Beware of the Vengeance of the Dead: A Letter by Saint Nikolai Velimirovich

To a Lady: On How the Dead Take Revenge

Missionary Letters (1932–1934), Letter 12

By Saint Nikolai Velimirovich

You write to me that something is disturbing you in your sleep. Three children appear to you as soon as you close your eyes; they laugh at you, mock you, threaten you, and terrify you. You say that you went to clever people and sought a remedy. They told you: “It is nothing!” You replied: “If it is nothing, then drive this monster away from me! Can something that has allowed me no peace for six months possibly be nothing?” To this they answered: “Change the air, go out among cheerful company, eat better. It is nothing more than ordinary hypochondria.”

I know, sister, the sort of know-it-alls you mean. They have picked up a few words, such as “hypochondria,” “telepathy,” and “autosuggestion,” with which they brush aside an undeniable spiritual reality and turn instead to everyday matters: fresh air, merriment, meat, seltzer, and wine.

But I tell you this: those three children who appear to you are the very same three children of yours whom, by your own admission, you killed before the bright sun had kissed them while they were still alive. And now they are taking revenge on you. The vengeance of the dead is terrible, terrible beyond measure! Since you consider yourself a well-read woman, I shall speak to you from books. From your reading, you will remember Macbeth, or how the spirit of a murdered man killed an English king. You have surely read how King Vladislav, the murderer of King Vladimir, was himself killed by the spirit of Vladimir.

But perhaps you have not read about the following case. The Byzantine Emperor Constans had a brother named Theodosius, whom he did not love because he feared that he might overthrow him and take his throne. For this reason, Constans compelled Theodosius to become a deacon. But even then, fear continued to torment the emperor. At last, the emperor resolved to commit a crime. He arranged for Theodosius to be treacherously murdered. Having accomplished this, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had forever rid himself of his rival. But the ignorant man did not even suspect that the dead are more powerful than the living, and that whoever kills an innocent man does not, in truth, triumph, but rather lays down his weapons before the man he has murdered.

After this, one night the murdered deacon Theodosius appeared to his brother, the emperor, holding a cup of steaming blood, and cried out in a terrifying voice: “Drink, brother!” The emperor leapt up and threw the entire palace into an uproar, but no one could tell him anything. On another night, the same scene was repeated: the deacon, holding a cup of blood, with the dreadful cry: “Drink, brother!” The emperor raised the alarm throughout Constantinople, but everyone simply gaped at him, just as those clever people gape at you when they send you out for fresh air and better food. Once again, the same thing happened one night. Finally, Emperor Constans, who had been perfectly healthy the previous evening, was found dead in his bed the following morning.

Do you read Holy Scripture? Everything has been said there; everything has been explained — how and why the dead take revenge on the living. Read once more about Cain, who, because he murdered his brother, could find peace nowhere and at no time. Read how the spirit of the wronged Samuel took revenge on Saul. And read how poor David suffered terribly, year after year, because of the murder of his commander Uriah. And read further, if you know how, about the thousands upon thousands of similar, well-known cases, from Cain down to you. Then you will understand what is tormenting you, and why. You will understand that the world of the slain is more powerful than those who murdered them, and that it takes terrible revenge.

First understand this and take it to heart. Then do everything you can for your children whom you have killed. And the merciful God, with whom there are no dead, will forgive you and grant you peace. As for everything you must do, ask the Church. The priests know these things.

May God have mercy on you.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.