Historical Interest: Prayer before battle, 1914

http://internetsobor.org/index.php/tserkov-i-mir/obshchestvo/i-1906

Prayer before battle, 1914

Author: Metropolitan Agafangel. Publication date: December 07, 2023. Category: Society.

ATTENTION! Please do not confuse Orthodox Russian soldiers 

with the horde of Russian-Soviet invaders - murderers, atheists and heretics.

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PRAYER BEFORE BATTLE

Reproduction is prohibited.

Compiled by Colonel I.S. Alexandrov. Ed. 4th, E.I. Fesenko in Odessa.

Moscow. Spirit. Census Com. oven allowed. Moscow, October 27, 1914

 

Prayer before battle.

My savior! You laid down Your life for us to save us; You commanded us to lay down our souls for our friends, for those close to us. I joyfully go to fulfill Your holy will and lay down my life for the Tsar and the Fatherland. Arm me with strength and courage to defeat our enemies, and grant me to die with firm faith and hope of eternal blissful life in Your Kingdom.

Mother of God! Keep me under Your protection. Amen.

TEACHING

TO THE WARRIOR BEFORE THE BATTLE.

Every warrior must firmly grasp the following general principles for battle:

  1. Perish yourself, but help your comrade.

  2. Climb forward, even if those in front are beaten.

  3. Do not be afraid of death, no matter how difficult it may be; you'll probably beat me.

  4. If it’s difficult for you, then it’s not easier for the enemy, and maybe even more difficult than yours. You only see your own difficulty, but you don’t see the enemy’s, but it’s certainly there. And therefore never despondency, but always audacity and perseverance.

  5. When defending, you need to hit, and not just fight back. The best way to defend yourself is to attack yourself.

  6. In battle, whoever hits harder and braver, not whoever is stronger and more skillful. Victory is not given immediately; the enemy can also be persistent; sometimes it is not possible to take it from two or three times; then we need to climb into the fourth and further until we achieve our goal.

  7. More or less skilful arrangements make it easier to achieve the goal with less loss, but only make it easier; only those who decide to perish rather than not achieve their goal achieve it.

  8. No matter what unexpected obstacles you encounter on the way to your goal, you need to think about how to overcome them, and not about the fact that things are bad.

  9. A decent part has neither a rear nor flanks, but everywhere the front is where the enemy is from.

 10. No matter how unexpectedly the enemy appears, one must not forget one thing: that he can be beaten either with a bayonet or with fire. Of the two, the choice is not difficult, but the structure is a secondary matter. If the enemy is close, always use bayonets; if further away - first fire, and then bayonets.

 11. There is no situation from which it would be impossible to get out of it with honor.

 12. There is no change in battle. Once you get into battle, you will remain in it until the end: there will be support, but never change.

 13. While you are fighting, help the healthy; Only after beating the enemy, remember the wounded. Whoever worries about them during battle and leaves the ranks is a coward, not a compassionate person. There are always special teams to select the wounded.

 14. As a boss, do not meddle in the affairs of a junior when you see that he is being handled intelligently; in battle, your own will be enough. Whoever chases after what others should do will miss his own. Every rank must have its own circle of independence and responsibility. Without recognizing the first, you remove the second. But the boss must ensure that everyone does their job, and not let them get away with it.

ORDER

to the lower ranks of the Russian army about the laws and customs of land war.

  1. You are fighting with enemy troops, and not with civilians. Residents of an enemy country can also be enemies, but only when you see them with weapons in their hands.

  2. Do not hit an unarmed enemy asking for mercy.

  3. Respect other people's faith and its temples.

  4. Do not offend the peaceful inhabitants of the enemy’s land, do not spoil or take away their property, and keep your comrades from doing this. Cruelty to ordinary people only increases the number of our enemies. Remember that a soldier is a warrior of Christ and the Sovereign, and therefore must act as a Christ-loving warrior.

  5. When the battle is over, feel sorry for the wounded man and try to help him as best you can, without discerning whether he is your own or the enemy. The wounded is no longer your enemy.

  6. Treat the prisoner humanely and do not mock his faith; don't oppress him.

  7. The collection of prisoners, and even worse, the wounded and killed, is the greatest shame for an honest soldier; Anyone tempted by such an action faces the most severe punishment, as for robbery.

  8. If you are assigned to prisoners, protect them from the harassment of strangers. If a prisoner tries to escape, detain him, call for help, or, in extreme cases, use weapons.

  9. Tents and houses where the wounded and sick are located are always marked with a white flag with a red cross - do not shoot or break into these places.

 10. Do not touch people, even in enemy uniform, who have a white bandage with a red cross on their sleeves - they care for the sick and wounded and treat them.

 11. If you see an enemy with a white flag - do not shoot at him, but send him to the authorities - this is a negotiator - an inviolable person.

Allowed by the Odessa Military Censorship. Printing house E.I. Fesenko, in Odessa.