From the author:

When everything around is bowing at the feet of a new master, to save the people's honor, sometimes a tiny mountain fortress is enough, in which they simply live in the old way - say, they do not renounce their parents and honor the third commandment. We know about one such fortress from the Bible and from Pushkin:

And triumphant over the gorge, Like a man on guard in silence, Vetiluya stands, whitening, In an unattainable height.

The defenders of the fortress do not fight for the sake of glory and not in the name of victory. Not possessing the genius of Alexander or the virtues of Judith, they usually perish, but their stronghold, no matter how small, remains in ruins, the House of God, Bethulia. However, it also happens that paganism, innumerable in its strength, seized by sudden horror, rolls back from the walls of the fortress back to its Nineveh.