The Lord searched for a dwelling for Himself and His choice fell upon the Slavic family which Heaven has come to love because of its Divine virtue. For this reason I sent My two servants to bring you good tidings, to abandon the darkness of gloomy pagan gods. And there was great joy in the worlds of the Light when God placed the seal of His great name upon you and put His Spirit into your hearts as an eternal covenant. And I appeared to your royal Ruler at that time,12 and let him know the Will of Heaven to receive My Messengers of the New Testament; and he listened to my voice and was honoured in my presence to become the founder of your spiritual renewal. I can assure you that since him there has not been a more modest and pure-hearted ruler born to the family of Slavs. He fulfilled the given promise with unshakable faith, like Abraham who did not spare his son, but presented him as a living sacrifice to God; in this way acted your pious ruler and father of the Slavic family, who gave the eyes of his firstborn son as an auspicious sacrifice, a chosen gift to God, as a sign of his unshakable faithfulness to Him;13 this very day your calling was initiated by the God of Hosts, Who ordained in His immeasurable wisdom to glorify, together with you, the whole Slavic family in which God Almighty abides and which He has destined to take the first place in His Kingdom which is now coming into power in this long-suffering world. Understand the unchangeable truth that the elevation of the Slavic family is an elevation necessary for all, which God Himself is performing for His chosen one, the Leader of Salvation, Who will appear soon among you in his full Glory and Power to restore the eternal Kingdom of Peace, God’s Kingdom on earth.
“And he who challenges your pre-eminence from now on, says the Lord Himself, challenges Mine, for I have the power to give Mine to whomever I wish, and if I give out of My good will, who would oppose Me and ask Me what I am doing? He who has the courage to do so, let him come and try his strength and he will see. I am one, My Word never changes, I am faithful and true in all My ways. My Word is irrefutable.”14
The Lord is to you a Leader, He is to you a Bridegroom Who sends forth His gifts, Who is delighted as a newly-married man with the love which you have accepted faithfully from Him, Who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is why I come from the eternal dwellings to awaken you to a good and holy life and to protect you not to trespass anew against the supreme will of Heaven, so that it may reject you as it did in the past, when you annoyed God with your unlawful acts and He let you fall into the hands of your enemies, who came from far away to punish you for your crimes and to fulfill the Supreme Judge’s will against you. Yet, at that time during your fall I supported you with My Love, because you had not been completely rejected from the sight of Him who had chosen you. And thus during this longlasting bondage I steadily guided you along the path of patience and humility and taught you to correct your life, to become conscious of your sins, to repent and turn to God the Lord with your whole hearts, with Whom you are united in the marital ties of pure and immaculate life. In all your sufferings and trials I supported you with My hand and gave you spiritual power and strength, so that you would not completely decline spiritually and become lost in the mire of life and in despair. And with all the power which I possess I began to create in you a pure and immaculate soul with Divine conduct. And at the end of your trial of many centuries, when Heaven under a Supreme judgment of Divine
12 The Bulgarian king Boris I (ruled 852-889, died in 907), who adopted the Christian religion in 865- 866 and later introduced the Slavonic alphabet. He welcomed the disciples of the two brothers, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, in 886 and founded schools where they could teach and translate Biblical texts into Old Bulgarian.
13 King Boris I abdicated the throne in 889 and became a monk. When his son and successor Vladimir attempted to restore the pagan religion of the past, Boris emerged from his monastery to save Christianity and defeated him in 893. Vladimir was blinded and replaced by his brother Simeon.
14 In these sentences the Lord is speaking. Quotation marks were added.
