WITHOUT FULFILLING THIS COMMANDMENT, DEGRADATION IS INEVITABLE.

WITHOUT FULFILLING THIS COMMANDMENT, DEGRADATION IS INEVITABLE ❗️

There is only one commandment for the fulfillment of which God promises a very specific reward: “Honor your father and mother, and you will live long on the earth.”

The same applies to the lives of nations and societies. Consider how many centuries and even millennia, despite any cataclysms, countries have survived where the veneration of ancestors and national heroes has been elevated to an unshakable tradition and widespread custom.

And on the contrary: as soon as a country begins to brazenly destroy the traditions of its ancestors and denigrate the best sons and daughters of its people, rapid degradation and disintegration are inevitable.

— Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov).