Much has been written about Joan of Arc! Stage plays have been performed, and in more recent times we know documentaries and movies about her life.
Until today, this Saint draws and attracts us greatly, because of the more than unusual appearance of the Virgin from Lorraine, by whose intervention the city of Orléans was freed from the English troops, and in its consequence, Charles VII., was crowned king.
One can easily follow those authors, who saw the turning point in the history of the one-hundred year war in the coming of Joan. Until today, the amazement has not ceased, why a girl, who did not know anything about the art of war, was called to effect such an important mission.
If we do not misjudge her actions to be the result of diabolical possession or religious fanatism, Joan of Arc will always bring us in contact with God, no matter from which angle we approach her.
"God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1) says a passage in the New Testament. This becomes very obvious and clear in the calling of the Virgin of Orleans.

Joan was born on January 6th, 1412, in the small village of Domremy, France. According to the testimony of the local population, she was a lovable and religious child, which, like it was then common in the villages, could neither read nor write. Her religious education she received from her mother Isabelle and the priest of the town.
At the age of 13, she had an apparition of the Archangel St. Michael, Patron Saint of France, in the garden of her father Jacques. From this time onward, the Saints of Paradise took over her religious formation and prepared her for her mission, especially St. Catherine of Alexandria (2). Until she reached the age of 17, she spoke to no one about these experiences, and she was made to understand always more clearly that she was called to lead Charles VII. to Reims, so that he would be crowned king, as well as to end the occupation of the English.
Finally, she began her mission at the age of 17!

(1) cf. 1 Corinthians 1.26-31

(2) St. Catherine of Alexandria suffered martyrdom at the beginning of the 4th century. She is counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Catherine is said to have been victorious in a religious contention against fifty scholars of the Gentiles.

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After an initial try proved unsuccessful, she succeeded in speaking to Charles VII. and was able to convince him that she had been sent by God to lead him to Reims, so that he would be crowned there. She also asked him for soldiers to free Orleans, occupied by the English. After Charles VII. had awaited positive confirmation from the Church, he fulfilled the will of the girl.
Together with the soldiers, Joan of Arc freed - as she had predicted - Orleans, and successively ran from victory to victory. It seemed that the French soldiers had taken new courage for battle, while, in the same way, the English soldiers lost their courage. Joan was in no way bloodthirsty. She, herself killed no one and she also had mercy on the wounded enemies. She wanted the English to retreat without engaging in battle, and she called for that repeatedly and promised to let them go free. But when they refused, she did not hesitate to expel them by force!
With the coming of Joan of Arc, God intervened on the side of the French. That was clear to those Frenchmen, who stood behind Charles VII. and wanted to see the liberation of France. The English and their accomplices on the other hand, saw or desired to see a messenger of the devil in the Virgin of Orleans, and wanted to burn her as a witch.
As long as Charles VII., who was actually crowned king in Reims not long after Orleans had been freed, listened to the Virgin, Joan of Arc could not be conquered in her battles. But soon came the treason, which Joan feared more than death on the battlefield. Instead of following the directions of Joan, Charles VII. began negotiations with the Burgundians, who had formed an alliance with the English. The end of Joan's victorious battles came very soon and she was arrested in Compiegne!

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For Joan began a very difficult battle now. After no one paid the ransom for her, she was finally taken to an English prison in Rouen. It is one of the most sorrowful chapters Church history that the bishop of Beauvais, being a partisan of the English, degraded himself to force an unjust trial unto Joan of Arc. The objective of this was clear from the beginning - Joan should be sentenced to death as a witch or at least as a heretic to unsettle the faith of the people in her on the one hand and to weaken King Charles on the other hand, who then, in the view of the public, would have received his kingdom with the help of a witch!

Joan did not have the least bit of a chance in this pre-arranged game. Even though she did not fall into all the traps they set her and gave answers full of wisdom, the result of this trial of many months with innumerable frauds and deceptions was to sentence her as heretic.

Being a faithful daughter of the Church, it almost broke the heart of Joan that, of all people, it was a bishop, who lead her to the death she feared - death at the stake.

The martyrdom of Joan, who had hoped all along that she would be physically saved, was coming to an end. Very late though, she understood that she had won the greatest victory of all by giving her life. She became like her Lord and Master, whose Name she called out seven times, before her earthly life was extinguished in the flames of the stake.

Twenty-four years later, the trial of Joan of Arc in Rouen was nullified by the Church. She was canonized in the year 1920!

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The mission God entrusts a human being with, continues, as we may assume according to the testimony of Scripture and the reports of the working of the Saints after their death, in a modified way in eternity.

The Virgin of Orleans fought, by the command of God, against an earthly army of occupation and lead the true King of France to coronation. She wanted that Charles VII. understood his kingdom as "Vicar of God on earth", serving the true King, Jesus Christ. Certainly, she expected from him that he, after he had obviously received help from God through her person, would conduct his reign in greatest responsibility before God.

"Balta Lelija" envisions itself as a prophetic initiative of today to resist the "spirit of the Antichrist". This antichristian spirit is presently preparing in a special way the coming of a new or even the "last Antichrist". All that we can derive from Holy Scripture, tradition and quite a few prophetic visions that are to be taken seriously, is suggesting that this will be a ruler, who wants to gain for a time the political world dominion and the dominion over souls with the help of the devil by means of deception and temptation of men (3). To achieve that he will know how to make use of all modern means. Everyone knows that the control of public and private life is widely possible today.

Even though the Church sees the government having greater autonomy today than it used to be during the times of Joan of Arc, the worldly power still lives by premises in the world of values, which it does not give to itself. Every form of leadership is only legitimate, if it truthfully serves the people entrusted to it and honors, furthers and protects those values that have their source - according to faith - in God. It is obvious that a legitimate worldly leadership must be built on the fundament of justice, and, as every single human being is responsible with his life before God, his Creator, so also is that true in a special way for those human beings, who represent and rule their nations.

The antichristian form of rule, and therefore the Antichrist, will not correspond to this particular principle. It is possible that, at first, those given values will not be directly targeted, but filled with different contents. Maybe the Antichrist will not deny God and even accept the religious faiths, but he will want to despoil them of their truths "and act, as if God had lost any significance" (4). His leadership will be founded upon deception and he will leave men in the dark about his true objectives. According to the testimony of Holy Scripture, he will raise himself above all that is of God and holy (5). What the Antichrist desires most, is that men venerate him as God and benefactor of men, thereby abusing the relationship and openness of human beings towards God.

(3) e.g. Wladimir Solowjew: Short Story of the Antichrist

(4) Antanas Maceina: The Secret of Wickedness, p. 114

(5) cf. Balta Lelija: Document of Foundation

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It is therefore not difficult to understand that a Saint like Joan of Arc will literally "burn" to prevent this. She did not want to tolerate the illegitimate leadership of a foreign king over France and was even sent into an earthly battle. Today, it is about a spiritual conflict, and the danger of leadership of a "foreign king" - namely the representative of the "prince of this world" - is now threatening all humanity! There is no doubt about the fact that a battle is taking place on different levels, and forces of destruction are trying to separate men from God to deliver them up to their arbitrariness. Joan of Arc will not hesitate to intervene in such a situation together with her heavenly friends and companions. Therefore we entrust her the Patronage with great confidence, knowing well that such conflicts may also end in martyrdom.
"Balta Lelija" will not make use of earthly weapons. This is not the mission. But in the service of the true King of humanity, the Son of God, it is necessary to prevent as much as possible that the Antichrist will seize and execute his dictatorship over men. According to biblical testimony, this "last Antichrist" will be overthrown by the returning Christ, when He will throw the "beast and the false prophet" into the abyss (6).

We neither know the time nor the hour of the second coming of Christ, but with the help of God we will be watchful to proclaim the healing message of the Gospel and vigilantly observe the "signs of time", as Jesus admonishes us (7). The holy Virgin of Orleans, with her vigilance towards the Will of God, which she already showed on earth, will be with those, who entrust themselves to her in this battle! She will take care that we do not sleep in those hours of battle and put our trust more in heavenly help than in our earthly abilities!

(6) Revelation 19, v. 11-21

(7) Luke, 12.54-57


Elija Vilnius, July, 2008


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