---

Part Two

Chapter One:
Childhood of Rada

Radomir embraced His little daughter, kissed her, stroked her light-brown hair, and sat her on his horse. Rada looked at her father in bewilderment.

“How you have grown! You will become a beauty!” — Radomir thought. But, in a calm voice, he said something quite different:

“Hurry to your grandfather! Tell him that I ask everyone to leave! To leave — quickly! He knows what to do!”

“And you?”

“Gallop, my daughter! Gallop — as fast as possible! Gallop!”

… Radomir whistled in a special way — and the horse rushed off.

Rada again turned around and saw that her father confidently and slowly went to where the cries could be heard.

He walked, and above him there was a huge dome of the Divine Light-Fire, Which seemed to protect from disaster both Rada and all people of the community…

He walked to the place where death waited for his body. He knew this. Little Rada did not know this yet but felt that everything around her suddenly became not as it should be — in the world of love and harmony, light and joy, in which she had lived and grown in up to this day…

She has remembered her father in this way: calm, strong, and connected with the Divine Fire, with the Power of God — he went to death so that his young disciples would not perish in the terrible tortures, and for all people of their community to escape the impending danger.

Only later, when Rada became older, she learned the details. Radomir went by himself to that settlement, where an armed detachment, led by a voivode and a bishop, had already entered, having been sent there to “sort out”: who preaches “heresy” here and “stirs up” people…

They threatened them with torture — so that the people would give out the one who had taught them. But Radomir went to the executioners himself — so that no one was killed or injured and so that His community managed to leave these places unseen, without being tracked down. He did this — at the cost of his own life.

Rada’s grandfather, Blagoslav, the doyen of the community, had managed in a matter of hours to gather all the people and lead them from death, hiding in the hard-to-reach forests of the vast Russian land. They went very far from the places where Rada was born and grew up.

At that time, Rada was only eight years old.

* * *

For as long as Rada could remember, she had always felt her father to be the most important person in her childhood. Rada’s mother died shortly after Rada was born. Radomir — with all His care and love — immediately became for Rada both a tender mother and a caring, wise, and strong father.

He gradually opened for Rada the knowledge of the whole world with all its harmony and beauty. His strong, gentle, and reliable hands were always nearby, ready to support her at any moment!

Radomir himself taught his daughter everything from infancy: to walk, talk, think, look at the world through the eyes of the soul, and to seek the very answers to the questions that she had. He taught Rada to be brave and dexterous, as he would teach a son, whom His beloved wife did not manage to give birth to. He taught Rada also what mothers usually teach their daughters. And Rada — loved to take care of her father, trying her best to be a skillful and smart hostess in their house.

Radomir was the only son of the head of the community — doyen Blagoslav.

Their community was not usual. They lived as how people used to live in Russia before the advent of Orthodoxy — in the many clans and communities which had been established. For many centuries — and from generation to generation — the people of their community tried to preserve their ancient traditions and knowledge.

But it was not easy to live like this. Such communities no longer existed, and if they did exist, Blagoslav and his community’s members did not know about them. And for the beliefs that were now called “pagan”, communities could be expelled from their places of settlement and, even worse, they could be punished with torture and death as “heretics”. Therefore, they lived in the remotest forests. And the peace of the families was always guarded by strong warriors. They observed the surroundings from tall trees or circled the district on horseback. And, in the case of “unexpected guests”, they were ready to take them away from the settlement or warn everyone in time about the danger.

Radomir sometimes took Rada with him on such patrols. Rada especially loved their “important days”.

By that time, she had already learned how to ride on a horse and walk or sit in a hiding place so quietly that no one would notice.

Radomir taught his daughter to notice everything that a person can learn from the forest: the tracks of beasts and birds, their voices, and signs of different behavior of forest inhabitants. Radomir taught her how to not disturb the inhabitants of the forest, how to gain their trust. And — how, by observing their behavior, to find out much about what is happening around.

And when they looked afar from high hills or stayed to spend the night on special platforms on the tops of huge trees, from which was visible many kilometers, — it seemed to Rada that the whole Earth was revealing its vast expanses and its magical secrets.

Rada especially loved one of these pines. From its top, all the surrounding trees seemed like green waves, and one could also see — flooded meadows and a river’s floodplain with a bizarre riverbed pattern.

* * *

Once, they stayed on the peak of this pine for a whole summer night. The weather was clear, almost windless. The stars shone, it seemed, especially brightly. The rising moon incredibly and beautifully illuminated the tops of trees. In the moonlight, the river was magically silvered with mist.

Radomir spread out his cloak onto the floor of the wooden lookout on the top of the pine and wrapped Rada up, protecting her from the cold of the night:

“Sleep, my daughter! In the morning, I’ll wake you up early, and we’ll meet the sun!”

… But Rada could not fall asleep. She was lying on her back admiring the starry glow. She was filled with rapture and reverence. Quietly, she took Radomir’s hand:

“Dad, who has created all this — all this beauty?”

“God!”

“But how?”

“By His Love and Power! He has put the Particles of Himself, of His Living Energies, into everything that exists. By densifying them to various degrees, He created everything.

“At first, He thought up all this, and then He gave it as if a push to ensure — for everything here appeared, lived, developed, and improved according to His Plan. In everything that He has created, there are Particles of His Love and Infinite Power!”

“He must be so big and strong, if He could do this!”

“God many times created such beautiful worlds! And then — from every such world — Great Souls returned back into Him: the Creator-Father. These Soulsgrew to Their Majesty in those worlds. They poured into Him, like this river flows into the sea. In the vastness of the ocean, the river and the sea become one.”

… Rada recalled how they once went to look at the sea. It was the northern sea — and there was a calm river which became one with the sea in this place… At that time, Rada did not think at all about how the waters of the river and the sea merge. She only admired the splendor of the space and the soaring gulls…

And now, her father helped her to recall what was imprinted by the soul at that time — namely, how strong and vivid was that majestic Beauty.

Radomir continued:

“Just as the river becomes the sea, so all Great Souls become One with God-the-Creator. We can call Them Gods. After the connection with the Creator — They can create by the Common Force, creating beautiful worlds and carrying out other deeds of the Divine — both large and not so large.

“And every person can try to become such a Representative of God, Who is visible like a huge Divine Sun.”

“And, will you become the Divine Sun?”

“I’ll try!”

“And me — too?”

“Only if you will want this. Man is bestowed by God with the right to choose how he or she should live.

“I already told you that every being has a Particle of the Divine Energies. This Particle can be grown by a person to the Greatness. And such a person can begin to learn everything that God can do.”

“And where is such a Particle of God in me?”

“Here, in the spiritual heart, where love is born. You can yourself begin to learn how to feel it. This is a special center, in which man can see, hear God, and feel His Love.”

“Yes, I remember how you explained this! And now here is so much of this Love: in me and everywhere around!”

“The greatest Power in the universe is the Power of Love! By this Power, everything is built.”

“But how?”

“By the same way as you are doing things. For example, you yourself first come up with the idea of something, and then you invest love and strength of soul and body — in order to implement this deed. God does same thing. And it turns out that you can already start learning everything from God. But, the only difference is that God knows and can do much more than us!”

… Radomir explained everything by these simple words, and also helped Rada with the state of the Himself as a Soul to begin understanding and learning the Mysteries of the universe.

… And in the morning, they met the dawn. Above the expanse, which was covered with tender and golden-pink morning mist that was boundless like the sea, — the sun rose! It was the Greatness of Beauty and Silence!

… All this, together with the memory of her father’s words about the Divine Sun, was so significant for Rada!

And Radomir — in that Silence — then said only a few words about how in the spiritual heart of man love can shine like the rising sun, which caresses all the living with its rays.

* * *

In this way, Rada grew up and studied.

Much more was told by Radomir to His daughter about God-the-Creator and about the living Mother Earth — the home for all the living children of God who live on her! All this knowledge was woven into the life of Rada — and this did not seem to her… as something strange and unusual.

About His “adult” affairs, to which Radomir sometimes left for a long time, he did not tell to little Rada.

And the deeds, conceived by him, were not carried out simply. He taught the people of other villages — the knowledge about God, which had gradually faded on the Earth against the background of severe religious repressions.

Some of those disciples of Radomir eventually became members in their spiritual community, which lived according to the Divine Laws.

At that time, not far from their community, some Old Believers, running from a massacre, stopped by a camp. They were left without a priest, who had betrayed them. They themselves did not accept the “new faith”, and they wanted to remain faithful to God, as they themselves understood it. They decided to hide in the woods, but they did not know how to live spiritually further.

The doyen Blagoslav did not want to immediately take those people into his community, but he allowed Radomir to help them by teaching them.

“If you will teach them adequately, then let’s see what fate God will prepare for them.”

… But everything did not go according to plan. It was not possible to rescue Radomir’s disciples, and he did not manage to teach them much. And the community itself — lost its place of habitation, and now they went to the east farther and farther from any settlements, towns, and villages…

They went — already without Radomir…

* * *

The road was hard. They took only the most necessary things…

No carts. The horses were led onwards, having been loaded as much as possible. They threaded their way through the thickets.

The doyen Blagoslav did not show how hard it was for him. He guided the people firmly, with his own strength and will, directing both the progress and the entire life of the community, which set out on this wandering.

In his memory, this was not the first time… But it had never been as hard as it was now …

He did not hesitate long, choosing between taking people away — or trying to collect all the men of the community, to try to save his only son… But that choice created a sore wound in the soul that did not close up… He clearly understood that they could not resist the army — and all would perish. He took the only right decision… And now they were walking, walking, and walking…

… Rada asked grandfather about her father:

“Will papa catch up with us soon?”

… Grandfather embraced her, looked into her eyes, and said quietly:

“You’re already grown up, my beloved Rada! You must understand: your dad will not catch up with us! He is already before us there, where souls without bodies live, where your mother lives. He is there now… Now only you and I remain in this world out of all those of our family!”

… So, that was the end of Rada’s carefree childhood…