Приговор при свечах / Judgment in candlelight - Владимир Анатольевич Арсентьев

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked’” (Rev. 3:17), “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matt. 19:30). “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave” (Matt. 20:25–27).

“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants” (John 15:14–15), because His disciples happened to be able to willingly love their neighbors as themselves (Matt. 22:39) and lay down their lives for their friends (John 15:13), as taught by the Gospels. “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor. 7:23), urges Paul the Apostle. Peter and the other apostles, refusing to submit to the high priests and authorities, “answered and said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:29).

Peter the Apostle forbade the shepherds to lord over those entrusted to them (1 Pet. 5:3; Acts 10:26, 10:28), but instructed them to lead by example and teach as taught by the Divine jurisprudence that the Law of God is proclaimed in the creation of man. It is because the human being, having received a soul created in God’s own likeness, could not but know that the essence of the Divine Law is to love God above all else, because the image of God was in the sanctity and purity of truth. It is manifested through the creation of every soul and every heart, for which reason it is said that the Law of God is written in the heart. The same is taught by Paul the Apostle: “when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them” (Rom. 2:14–15).

But the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Anointed (Ps. 2:2; Acts 4:26). Out of their personal interests, they “for ever and ever” bonded tillers, previously free people, to the land. In doing so, they turned “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter. 2, 9-10) into their slaves. They abolished the concept of childhood and forced people to an adult life in bondage from the age of fifteen, so they lived for an average of about thirty years in total. A free man became a slave by marrying a slave woman, and a free woman became a slave by marrying a slave man.[227]

Catherine the Great (1729–1796) finalized the process of turning serfs into slaves, as she and her contemporaries called them. The most sinister aspect of serfdom was the feudal lords’ unlimited arbitrariness in disposing of the serfs’ persons and labor. This is why those who tend the fires of hell are “filled with all unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:29). They were not in trouble as others, nor were they plagued like others. Therefore pride served as their necklace; violence covered them like a garment (Ps. 72:5–6), they trembled in great fear where no fear was (Ps. 52:6). Thus, as Jesus Christ teaches, by their fruits you will know them (Matt. 7:20).

The ways of administering justice that Montaigne, as a judge, was dreaming of, were incorporated in Russia as late as the end of 1864—although only for half a century – thanks to the judicial reform that was enacted after the abolishment of serfdom. The judicial system and process were enriched with the new principles of court organization and proceedings. Codes of criminal and civil procedure delivered justice in line with the following conditions: equality of estates (or non-estatism) in the judicial system; separation of court and administration; subordination of courts directly to the law; tenure of judges; continuity of court proceedings, implying that one case was to be heard by one panel of judges; election of justices of the peace; adversarial proceedings; the establishment of the prosecutor’s office in Russia; openness of court proceedings, with only certain types of cases reviewed behind closed doors; and oral proceedings. As a result of that top-down reform, basic human and citizen rights were enshrined in law and acknowledged for the first time in Russian history. The principles above, implemented in judicial practice, marked the start of the development of legal status of individuals, including indigent persons.

For example, on November 6, 1908 the justice of the peace of the 1st precinct of the Yeniseiski district of the Krasnoyarsk District Court reviewed a case against Galushkina in an open public trial and found the following.

On October 22, a report was created based on a statement by Gerke, who suspected that his cook Galushkina had stolen from him and demanded to conduct a search of her. Two bibs and several ribbons were found among Galushkina’s possessions, so she was accused of theft. During the trials on October 5 and 6, the following came to light.

Victim Gerke accused Galushkina of stealing his possessions and verbally insulting him. He demanded to interrogate Sorokina, Polukhina, Corina Gerke, and Pagonina to prove his claim.

The accused Galushkina pleaded not guilty on both counts and said that Corina Gerke gave her those things as gifts after the accused combed her hair.

Sorokina, Polukhina, and Pagonina never heard Galushkina cry “stop thief” or badmouth Gerke.

They also testified that Gerke pushed a crying Galushkina out of the kitchen.

The same witnesses, along with policeman Gustov, attested