Media reports said that the gas was hydrogen sulphide, which can be highly toxic and smells like rotten eggs. more here,,, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29990375
Poor people. I read somewhere that the safety levels in all levels of human life in Russia are horrendous, from pilots in planes, to train drivers , to driving a car. People seem to be able to do just what they like. Poor Russia. Praying at mass for Mother Russia.
Interesting response about Russia from Charlie Johnston blog yesterday (conflicts with LTTW) concerning Russia/communism/west especially #3 and #4: charliej373 says: November 10, 2014 at 8:11 am 1) Western Civilization is committing suicide. There is no cultural confidence left in it. The Storm is the instrument by which it will be healed, so the rescue does come from Our Lady in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. 2) Since Peter the Great, Russia has defined national greatness in western terms, but it has always acted as an eastern power – Orthodox and Asian. To return to the Roman Church she would have to have, at some time, have been part of the Roman Church – and nationally, she hasn’t. Again, in the process of the Storm, she will cast her lot in with the west fully – and part of that, or at least a part of the fruit of it, will be a re-uniting of the Eastern and the Western wings of Christianity. Russia is the foundational state of Orthodoxy. 3) Russia DID spread the errors she adopted with the Russian Revolution in 1917 throughout the world. The irony is that Russia largely abandoned those particular errors while the west fully adopted the fundamental error. 4) Russia has been neither communist nor atheist since 1989. It is authoritarian, verging on totalitarian, but the way Russia is governed today is far more akin to the old Czars than it is to the old Communists. Russia has been a formally Orthodox Christian State since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Yes, Charlie is spot on here, particularly point 4 which captures, precisely, the state of Russia today. The celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall are another reminder of the scale of the miraculous fall of the Soviet empire.
It is tree historically Russia is not anti Western. Ivan the great I believe had a Western wife and all the Tsars opened their doors to Western culture and ideas. St Petersburg was known as the Venice of Russia. However since Communism the boot has of course very much been on the other foot. I agree when it converts Russia will be a light to the world. I agree the Eastern and Western Church will unite as per Fatima. However..and it is a big however before that happens there is a very substantial amount of Catholic prophetic statements to indicate Russia will attack the West and occupy Europe, destroying Rome first. It is so substantial I do not believe it can be ignored. I don't dislike Russia, far from it. I am just saying this is what Catholic prophesy indicates. This does not go against what Charlie says, but the devil as they say is in the detail
Also in my dreams I have seen Russia launching missiles at the West and Moscow being destroyed. Russia will be converted but she must go through a baptism of fire and blood first. I suppose we all must.
Russia was tending towards an Oligarchy just prior to Putin's takeover. When it looked like Putin would be a bit of a reformer in order to gain favor with the public he was threatened by the Oligarch powers, took repressive action against the former wealthiest threat to him, and then began ruling through bribes, repression, and propaganda. In that he's a tool of Satan in his current actions (as also related in LTTW) is undeniable to the surrounding formerly held states that live in fear of unprotected invasion. It is sad that Hungary out of its current leader's lack of resolve and recognized dependency upon Russian energy is tending back towards bending under the former authoritarian control, trusting that Russia, due to Hungary's economic success, will continue to allow at least some of the former slack in that authoritarian control. Eventually I think China will be the force that will link Russia more to the West out of necessity.
Just the facts ma'am. Moscow Patriarch awards patriarchal honor prize to top Russian Communist leader http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/06/moscow-patriarch-awards-patriarchal.html A Putin kind of communism http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/westerman/140702 "Russian will be given great satanic power." - Pedro Regis Russian women have on average 8 abortions or more. Putin and co are offering incentives now to stop the demographic loss however to quote Fr. Paul Marx once you take the genie out of the bottle it is almost impossible to get him back in. The only solution is the complete Consecration by Pope Francis with the Bishops (don't be surprised if Orthodox Bishops join in, some are awaiting for Her)
I think too with Orthodoxy we must have a certain...well.. dare I say realism. I love Orthodoxy and the Eastern spirituality. For instance on utube I just love watching videos of Mount Athos and the utter centrality of contemplative/monastic prayer and Devotion to Mary. At the same time they are not reading from the same script as us. For instance in this Month of the Holy Souls do you know Orthodox do not accept the Doctrine of Purgatory? http://orthodoxwiki.org/Purgatory Also despite a beautiful Marian Devotion do you know they (generally) reject the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception? http://orthodoxwiki.org/Immaculate_Conception Also of course Papal Infallibilty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_opposition_to_papal_supremacy It seems to me that it is as though a great stream of grace was turned of to them at the time of the great schism. Often too it seems to me they can be very similiar to our Protestant sisters and brothers in that they can have this huge chip on their shoulders about the Catholic Church. Such a chip that they almost at times almost define themselves in terms of their hostility towards us. I heard one time of a Cistercian monk and writer Basil Pennington who travelled to Mount Athos to join the monks there on a visit. When he went to enter the Church to join the monks in prayer they got up and slammed the door in his face. I don't write this to stir hostility, just to be realistic.
This incident reminds me that Paris was also engulfed in a smell of sulfur in January 2013. Not just Paris, but the entire valley of the Seine and the odours crossed the channel and reached London. Officially, the media and French government said the gas was methanethiol, released through error by a plant in Rouen but a chemist with the CNRS contested this official story claiming it was not possible for the factory in question to produce that particular gas given the products it works with. Same cause perhaps?
