Ninth Discourse. On the Day of Translation of the Honest and Many-healing Relics From the City of Vladimir to Saint Petersburg of the Holy Blessed Great Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Year 1724

My dear brothers, Christ-loving warriors of every rank—from the highest to the lowest—standing face to face with a cunning and shrewd enemy!

To you is my brief and heartfelt word in the name of the Lord. Russia, our dear Fatherland, is living through heavy days, such as have never been in all the time of its existence. But for not a moment forget, beloved, that the disasters we are experiencing, from within and from without, are sent to us by righteous and all-good Providence because the Russians have forgotten their God, their Savior, as never before; we have boldly trampled all His commandments, and each one has begun to fulfill the evil will of his heart, turning his entire life inside out, especially our unfortunate, maddened so-called intelligentsia. The blows sent to us by the Lord God are heavy and extremely painful, but they are fatherly blows, temporal, for correction and chastisement.

After God and the Mother of God and all the saints, all of Russia turns its gaze to you, my dear brothers, places its hopes on you, expecting complete victory in the name of the Lord over the enemies, arrayed against us from all sides. Take courage, stand, and behold the salvation from the Lord (Ex 14:13), says the prophet on behalf of God. Again he says: When you go out to war against your enemy, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you. And when you come near to the battle, then the priest shall approach and speak to the people and say to them: “Hear, O Israel, you are coming near to battle with your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Do not fear, do not be in dread, and do not be alarmed before them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.” (Deut 20:1-4). But remember, do not neglect to fulfill the commandments of your God; keep and fulfill them with all your heart and all your soul, and blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (Deut 28)

Remember then, my dear brothers, valiantly fighting on the battlefield for faith, Tsar and Fatherland, that the Lord is with you and will Himself fight with you if you firmly place your hope upon Him; for the Lord does not save by many (Ps 32:16), not by deadly weapons, but by His almighty power. Remember the sun-like manifestation of the cross in the sky to the Tsar Constantine and his force with the inscription in stars around the cross: By this you will conquer—that is, by the cross! There is the strength of Christian warriors—in the cross, for Christ by the cross conquered and will conquer our enemies, both visible and invisible. Believe firmly that the Lord is with you: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20), He says. Remember our warlike Leader, the Mother of God, who has saved Russia in battles with enemies beyond number. May God grant us, after the glorious victory, to sing with one heart and one voice: O Champion Leader, rejoice…

I advise you all as brothers, before every battle, to speak or sing the dogmatic hymn of the Church: “Let us hymn the Theotokos, the universal glory sprung from man and the Master’s mother, the heavenly door. Let us hymn Mary the Virgin, the praise of the disembodied powers and the confirmation of the faithful; for she became heaven and the temple of God’s divinity, she who destroyed the barrier of enmity and brought peace and opened the kingdom. For having her as the foundation of our faith, we have as our Champion the Lord born of her. Be bold then, be bold, O people of God: for He will conquer the enemies as the Almighty.” (Learn this hymn by heart).

Go forth to battle with this sacred hymn—and you will conquer.

Amen.