Hidng in the Hollows of Rocks

It is up to us to find the secluded God made hiding places if we want to keep separate from this world. There are many hollows and outcroppings of rocks among the trees in the mountains where we can find shelter from the storm. It is possible to find a suitable location where perhaps the rock is part way opened and all we need to do is a little work to hollow it out the rest of the way.

In Judges 15 Sampson hid from the Philistines in a cleft of a rock.

In Exodus 33 God placed Moses in a cleft of rock.

The Old Believers in Romania are called "Lipoveni" which means "those who live or hide among the trees".

Old Believers in the Ural Mountains lived in these caves.



Even if we find such a place we might be faced with enemies finding us again. I believe it is a good example to do all we can to get away from the wickedness, even if they catch us. To do so is actually the most beneficial thing for the soul, we will be stronger without the bombardments of this world. Later on, if we then face the world again, we will have more success. Christ retreated to the mountains every night, should we do less?

There is also the Four Sacred Caves of Christ.

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Purity is Precious, Poison is Poverty

Over 20 years ago I made it my duty to always be seeking a good life. In 2001 I started a bio-safe, non-toxic, organic business. I quickly realized this to be an exercise in futility. Here is why no good could ever come from it.

1. The 'green' alternatives create more dangers, not less. Recycling plastics (etc.) continues the negative effects of petroleum. Making 100% corn plastic still requires petroleum use. It is a charade to think society will stop.

2. Humanity has not yet learned how bad manmade electricity is. Its electro-magnetic field accelerates cancer and birth defects. People are allergic to this invisible, odorless electronic smog. It cannot be made without using deadly petroleum.

3. All the air & water, the whole earth surface and every living thing is polluted. Some say that pure water is inside glaciers. As we cut into the glacier it becomes contaminated by the stinking air all around us. Water cannot be pure any more, not in this age.

4. More illegal drugs are on USA money than any other nations money. Money is made with unhealthy petroleum. The (fake) Fiat Money System is not real. The only actual gain is in seeking individual abject poverty.

5. Society does not allow the good old way of life. Even if it did there would still be no protection from the poisons it makes. This world is worse than ever and the worst is soon to come. The dark ages are now.

Conclusion

What a paradoxical, oxymoronic situation. The only solution is the opposite of what people are doing. What we are told is helpful, in all honesty, causes death. In order to be free, have peace and find happiness we must quit doing wrong and be always seeking the good, that we might find it.

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Russian Presedent Medvedev, a Closet Zionist Jew

For those of us with good teachers we know that the Russian Jews, being mostly from Poland, have particular names which identify them. In the Shadow of Antichrist, a book about Russian Old Believers, it mentions that they do not give their children certain Jewish names. President Medvedev’s maternal grandfather has the distinctive Jewish name of Benjamin, so his mother was at least half Jewish, making Medvedev at least 25% Jewish. There is really no way of avoiding the facts.

A Jewish president is unacceptable to many Russians

as they believe Jews are synonymous with Freemasons

Thank you Br. Nathanael for the interesting photo.

The lighting of red candles as a hex has been around since at least 1941.

Those are candles made from unholy petroleum as well.

There is evidence that Medvedev is in fact, (somewhat secretly) a supporter of the Jews, all the while being under an illusion of Christianity. With many Russian speaking people in Israel they have a TV station, which had this news video. The Israeli flag is at the top left. This was before Medvedev's presidential takeover. The short news report claims Medvedev said, in order to strengthen the Israeli-Russian bilateral ties, that he would like (or is willing) to exercise his right in applying for Israeli citizenship! A person close to Medvedev comments, “this is no way a gimmick or a show.”

http://youtube.com/watch?v=U8v03I7AyA4


Though it might appear strange to some people, seeing the direction Putin has taken Russia since Yeltsin, it cannot be more obvious that Russia is still controlled by Zionist Jews. It is not really possible to trust any politician during the days we live in.

Medvedev is a lawyer and the protestant KJV bible at Luke 11:52 suggests that Christ gave this admonition, “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” A side note is that Fr. Pimen, from the unionist Old-Rite parish in Erie who sanctioned the translation of Slavonic to English, is also a lawyer (advocate) in union with the above. Speaking for myself, I would rather have Christ as my defender.

I am not surprised that people from Russia explain to me that “Medvedev” sounds like “monkey.”

The Russian government is working to allow double six year presidential terms, which would allow Putin to be president for a total of 20 years, in the likely event of his re-election. Putin (who admitted being KGB) has not actually made a total transformation, though Russia appears to be improved. Patriarch Alexii who accepted Soviet housing was very close to Putin. There is undeniable evidence showing Alexii was a KGB agent, which he naturally denied. The Russian Church gives its blessing to nuclear ICBM’s which continue on target even if hit by an opposing missile. All the people of the world are under bondage, even the USA, except for those who suffer running away and escape. References for this last paragraph are forthcoming.

Here is a video about the Hidden Communist Agenda of USA Tax-Exempt Foundations.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7373201783240489827&ei=pFZLSZOxLoH0-wHQ5_28Cw&q=hidden+agenda&hl=en&emb=1


The message does not really hit home until the end of this 50 min video.

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Freemasons, Soviets and Ecumenism

The strong Old Believers are very quick to point out that had Russia remained in accordance with the old ways that Catherine the Great would never been allowed to bring Freemasonry into a faithful Christian Russian Empire, neither would have the Soviets or Lenin been able to gain a foothold in such a united Russia and the unimaginable Ecumenism of the WCC could not have ever reared its ugly head in the protection of the hierarchy in Holy Russia during anceint times. The Great Apostasy arrived first, in the face of western heresies embraced by the majority of bishops in the last half of the 17th century. All those that do not think twice follow them and slide into the bottomless pit where there is no escape possible.

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Heretics Are Outside The Church

More detail is in the larger photo.

Expensive Furniture

The Old Believers are known to rightly say that expensive furniture can weigh down a soul till it could not fly to heaven.

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Icons are not Icons anymore

Holy Images are no longer actual Ikons. The situation for many Old Believers has truly changed into that of being Disneyland for the masses. The strong Old Believers have always been warning that western ways like photography would turn Holy Icons into spectacles, where people become mere spectators and not actual worshippers. Now this has gone completely full circle. It is illustrated so clearly by this article. The Internet itself is similarly antichrist. It is true, as this article suggests, that if holy things which are reserved for the faithful, are then given to unbelievers, then the very Faith itself is lost. It is similar to the idea that photography is robbery of the spirit. It is delusion to say nothing happens. What happens is that a contrary tradition is made, replacing the most ancient with what is deviant. What is seen as survival is actually our undoing. May we take heed from such worldliness before ruin quickly faces us all.

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'they were made to wander' Hebrews 11:38

St. John Chrysostom, in his homily on the Epistle to the Hebrews makes this comment at chapter 11, verse 38 where it mentions those whom the world was not worthy, who went into caves and holes of the earth, “Elia (Elijah) was driven out, persecuted, and compelled to struggle with famine...But what is this that ‘they were made to wander’? They were made to wander like exiles and fugitives, as those caught and detected in shameless crimes, as those not worthy to see the sun. They found no refuge from the wilderness, but must always be fleeing, must be seeking hiding-places, must bury themselves alive in the earth, and ever be in fear.”

Refusing to Serve in the Army or in Court

In an online article about The Culture of Old Believers of Baltic States, in the section called The Old Believers in the Society of the Grand Duchy, it explains how the Old Believers refused to serve in the army or in court. I know personally that one of the first reasons why Old Believers are not to join the army or serve in court is due to the taking of an oath, which Christ forbids in the Holy Gospels. One such reference is the commandment to "Swear not at all" Matthew 5:34.

Henry David Thoreau extracts

My arrangement of quotes from this poet who seemed to get more than a few things right.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things
which he can afford to let alone.

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

The ways by which you may get money almost without exception lead downward. To have done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse. If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself.

Men have become the tools of their tools.

Men and boys are learning all kinds of trades but how to make men of themselves.

Most men would feel insulted, if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

The community has no bribe that will tempt a wise man. You may raise money enough to tunnel a mountain, but you cannot raise money enough to hire a man who is minding his own business. An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put into office. One would suppose that they were rarely disappointed.

Those services which the community will most readily pay for it is most disagreeable to render. You are paid for being something less than a man.

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad,
and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.
What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Say what you have to say, not what you ought.
Any truth is better than make-believe.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To dwell long upon them is to add to the offense. Repentance and sorrow can only be displaced by something better, which is as free and original as if they had not been.

To regret deeply is to live afresh.

Perhaps I am more than usually jealous with respect to my freedom. I feel that my connection with and obligation to society are still very slight and transient. Those slight labors which afford me a livelihood, and by which it is allowed that I am to some extent serviceable to my contemporaries, are as yet commonly a pleasure to me, and I am not often reminded that they are a necessity. So far I am successful. But I foresee, that, if my wants should be much increased, the labor required to supply them would become a drudgery. If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure, that, for me, there would be nothing left worth living for.

Freedom

One of the issues so important to Stranniki is the idea of honest freedom. Though the author of “in the shadow of Antichrist” is a Jew and many of his points are in error, he still gets at least one or two things right about Old Believers. Here are the lines from the first paragraph of the chapter “Community and Family”.

“It should now be clear that the driving force behind the migrations undertaken by Berezovka’s founders during the last sixty years has been a search for autonomy and freedom. Old Believers place a tremendous value on the notion of freedom, and they assess entire countries, epochs, and national characters on the basis of freedom, or vol’nost’, they stand for. It is their unquestioned assumption that Russians require more freedom to thrive than other peoples…vol’nost’ applies to what might be called “freedom of action”, examples of which are unhampered hunting, lack of government interference in local affairs, and abstinence of building restrictions. Significantly, this realm does not include “freedom of thought” as it is understood in a liberal democracy. An Old Believer is not free to think whatever he or she wants nor to read whatever seems interesting. Such tendencies are referred to as volnodumstvo (freethinking), and correlated with agnosticism. The mind, which is associated with the soul, belongs to God and must be receptive to the Holy Spirit. The body, on the other hand, is under direct personal control, and it is through this entity that one enjoys liberty. Even the cherished freedom of action is, of course, curtailed, owing to God’s demand for physical sacrifice, by means of fasts, sexual abstinence, prayers and similar demonstrations of obedience. But this sacrifice is limited to the religious realm, where it serves as a measure of individual piety. Secular authorities cannot expect to be treated in the same manner as God.”

We are able to see a preview of several pages from this book about the Old Believers that fled America for Alberta at Google Book Search.

The Last of the Mountain Men

From the book, The Last of the Mountain Men, there is this short story of a man called Johnny-Behind-the-Rocks. He was an early Idaho recluse noted for never having bathed or removed an article of clothing: his infrequent new garments were put on over the old ones. Named for standing off a whole troop of Indians at his cave door in the Nez Perce’ War of ‘77, Johnny died in a hospital in 1935 from the shock of receiving his first bath.

The book is really about Buckskin Bill (aka Sylvan Hart) who says, “A lot of good culture was lost in the Civil War. Before that, everything that could be made out of wood was. Then came along all those cannon factories, and a lot of them converted to making ironware after the war.”

Speaking of living in the wilderness, in the Prologue it says, “Perhaps one can feel that this way of life might regerminate in some distant future when the population explosion has imploded and technology has been adapted to man’s requirements rather than man to technology’s.”

It also quotes Thoreau,
“Thank God, men cannot as yet fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!”

Below is a picture of Hart's 4 acre getaway in the Idaho National Forest that decided not to evict him. That was about 40 to 50 years ago though.



Next is part of page 14.



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Quality, not Quantity

It displeases God when we attempt to number His people. When the devil tempted David to number Israel the prophet came with a choice of a few punishments from God. Recognizing his error David chose neither of them, deciding rather to throw himself on the mercy of God. The quality of repentance caused God to stay his judgment. How important is this teaching throughout Scripture. May we all make a good, wholehearted repentance.

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Romanian Old Believer Staretz

I was just in contact with an Old Believer who spent time with those in Romania. They say, along with their Staretz, that all Old Believers will soon be Stranniki, or wanderers. Time is running out, if you ask me.

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Differences Between Old Believers and Society

There is a pamphlet titled, “Old Russia in Modern America” (1998 revised edition) that offers this account.

...the influence of modern technologies and values of the United States and Canada has led to disobedience of the traditional ways of the Old Believers. Despite a value structure strongly favoring cultural persistence and stability, they have gradually institutionalized practical ideas and elements of modern technologies (e.g. telephones, automobiles, home appliances and even television among some families) into their social structures. In fact, the rate of change and its religious impact on religious life has appalled elders and middle age parents. ...the constant exposure to socio-technological changes taking place in the United States are quite rapid and unsettling. Although the oldest generation of Old Believers attempts to isolate its children from the temptations of technologically developed societies by not allowing television, radio, modern music and contemporary literature at home, and by controlling daily life within the community, elements of contemporary Russian and American cultures penetrates into their system...
.

The Broad Way

There is a teaching from the tenth century about the Toll Houses (or Toll Booths), where we have explained for us the particular judgment that awaits us after, or at, death (either way we think of it our earthly life of repentance is then finalized). There is still waiting for us the general judgment at the end of time which will come afterward, unless we remain until the second coming of the Lord. I think this story helps us to reflect on what we do during this temporary life, I accept anything that is helpful to that end.

It was explained to me that one of the reasons for the 40 day funeral is due to such experiences that the soul must go through after departing this life. Since the world is coming so close to its end who of it can be confident of their own peaceful repose?

Russian Old Slavonic manuscripts dating to the 13th century still exist which explain the itinerary of our moral pilgrimage after, or at, the separation from this world, showing the penalties and sufferings that can be expected. These are quite similar to those found in the Apocalypse’s 21st chapter. They are a reflection on our faith and practice during the experience of this life. The Old Believers teach that the soul eventually finds a place where it waits till the final judgment.

There is a booklet published by Holy Trinity Monastery called A Journey Beyond Death which has an interesting sketch on the first page. It shows The Broad Way, that has so many people dressed in sensual clothing, smoking tobacco, busy working in industry, and all speeding their way along this wide path to destruction. There are passenger planes, cruise ships, cars, bicycles and all manner of people with their dogs and such all following in the way pointed down by the one demon, while the other sweeps them all into the flames. Let us all hope that we will be of the few who find the more hidden, narrow and difficult way that leads upwards and away from such terrible things.

More detail is in the larger photo

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We Like It WIld

One of the earliest influences I had towards the wilderness was my family. We would often go backpacking, far away into the mountains. Each time I never wanted to leave. Growing up as a child I remember seeing in our living room bookshelf a paperback titled, "We Like It Wild" by Bradford Angier. He was called "Mr. Outdoors" and wrote dozens of books on how to live in the mountains with as few things as possible. He was well known in the back-to-earth movement. Though he was not an Old Believer he is an inspiration to me in living the strong Old Believer way of life, due to many of his down-to-earth ways. Below are photos of the front and back covers from this book of my childhood.





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