st voyager good shepherd

Good Shepherd (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.2 Cast and characters
• 3.3 Continuity
• 3.4 Reception
• 3.5 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest Stars
• 4.4 Co-Stars
• 4.5 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7.1 Other References
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Captain Janeway looks out into space from her ready room

Captain Janeway looks out her ready room window into space as her door chirps. Chakotay enters and informs her that Seven of Nine wants to present her ship-wide efficiency report to the senior staff . Janeway says to put her on the schedule. Chakotay also reminds her that they'll be passing through a class-T cluster in the next couple of days, not important enough to alter course, but Janeway thinks it is at least important enough to send out the Delta Flyer and to get a full range of scans. Chakotay nods, and leaves.

On the bridge , Chakotay relays the captain's orders. He tells Tom Paris to prepare the Delta Flyer for the mission, and Harry Kim to do a level 3 analysis of the cluster. Kim contacts Seven, asking her to increase metagenic resolution in the long-range sensors .

In astrometrics , Seven and Crewman Tal Celes , a young Bajoran woman, are working on the sensors. Seven types some data into a PADD and hands it to Tal, telling her to take it to Lieutenant Torres . Tal exits, and walks down the corridors to a turbolift . " Deck 11 ", Tal tells the computer as the turbolift begins whirring.

The turbolift doors into engineering open, and Tal exits. She hands the PADD to Torres, who opines that they're going to need to transfer another five terawatts to the sensor array. Torres then hands another PADD to an engineering crewman, who goes into the same turbolift, "Deck 15", the bottom deck of the ship.

Harren stares out into space from Deck 15

On Deck 15, a section characterized by cramped, dimly lit corridors, where even the doors are thinner, the crewman exits, and nods hello to another officer on his way down the hall. He enters a small plasma relay room and interrupts Crewman Mortimer Harren 's attempt to disprove Schlezholt's Theory of Multiple Big Bangs . Harren tells him to hold on, that he's standing in the way of cosmological history. The crewman sarcastically replies, " The cosmos is sixteen billion years old, it can wait another few minutes. " He hands Harren the power transfer requisition, who just types in a quick couple commands into a panel, and he leaves. Harren looks out of a small porthole, which is on the ventral section of the ship.

Act One [ ]

Tal works on sensor analysis at night, under her covers

In Tal Celes' quarters , her roommate is sleeping and she's contacting her friend William "Billy" Telfer via combadge . She tries waking him up, and he finally answers. He tells her it is late and to go to sleep. She is under her covers with PADDs and an SIMs beacon , working on a level 3 sensor analysis. Telfer breaks down, and asks what the problem is. She says she's having trouble interpreting the subspace infrared from the cluster. Telfer says that it is too complicated to explain over the com, and to either meet in the mess hall or do it tomorrow. Tal replies she doesn't want to get dressed, and that she has to have it in tomorrow. " Your only options ", he says sleepy-eyed.

The next morning in the briefing room , Seven is explaining a ship-wide efficiency analysis. Operations receives a 76 out of 100; Seven says that the officers left on the night watch rarely have anything to do once the course is set in. Torres complains about her grade and her "failure to utilize expertise". Seven explains Crewman Harren's background and that Torres has assigned him to the plasma relay room on deck 15, a fairly lowly task. Torres complains that she's tried to give him more to do but when she does, he doesn't do it. So she's left him alone down there, like he wants to be. Security receives a near-perfect grade; however, Seven believes the phaser rifles could use reorganization, making them more accessible in an emergency. The Doctor then complains how Billy ruined his score by visiting sickbay once a week, and always complaining of one illness or another, but one is never found. The Doctor explains that Telfer is a hypochondriac , saying that he's afraid of medication and that he's also afraid of counselling. Harry Kim brings up Seven's score, which she reluctantly explains. The problem is Tal Celes, a sensor analyst, whose work must always be double-checked for errors. Seven thinks maybe reassigning her to engineering would help improve her work. Captain Janeway, thinking of a plan, dismisses the room. Chakotay stays behind and asks what she's planning.

" They've never been on an away mission " Janeway comments, and Chakotay explains (although they get off the ship whenever there's general leave ) that Harren never volunteers, Tefler always gets himself excused for medical reasons and Tal can never meet the minimum proficiency requirements. He reminds her that there's always a few officers who aren't suited to life on a starship and maybe they should be relieved of duty to pursue their own interests. Janeway doesn't want to "just deactivate them", like Borg drones, so she decides to put them on the Delta Flyer mission.

Billy and Celes working on a sensor analysis

In the mess hall, Telfer explains to Tal the aspects of the subspace infrared algorithm , to better analyze the data. He suggests breaking them down to four small algorithms, when Captain Janeway walks in and overhears their conversation. Celes asks what the sequence is, and Captain Janeway comes in and states "Zero-G Is Fun". They both jump to attention, but Janeway puts them At Ease and explains. " Zeta particle derivation. Gamma wave frequency. Ion distribution. Flow rate of positrons. " Captain Janeway sits down, handing each of them a PADD, and tells them that the briefing will be in astrometrics that afternoon. As the captain walks away, the two officers stare at the PADDs in awe.

Janeway enters a turbolift, and heads for Deck 15. She exits the lift and can't seem to find her way around. She starts walking down a corridor when a crewman notices her, and shouts "Captain on the deck!", and the near-by officers stand at attention. Janeway replies "at ease", and asks where junction room 16 is. Crewman Mitchell points her in the right direction, and she takes a moment to ask him how he's been. He replies " Never better ma'am, yourself? " She smiles, and heads for the plasma relay room, " Not bad, not bad at all. " As she heads down the corridor, at the first junction she takes a wrong turn, and Mitchell points her in the right direction again.

She enters, looks around, and finds Harren in an obscure corner. He turns, surprised to see her, and asks if she's lost. She smirks and says " I was, for a minute ." She hands him the PADD on the mission, and he says there must be a mistake. She assures him that there's no mistake, but he insists that he wants to stay there. She tells him that Ensign Culhane will cover for him and orders him to report to astrometrics for the briefing. He tells her as she's about to leave that he's about to disprove Shlezholt's Theory, but she reminds him that Wang's Second Postulate "has more lives than a cat", which is what's been giving him problems and she leaves.

Act Two [ ]

In astrometrics, Janeway explains the details of the mission with a diagram of the cluster on the screen. Tal is assigned to run an ongoing sensor analysis to provide information for the rest of the crew. Harren is going to monitor subspace particle decay for anything new that they can learn on star formation, and Crewman Telfer will look for signs of life, even if it is unlikely in the environment. Telfer asks if they'll land on any planets , if they find any. Harren says that any planets in the cluster would be gas giants , and Captain Janeway reassures him that the Delta Flyer is fully equipped for medical emergencies. The Captain reminds them to be in shuttlebay 1 at 0600 hours and dismisses them. Seven reminds the Captain that she'll have to constantly monitor Tal's work for errors and that the mission could be better served with a more experienced crew. Janeway tells her that the mission isn't only to explore the T-cluster, but also to "rescue" the three crewmen. She tells Seven the story of the Good Shepherd, that if even one sheep of the flock went astray, the shepherd would leave the safety of the flock and retrieve it.

Harren working on one of his theories, alone in the mess hall

In the mess hall, Neelix sits down with Torres and Paris, who are watching Crewman Harren drinking coffee and working on a PADD alone in the corner. Paris feels sorry for him, rotting away on deck 15, and jokes that "it's a shame he doesn't have a superior officer who cares" . Torres says it's not her job to keep everyone happy. Neelix doesn't think they've even said two words to him, but Paris replies that he's said two words exactly: " Excuse me ", during a Borg attack. Since they were at red alert , he considered it quite courteous. Torres suggests he go over there and offer encouragement, so he does. Paris asks Harren what he's doing and he shows him a PADD (Com Analysis 007-31) with an exceptionally complex equation on it. Harren can see that he doesn't understand, and jokingly asks what he finds most interesting about it. Paris simply replies "your creative use of the minus sign" . Paris returns to the table, having failed in his attempt to befriend Harren.

Tal is sleeping in her quarters when Telfer contacts her on her com badge. She knows what he's going to say, and says " You're not sick… " He claims that he is, as he scans himself with a medical tricorder . She decides to ignore him and goes back to sleep.

Telfer goes to sickbay in robe and slippers and The Doctor scans him, showing that he has a minor 0.2° fever. Telfer claims he may have a multiphasic prion . The Doctor reassures him several times that he does not have a prion . The Doctor tells him he won't give him a medical excuse to avoid going on the away mission and that he'll be having so much fun exploring that he won't have time for his hypochondria.

Telfer jokes to Tal in the aft compartment

Several hours later, the Delta Flyer drops out of warp and retracts its warp nacelles . Captain Janeway, at the helm, drops to one-quarter impulse and has Celes start the sensor sweeps. The ship shudders and Harren confirms that it wasn't the engines that caused it. Tal scans for any problems but doesn't find anything more than simple background noise. Janeway goes to check her work and agrees. Telfer asks over the comm if anyone wants lunch and Tal offers to go back to help him with it. Captain Janeway asks "Mortimer" if he'd like anything but he just turns and coldly says " Even my mother didn't call me that… " Janeway says she'll have the pasta soup , under Neelix-651. Tal eagerly agrees and says she'll have the same thing and goes to the aft compartment.

Tal relays the order and Telfer replicates two servings of the pasta soup. Tal sits down, depressed, and says that the Captain is checking every single thing she does. Telfer tries to reassure her it's just standard procedure. Tal wishes that she could go back to Voyager and Telfer wishes the same thing. They joke that they could always take the escape pods .

Back in the forward section of the Delta Flyer , Janeway is trying to start a conversation with Harren, referring to the fact that he grew up on Vico V . But Harren coldly asks if she really believes the environment a child is raised in is more important than genetically-driven behavior patterns and accuses her of filling her attempt at conversation with unspoken assumptions that he doesn't agree with. Janeway tries to change the subject, by jokingly asking how his 13th chromosome is and missing a couple base pairs in gene 178. Harren also decides to change the subject and explains how he only signed on to Voyager because the Orion Institute of Cosmology required a single year of hands-on experience, and how he'd be there right now had Voyager not become stranded in the Delta Quadrant .

The Delta Flyer loses a section of hull plating

Janeway says that space exploration is unpredictable, but Harren just says that that's exactly why he doesn't like space exploration. He goes on about not liking space travel, as Janeway just rolls her eyes and wonders if this was such a good idea after all. Harren decides to join the other "misfits" for lunch and heads to the aft compartment. Just after he leaves, the Captain picks up an unknown spatial fluctuation. Then the ship is violently rocked, as a piece of the outer hull is mysteriously sheared off. Janeway orders red alert and tries to contact the aft section, but there's no response.

Act Three [ ]

The Delta Flyer is adrift and main propulsion is offline. The three crew personnel hurry into the bridge section returning to their consoles. Janeway brings emergency power online, as Harren reports that 90% of the antimatter has been drained and one-eighth impulse is the best the engines can do, which means that it could be 10 years before they would reach the rendezvous point. Janeway transmits an emergency distress call and has Tal check sensors. Harren theorizes it was a dark matter proto-comet . Janeway read a paper on it once and Harren says that he's the one who wrote it. He believed a tertiary product of stellar consolidation would condense into a comet -like assemblage of dark matter that would be attracted to antimatter and neutralize it on contact. He believes that the warp core should be ejected but Janeway believes it's the best way of getting main propulsion online. Tal suggests bringing the hull plate that was pulled off aboard and scanning it for dark matter residue.

In the aft compartment, Janeway is scanning the hull plate that was beamed aboard. She hands the tricorder to Tal and has her download it into the computer. Tal feels guilty for not realizing the spatial fluctuations from earlier could be a problem. Janeway reassures her that she doesn't have to doubt herself all the time but she assures her that she does , because she makes mistakes all the time. On Voyager , Seven of Nine doesn't let her do anything too critical, but out here, she could get everyone killed. Tal explains how she got through Starfleet Academy , feeling that the conflict on Bajor worked in her favor and that the Federation was so eager to get Bajorans in Starfleet . Janeway says she brought her aboard because she showed signs of unconventional thinking, such as not everyone would have thought to bring the hull plate aboard. Tal says that the computer analysis is like a monster to her and that it chases her in her nightmares. Janeway says that maybe they can find her another post on Voyager but she says the only post she'd be good at would be a waitress in the mess hall. Tal doesn't believe she's really a part of Voyager 's crew, she just lives there.

In the bridge section, Harren is repairing an EPS relay , as Telfer is distracted by scanning himself with a medical tricorder. Harren orders him to cut the plasma flow but Telfer's still distracted. The EPS relay starts venting gas, as Telfer finally hits the console. Harren gets up, angry that he could have been killed. Telfer claims to be sick but again it is written off as hypochondria. Harren would prefer to be on deck 15, where he's his own number one priority. Telfer asks if he ever gets lonely down there but Harren prefers to be in the company of his own thoughts. Telfer asks him to spend some time with him and Tal when they get back, as he might like it, but Harren simply says that he doesn't like proving his hypotheses.

Tal monitoring sensors

Janeway briefs the crew on the results of scanning the hull fragment. They found some displaced positrons that could indicate a dark matter impact but could have been caused by something else. This is reason enough for Harren, who again suggests dumping the remaining antimatter. Janeway says it isn't proof enough for her and activates a panel, which shows a star chart . There is a class T gas giant within range, surrounded by radiogenic rings which could in theory re-initiate the warp core, so they set a course. They go back to their stations, and Tal picks up another spatial fluctuation. Janeway decides to hail it but there's no response. Harren still wants to eject the core but Janeway decides to fire a photon torpedo , since the antimatter in it would draw the anomaly if that's what it is. Just as the spatial disruptions are leaving sensor range, a loud murmuring sound fills the Delta Flyer . They all scan around with tricorders and converge on Crewman Telfer. He then disappears in an alien transporter beam. Tal scans the area and Janeway concludes he's not anywhere . Scans of space and subspace come up with nothing, but he rematerializes as suddenly as he disappeared. " Inside… me… " he says, as a creature can be seen moving around under his skin and a cut on the back of his neck.

Act Four [ ]

They take him to the biobed in the aft section, and try to transport the creature out of him. Transporters aren't picking it up, nor are the tricorders. Janeway suggests it could be some kind of " dark matter lifeform ". Harren concludes that it is impossible, as molecules that complex would collapse under their own weight. Telfer says that he was transported to a dark place where he couldn't see anything. He tried to talk, but there was no air. Tal offers reassurance saying that if they wanted to kill him they'd have done it already. Janeway activates a force field around the biobed and leaves Tal to monitor Telfer. Janeway and Harren go to the bridge section.

Harren says they never should have left Voyager , but Janeway jokes that Voyager 's no safe haven, either. They've been up against the Borg , the Vidiians , Species 8472 , and more. Janeway asks if he ever wishes to be a part of the friendships he sees on Voyager . He awkwardly responds "You don't know me at all" and goes back to working at his console. The Delta Flyer receives a transmission on a Starfleet frequency. It is their distress call , but modified on the same dispersal pattern as the anomalies. They play the message, which is a distorted version of the distress call. Harren thinks that they're taunting them but Janeway thinks that they're trying to communicate. Just as they are going to modulate the universal translator , Telfer walks through the doors. " He walked right through the force field… " Tal says, as the alien now controls Telfer's motor functions.

The Dark matter life form taps into ships controls.

Janeway grabs a phaser and stuns Telfer but he just falls over onto the console. The alien rips through the skin on Telfer's neck and jumps onto a console. It taps into the environmental systems, as sparks and minor explosions fill the cockpit. Harren grabs a phaser, and Janeway orders him to hold his fire. Harren fires at the alien anyway and vaporizes it. Janeway knocks the phaser out of his hand and yells at him, saying now they've lost their chance for first contact. The Flyer shakes as another section of hull is ripped off. Janeway takes the Flyer into the rings of the gas giant where they can only survive a few minutes – just long enough to restart the warp core.

Act Five [ ]

The Delta Flyer enters the radiogenic ring, and begins transporting radiogenic particles directly into the reaction chamber . Janeway goes back to check on Telfer, who is actually feeling better than usual. He explains that his hypochondria was like an internal red alert, which always told him he was sick or dying. Janeway relates that as a child, she was afraid of the ocean – she liked to swim in shallow areas but not the ocean where you didn't know what was beneath you. During her first year at the Academy, she went through zero-G training in the Coral Sea and overcame her fear. Tal says that the aliens are in pursuit, despite the creatures not being detectable by sensors. They'll intercept in half the time needed to start the warp core . Janeway orders the others to the escape pods with intentions to ignite the ring and escape at full impulse . Tal says that she wants to stay and that on Voyager not much of what they do matters but here it is important. Telfer also decides to remain.

Harren tries to distract the dark-matter lifeforms

Harren decides to leave alone and enters escape pod one. Just as they are about to fire, the escape pod changes heading and heads for the dark matter lifeforms. The Flyer crew try to beam him aboard but they are out of transporter range. They come very close to hitting the dark matter aliens but beam the escape pod aboard and head out of the rings. They fire aft phasers at a radiogenic rock in the ring and it explodes, causing a chain reaction in the ring. A shock wave approaches the Delta Flyer from behind and Tal counts down to impact. The shock wave hits several seconds after Tal predicted.

In Voyager 's sickbay, Chakotay says that they found the Delta Flyer adrift over a gas giant, but everyone is all right. Janeway asks, but they didn't find any signs of dark matter lifeforms or another ship. He asks her what happened and she says, continuing the metaphor from before, " The good shepherd went after some lost sheep… and ran into a wolf. " Chakotay asks if she found them, and Janeway smiles, lying on the biobed, " I think she did. "

Memorable quotes [ ]

" What does our Borg Queen want now? "

" Uh, to the left, ma'am. "

" Very interesting. " " What do you find most interesting about it? " " Your creative use of the minus sign. "

" That's not possible. "

" I can't get a lock, it's like something's there, but it's… not there. " " Oh, it's there. " " Unfortunately I have to agree. "

" Contact in 4… 3… 2… 1… more or less. "

" Mortimer? " " My mother didn't even call me that. "

" So pay attention to what we're doing here. You can check yourself into Sickbay when we get back. " " And you can go back to Deck 15. " " That's right, where I don't have to rely on you or your intellectually deficient friend! " " At least I have a friend. "

" What the hell is wrong with you?! "

Background information [ ]

• The episode title is taken from the Bible 's Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 11-15 (" 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep./But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep./The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.'/I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine./As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. " [1] However, the reference to going after the one stray sheep is found in Luke 15:4-7 [2] and Matthew 18:12-13 [3] .

Cast and characters [ ]

• Much like TNG : " Lower Decks ", almost none of the featured characters make another appearance during the course of the series. Tal Celes ( Zoe McLellan ) is the only character to later re-appear, in the episode " The Haunting of Deck Twelve ".

Continuity [ ]

• This episodes introduces a third Bajoran crewmember on Voyager (Tal Celes), following Gerron from " Learning Curve " and Tabor from " Nothing Human ".
• This episode can be compared to TNG : " Lower Decks " and the first-season episode " Learning Curve ", in that they feature low-ranking crew with less focus on the main characters. Interestingly, the latter episode centered on several ex- Maquis crew who were performing below standards whereas this episode focuses on underperforming Starfleet personnel instead.
• In the teaser, when the camera zooms from space to the captain's ready room , several figures can be seen in the Officer's Mess. There are two in red-shouldered Starfleet uniforms, one in a yellow-shouldered uniform, one in what appears to be Seven's blue jumpsuit, and at least two others in identifiable costumes.
• The window Crewman Harren looks out of in the first scene is not on the miniature or CGI models of Voyager , and was added specifically for this episode. In later shots of Voyager 's underside, the window is not there.
• The equations shown when Tom Paris checks the PADD which Crewman Harren had been working on are adapted from Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, a 1971 book developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy. Several symbols have been added or changed. They can be found in the Example Problem in section 1.11.
• During a brief cut inside Crewman Harren's escape pod, he manipulates an LCARS terminal that looks like a conventional LCD computer monitor (instead of the back-lit overlays used for most LCARS set pieces). A black mouse cursor can be seen moving around the screen.
• Despite Seven's earlier assertion that " Religious metaphors are irrelevant. " (following The Doctor's quoting the phrase " The devil finds work for idle hands. "), Janeway later tells her the tale of the good shepherd regardless.
• Celes is refered to simply as "Celes" by both Janeway and Telfer. According to the Bajoran naming convention established in " Ensign Ro ", this would be her individual name.
• Paris tells Torres that he invited Harren "to watch our television set"in a reference to what Torres had replicated for him in " Memorial ".
• Janeway tells Harren that "we've been chased across the Quadrant by far worse than whatever's out there", listing the Vidiians, Species 8472, and the Borg as examples. Voyager had first encountered the former species in the first-season episode " Phage " and the latter two in " Scorpion ".
• Paris claims to have "collided [with Harren] in the corridor during a Borg attack". However, in all previous conflicts with the Borg, Paris has been at the helm.
• A photon torpedo is used in this episode, one having previously been used in " Child's Play ". This brings the total number of torpedoes confirmed to have been used by Voyager over the course of the series to 63, a total which exceeds the irreplaceable complement of 38 that had been established by Chakotay in the first-season episode " The Cloud ".

Reception [ ]

• Kate Mulgrew identified "Good Shephard" as one of her favorite VOY Season 6 episodes in an interview with Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 18 , p. 16. " I loved that show, you could put a big asterisk on that one; that was my favorite... 'Good Shephard' was really Janeway at her best. " Identifying Janeway's commitment to the ship and her crew as one of her highlight traits, Mulgrew continued: " She just tries. She keeps trying. She never gives up her heart in any situation, and she is always prepared to go down first. "
• Mulgrew also expressed her love for scenes with Zoe McLellan 's character Tal Celes , showing Janeway's compassionate side in a way not always possible with Star Trek 's other captains. " I want to move people always, because I'm an actress, so that's always my essential compulsion; but beyond that I think they've really let Janeway do it more than any of the other captains. I think they've learned to trust that I can get away with it, and that I will still maintain absolute command. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 18 , pp. 16, 18)

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 6.10, 6 November 2000
• As part of the VOY Season 6 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Guest Stars [ ]

• Jay Underwood as Mortimer Harren
• Michael Reisz as William Telfer
• Kimble Jemison as an Engineer
• Zoe McLellan as Tal Celes

Co-Stars [ ]

• Tom Morello as Junction Operator
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Carter Edwards as Voyager command officer
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Eric Hunter as Voyager command officer
• Tina Kotrich as Voyager operations officer
• Louis Ortiz as Culhane
• Erin Price as Renlay Sharr
• Joan Valentine as Voyager operations officer

Stand-ins [ ]

• Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan

References [ ]

ability ; algorithm ; all-nighter ; alloy ; Alpha Quadrant ; analysis ; antimatter ; astronomical survey mission ; away mission ; away team ; Bajoran ; base pair ; biosignature ; body temperature ; Borg ; Borg Queen ; career ; carrier wave ; Celes' instructors ; childhood ; chromosome ; class L ; class T cluster ; class T planet ; colleague ; continuous scan ; conversation ; Coral Sea ; corridor ; cosmologist ; courage ; Culhane ; data ; Delta Flyer ; Delta Flyer escape pod ; Delta Quadrant ; dark matter ; dark matter proto-comet ; dark matter lifeform ; environment ; EPS relay ; evening ; Federation ; " field day "; food poisoning ; gas giant ; Good Shepherd ; Harren's mother ; head ; head cold ; helm ; hour ; hull plate ; hypochondria ; impulse ; insect ; kilometer ; level three sensor analysis ; " long shot "; mechanic ; medical tricorder ; minus sign ; mitochondrial prion ; motor neuron ; multiphasic prion ; multivariate analysis ; nightmare ; nucleic acid ; ocean ( open water ); Orion I ; Orion Institute of Cosmology ; pasta soup ; phaser ; phenomenon ; photon torpedo ; plasma relay ; plasma residue ; pond ; pool ; positron ; protostar ; quantum signature ; question ; radiogenic particle ; reaction chamber ; red alert ; reprieve ; safe haven ; Schlezholt's Theory of Multiple Big Bangs ; sheep ; shepherd ; ship-wide efficiency analysis ; spatial continuum ; spatial fluctuation ; star formation ; Starfleet Academy ; subspace echo ; subspace frequency ; subspace infrared algorithm ; subspace particle decay ; swimming ; sympathy vote ; television set ; terawatt ; tetrovaline ; theoretical cosmology ; transporter lock ; tricorder ; vacuum exposure ; Vico V ; Wang's Second Postulate ; warp ; warp core ; wolf ; zeta particle derivation

Other References [ ]

External links [ ].

• "Good Shepherd" at StarTrek.com
• " Good Shepherd " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Good Shepherd " at Wikipedia

• The Original Series
• The Next Generation
• Deep Space Nine
• Strange New Worlds

Su’Kal

The war without, the war within.

Good Shepherd

When the crew of the USS Voyager is tasked to look after a group of young recruits, the crew’s faith in the Federation is put to the test.

Captain Kathryn Janeway and the rest of the crew of the USS Voyager are on a mission to explore the outer reaches of the Delta Quadrant. With their main priority being to make their way back to the Alpha Quadrant, the crew finds themselves on a long journey filled with unexpected dangers and surprises.

One such surprise comes in the form of a distress call from a Federation transport ship carrying six young recruits. As the Voyager crew rushes to the rescue, they find the transport ship adrift in space. The six recruits have been stranded for months and three of them have died in the interim. It is up to the Voyager crew to bring the survivors to safety.

When the crew arrives at the transport ship, they are shocked to find that the three survivors have been living in a state of near-total isolation. The decisions of their captain, who has since died, left the recruits feeling abandoned and betrayed by the Federation. As they prepare to escort the recruits to a nearby starbase, Janeway and her crew are determined to rebuild the recruits’ faith in the Federation.

The crew is also tasked with the difficult task of training the recruits and readying them for their Starfleet duty. With their main priority being the journey home, Janeway is hesitant to take on the extra burden of training the recruits. However, the crew soon realizes that the recruits’ success could be the key to a successful mission.

The crew sets out to prepare the recruits for their mission and begins teaching them the basics of starship operations. But, due to the lack of experience on the part of the recruits, Janeway and her crew soon find themselves confronted with a whole new set of challenges. The recruits must quickly learn how to work together, trust each other, and make the difficult decisions that come with commanding a starship.

As the crew battles against the clock to get the recruits ready for their mission, they must also confront their own doubts and fears about the Federation. With their own faith in the Federation challenged, the crew must find a way to come together and support each other. Together, the crew and the recruits will embark on a journey that will test their limits, push the boundaries of the Federation, and ultimately determine the faith of the Federation.

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• Star Trek: Voyager

Good Shepherd

Captain Janeway takes three crew members with poor performance records on an away mission in the Delta Flyer to bring them up to Starfleet standards. However, an unexpected collision with a Dark Matter comet leaves the crew in a dangerous situation. Plus, an unexpected attack forces them to work together to survive.

Zoe McLellan

Michael Reisz

Kimble Jemison

Jay Underwood

Tom Morello

Cast appearances.

Kate Mulgrew

Robert Beltran

Roxann Dawson

Robert Duncan McNeill

Ethan Phillips

Robert Picardo

Garrett Wang

Episode discussion.

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• Mar 15, 2000

Summary Star Trek: Voyager follows the adventures of the Federation starship Voyager, which is under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway.Voyager is in pursuit of a rebel Maquis ship in a dangerous part of the Alpha Quadrant when it is suddenly thrown 70,000 light years away to the Delta Quadrant. With much of her crew dead, Captain Janeway is ... Read More

Directed By : Winrich Kolbe

Written By : Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Dianna Gitto, Joe Menosky, Bryan Fuller, Michael Taylor, Robert Doherty

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Created By : Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

Season Episodes

Kate Mulgrew

Capt. kathryn janeway, captain jenkins, shannon o'donnell.

Robert Beltran

Cmdr. chakotay, cmdr. katanay.

Roxann Dawson

Lt. b'elanna torres, b'elanna torres, dreadnought.

Robert Duncan McNeill

Lt. tom paris, ensign tom paris, lt. (j.g.) tom paris.

Ethan Phillips

Robert Picardo

The doctor, dr. lewis zimmerman, equinox emh.

Lt. Tuvok, Tulak, Tuvok

Garrett Wang

Ensign harry kim, ensign kymble, tarik ergin, lt. ayala, satan's robot, security guard.

Majel Barrett

Voyager computer, computer voice, computer.

Seven of Nine, Three of Eight, Two of Three

Jennifer Lien

Kes, palaxia, richard sarstedt, william mckenzie, ankari trader, crewman henard, starfleet admiral, scarlett pomers, naomi wildman.

Martha Hackett

Susan henley, ensign brooks, manu intiraymi, jennifer gundy, science division officer, ensign, alexander enberg, ensign vorik, third malon engineer, susan lewis, operations division officer, transporter technician, mikhal traveler, user reviews.

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Good Shepherd Stardate: 53753.2 Original Airdate: 15 March 2000

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Lord's Day Reflection: '‘I am the Good Shepherd’

By Fr. Edmund Power, OSB

The fourth Sunday of Eastertide is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because in each of the three years of the cycle the gospel is taken from John 10 in which Jesus develops an extended metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep.

In the opening words of today's Gospel, he proclaims: "I am the good shepherd."

The adjective “good” in the Greek text is curious: its original meaning was "beautiful,” and from there it expanded in a personal/moral direction.

Beauty, at whatever level we consider it, attracts us. “You hold out a green twig to a sheep, and you draw it,” says St Augustine. It is the beauty of the Lord that draws the sheep to follow Him.

The application of the gospel image is clear: we, his followers, are the sheep. It may not be very attractive to be thought of as sheep, but the central proclamation today is that the Lord is entirely dedicated to us and will do anything for our good—an embracing and encouraging message in an age of bewilderment.

Looking more closely at the text, we notice two pairs of contrasts: the first is between the shepherd and the hireling; the second is between the sheep and the wolf.

The hireling may well be efficient, but at the first sign of danger, he leaves the sheep and flees, driven by the selfish dominance of the ego.

The shepherd, on the other hand, knows his sheep and plainly loves them: the phrase lays down his life is repeated in various ways four times in the text. The motive in this case is self-sacrificing love that almost recklessly fails to count the cost.

The sheep are passive and “gregarious”; we may think of them as unintelligent, but they have two inspired qualities: they respond to the “beauty” of the shepherd with recognition and trust, and they heed his voice.

The wolf is the bestial counterpart of the hireling and symbolizes greed (snatches them) and division (scatters them). We may remember that the Greek verb that generated our “diabolic” originally meant to set at variance or divide.

Let’s not be ingenuous: none of us is fully on the part of the shepherd/sheep, and in everyone there are traces of the hireling/wolf.

The gospel, while proclaiming the paschal compassion of Jesus, sets us, indirectly, a moral challenge. The dying to self so as to live with Christ, which is the core of our baptism, implies a constant commitment to extirpate the mercenary and the wolfish within us. This task will not end until the end.

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Beyond Preaching Guilt: The Model of the Good Shepherd

Many of us carry vivid childhood memories of the big liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. In my own case, I often remember the long passion narrative that is read in parts on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Missals in the pews divided the Gospel passage into four parts: narrator; Jesus; voice; and crowd. I remember even as a child waiting with anticipation to participate, not understanding more than that we were reenacting some sort of drama. The crowd’s line, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” left me with the impression that somehow the good people of my parish community were implicated in the death of Jesus. That was a lot to process as a child and it still perplexes me today. This Sunday’s readings balance that perspective with Jesus’ own understanding of his fundamental choice to “lay down his life” (Jn 10:11).

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (Jn 10:11)

Who is a model disciple today that influences your journey of faith?

Where are you being called to lean into a courageous discipleship?

Are you able to lay down your life for others, following the model shepherd?

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the first reading continues with speeches from the Acts of the Apostles that articulate early Christian belief. Peter’s speech is meant to introduce the person of the risen Jesus to those who have never heard the good news or seen the healing  power that the apostles displayed. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter explains, “It was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10). Peter identifies Jesus as “the stone rejected by you,” which reflects the sentiment of today’s psalm, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Ps 118:22). The proverb of the cornerstone in the New Testament is meant to refer to Jesus’ death and resurrection as one reality not to be thought of separately. The cornerstone is that thing deemed insignificant by humans and elevated by God.

On the previous Sunday, Peter’s speech used similar language to remind an unsuspecting audience of their complicity in the savior’s death. “The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses” (Acts 3:15). Did the Sanhedrin then - and people today - know that the “author of life” was put to death? Probably not, but evil does not require awareness to inflict harm. Peter’s emphasis on human culpability for the death of Jesus might be true theologically, but this Sunday’s Gospel highlights Jesus’ own free choice. It also serves as a meaningful balance to Peter’s theology.

In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus is keenly aware of his Father’s mission which comes at a total cost of his life. This awareness and cost are foundational to the fourth Gospel. “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life… No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own” (Jn 10:17-18). Notice the contrast from the first reading, which reminds us of our complicity in the death of Christ. In John’s meditation, by contrast, Jesus blames no one, since he has the power to lay down his life and to take it up again. This concluding sentiment follows a meditation on Jesus’ self-revelation as the “good shepherd” that is repeated twice in today’s passage. “I am the good shepherd… and I will lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11, 14). “Good” is used here in the classical Greek sentiment of unquestionable excellence and a model of blameless action. Jesus, as a “model shepherd,” illustrates his freedom to lay down his life. This is the model that is worthy of the title “good shepherd.”

This Sunday’s reading continues the week-by-week Easter meditation that helps us gradually recognize the risen Christ in our daily lives. Peter’s speeches in Acts remind us that sin is part of the human condition. As a citizen, for example, of a powerful nation, I know that I bear some responsibility for world peace and culpability for the wars my country does not work to halt. The Gospel, however, reminds us that although Jesus dies because of sin, he blames no one for his own death. His emphasis is focused on the mission given to him from the Father, a mission that required his total life. Jesus responded without hesitation. May we embrace this same mission encouraged by Jesus’ model of courageous discipleship, one that Pope Francis repeatedly articulates. It is the only kind of discipleship needed today to spread the good news of the good shepherd.  

Victor M. Cancino, S.J., lives on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana and is the pastor of St. Ignatius Mission. He received his licentiate in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

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The Moscow Trials and the "Great Terror" of 1937-1938: What the Evidence Shows

Grover Furr July 31 2010

[To be added at the end of Part One of "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" ]

Since my two-part essay "Stalin and the Struggle for Democratic Reform" was written in 2004-5, a great deal more evidence has been published concerning the Opposition, the Moscow Trials of 1936, 1937, and 1938, the Military Purges or "Tukhachevsky Affair", and the subsequent "Ezhovshchina", often called "the Great Terror" after the title of the extremely dishonest book by Robert Conquest first published in 1968.

The newly-available evidence confirms the following conclusions:

* The defendants at the Moscow Trials of August 1936, January 1937, and March 1938, were guilty of at least those crimes to which they confessed. A "bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" did indeed exist. It planned to assassinate Stalin, Kaganovich, Molotov, and others in a coup d’�tat , what they called a "palace coup" ( dvortsovyi perevorot ). The bloc did assassinate Kirov.

* Both Rights and Trotskyites were conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were the Military conspirators. If the "palace coup" did not work they hoped to come to power by showing loyalty to Germany or Japan in the event of an invasion.

* Trotsky too was directly conspiring with the Germans and Japanese, as were a number of his supporters.

* Nikolai Ezhov, head of the NKVD from 1936 to late 1938, was also conspiring with the Germans.

We now have much more evidence about the role of NKVD chief Nikolai Ezhov than we had in 2005. Ezhov, head of the NKVD (People’s Commissar for Internal Affairs), had his own conspiracy against the Soviet government and Party leadership. Ezhov had also been recruited by German intelligence.

Like the Rights and Trotskyites, Ezhov and his top NKVD men were counting on an invasion by Germany, Japan, or other major capitalist country. They tortured a great many innocent people into confessing to capital crimes so they would be shot. They executed a great many more on falsified grounds or no grounds at all.

Ezhov hoped that this mass murder of innocent people would turn large parts of the Soviet population against the government. That would create the basis for internal rebellions against the Soviet government when Germany or Japan attacked.

Ezhov lied to Stalin, the Party and government leaders about all this. The truly horrific mass executions of 1937-1938 of almost 680,000 people were in large part unjustifiable executions of innocent people carried out deliberately by Ezhov and his top men in order to sow discontent among the Soviet population.

Although Ezhov executed a very large number of innocent people, it is clear from the evidence now available that there were also real conspiracies. The Russian government continues to keep all but a tiny amount of the investigative materials top-secret. We can’t know for sure exactly the dimensions of the real conspiracies without that evidence. Therefore, we don’t know how many of these 680,000 people were actual conspirators and how many were innocent victims.

As I wrote in 2005, Stalin and the Party leadership began to suspect as early as October 1937 that some of the repression was done illegally. From early in 1938, when Pavel Postyshev was sharply criticized, then removed from the Central Committee, then expelled from the Party, tried and executed for mass unjustified repression, these suspicions grew.

When Lavrentii Beria was appointed as Ezhov’s second-in-command Ezhov and his men understood that Stalin and the Party leadership no longer trusted them. They made one last plot to assassinate Stalin at the November 7, 1938 celebration of the 21 st anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. But Ezhov’s men were arrested in time.

Ezhov was persuaded to resign. An intensive investigation was begun and a huge number of NKVD abuses were uncovered. A great many cases of those tried or punished under Ezhov were reviewed. Over 100,000 people were released from prison and camps. Many NKVD men were arrested, confessed to torturing innocent people, tried and executed. Many more NKVD men were sentenced to prison or dismissed.

Under Beria the number of executions in 1938 and 1940 dropped to less than 1% of the number under Ezhov in 1937 and 1938, and many of those executed were NKVD men, including Ezhov himself, who were found guilty of massive unjustified repression and executions of innocent people.

Some of the most dramatic evidence published since 2005 are confessions of Ezhov and Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov’s second-in-command. I have put some of these on the Internet in both the original Russian and in English translation. We also have a great many more confessions and interrogations, mostly partial, of Ezhov, in which he makes many more confessions. These were published in 2007 in a semi-official account by Aleksei Pavliukov.

Anticommunist Scholars Hide the Truth

All "mainstream" – that is, anticommunist – and Trotskyist researchers falsely claim that there were no conspiracies. According to them, all the Moscow Trial defendants, all the military defendants, and all those tried and sentenced for espionage, conspiracy, sabotage, and other crimes, were innocent victims. Some claim that Stalin had planned to kill all these people because they might constitute a "Fifth Column" if the USSR were attacked. Other anticommunists prefer the explanation that Stalin just tried to terrorize the population into obedience.

This is an ideological, anticommunist stance masquerading as an historical conclusion. It is not based upon the historical evidence and is inconsistent with that evidence. Anticommunist historians ignore the primary source evidence available. They even ignore evidence in collections of documents that they themselves cite in their own works.

Why do the anticommunist "scholars", both in Russia and the West, ignore all this evidence? Why do they continue to promote the false notions that no conspiracies existed and that Stalin, not Ezhov, decided to execute hundreds of thousands of innocent people? The only possible explanation is that they do this for ideological reasons alone. The truth, as established by an examination of the primary source evidence, would make Stalin and the Bolsheviks "look good" to most people.

Collectivization of Agriculture Saved The World from Nazis and Japanese…

We have an example of this ideological bias in the way anticommunist scholars and writers treat the Bolshevik collectivization of agriculture. Anticommunists have long attacked it as immoral and unjustified. Yet collectivization provided the capital for the crash industrialization of the USSR. And only industrialization made a modern Red army possible.

Without a technologically-advanced modern army the Nazis would have conquered the USSR. Then, with the resources and manpower of the USSR and the rest of Europe behind them, the Nazis could have invaded the British Isles. Nazi armies would have been a far more formidable foe against all Allied powers. Meanwhile the Japanese, strengthened by the petroleum of the Soviet Far East, would have been a far more formidable enemy for the USA in the Pacific war.

Millions more Slavs and Jews – "Untermenschen" to the Nazis – and millions more Europeans and American soldiers – would have been killed. That this did not occur can be attributed, in large part, to the Soviet collectivization of agriculture. This is an obvious conclusion. There was simply no other way than by collectivizing agriculture that the USSR could have industrialized, and thus stood up to the Nazis and Japanese.

The only alternative was the one promoted by the Right and Trotskyite conspirators: to make peace with the Germans and Japanese, even if that meant granting them huge trade and territorial concessions. That would have greatly strengthened the Axis powers in their war against the U.K. and the USA.

For purely ideological reasons anticommunists cannot admit that collectivization made it possible for the Axis to be defeated.

… And So Did The Defeat of the Conspirators in 1936-1938

Whether they were able to seize political power through a "palace coup", or whether they would have to rely on a German and/or Japanese attack as they only way they might be able to overthrow the Stalin government, the Opposition conspirators were planning some kind of alliance with the Axis.

In fact they would have had no choice, as they realized themselves. A USSR weakened by internal revolt, with or without an invasion from abroad, would have had to make trade, territorial, and ideological concessions to its major potential adversaries simply in order to avoid invasion and inevitable conquest.

At a minimum, a USSR led by some combination of conspirators would have made treaties with Germany and Japan that would have provided the Axis powers with huge natural resources, possibly with manufactured goods as well. The military conspirators were contemplating going much farther than mere trade with the Axis. They were contemplating an outright military alliance with Germany. That would have meant millions more soldiers to fight alongside the German Wehrmacht.

Therefore, in foiling the machinations of the Rights, Trotsky and his supporters, and the Military conspirators, Stalin saved Europe from Naziism – again!

No doubt this is why anticommunist "scholars" insist, in the face of all the evidence, that there were no conspiracies in the USSR and no collaboration with the Germans and Japanese. Once again they refuse to admit these truths on purely ideological grounds because doing so would seem to justify Stalin’s actions.

Bukharin, Not Stalin, To Blame for the Massive Repressions

One interesting aspect of this is that Nikolai Bukharin, leading name among the Rightists and one of its leaders, knew about the "Ezhovshchina" as it was happening, and praised it in a letter to Stalin that he wrote from prison.

It gets even better. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a member of the Rightist conspiracy, as he himself was. No doubt that is why he welcomed Ezhov's appointment as head of the NKVD -- a view recorded by his widow in her memoirs.

In his first confession, in his now-famous letter to Stalin of December 10, 1937, and at his trial in March 1938 Bukharin claimed he had completely "disarmed" and had told everything he knew. But now we can prove that this was a lie. Bukharin knew that Ezhov was a leading member of the Rightist conspiracy -- but did not inform on him. According to Mikhail Frinovsky, Ezhov's right-hand man, Ezhov probably promised to see that he would not be executed if he did not mention his own, Ezhov's, participation (see Frinovsky's confession of April 11, 1939 ).

If Bukharin had told the truth -- if he had, in fact, informed on Ezhov -- Ezhov's mass murders could have been stopped in their tracks. The lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people could have been saved.

But Bukharin remained true to his fellow conspirators. He went to execution -- an execution he swore he deserved "ten times over" * -- without revealing Ezhov's participation in the conspiracy.

This point cannot be stressed too much: the blood of the hundreds of thousands of innocent persons slaughtered by Ezhov and his men during 1937-1938, are on Bukharin's hands.

Objectivity and Evidence

I agree with historian Geoffrey Roberts when he says:

In the last 15 years or so an enormous amount of new material on Stalin … has become available from Russian archives. I should make clear that as a historian I have a strong orientation to telling the truth about the past, no matter how uncomfortable or unpalatable the conclusions may be. … I don’t think there is a dilemma: you just tell the truth as you see it. ("Stalin’s Wars", Frontpagemag.com February 12, 2007. At http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/35305.html )

The conclusions I have reached about the "Ezhovshchina" will be unacceptable to ideologically-motivated people. I have not reached these conclusions out of any desire to "apologize" for the policies of Stalin or the Soviet government. I believe these to be the only objective conclusions possible based on the available evidence.

I make no claim that the Soviet leadership was free from error. Stalin’s vision of a socialism leading to communism was obviously faulty in that it did not come to pass. During Stalin’s time, as during the short period of Lenin’s leadership, the Soviets made a great many errors. Error is, of course, inevitable in all human endeavor. And since the Bolsheviks were the first communists to conquer and hold state power, they were in unknown waters. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would make a great many mistakes – and they did.

However, any objective study of the evidence and the historical record shows that there was simply no alternative to forced collectivization and industrialization – except defeat at the hands of some combination of capitalist powers. Likewise, the fact that the Right, Trotskyite, and Military conspiracies really did exist but were snuffed out by the Soviet leadership, which managed to out-maneuver Ezhov and foil his conspiracy as well, proves that once again the USSR – "Stalin" – saved Europe from Naziism and all the Allies from an immense number of additional casualties at the hands of the Axis powers.

* Bukharin's two appeals for clemency, both dated March 13, 1938, were reprinted in Izvestiia September 2, 1992, p. 3. They were rejected, and Bukharin was executed on March 15, 1938. I have put them online in English here.

Additional Bibliography

Ezhov’s interrogations: I have translated all of Ezhov’s interrogations available to me as of July 2010 and put them online here:

http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovinterrogs.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovpokazaniia.html )

Lubianka. Stalin I NKVD – NKGB – GUKR "SMERSH". 1939 – mart 1946 . Moscow, 2006.

• Frinovsky confession of April 11, 1939, pp. 33-50. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyeng.html (Russian original here: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/frinovskyru.html )
• Ezhov confession of April 26, 1939, pp. 52-72. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov042639eng.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhovru.html )

Petrov, Nikita, Mark Jansen. "Stalinskii pitomets" – Nikolai Ezhov . Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2008, pp. 367-379.

• Ezhov confession of August 4, 1939. http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439eng.html (Russian original: http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/ezhov080439ru.html )

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Bukharin's Last Plea: Yet Another Anti-Stalin Falsification." http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/bukhlastplea.html - translation of Russian original published in Aktual’naia Istoriia for February 2009 at http://actualhistory.ru/bukharin_last_plea

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Nikolai Bukharin's First Statement of Confession in the Lubianka" in English translation, Cultural Logic 2007 - http://clogic.eserver.org/2007/Furr_Bobrov.pdf

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, "Pervye priznatel'nye pokazaniia N.I. Bukharina na Lubianke." Klio No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf

Furr, Grover and Vladimir L. Bobrov, eds. "Lichnye pokazaniia N. Bukharina." Klio (St. Petersburg), No. 1 (2007). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/furrnbobrov_klio0107.pdf

Furr, Grover. "Evidence of Leon Trotsky's Collaboration with Germany and Japan." In Cultural Logic for 2009. http://clogic.eserver.org/2009/Furr.pdf

Holmstr�m, Sven-Eric. "New Evidence Concerning the 'Hotel Bristol' Question in the First Moscow Trial of 1936". Cultural Logic 2008. At http://clogic.eserver.org/2008/Holmstrom.pdf

Furr, Grover.Khrushchev Lied: The Evidence That Every "Revelation" of Stalin's (and Beria's) Crimes in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956, is Provably False. Kettering, OH: Erythros Press & Media LLC, 2011. At Amazon.com ; at Erythros Press & Media : at Abebooks.com ; at Abebooks.co.uk (United Kingdom)

Furr (‘Ferr’), Grover Antistalinskaia podlost’ ("Anti-Stalin Villanies"). Moscow: Algoritm, 2007. Home page: http://www.algoritm-kniga.ru/ferr-g.-antistalinskaya-podlost.html Brief summary in this interview: "The Sixty-One Untruths of Nikita Khrushchev" (Interview with Grover Furr). http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/litrossiainterv0608_eng.html (original here: http://www.litrossia.ru/article.php?article=3003 )

Pavliukov, Aleksei. Ezhov. Moscow: Zakharov, 2007.

Homily On The Birth Of Christ

By st. philaret of moscow (given by archimandrite philaret in the st. alexander nevsky lavra).

St. Philaret of Moscow

Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16)

The New Adam comes forth from virgin earth. Woman, the source of the curse, bears the dew of blessing. The true Noah has appeared, Who shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed (Gen. 5:29). Melchizedek, without father, without mother, without descent (Heb. 7:3), comes to inherit the eternal Kingdom and Priesthood. The long night of fear and universal expectation finally passes, and the morning light penetrates the darkness of the Old Testament Sanctuary, opened not daily, but eternally to the East. The Heavenly Manna is poured forth from the vessel which contained it. The rod of Jesse blossoms forth in place of the fading rod of Aaron. Christ is born.

Come, meek shepherds, and kiss the Lamb and Shepherd—the Lamb, tended by the shepherd, and the Shepherd, Who is able to gather into one peaceful fold the lambs with the wolves, and the calves with the lions. Come, wise men, and bow down before the mystery of the ancient Child; learn from the unspeaking Word, taste of the angelic bread at the table of the speechless animals and see that the Lord is good. Choirs of heavenly hosts who have praised the Lord since the creation of the stars, double and triple your doxology before your Sun, Who has risen for us. Christ is born.

Christ is born in Bethlehem: is this the reason for all the present joy and all the glory to God in the highest? Glory to God: He is also born for us, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given (Is. 9:6). Amid the celebration of His birth, the Church suffers pains of birth, until Christ be formed in us (cf. Gal. 4:19). Let us not disdain the joyful sorrow of our Mother: let us take at least a few traits from the image of the birth of Jesus and let us place them in our hearts.

Bethlehem was the ancestral home of the forefathers of Jesus: however, Joseph and Mary did not have even a poor hut, a piece of inherited land or a permanent residence. Providence, by the hand of Caesar, led them to this place from which, it was determined, would come a ruler of Israel (cf., Matt. 2:6). The foreigners in the land of the forefathers, the newcomers to their own homeland gave a homeland to the Son, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named (Eph. 3:15)—Christians! As long as we live in the world as satiated citizens and enjoy it as its masters, Christ cannot be formed in us. The world continually tries to stamp on our souls its passing images; satiated desires give birth to other desires which imperceptibly grow into giants and build Babylon. Blessed shall he be who shall seize and dash the infants of this Babylon against the rock of faith and alienate himself from the city which exists here in order to see the one that is coming! If Abraham, at the command of God, had not departed from his land and his people, he would not have received the glorious testament, the promise, and the inheritance. If suffering Israel had not decided to endure the difficulties of a dangerous and unknown journey, Jehovah would not have strengthened it and prepared in it a dwelling-place for Himself. If the intuitive mother had not sent the innocent Jacob away from the vengeful Esau, he would not have come to the fearful place, the heavenly gates. Only the homeless strangers find Bethel and Bethlehem—the house of God and the house of the living Bread. Only the voluntary exiles of earth will be received as citizens of heaven. Whoever desires to be a dwelling place of the Son of God, must have his homeland only in God, and with all his ties to his earthly homeland, however natural and proper they may be, he must not compare it to the heavenly.

By taking nothing from this world for his birth, Jesus evidently wished to show that He had no personal possessions. The Carpenter received His name from His father; His mother, having carried Him in Her womb, could offer no other virtue for this service other than, by Her own admission, the sense of Her own unworthiness: For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden (Luke 1:48). He concealed His immeasurable eternity until the day of His birth. A manger became the throne for the King of kings, His robes—swaddling clothes, the first servants of the Kingdom—the shepherds of the flock. The power and wisdom of God were concealed in the infirmities of an infant. But who can measure the distance from the height of His Divine Essence to the depth of His belittlement? The finite mind is not able to comprehend His operations, neither His ascent higher than the heavens, nor His descent to the lowliness of fallen nature. Seeing such humility, what must a heart feel which desires to be formed after the image of Christ? Strength of mind, greatness of spirit, celebrity of deeds, privilege of rank! I am not deceived by you and do not envy those who are proud of you. There is no greater wisdom than to reject wisdom for the sake of Christ; there is no greater glory than to share dishonor with Jesus; there is no greater wealth than the poverty of Jesus. There is no other entrance to perfection and blessedness than through the infancy of Christ; there is no better adornment for the soul, in which He must dwell, than to see itself deprived of all adornment, like His manger. The current of Grace, like the flow of a river, steams into the vales; the cedars on the mountains observe the thunder and lightning. God creates out of nothing: as long as we want and think about being something, God does not begin His work in us. Humility and self-denial are the foundation of His dwelling in us: whoever delves into this more deeply is established higher and more secure.

One of the essential features of the birth of Jesus was the purity of His Mother, not violated either by sight or by thought. She had to have a betrothed, but merely in order to have someone who would be a protector and witness of Her virtue, and so that Her holy virginity would not seem to be disgraced by marriage. At the same time She was, as the Church confesses with one mind, a Virgin before birth, during birth, and after birth. Look at Her example, a soul striving for union with God, and see in the mirror of Her perfection your duty. The Lord is a jealous God. When He says to man with a voice of fatherly kindness: Son, give Me thy heart , His righteous jealousy is commanding, in a spiritual as well as a moral sense: Do not commit adultery . He Who gave us a heart is not satisfied with a larger or smaller portion of it: it must all belong to the Master of everything. He does not consider any kind of love to be worthy of Himself which is not based on love of Him. Every enjoyment which we passionately seek for ourselves, every thought directed toward creation, every distraction, is a departure from Him. Only strict vigilance over oneself can lead to blessed union with Him and maintain it: Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23). The heavenly Bridegroom is betrothed only to wise and chaste virgins, not those sleeping near His bridal chamber. The virgin soul directed only towards God conceives the spiritual life and gives birth to the blessedness of pure contemplation. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ; and where?—in their very heart. A pure soul, just like pure water, receives the living images of the sun and sky.

We will not keep our gaze fixed on those characteristics of the image of the birth of Jesus which might frighten those who wish to imprint them on their own souls, due to their difficulty in imitating. But let us take one more glance at those characteristics in which His Divine glory shone through His humiliation and through which Grace is revealed in our spiritual birth.

At the birth of Christ the Angels proclaim glory to God and peace on earth: at our birth they proclaim the glory of Grace and the peace of man with God. Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (Luke 15:7). Shepherds and wise men come to Christ with piety, in spite of the poverty and obscurity which seemingly separate Him from the whole world. So also he who is united with Christ is united, in Him, with all those who believe in Him, by an indissoluble as well as incomprehensible union. That Spirit which forms from them one community, or rather one body, sometimes unexpectedly, but always in a timely manner, brings them closer to each other, in order for them to mutually edify and learn, comfort and receive comfort, and confess the mercy and glory of God. They offer gifts to Christ: gold, as to a King; incense, as to God; myrrh, as to a deceased of mortals. But did He not promise us that for those who seek the Kingdom of God, all things shall be added (Matt. 6:33)? Does He not want to make us kings and priests unto God and His Father (Rev. 1:6)? Is not our spiritual birth linked with that life-giving death, after which our life will be hidden with Him in God (cf. Col 3:3)?

O God, Who has given us Thy Son! What does Thou not give us thereby? Grant us only that we may give birth to the Spirit of Christ within ourselves and that we may live His life. Then let Herod and all Jerusalem be troubled with us as they were with Him. Let the prince of this age rage and let all the world take up arms: Thou shalt nourish us and with an Angel of Thy counsel Thou shalt lead us to Thy holy mountain. Amen.

Translated from "The Writings of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk" (in Russian), Vol. 1, pp. 16-20. In Orthodox Life vol. 50, no. 6, Nov-Dec 2000, pp. 2-5

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