Without God a nation is a mob, United by vice, Either blind, or foolish, Or, what is more terrible still, cruel

And let any man ascend the throne,
Speaking in lofty phrase,
The mob will remain a mob,
Until it turns to God!

Literal translation

Hieromonk Roman Matyushin, 8 August 1990, Kyarovo settlement

In the photo: a religious procession at the Trifon Monastery near the Nikolskaya Church, the city of Kirov, c. 1989-1991.

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Without God a nation is a mob, United by vice, Either blind, or foolish, Or, what is more terrible still, cruel

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s