"Hey, I thought of coming to us at this time." Father Leo shook his head and said, "Sending a letter to the church is probably the same idea."
"Yes, in theory, there are still connections between the various Russian countries. Even if it has been a long time, everyone's blood connections have been very weak." Pronsky told everyone: "Of course, everyone knows the actual situation. . The princes are constantly attacking each other, and the hatred between each other is probably deeper than the hatred against the Poles. So they probably also know that this is just a formality."
"So, the church still has to respond seriously." Father Marco judged: "The most important thing here may be the letter received by the church."
"That makes sense." Lama Wang agreed.
"Yes, the connection between the Russian countries is actually not that close now. When everyone wants to coordinate, they need to rely on the church to a large extent." Pronsky also agreed: "In other words, the princes over there have no idea about their own The degree of identity of a common country or group is not as strong as the so-called 'Holy Rome'."
"Although there was nominally Prince Kiev and later Prince Vladimir as the leader of the group, this group was very loose and even the boundaries were not clear. In our local parlance, the name 'Russian Kingdoms' It’s not that common—in official documents, we usually use the conceptual term ‘Russian Land’.”
Guo Kang also nodded. It seems that although Pronsky dresses like a nouveau riche who wishes others could not see him, he does have some knowledge. At least he can speak clearly about the situation in his hometown.
In the land of Eastern Europe, according to the general level of nobles, it is already considered good.
"Brother Andre and I have been there before when we were practicing." The elder Father Mikhail said: "At that time, we didn't feel there was any problem there. We didn't expect the situation to deteriorate so quickly. .”
"Hey, it's all like this." Father Leo shook his head and said: "The Poles' persecution of our Orthodox believers is also the opposite of their performance on the battlefield. On the frontline battlefield, if they can win, they will not punish the Orthodox in the rear. The believers will be more relaxed; if the front line is not going well or the battle is defeated, they will take it out on us."
"They now accept Tianfang believers and even Jews, but they just don't accept us. I heard people say that in many places, people are forcing Orthodox Christians to convert, otherwise they will be treated cruelly, and the upper echelons of the kingdom are obviously condoning this behavior. .”
"These people have always been like this. The more they cannot win, the more brutal they become." Father Marco agreed: "In Lithuania, religious conflicts are also very serious now. I estimate that they will worsen rapidly in the future."
"What's going on over there?" Guo Kang asked.
"Lithuania's two giants, Vytautas and Jagiełło, are becoming more and more unanimous on the issue of Orthodoxy." Father Mark told him: "Originally, Jagiełło married the Poles, so he and the Catholic Church The connection with the church is even closer. In order to fight against him, Vytautas deliberately used the power of Orthodoxy and even local primitive polytheism."
"But later, the church mediated for them. I guess it was Emperor Timur's army's attack on Tokhtamysh that scared them - no Persian army had ever reached this place before. So, at that time, Poland and Lithuania were eager to form a coalition, trying to seize the strongholds from the southern Russian grasslands to the Black Sea while Timur had just left and before we had a firm foothold."
"As a result, they suffered a disastrous defeat in that war. After that, the religious environment in Lithuania fell into a vicious cycle - if the war failed, the rulers tried to find compensation from the Russians, who were also Orthodox Christians, and forced They pay more tribute to make up for the damage to their national strength. This behavior will threaten the unity and stability within their country, making the Orthodox boyars and citizens begin to lose confidence in the country."
"I suspect that their national structure has some inherent deficiencies. They are unable to make adjustments in the face of a crisis." He judged: "This may also be the reason why many Eastern European countries could not maintain their unified state for too long. If this If the conclusion is established, our church must prepare early, and even take the initiative to intervene if necessary.”
Father Mikhail sighed when he heard this.
"We priests, by rights, should concentrate on spiritual practice and prayer. Unfortunately, since we started traveling, we have almost never escaped the political whirlpool. I wonder if the monks can remain pure and maintain their integrity if they continue to be exposed to secular affairs like this. The sincere heart of our Heavenly Father.”
"Actually, we are also aware of this problem." Lama Wang nodded and advised in a conversational tone.
"Actually, I have a say in this matter. As you all know, in the entire orthodox world, who is most entangled with mortal power and worldly affairs? Of course it's me, the old man." He smiled, mocking himself.
The two assistants also laughed, and Lama Wang continued: "When it comes to the meaning of scriptures, a lot of people in the church are better than me. But since Heavenly Father allows us to live in the mortal world, we have to deal with it. affairs.”
"One of our jobs is to deal with the current situation." He said: "The martyrs are indeed great, but the church cannot allow believers to be bullied at will, or even waste the life given by Heavenly Father. On the other hand, It should not be difficult for everyone to find that only by cooperating with the secular government can we better spread the gospel."
"The main goals of the church are, first, to build an 'earthly city', to make Rome a model for the world again, and to encourage and guide the world to follow the right path; second, to popularize knowledge, reason to everyone, promote virtues, and correct superstition. And to achieve One person is definitely not enough to achieve these goals.”
"We are all just mortals with inevitable shortcomings. If you want to achieve these goals, you must organize everyone and perform their duties. If you are good at inspiration, go to practice and gain enlightenment. If you are good at eloquence, go to educate others. If you are good at management, do it. To run the church so that, while no one is perfect, the entire organization can run better and bring everyone involved closer to Heavenly Father.”
"Of course all this cannot be perfect - we are not in heaven here. But it is precisely because of this that we need to continue to work hard. We can't just lie on the ground and wait for the day of judgment to come, right?"
"Similarly, everyone also knows that the 'Ross Land' has been full of suffering for many years. Saving this land is exactly the responsibility given to the church by Heavenly Father, and it is also a task that we, as the successors of Brother Heavenly Brother's will, must complete. So. , we need your help." Lama Wang finally said.
Father Andrei nodded in agreement. Father Mikhail just sighed and made no objection.
(End of chapter)
