Faith · Books · Observations

Metropolitan Platon of Moscow on the New Year in his 1766 sermon

The continuation of time is the continuation of God's goodness to us. This divine benefaction we must glorify at this hour. For now we enter the doors of the new year. The new year is, for everyone, a propitious occasion for new endeavours and new merits, a blessed

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In the New Year of 1766 the admirable orator and thinker Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow, delivered in the court church a Sermon before Catherine II and the heir Pavel Petrovich on the essence and nature of time

In the New Year of 1766 the admirable orator and thinker Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow, delivered in the court church a Sermon before Catherine II and the heir Pavel Petrovich on the essence and nature of time. The address is rich and beautiful; I shall quote a few passages, and

Observations · Mores · Society

The American order of writing dates as a legacy of the British colonial period

If We Write It the American Way, Today Is 123123. Writing the date back to front, with the month ahead of the day, is no original American invention: it is a relic of an old colonial custom left over from the days of British rule. The British themselves abandoned such

Books · Mores · People

Alexandre Dumas and his reply to a street ruffian who taunted him over his ancestry

Even after he had written The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas was still reproached with his origins. The son of a general who had single-handedly faced down whole regiments was nonetheless the great-grandson of slaves. Once a street ruffian tried to humiliate Dumas,

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What Will My Songs Be About on These Distant Shores?

NB! · Society · Nature · Humour

The Elephant Calf Bought by Ronald Reagan for a Party Conference

Black-and-white photo: a young woman in dark glasses and a man holding a camera lead a leopard and a dog on chains across parkland grass. Passers-by stand behind them.

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Two people walk a leopard and a dog on leashes in a park

NB! · Cinema · Pop Culture · Humour

Has everyone seen which Sauron they have cast for the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power?

Faith · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations

Vasnetsov's triptych “Apocalypse” for Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv

"He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood. His name is called "The Word of God". And the armies of heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, with which to strike the

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The Heavenly Host

The Heavenly Host. Viktor Vasnetsov

NB! · Faith · Art · Humour

Saint Anthony hurries away from an imposing mountain of gold that has appeared to him from a cave, resisting the temptation of riches

Saint Anthony hurries away from an imposing mountain of gold that has appeared to him from a cave, resisting the temptation of riches. Few manage to overcome this trial

Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People

The day of ten-year-old Tsesarevich Pavel at Catherine's court, from congratulations to the ball

I read how His Imperial Highness Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I, celebrated his tenth birthday. The first to congratulate the Tsesarevich that morning was his confessor, the hieromonk Platon Levshin, after which the heir was led to the apartments of Her Majesty, and together with the Empress he

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