Priest Foma recited Orthodox prayers at the 1495 wedding of Ivan III's daughter Elena

I continue to collect stories of incredibly stubborn Russians. Take, for example, our dear priest Foma, who in 1495 took part in the wedding of Ivan III's daughter Elena to the Lithuanian prince Alexander Casimirovich. Ivan III had been particularly insistent that Prince Alexander should not compel the Grand Duchess to convert to Catholicism, but allow her to keep her Orthodox faith, so as to strengthen Orthodoxy in Lithuanian Rus'. The wedding was therefore conducted according to a singular Catholic-Orthodox rite, with both an Orthodox archimandrite and a Catholic bishop taking part. When the princess was led from the church into the cathedral, where Prince Alexander awaited her, our priest Foma did not cease to read Orthodox prayers at her side, drowning out the bishop, who read in Latin. When the bishop and the Lithuanian prince rebuked him, Foma did not stop, guarding his native faith to the very end of the ceremony, something the archimandrite Makary did not dare to do. A splendid man, priest Foma. May his memory be blessed.

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Pope Leo XIV on the courage to do good, to forgive and to enter into dialogue

Our time needs men and women who have the courage to do good, even when it involves sacrifice. Draw near to those who are lonely, support the weary and seek out those who have lost their way. Have the courage to forgive, to begin anew and to enter into dialogue.

Old colour photograph with cracks: adults and children resting on the grass on a slope under a tree.

Orientalist Grigory Kozakov with relatives and children at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

The Orientalist Grigory Alexandrovich Kozakov, surrounded by his relatives, his daughter-in-law Countess Anna Nikolayevna Tolstaya, the children and their tutor, at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Grow strong, cosmic youth! A poster for Cosmonautics Day, created by the artist Konstantin Konstantinovich Ivanov in 1977. The work was issued by the Moscow publishing house “Plakat” for 12 April. Konstantin Ivanov was a Soviet graphic artist and poster designer, Honoured Artist of the RSFSR. The theme of space

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos

An American archaeologist has carried out a forensic analysis of skulls of people who were buried beside the tombs of Egypt's first kings at Abydos, and has found on many of them traces of violent death. Abydos in Upper Egypt served as the burial place of the kings

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Pope Leo XIV on the courage to do good, to forgive and to enter into dialogue

Orientalist Grigory Kozakov with relatives and children at a picnic near the village of Zhikharevka in 1903

Konstantin Ivanov's Cosmonautics Day poster, published in Moscow in 1977

Signs of violent death found on skulls from burials beside the royal tombs at Abydos