unfaithfulness to the Tsar is the offspring of unbelief in God. Thus, true faith in God and holy loyalty to the Tsar, the Anointed of the Lord, constitute the cornerstone, the only firm foundation on which the well-being of the people is built. And where is this truth more obvious than in our blessed fatherland?

b) Let us turn our gaze to the fate of our fatherland from ancient times to the present. The cornerstone on which our kingdom was established in the difficult time of trials has always been the Orthodox faith, inherited by us from Orthodox Greece. It pleased God to visit Russia with the terrible invasion of the Mongols, who apparently completely destroyed her prosperity. But God is with us, the Orthodox faith is with us, and Russia, faithful to God, with His sole help, having overthrown the heavy yoke of enemies, was established with even greater strength on the rock of Orthodoxy and autocracy.

It pleased God to test Russia with troubles that threatened to lose everything most dear to her - faith, nationality and state independence. But God is with us, the Orthodox faith is with us - and the Lord God, for the faith and loyalty of our fathers, having delivered us from the wiles of our enemies, granted Russia the Founder of the Royal House, in whom he established the blessed autocracy.

It pleased God to allow the invasion of a conqueror who was considered invincible and who thought he could crush us with the forces of a united Europe. But God is with us, the Orthodox faith and loyalty to the Lord's Anointed are with us, and the invincible is defeated, his countless hordes are scattered.

c) We believe and trust that God is with us - even now. Let our numerous enemies - and together the enemies of peace - cover the seas and land, let them undertake all sorts of tricks against the greatness of Christ-loving Russia. We believe and trust that He Who said: "I will build My Church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), - Himself even now fights for His holy Church, and will protect and shepherd it. We believe and trust that, establishing the boundaries of the Russian kingdom in the place of the dwelling of His holy Church, He Himself imposes His judgment on all the vessels of evil who touch His inheritance (Jeremiah 12:14), and will glorify the Russian kingdom faithful to Him with new glory and exalt it before the face of the world.

We believe and hope that the darkness that has enveloped the minds of some in our time , “who went out from us, but were not of us” (1 John 2:19), who belong to the fatherland only by place of birth, but are completely alien to it due to harmful convictions and pernicious aspirations, that the darkness that has enveloped these sons of destruction (John 17:12) will dissipate like smoke (Psalm 67:3), and our fatherland will, as before, be firm and unshakable by the valor of its true sons, who believe in God and honor His Anointed One.

III. Thus, brethren, the Lord will always be with us, will protect and save us, constantly raising our fatherland from strength to strength and from glory to glory, if we combine with the Orthodox faith in God unwavering loyalty and sincere love for the authorities in power, to which our fatherland owes so much of its present greatness.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.