by Judi McLeod
December 23, 2004
Every Christmas I remember the true story of a certain bearded Russian monk, whose courageous words marked what was then the coming collapse of Communism.
Dr. Warren H. Carroll, Professor of History at Christendom College, best relates the story, which should be shouted from the rooftops.
"In 1990, the next to last year of his (Mikhail Gorbachev’s) power and of the existence of the Soviet Union, the traditional Communist May Day parade through Red Square in Moscow was followed by a people’s parade calling for an end to Communist rule, with men carrying placards reading, `Down with the Party!’, `Down with the Cult of Lenin!’, `Marxism-Leninism is on the rubbish heap of history!’
"But the demonstrator best remembered from that day was the long-bearded monk from the Russian Orthodox monastery at Zagorsk, carrying a life-sized crucifix, seven feet tall, who stood before Lenin’s tomb facing the relic of the dead ultimate revolutionary and his living heirs, and cried out to Gorbachev in a voice of thunder: `Mikhail Sergeyevich, Christ is risen! `"
It was on Christmas Day, the following year that the incredible collapse of Communism happened after 74 long years--a lifetime.
Gorbachev, who has never personally renounced communism, now operates on american soil, working with Prime Minister Paul Martin advisor Maurice Strong to replace the Ten Commandments with the United Nations-sanctioned Earth Charter.
Powerful as this duo is, they are only mortals, and the Ten Commandments written on the human heart are not so easy to erase by mere mortals.
"The most powerful forces in the universe are spiritual and not material. The spirit can do what walls and tanks and weapons cannot. Communism failed because it didn’t factor in the things of the spirit." (Why Communism Collapsed, Homiletics.com).
The story of the Russian monk can warm even the loneliest Christmas.
and translated, the earliest biblical passage ever to be found in ancient artifacts would make the most inspirational Christmas card for Christians everywhere.
The words were unearthed with the discovery of ancient silver scrolls inside a burial cave west of Old Jerusalem.
Found in a 1979 archeological discovery, the verse is from the Bible, Number 6:24-26. They are the same words contained in the final Benediction at Mass, intoned by Catholic priests in all corners of the globe.
"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause His Face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His Countenance upon you and grant you peace."
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