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Chapter 40
Beloved Heros and Amora - September 17, 1995


Pearls of Wisdom - Year 1995
Inspired in
Elizabeth Clare Prophet

40  Beloved Heros and Amora - September 17, 1995

Vol. 38 No. 40 - Beloved Heros and Amora - September 17, 1995

     FREEDOM 1995

     SOUL EVOLUTION

     A Fusion of Mind and Spirit

     8

     Bricks of the Ruby Ray

     Planted in the Earth for the Restabilization of the Planet

     So Shall You Prevail!

     The strong arm of Elohim enfolds you and holds you.

     We, Heros and Amora, come in this moment to plant bricks of the ruby ray in the underworld of Death and Hell. And why do we do this? We do this because the planet has been in a process of destabilization for thousands of years, and it is urgent that we counteract this process.

     Therefore, we have chosen this day and date, June 26, 1995, to restabilize the planet not only with ruby-ray bricks but also with rods and cones made up of ruby-ray crystals. These bricks will radiate ruby-ray "heat," and this heat as stored energy will balance inner levels of the earth closest to the core.

     Anent this dispensation, we would tell you, beloved, that the underworld of Death and Hell is the domain of various categories of fallen angels - among them, the evil archons. The archons wage continual warfare against the souls of lightbearers and attempt to stand between them and the Divine Source, thereby preventing them from entering the kingdom of God.1

     To be forewarned is to be forearmed! Therefore, we sound the alert: the archons are the vicious enemies of your soul. They are antichrists. For aeons, these princes of Death and Hell have been integrally involved in bringing about the destabilization of the planet. And in destabilizing the planet, they have also destabilized the souls of the planet. This has been one of their means of aborting the soul's passage into the heaven-world in the hour when her Saviour has called her Home.

     Now let there be a respite for the children of God! And let the heat of the ruby-ray bricks set in motion a ruby-ray disintegration spiral that will cause the disintegration of the atoms, cells and electrons of the archons whom we have bound - and the atoms, cells and electrons of those who have lost their soul and divine spark by plighting their troth to these evil ones. Shadows of their former selves, mere ghosts passing into the flame of the ruby ray, they will vaporize and the planet will be lighter for their passing.

     Angels Will Anchor the Momentum of

     Your Ruby-Ray Decrees in the Ruby-Ray Bricks

     The forces of light who serve on the ruby ray, from the least unto the greatest, will serve as lodestones of the ruby ray. We, Heros and Amora, are therefore reinforcing them by anchoring the crystal substance of the ruby ray from our Causal Bodies into their own. Through that connection, the forces of light will channel the ruby ray into the canyons of the dense earth itself.

     Noble angels who serve the Elohim of the Ruby Ray as well as the Buddha of the Ruby Ray have volunteered to check the destabilizing conditions existing in the depths of the earth and in the lowest levels of the astral plane.

     Although these angels are of the angelic kingdom, they have also spent centuries working under the hierarchs of the Nature kingdom. When you give your calls to the Buddha of the Ruby Ray and to these angels who serve under him, they will anchor the momentum of your ruby-ray decrees in the ruby-ray bricks.

     The Fallen Angels Tremble When the Ruby-Ray Bricks Are Put in Place

     We use the energy emitted from these bricks to curtail the activities of the fallen angels. Beloved, when we position these bricks strategically from the surface of a planet to the center, as we have done in other systems of worlds, the fallen angels tremble. They become nervous and no longer exude confidence in their "superiority" even over mere mortals. For they are no longer certain they will win in the battle of Light and Darkness.

     Before they fell from grace and were cast out of heaven into the earth by Saint Michael the Archangel and his hosts,2 the fallen angels were truly immortal. To this day, they give pretense to a status of immortality that they no longer have. They prance about coated with maya, glamour and layers upon layers of karma, pretenders to a lofty throne they once sat upon but shall never inherit.

     Knowing full well that they are mortal, they come out like the phantom of the opera at a masquerade ball. Yet they will never in all eternity rise to their former state of immortality unless they bend the knee before the Cosmic Christ, the Lord Maitreya, confess their sins against humanity and commit to atone for them.

     "Know Ye Not That We Shall Judge Angels?"

     As you continue your ruby-ray calls for the binding and the judgment of the fallen angels whose time is up and as you continue to go after the dwellers-on-the-threshold of the fallen angels whose time is not up, you will note a perceptible diminishing of the Darkness in the earth and a corresponding increase of Light.

     And moreover, beloved, as Elohim rest their right hand upon your shoulder (for they have found you worthy), conveying to you not only their deep love for you but also the empowerment of Love, so shall you prevail!

     Life is a continuing battle, beloved. And the battle that you wage is often with yourself. How well you know it!

     But you also wage war with fallen angels as year upon year they come to the hour of their final judgment. And we the Elohim and Archangels must have your calls - specifically "The Judgment Call: `They Shall Not Pass!"' by Jesus the Christ - in order that we might defend you in this ongoing Armageddon.

     Archangel Uriel and numberless numbers of legions of light will bind the reprobate ones in answer to your fiats demanding that Divine Justice be meted out in the earth. Yes, the calls of the saints on earth and in heaven and the intercession of the Archangels will deliver justice on behalf of those who cry out for justice in the face of their Nephilim3 tormentors.

     Do you not remember the words of the apostle Paul to the saints at Corinth on this subject?

     Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust [i.e., the ungodly and the Nephilim] and not before the saints?

     Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

     Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?4

     The Binding and Judgment of Fallen Angels

     Effects Far-Reaching Alchemical Change

     The binding of the fallen angels and their removal from the planet inevitably produces changes in the earth and in the psyches of the people - for the most part, changes for the better, beloved. However, it may also result in major cataclysm. For you cannot extract so great a Darkness from the planet without effecting far-reaching alchemical change.

     You may pray that the changes be not physical changes. Nevertheless, they may very well be physical, for people have free will and they have the choice to respond or not to respond to our plea.

     Yet plead we must before you, Keepers of the Flame - even as we bow to the Light within your hearts - for you to give your violet-flame decrees daily so that the equilibrium of this planet and this people might be restored.

     And if, in answer to our plea, violet-flame decreers all over the world create a groundswell of support, there is a distinct possibility that earth changes will take place with but minor cataclysm.

     And that, beloved, is what we are all praying for, isn't it? Indeed, as El Morya has said, "Nature ever prefers the gentler way."5

     Regardless of what happens in the physical plane, there will surely be changes in the etheric envelope of the planet. The question remains: How intense will these changes be? And how will these changes affect the astral, mental and physical planes?

     According to the fervor of your violet-flame decrees, a certain percentage of the negative patterns etched by fallen angels upon the etheric envelope will be consumed each time a company of fallen angels is taken to the Court of the Sacred Fire for the Final Judgment.

     You must realize that records upon records of mankind's karma - karma made during their long enslavement under the fallen angels - will be taken from the earth as the fallen angels are being taken. This will leave a vacuum in the etheric, astral and mental planes that must be filled with Light (not Darkness) in order to forestall major cataclysm.6

     Flush from Your Own Aura Psychic and Astral Substances

     Saint Germain has warned you that nothing good comes out of the psychic, nothing good comes out of the astral.7 Therefore, you must continually flush out the residual psychic and astral substances that cling to your auric sheath like static. But that is not enough: you must replace these substances with the sacred fire of God. Do this by using the "Call to the Fire Breath." This will strengthen your tie to Alpha and Omega and to Elohim.

     Call to the Fire Breath

     I AM, I AM, I AM the Fire Breath of God
From the heart of beloved Alpha and Omega.
This day I AM the Immaculate Concept
In expression everywhere I move.
Now I AM full of Joy,
For now I AM the full expression of Divine Love.
My beloved I AM Presence,
Seal me now within the very heart
Of the expanding Fire Breath of God.
Let its purity, wholeness and love
Manifest everywhere I AM today and forever. (3x)
I accept this done right now with full power!
I AM this done right now with full power!
I AM, I AM, I AM God-Life expressing Perfection
All ways at all times.
This which I call forth for myself
I call forth for every man, woman and child on this planet.

     This Day Is Recorded in the Annals of the Cosmic Christ

     This day of ruby-ray judgment and shake-up in the earth8 is recorded in the annals of the Cosmic Christ, whose mantle rests upon the shoulders of Lord Maitreya. Under the office of the Cosmic Christ, Lord Maitreya monitors potential earth changes as well as the comings and the goings of the fallen angels and the progress of the Christs incarnate.

     You who have been our hands and feet in so many lifetimes have gathered in the Heart of the Inner Retreat, and as you have given your judgment calls this day with Chamuel and Charity, you have walked with Pelleur and his gnomes.

     The elementals who serve under the four hierarchs of the Nature kingdom bow to the light within you, even as you give your obeisance to those above you in the chain of hierarchy. For you are a part of the earth, the water, the air, the fire.

     And therefore remember that the earth is the LORD's9 and that he has entrusted it into your care as his sons and daughters and given you dominion over the earth.10 Planet earth belongs neither to the archons nor to aliens, extraterrestrials, fallen angels or those of other systems of worlds who have no allegiance to God in the person of Elohim.

     These godless ones are interlopers! They have no right to a place in the sun that shines upon the just and the unjust of earth.11

     Thus, let the Archangels bind them hand and foot and take them to the Court of the Sacred Fire on Sirius in answer to your fiats for Divine Justice to prevail on earth. For they do not come to convey the Christ consciousness but to take it and to steal the seed of Christ and the seed of Buddha that live in your heart.

     Because You Hold the Balance,

     We Can Answer the Calls of the Millions

     Now then, beloved, you, the stalwart ones, have prepared your hearts and minds and souls and four lower bodies to be chalices holding the balance of the ruby ray in your chakras, for you have been walking the path of the ruby ray for some time.

     Therefore, with you holding that balance, we can answer the calls of the millions who have become discouraged with religion and life in general, who are despondent and know not the way to go, for their physical and mental deformities are great and they are sick and dying. Much of their suffering can be attributed to the very presence in the earth of the fallen angels and their demon lackeys.

     Every stride you take toward godliness is a mile-high stride, beloved. And it brings about change in the earth as well as change in your own consciousness.

     In the twinkling of the eye of God, people can suddenly see their lives as being worth something. They can have the sense of empowerment that comes from their own Holy Christ Self.

     They can tackle their daily lives, as well as the governments and the economies of their nations. And they can pursue serious study that will connect them with their Higher Self and life beyond this life.

     In sum, they can see themselves and the earth in a new light. And this can happen overnight. You carry the knowledge of this, the hope of this, the joy of this and the energy to see it through! What you and heaven have accomplished this day is wondrous to behold, beloved. Let us repeat it on each of the remaining days of this conference! Let us know our self-worth and let us know what we can do and what we can become.

     We Place Thousands of Ruby-Ray Bricks throughout the Earth

     And now the Elohim send legions of reinforcements to replace the angels of the ruby ray summoned by Chamuel and Charity.12 There is a formal changing of the guard. And now we behold their ranks. They are indeed awesome. In the name and honor of their hierarchs, they stand at attention and, upon command, they assume their posts.

     Now we, Heros and Amora, Elohim of the Third Ray, strategically place thousands of bricks throughout the earth, layering them as we embed them in the earth.

     Our angels will repair the faults in the etheric sheath, and as you intensify your violet-flame rituals they will repair the faults in the earth. And you shall see the curtailment of the power of those who have persecuted the body of God in the earth. Ratify this prophecy by your calls, and it shall swiftly come to pass!

     Receive, then, the blessing of Elohim of the Third Ray and carry our love to a world that with the dawn of each new day is waiting not only for our love but for your love.

     In the peace of the victory of this day, I say:

     Keep the heart's vigil on behalf of all who are engaged in serious battles with the fallen angels.

     Remember Chechnya! Remember Chechnya!13

     By the cosmic cross of white fire and by Mighty Cosmos' secret rays, be sealed in the armour of the warriors of the Spirit.

     Take heed! Do not allow chinks to remain in your armour for a day or an hour. For you will be vulnerable so long as you allow those chinks to remain.

     "The Summit Lighthouse Sheds Its Radiance O'er All the World to Manifest as Pearls of Wisdom."

     The eleven-day conference FREEDOM 1995: "Soul Evolution" was held June 24 through July 4, 1995, at the Royal Teton Ranch, Park County, Montana. This dictation by Elohim Heros and Amora was delivered by the Messenger of the Great White Brotherhood, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, on Monday, June 26, 1995, following the dictations of the Maha Chohan, Paul the Venetian and Archangel Chamuel and Charity (see pp. 349-90, this volume). The message of Heros and Amora builds on the message of Chamuel and Charity, and therefore the Messenger recommends that you review Chamuel and Charity's Pearl in conjunction with your study of this Pearl. See Archangel Chamuel and Charity, "A Fiery Mission: The Scouring of Hell - Bolts of Blue Lightning into the Earth: Let the Lightning Flash Descend!" (Pearl no. 35). "Magnificat Finale" from Dante Symphony by Liszt was played as the meditation music before Heros and Amora's dictation. The June 26 dictations - the Maha Chohan, Paul the Venetian, Archangel Chamuel and Charity, and Elohim Heros and Amora - are available on both video-and audiocassette (includes the preceding service). Videocassette: 2 cassettes, total 2 hr. 37 min., $20.90 plus $3.75 postage and handling, GP95110P. Audiocassette: 3 cassettes, total 3 hr. 36 min., $21.95 plus $3.75 postage and handling, A95063P.

[N.B. This dictation was edited for print by the Messenger under Heros and Amora's direction.]

Bibliography

[1]
Volume 38, Number 38, footnote 26. Pope Leo XIII's prayer. One day as Pope Leo had finished Mass he stopped at the altar as if in a trance. Later he explained he had overheard Satan speaking to Our Lord. Satan requested 75 years to attempt to destroy the Church. The Lord said, "You have the time; you have the power. Do what you will." The pope understood that if the devil had not accomplished his purpose at the end of the time limit, he would suffer a crushing defeat. He also understood that through prayer and sacrifice and living good Christian lives, we could offset the power of the devil and his human agents. Thus, Pope Leo composed a prayer to invoke Archangel Michael's intercession, which was said at the conclusion of Mass for 78 years. This was discontinued after Vatican II. Pope Leo XIII's prayer, revised and updated by the Messenger for students of the Ascended Masters, is included in Archangel Michael's Rosary for Armageddon.
Saint Michael the Archangel, Defend Us in Armageddon
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in Armageddon. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, bind the forces of Death and Hell, the seed of Satan, the false hierarchy of Antichrist and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. And remand them to the Court of the Sacred Fire for their Final Judgment [including (insert optional personal prayer here) ].
Cast out the dark ones and their darkness, the evildoers and their evil words and works, cause, effect, record and memory, into the lake of sacred fire "prepared for the devil and his angels."
In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the Mother, Amen.
Send for Archangel Michael's Rosary for Armageddon, 2 audiocassettes, 2 hr. 45 min., devotional pace, $14.95 plus $2.75 postage and handling, includes 32-page booklet, A93070P. Booklet may be ordered separately, $3.75 (includes postage and handling, #3853P).

Footnotes:

3 Gen. 4:9.
4 Gen. 4:1-16.
5 Over 1.2 million Tibetans killed by the Chinese Communists. See p. 409 n. 21, this volume.
6 A Bodhisattva is literally a "being of wisdom" who is destined to become a Buddha but vows to forgo nirvana until all beings are liberated. In his book The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature, scholar Har Dayal writes: "The Bodhisattva ideal reminds us of the active altruism of the Franciscan friars in the thirteenth century A.D. as contrasted with the secluded and contemplative religious life of the Christian monks of that period. The monk prayed in solitude: the friar `went about doing good.' ... In Buddhism, both the arhat [a Buddhist adept or saint] and the Bodhisattva were unworldly idealists; but the arhat exhibited his idealism by devoting himself to meditation and self-culture, while the Bodhisattva actively rendered service to other living beings" (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1978, p. 29). See also Elizabeth Clare Prophet, July 3, 1992, "The Buddhic Essence," available on both video- and audiocassette: 2 videocassettes, 2 hr., $14.95 plus $2.75 postage and handling, GL93010P; or 4 audiocassettes (includes dictations by Gautama Buddha, Lord Maitreya and Elohim Peace), 5 hr., $29.95 plus $3.75 postage and handling, A93007P; and July 3, 1994, "The Path of the Buddha: Manjushri and the Bodhisattva Ideal," 1 audiocassette, 1 hr. 24 min., $7.50 plus $2.75 postage and handling, B93100P.
7 Rev. 3:12.
8 Lanello's Library of Listening Grace for Keepers of the Flame. Phone or write for information on discount opportunities. You need only buy eight audiotapes to start receiving a 15 percent discount!
9 Nine steps to precipitation. See "Studies in Alchemy," Book 1 in Saint Germain On Alchemy, pp. 49-50, 57-58 ($6.99 plus $2.75 postage and handling, #1835P).
10 fanaticism: See Webster's New International Dictionary, 3d ed., s.v. "fanatic"; and The Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "fanatic," "fanaticism."
11 Matt. 5:37; James 5:12.
12 Matt. 19:26.
13 Connection to King Arthur's Court via telephone patch. The Royal Teton Ranch has equipment that can bridge, or "patch," the audio program in King Arthur's Court through the telephone lines to a certain number of Teaching Centers and chartered Study Groups. Participating Teaching Centers and Study Groups have purchased the same type of equipment in order to patch the audio feed from the phone lines to their audio amplification equipment. This process allows devotees at these centers to simultaneously participate in conferences and services conducted at the ranch. The ranch is negotiating a contract with a teleconferencing company so that all Teaching Centers and chartered Study Groups around the world may take advantage of this opportunity.
14 Adam Kadmon. See p. 410 n. 12, this volume.
15 The ten sefirot. See p. 410 n. 8, this volume.
1 See 1992 Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 35, no. 48, p. 605, and no. 68, pp. 770-71; 1993 Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 69-71, 73, 77-80 and accompanying time-zone map.
2 George G. Ritchie with Elizabeth Sherrill, Return from Tomorrow (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, Fleming H. Revell, 1978), pp. 58-59. Available through Summit University Press, #3877P.
1 The word archon (from the Greek) means ruler, chief, magistrate, lord, prince, or authority. In Gnosticism, the archons are the terrible spiritual powers who rule the world. Scholar Hans Jonas, in an outline of Gnostic tenets, writes: "The universe, the domain of the Archons, is like a vast prison whose innermost dungeon is the earth, the scene of man's life. Around and above it the cosmic spheres are ranged like concentric enclosing shells. ... The spheres are the seats of the Archons. ... The Archons collectively rule over the world. ... As guardian of his sphere, each Archon bars the passage to the souls that seek to ascend after death, in order to prevent their escape from the world and their return to God. ... It is with anxiety and dread that the soul anticipates its future encounter with the terrible Archons of this world bent on preventing its escape." According to Church Father Epiphanius, the Gnostics believed that the archons opposed the exodus of the soul from the world because "the soul is the food of the Archons and Powers, without which they cannot live because she is of the dew from above and gives them strength." See Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity, 2d ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963), pp. 42-46, 130-36, 165-69, 200-226; and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, lecture on the Secret Book of James, available on audiocassette (1 hr. 30 min., $7.50 plus $2.75 postage and handling, B91146P).
2 Rev. 12:7-12.
3 Nephilim. Hebrew, meaning "those who fell" or "those who were cast down," from the Semitic root naphal, meaning "to fall," rendered in the Greek Septuagint, a late translation of the Hebrew scriptures, as "giants" (Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33). The Ascended Masters have revealed that the Nephilim are the fallen angels cast out of heaven into the earth (Rev. 12:7-10, 12). According to scholar Zecharia Sitchin, ancient Sumerian tablets depict the Nephilim as an extraterrestrial superrace who "fell" to earth in spacecraft 450,000 years ago. See Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Forbidden Mysteries of Enoch: Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil, pp. 61-67 ($14.95 plus $2.75 postage and handling, #1592P).
4 I Cor. 6:1-3.
5 "Nature ever prefers the gentler way." El Morya, quoted in Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Climb the Highest Mountain, 2d ed., pp. 482, 484. See also El Morya, Encyclical on World Good Will, p. 18.
6 One of the ways the negative patterns of the fallen angels are reinforced (or re-created) by the mass consciousness is through the replaying of old movies. Projected on the screen - and the screen of people's consciousness - are the bigger-than-life images of the "stars," in many cases fallen angels. Hence, the fallen stars are, in effect, kept alive and immortalized by people who worship them still and give them their attention and therefore their precious energy. As Godfré Ray King used to say, "Where your attention goes, there goes your energy."
7 "Nothing good comes out of the psychic." Godfré Ray King, in his book The Magic Presence, records the following teaching from Saint Germain: "People are entertained, fascinated, and self-hypnotized by the various conditions of the psychic world, but I tell you ... there is nothing good nor permanent within the psychic stratum. It is as dangerous as quicksand, and just as undependable. ... The desire for and fascination [with] psychic phenomena ... holds the attention of the personality away from the acknowledgment, the constant adoration, the continual communion, and the permanent acceptance of the individual's Mighty I AM Presence. Attention to the activities of the psychic plane depletes the personal self of the energy and the ability required to reach to the God Source and anchor there permanently. I tell you eternal Truth when I say that nothing of the Christ comes from the psychic realm, regardless of any seeming evidence to the contrary." See Godfré Ray King, The Magic Presence (Chicago: Saint Germain Press, 1935), pp. 25-26.
8 Ruby-ray judgment and shake-up in the earth. In the dictation preceding Heros and Amora's, Chamuel and Charity announced that they were descending from the octave of the ruby ray into the heart of the earth. Summoning 100,000 legions of angels of the ruby ray to descend with them into the core of the pits of Death and Hell, Chamuel and Charity declared: "We charge into the earth! We bind the foul spirits and demons and the archdeceivers! ... There is actually taking place today ... a shake-up in the bowels of the earth as has not come to pass since the flood of Noah and the sinking of Atlantis. ... So know that in this hour our legions have accomplished an aeon of scouring out, so to speak, of the deep places of the earth. ... Layers upon layers of records in the earth are being literally erased." During the dictation, Archangel Chamuel and Charity led the congregation in fiats and 36 judgment calls for the binding of "every last fallen angel whose time is up and who therefore must be removed from the earth by the fervent calls of those who are in embodiment on earth." (See pp. 379, 380, 387, 389-90.)
9 "The earth is the LORD's ... " Exod. 9:29; Deut. 10:14; Ps. 24:1; I Cor. 10:26, 28.
10 Gen. 1:26, 28.
11 Matt. 5:45.
12 Angels of the ruby ray summoned by Chamuel and Charity. See note 8 above.
13 Update on Chechnya. Chechnya, an oil-rich, primarily Muslim republic of about one million located in the Caucasus Mountains, declared its independence from the Russian Federation in 1991. Since then Russia has supplied and funded loyalists who want to return the region to Russian control. In December 1994, Russian president Boris Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops into Chechnya to subdue it. They destroyed most of the capital city, Grozny. Chechen freedom fighters and thousands of civilians fled into the Caucasus Mountains. In June 1995, Chechens retaliated by raiding Budyonnovsk in southern Russia, seizing a hospital and taking about 2,000 hostages. Russian troops countered by attacking the hospital. In all, about 120 were killed. In January 1996, Chechen fighters seized another hospital and took hostages, this time in the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan. A standoff ensued between Chechen and Russian troops at the village of Pervomayskaya, just short of the Chechen border. Yeltsin ordered Russian troops to attack the town. At first the stated goal was to free the hostages, but after some days the troops obliterated the town in order to defeat the 150 to 250 Chechens who were holed up with 70 to 120 hostages. After repeated vicious attacks, the fighting in Pervomayskaya ended on January 18. Russian officials have issued conflicting accounts about the fate of the Chechen fighters and their hostages. In a related event, on January 16, another group of Chechens captured a Black Sea passenger ferry with nearly 200 people on board and threatened to blow it up unless the Russians stopped the battle at Pervomayskaya. Those holding the ferry surrendered on January 19, releasing all hostages. To date, the fighting over Chechnya's independence has left an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Chechens dead and several hundred thousand homeless. A far smaller number of Russians have also been killed or left homeless.