Powerful Prayers From Moscow

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has approved the following prayers for inclusion in the Litany of Fervent Supplication. Via Anglican Ink:

Again we pray unto Thee, O Lord our God, for the mercy and salvation from the disastrous epidemic coming onto us, for the deliverance of Thy faithful people from spiritual and bodily death, for the healing and health of the diseased and for Thy divine protection and help, we pray unto Thee, O merciful Lord, hearken soon and have mercy.

Again we pray for the pacification of confusion and every fear among people, for the protection of Thy faithful by firm faith, for filling our hearts with peace and quietness, we pray unto Thee, O Lord, hearken and have mercy.

O Lord our God, enter not into judgment with Thy servants and save us from the disastrous epidemic coming onto us. Have mercy on us, Thy lowly and unworthy servants who in repentance, with fervent faith and broken heart, prostrate ourselves before Thee, O God, merciful and ordaining every good change, and trust in Thy mercy.

For Thy property it is to show mercy and to save us, O our God, and unto Thee do we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Thank you, Patriarch, for these powerful supplications.

God bless,

LSP

On The Road

While you're getting into the groove of Funky Town and Barack Obama's awesome legacy, I'm psyching up to drive down I35 to the countryside. Maybe, at some point, our rulers will fix that road.

Speaking of broken roads, the Episcopal Church shut 385 churches between 2009 and 2015, a little more than one a week and that shouldn't be a surprise. Why would anyone who's looking to be a Christian decide to go to a church that's jettisoned Christianity?

Decline

The answer, of course, is that no one very much does and so the Episcopal Church and other denominations who've swapped out the Gospel for Team Hillary and the New York Times, continue their decline. After all, why bother going to church when you can successfully believe nothing and read the Grey Lady's oped in the comfort of your Chappaqua breakfast room.

Growth

In  stunning contrast to the sad and seemingly endless tale of the lib denominations' decline, churches that do proclaim the Gospel grow. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church grew by 5,000 churches and 10,000 clergymen over the last 6 years.

Crush Satan Underfoot

According to Patriarch Kirill, "This is not because someone ordered to build [a church], but because of [the] enormous strength of the faith of our people, who support the authorities’ wish."

These People Hate Russia

Is it any wonder that the progleft atheist cultural ascendancy in the West looks with hatred and scorn on Christian Russia. I'm hoping that's going to change.

Your Old Mate,

LSP

Patriarch Kirill v. Godless Elites

The Faith is alive and well in Russia, where the Orthodox Church has been building 1000 churches a year, every year, for the last decade or more. Part of this is because of Russian Orthodoxy's leader, Patriarch Kirill.

In the West, on the other hand, a different group is alive and well. That would be the God-hating descendants of the SovCom revolutionaries, who crucified monks, nuns and priests outside their churches and monasteries in 1917 and beyond. If they could, their modern friends would ban Christianity altogether; as it is, they're doing their best to make its expression illegal in the public square.

Kirill draws attention to this in his short video and reminds his listeners of the power of prayer. I find it moving.

God bless,

LSP

Putin Gives King Beautiful Stallion, Gets Sword

Russian strongman and former KGB Colonel, Vladimir Putin, gave the King of Bahrain a stallion when the monarch visited Russia, and received a sword made from fine Damascus steel and precious metal.

The horse is called Khadjibek and is an Akhal-Teke, a breed known for speed, endurance and intelligence.

In 2010, Russia gave Barack Obama a Blue Ray disc set mounted in a wooden display box, and is now in control of Damascus, unlike Obama, who isn't.

Many argue that Vladimir Putin is the New Constantine.

LSP

Berdyaev Sunday

It's all very well to post dubiously genuine photos of Vladimir "Lord of Awesomness" Putin riding sharks and manning about but it is, I admit, frivolous.

So here's some 1917 vintage Berdyaev to get things back on track.

The soul of the Russian people will be tempered within a more austere morality. Russia has its own mission, distinct from the mission of Germany, France and England. But the fulfilling of this mission lies through culture, through a duty of obedience to the burdens of civilisation. We have mistaken our backwardness for a point of excellence, as a sign of our higher calling and our greatness. But the terrible fact is that the human person for us is drowning in a primitive collectivism, and this is nowise a point of excellence, nor a sign of our greatness. It makes totally no difference, whether this all-engulfing collectivism be that of the "Black Hundreds" or of the "Bolsheviks". The Russian land lives under the power of a pagan khlysty-like element. In this element gets submerged every face, it is incompatible with personal worthiness and personal responsibility. This demonic element can pull forth from its bosom no true face, save only the likes of Rasputin and Lenin. The Russian "Bolshevik Revolution" is a dreadful worldwide reactionary phenomenon, just as reactionary in its spirit, as the "Rasputinism", as the Black Hundred khlystyism. The Russian people, just like every people, has to pass through a religious and cultural discipline of the person. And for this, it is needful to repudiate Russian illusions. The perishing of these illusions is not at all a perishing of the world. For us it is not given to know the times and seasons of the end of the world. And is not the eschatological and apocalyptic investigation of the religious populists of all the Russian woes and the Russian sins -- is this not one of the Russian illusions and temptations, begotten of the Russian self-conceit?

Nothing like a bit of Berdyaev to get the Sunday going, I always think.

God bless,

LSP