"Hey, you remembered to find us at this time." Father Leo shook his head and said, "I guess this is the same idea as sending a letter to the church." ”

"Yes, theoretically, there is still a connection between the various Rus' countries. Even if it has been a long time, everyone's blood connection has been very weak. Pronsky told the crowd: "Of course, everyone knows the actual situation. The princes fought against each other, and their enmity with each other was probably deeper than with the Poles. So they probably know that this is a formality. ”

"So, the church still has to respond seriously." Fr. Marco judged: "Perhaps the most important thing here is the letter that the Church receives. ”

"It makes sense." Grand Lama Wang agreed.

"Yes, the Rus' countries are not so closely connected now, and when everyone wants to coordinate, they need to rely on the church to a large extent." Pronsky agreed: "In other words, the princes over there do not identify themselves as belonging to a common state or group as the so-called 'Holy Rome.'" ”

"Although nominally the Kyiv princes, and later the Vladimir princes, as the leaders of the people, the group is so loose that even the borders are not clear. In our own language, the term 'Rus' is also very common—we generally use the conceptual phrase 'Rus' land' in our official documents. ”

Guo Kang also nodded. It seems that although Pronsky is dressed like an upstart who can't wait for people to see him, he does have some level of knowledge. At least for the situation in his hometown, he is very clear.

In the land of Eastern Europe, at the general level of the aristocracy, it is already considered good.

"Brother Andre and I, when we were practicing before, we used to go there." Father Mikhail, the elder, said: "At that time, we didn't feel anything wrong there. I didn't expect the situation to deteriorate so quickly. ”

"Well, it's all like that." Fr. Leo shook his head and said, "The persecution of our Orthodox followers by the Poles is also the opposite of what they have behaved on the battlefield. On the front-line battlefield, if they can win, they will be more lenient with the Orthodox Christians in the rear; If the front line is not going well or the battle is defeated, it will pour anger on our heads. ”

"Now they accept the Celestials, even the Jews, but they just don't accept us. I have heard that in many places there are people who force Orthodox Christians to convert or face cruelty, and that the upper echelons of the kingdom are clearly condoning this. ”

"These people have always been like this, and the more they can't win, the more brutal they become." Fr. Marco agreed: "On the Lithuanian side, there are also serious religious conflicts at the moment. I expect it to deteriorate rapidly in the future. ”

"What's going on over there?" Guo Kang asked.

"The two giants of Lithuania, Vytautas and Jagieło, are increasingly aligned on the issue of targeting Orthodoxy." Father Marco told him: "Originally, Jagieło was married to the Poles, so he was more closely connected with the Catholic Church. In order to confront him, Vytautas deliberately relied on the power of Orthodoxy and even the local primitive polytheism. ”

But then the church interceded with them. I suppose it was Uncle Timur's army that frightened them by the attack on Tokhtamysh—no Persian army had ever reached this place before. Therefore, at that time, Poland and Lithuania were in a hurry to form a coalition army, trying to take advantage of the fact that Timur had just left and we had not yet gained a firm foothold, and to seize the strongholds from the South Russian steppe to the Black Sea. ”

"As a result, in that war, they suffered a crushing defeat. After that, the religious environment in Lithuania fell into a vicious circle - if the war was lost, the rulers tried to make up for it from the Rus', who were also Orthodox Christians, and forced them to pay more tribute to make up for the damage to the country. This kind of behavior will threaten the unity and stability of their country, and make the boyars and citizens who believe in the Orthodox religion begin to lose confidence in the country. ”

"I suspect that their state structure is somewhat inherently deficient. In the face of a crisis, there is no way to adjust. He judged: "This may also be the reason why many Eastern European countries have not been able to maintain a unified state for too long." If this conclusion is true, our church will have to prepare early, and if necessary, even take the initiative to intervene. ”

Father Mikhail sighed when he heard this.

"We priests, we are supposed to concentrate on meditation and prayer, but unfortunately we have hardly ever escaped the political whirlpool since we went on a long journey. I wonder if the monks will be able to maintain their purity and sincerity to the Father if they continue to be in touch with worldly affairs in this way. ”

"Actually, we know this problem too." Grand Lama Wang nodded, and persuaded in a homely 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 the old man. He laughed and laughed at himself.

The two assistants also laughed, and the Grand Lama continued: "When it comes to the scriptures, a large group of people in the church are better than me. But since Heavenly Father has allowed us to live in the mortal world, we have to deal with mortal affairs. ”

"And one of our jobs is to deal with the situation." He said: "The martyrs are great, but the church cannot allow believers to be bullied or even waste the lives given by the Father. On the other hand, it should not be difficult for everyone to find that cooperation with secular governments can better spread the gospel. ”

"The main objectives of the Church are, first, to establish a 'city on earth,' so that Rome will once again be a model for the world, and second, to popularize knowledge, to teach people, to promote virtue, and to correct superstitions. And to achieve these goals, one person is certainly not enough. ”

"We are all just human beings and we all have inevitable shortcomings. If you want to achieve these goals, you have to organize everyone and do their part. If you are well inspired, you should practice enlightenment, if you are eloquent, you should educate people, and if you have good management skills, you will run the church, so that although everyone is not perfect, the whole organization can run better and bring all participants closer to the Father. ”

"Of course, none of this can be perfect – we're not paradise here. But it is precisely because of this that we need to keep working hard. You can't just lie on the ground and wait for the day of judgment, can you? ”

"In the same way, as you know, the 'Land of Rus' has been full of suffering for many years. And saving this earth is the duty that Heavenly Father has given to the Church, and it is also the task that we, as the inheritors of Heavenly Brother's will, must fulfill. That's why we need your help. Grand Lama Wang finally said.

Father André nodded in agreement. Father Mikhail also only sighed and did not object.

(End of chapter)