There was a certain secret bishop living in Ust-Kataev, to whom everyone turned. He was a man of holy life, and last year he had the following vision:
He saw a woman of indescribable beauty, all bloodied and tormented, and many children held onto her dress. Before these children are two paths: one was unpaved and dirty, while the other was kind
of like a highway. A heavy cart stood on the dirty path, and a very light tarantas (a four-wheeled
horse-drawn vehicle) was on the highway. Some people at the crossroads are waiting to see where
the woman will go. And the woman says: "I will go to where my crown is."
It was then that someone came out of the crowd, who was like unto the owner of the unpaved path
and said: "Your crown doesn’t exist anymore... But if you and your children take my cart along this
difficult path, I will give you a cross and an eagle from your crown."
“Why do you need a cross and an eagle?” - retorted a second voice, at which there came out one who was like unto the owner of the highway. “Choose my path and take my light tarantas. I will give you the rim from your crown for this. And the cross and the eagle can be made later, if you want.”
The woman hesitated and did not know which path to choose.
Vladyka did not see the end of the vision, and does not know which path the woman chose. He was
scared, and stood perplexed.
And then, in the rays of light, the Tsar approached him and said, “I am sent to explain the vision.”
“The woman is Russia, the children are her faithful children. Soon the Lord will send a choice of paths. She will be happy if she takes the unpaved path and takes the cross and the eagle: only they make up the crown, while the rim is nothing, tinsel...
Yet it is impossible to create a new cross and a new eagle. The hands of deceivers cannot create the Lord's cross nor the Russian eagle. The real cross and eagle, regardless of which rim you attach, make the crown."
“But why does the keeper of the unpaved path bear the cross and the eagle” the bishop asked, “and why is only the rim of the crown offered by the keeper of the easy way?”
"Wherefore,” the Tsar replied, “the Lord wants to make His commandments manifest to the world - to see who seeks the Kingdom of God and His righteousness - the rest, the rim, the Lord Himself
attaches; but he who chooses the rest, fearing the burdens associated with the cross and the eagle, will
not receive anything, for the rest is in the hands of God. The one who offers the difficult path will not
physically interfere with the spiritual.
And the one who persuades the woman to accept the light way is the Antichrist: he has only tinsel and rattles - he has nothing, and he can’t give anything. And his road is easy only in appearance, and his tarantas is not shifted by human forces.
Where there is a cross and an eagle, there is the Church and the Motherland, and where there is one
rim of the crown, there is no end to suffering...”
Vladyka wrote down his vision and ordered the faithful to be ready.
He saw a woman of indescribable beauty, all bloodied and tormented, and many children held onto her dress. Before these children are two paths: one was unpaved and dirty, while the other was kind
of like a highway. A heavy cart stood on the dirty path, and a very light tarantas (a four-wheeled
horse-drawn vehicle) was on the highway. Some people at the crossroads are waiting to see where
the woman will go. And the woman says: "I will go to where my crown is."
It was then that someone came out of the crowd, who was like unto the owner of the unpaved path
and said: "Your crown doesn’t exist anymore... But if you and your children take my cart along this
difficult path, I will give you a cross and an eagle from your crown."
“Why do you need a cross and an eagle?” - retorted a second voice, at which there came out one who was like unto the owner of the highway. “Choose my path and take my light tarantas. I will give you the rim from your crown for this. And the cross and the eagle can be made later, if you want.”
The woman hesitated and did not know which path to choose.
Vladyka did not see the end of the vision, and does not know which path the woman chose. He was
scared, and stood perplexed.
And then, in the rays of light, the Tsar approached him and said, “I am sent to explain the vision.”
“The woman is Russia, the children are her faithful children. Soon the Lord will send a choice of paths. She will be happy if she takes the unpaved path and takes the cross and the eagle: only they make up the crown, while the rim is nothing, tinsel...
Yet it is impossible to create a new cross and a new eagle. The hands of deceivers cannot create the Lord's cross nor the Russian eagle. The real cross and eagle, regardless of which rim you attach, make the crown."
“But why does the keeper of the unpaved path bear the cross and the eagle” the bishop asked, “and why is only the rim of the crown offered by the keeper of the easy way?”
"Wherefore,” the Tsar replied, “the Lord wants to make His commandments manifest to the world - to see who seeks the Kingdom of God and His righteousness - the rest, the rim, the Lord Himself
attaches; but he who chooses the rest, fearing the burdens associated with the cross and the eagle, will
not receive anything, for the rest is in the hands of God. The one who offers the difficult path will not
physically interfere with the spiritual.
And the one who persuades the woman to accept the light way is the Antichrist: he has only tinsel and rattles - he has nothing, and he can’t give anything. And his road is easy only in appearance, and his tarantas is not shifted by human forces.
Where there is a cross and an eagle, there is the Church and the Motherland, and where there is one
rim of the crown, there is no end to suffering...”
Vladyka wrote down his vision and ordered the faithful to be ready.
[This prophecy was recorded by Monk Zachary of the Russian Orthodox Catacomb Church.
He is also the author of "To Those Seeking Their Mother" which was published in "Pravoslavnaya Rus" (Jordanville, 1947) as well as some other writings. Little else is known about him.]