Day of the baptism of Russia

Life without Christ is a casual dream.
Blessed is he who has been given two ears, -
Whoever hears the church bell,
And hears the prophetic voice of the Spirit.

Heaven is only visible to him
Who also sees in science
Unknown miracles
And he suspects God of them ...

As the highest ideal
As a true pledge of salvation -
Love and selflessness
Christ bequeathed to the nations.

The day we put on
Soul into the incorruption of Christ,
From black deeds we will shudder
And, renewed, we'll wake up -

And lies will not bind our lips.
Today, on the first day of baptism, -
Perhaps to poor villages,
To the abode of labor and tears,

Christ not in a beggar rags
It will do, but with an olive branch,
And he will say: Be all happy!
Everything, - wish everyone well! ..

Today is the day when for the first time
Vladimir and my saints
We baptized Rus in the waves of the Dnieper! ..
Prince of Kiev, once angry,

Allied with the Greek princess,
In a crown of gold and on his
Grand Ducal throne
For a plowman in a distant field,

For a guslar on free will
And for a warrior with a spear -
Became a friend and father to everyone
And the desired red sun ...

Came by Andrew the First-Called
The foreshadowed time:
The whirlpools of the Dnieper leaped up,
Slavs frightening gods

Crashed on its thresholds
And the heroes trembled,
And the savages scattered ...
Oh, as from the morning dawn

The shadows of the night run staggering
And the sun pleases our eyes
And lights up the altars
So on the day of the great Epiphany

Shine on us, faith! Away from doubts!
Russia would never be
Such a great Russia,
If she were alien

The love bequeathed by the Messiah
Let the chilled minds
We are ready to deny everything
Have not yet lost heart;

We are also happy to help
Scattered co-religionists
And consider prisoners as brothers: -
Hellas would not have gotten up without us

The Roman throne wouldn't help her,
Napoleon would not have collapsed
And the formidable troops of its bulk.
Under the heavy yoke of Muslims

Without us, the Slavs would be forgotten, -
We carried life to their graves ...
Shattering enemy forces
We didn't count our wounds ...

We are for heroic deeds
They did not expect gold and silver ...
For the cause of glory and good
We didn't ask for retribution ...

And if the finger of the Lord again
He will show us a great goal, -
What to do - the heart will tell us
And Christian love! ..

Russia, call on faith! ..
On this day, solemn and glorious,
Father Sovereign protects us
For new feats of love ...


Ya.P. Polonsky "Day of the Baptism of Rus."