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| St. Joseph the metropolitan of Petrograd with his sister Claudia |
“The word of the Lord did not lie when He promised that He would be with us to the end of the world and preserve His Church not overcome by the gates of hell, that is, on the edge of destruction.
Yes, we are now on the edge of destruction, and many, perhaps, will perish; the Church of Christ will
become smaller, perhaps reduced again to the twelve, as at the beginning of her foundation. After all, these words of the Lord also cannot fail to be fulfilled: ‘The Son of Man when He cometh shall He find faith on the earth?’
Yes, we are now on the edge of destruction, and many, perhaps, will perish; the Church of Christ will
become smaller, perhaps reduced again to the twelve, as at the beginning of her foundation. After all, these words of the Lord also cannot fail to be fulfilled: ‘The Son of Man when He cometh shall He find faith on the earth?’
Everything happens in accordance with the foreknowledge of the Lord. People cannot add or take away one iota from it. Those who do not wish to perish are more insured against destruction and one can say: hell will be only for those who themselves want it. May this truth remain first of all as a comfort and encouragement for those who are despondent from the events of this world.
Being deprived of the churches of God and the former magnificent services with their abundance of
worshipers and glittering hosts of clergy, the angelic chanting of the choirs, etc. – this is, of course, sad and regrettable. But we have not been deprived of the inner service of God in quietness and compunction and concentration of the spirit within itself.
Just as the well-known explorers who, deprived of the ship on which they were traveling, nevertheless did not perish but were able to create a tolerable life for themselves even on chunks of deceptive ice until they were raised from the abyss that was threatening to engulf them on the wings of aeroplanes, so we, after the pitiful fall of our spiritual ships, must not give in to panic and lose our self-control and hope of salvation, but must calmly begin our prayerful labor of serving the Lord and taking our delight in him ‘in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’, as the Apostles and all the believers prayed at the beginning.
Being deprived of the churches of God and the former magnificent services with their abundance of
worshipers and glittering hosts of clergy, the angelic chanting of the choirs, etc. – this is, of course, sad and regrettable. But we have not been deprived of the inner service of God in quietness and compunction and concentration of the spirit within itself.
Just as the well-known explorers who, deprived of the ship on which they were traveling, nevertheless did not perish but were able to create a tolerable life for themselves even on chunks of deceptive ice until they were raised from the abyss that was threatening to engulf them on the wings of aeroplanes, so we, after the pitiful fall of our spiritual ships, must not give in to panic and lose our self-control and hope of salvation, but must calmly begin our prayerful labor of serving the Lord and taking our delight in him ‘in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’, as the Apostles and all the believers prayed at the beginning.
Did our majestic churches, bell-towers and magnificent services exist then? And did the absence
of all this hinder them from being inflamed with such a love for the Lord as no succeeding age
has attained?"
of all this hinder them from being inflamed with such a love for the Lord as no succeeding age
has attained?"