New Blog Sites

To everyone who has been waiting for either a Russian History post or a medical post, I’ve decided to have two new sites dedicated to my two passions, Russian History and Optimal Health. For those of you who are following my Russian History podcast, you can go here to see my new site – Russian Rulers History. For those of you who want to follow my posts on health as well as here my Let’s Talk Real Health podcast, you can go here to my new site for that topic. Sorry for the confusion.

Ivan Grozny

Ivan Grozny, was the first ruler of Russia to call himself Tsar. The research into this complex man for my podcast is coming along having just received a book entitled Ivan the Terrible by Robert Payne and Nikita Romanoff (a grand nephew of Nicholas II). Originally published in 1975, it looks like an excellent piece of work. Will have to balance it off with other works on their way though.

One interesting thing about Ivan’s name, is that Grozny, the name given to him by fellow Russian’s does not mean Terrible as many think. Its meaning is closer to the word powerful than Terrible. More on that in the Ivan IV podcast series starting in two weeks.

Russian Rulers iPhone App

Don’t ask me how, but I now have an iPhone app for my Russian Rulers Podcast.  Just go to the iTunes store, look under apps and search for Russian Rulers Podcast and there it is. It is only $1.99 and I get a percentage which helps defray the costs of all the books I’ve been buying to get material for the show.

Thanks to all my loyal listeners which is growing by over 1,000 people a week.

St. Sergius of Radonezh

A fascinating man, St. Sergius, born Bartholomew, was to change the size and shape of Russia for centuries to come. The spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox people, he inspired men to go into the forests of Russia and to build small churches and monasteries far from the horrors that beset the Russian people. With the plague running rampant and people fed up with the constant bickering amongst the princes of Russia, they enthusiastically took up the task.

Within a few hundred years, the Russian Orthodox Church owned fully 1/3rd of the land of the Rus. They caused one of the largest expansions the country had yet seen. Join me in today’s podcast on the man of God, St. Sergius of Radonezh.