July 17 is the day of remembrance of the Holy Passion-Bearers Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia
photo from Yekaterinburg on the night of July 17 - the Divine Liturgy is being celebrated. 40-50 thousand pilgrims come these days to Yekaterinburg to the Church on the Blood.
The royal martyrs are the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family. They suffered martyrdom - in 1918 they were shot by order of the Bolsheviks. In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized them as saints. We will talk about the feat and the day of remembrance of the Royal Martyrs, which is celebrated on July 17.
Who are the Royal Martyrs
Royal Passion-Bearers, Royal Martyrs, Royal Family -
this is how, after canonization, the Russian Orthodox Church names the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. They were canonized for the feat of martyrdom - on the night of July 16-17, 1918, on the orders of the Bolsheviks, they, along with the court doctor and servants, were shot in Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg.
What does the word “passion-bearer” mean?
“Passion-bearer” is one of the ranks of holiness. This is a saint who accepted martyrdom for fulfilling God’s Commandments, and most often at the hands of fellow believers. An important part of the feat of the passion-bearer is that the martyr does not hold a grudge against his tormentors and does not resist.
This is the face of saints who suffered not for their actions or for the preaching of Christ, but for the fact by whom they were. The fidelity of the passion-bearers to Christ is expressed in their fidelity to their calling and destiny.
It was in the guise of passion-bearers that Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized.
When is the memory of the Royal Passion-Bearers celebrated?
The memory of the holy Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia is celebrated on the day of their murder - July 17 according to the new style (July 4 according to the old style).
Murder of the Romanov family
The last Russian emperor, Nicholas II Romanov, abdicated the throne on March 2, 1917. After his abdication, he, along with his family, doctor and servants, were placed under house arrest in the palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Then, in the summer of 1917, the Provisional Government sent the prisoners into exile in Tobolsk. And finally, in the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks exiled them to Yekaterinburg. It was there that on the night of July 16-17 the Royal Family was shot - by order of the executive committee of the Ural Regional Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.
Some historians believe that the order for execution was received directly from Lenin and Sverdlov. The question of whether this is so is controversial; perhaps historical science has yet to find out the truth.
Royal wedding
Very little is known about the Ekaterinburg period of exile of the Royal Family. Several entries in the emperor's diary have reached us; There are testimonies from witnesses in the case of the murder of the Royal Family. In the house of engineer Ipatiev Nicholas II and his family were guarded by 12 soldiers. Essentially, it was a prison. The prisoners slept on the floor; the guards were often cruel to them; prisoners were allowed to walk in the garden only once a day.
The royal passion-bearers courageously accepted their fate. A letter from Princess Olga has reached us, where she writes: “Father asks us to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they may have influence, that they do not take revenge for him, since he has forgiven everyone and is praying for everyone, and so that they do not avenge themselves, and so that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will defeat evil, but only love.”
Those arrested were allowed to attend services. Prayer was a great consolation for them. Archpriest John Storozhev performed the last service in the Ipatiev House just a few days before the execution of the Royal Family - July 14, 1918.
On the night of July 16-17 security officer and leader of the execution Yakov Yurovsky woke up the emperor, his wife and children. They were ordered to gather under the pretext that unrest had begun in the city and they urgently needed to move to a safe place. The prisoners were escorted to a semi-basement room with one barred window, where Yurovsky informed the Emperor: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, according to the resolution of the Ural Regional Council, you and your family will be shot.” The security officer shot several times at Nicholas II, and other participants in the execution shot at the rest of the condemned. Those who fell but were still alive were finished off with shots and bayonets. The bodies were taken out into the yard, loaded into a truck and taken to Ganina Yama - an abandoned Isetsky. There they threw it into a mine, then burned it and buried it.
Convent in honor of the Holy Royal Martyrs, p. Kislovka, Belotserkov Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Along with the Royal family, the court doctor Yevgeny Botkin and several servants were shot: the maid Anna Demidova, the cook Ivan Kharitonov and the valet Alexei Trupp
On July 21, 1918, during a service in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon said: “The other day a terrible thing happened: the former Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was shot... We must, obeying the teaching of the word of God, condemn this matter, otherwise the blood of the executed person will fall on us, and not only on those who committed it. We know that he, having abdicated the throne, did so with the good of Russia in mind and out of love for her. After his abdication, he could have found security and a relatively quiet life abroad, but he did not do this, wanting to suffer with Russia. He did nothing to improve his situation and resignedly resigned himself to fate.”
For many decades, no one knew where the executioners buried the bodies of the executed Royal Martyrs. And only in July 1991, the presumed remains of five members of the imperial family and servants were discovered near Yekaterinburg, under the embankment of the Old Koptyakovskaya Road. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case...
Canonization of the Royal Family
People abroad have been praying for the repose of the Royal Family since the 1920s. In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad canonized Nicholas II and his family.
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the Royal Martyrs almost twenty years later - in 2000: “Glorify as passion-bearers in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia royal family: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.”
Why do we honor the Royal Passion-Bearers?
Archpriest Igor FOMIN, rector of the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO:
“We honor the royal family for their devotion to God; for martyrdom; for giving us an example of real leaders of the country who treated it as their own family of origin. After the revolution, Emperor Nicholas II had many opportunities to leave Russia, but he did not take advantage of them. Because he wanted to share the fate with his country, no matter how bitter this fate was.
We see not only personal feat Royal passion-bearers, but the feat of all that Rus', which was once called passing away, but which in fact is abiding. As in 1918 in the Ipatiev House, where the martyrs were shot, so here, now. This is a modest, but at the same time majestic Rus', in contact with which you understand what is valuable and what is of secondary importance in your life.
The royal family is not an example of correct political decisions; the Church glorified the Royal Passion-Bearers not for this at all. For us, they are an example of the ruler’s Christian attitude towards the people, the desire to serve them even at the cost of their lives.”
How to distinguish the veneration of the Royal Martyrs from the sin of kingship?
Archpriest Igor FOMIN, rector of the Church of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO:
“The royal family stands among those saints whom we love and glorify. But the Royal Passion-Bearers do not “save us,” because the salvation of man is the work of Christ alone. The royal family, like any other Christian saints, leads and accompanies us on the path to salvation, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Icon of the Royal Martyrs
Traditionally, icon painters depict the Royal Passion-Bearers without a doctor and servants, who were shot along with them in Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. We see on the icon Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their five children - princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and the heir Alexei Nikolaevich.
In the icon, the Royal Passion-Bearers hold crosses in their hands. This is a symbol of martyrdom, known from the first centuries of Christianity, when followers of Christ were crucified on crosses, just like their Teacher. At the top of the icon two angels are depicted; they carry the image of the “Sovereign” icon of the Mother of God.
Temple in the name of the Royal Passion-Bearers
The Church on the Blood in the name of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land, was built in Yekaterinburg on the site of the house of engineer Ipatiev, in which the Royal Family was shot in 1918.
The Ipatiev House building itself was demolished in 1977. In 1990, a wooden cross was erected here, and soon a temporary temple without walls, with a dome on supports. The first Liturgy was served there in 1994.
Construction of the stone temple-monument began in 2000. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy laid a capsule with a commemorative letter about the consecration of the construction site at the foundation of the church. Three years later, on the site of the execution of the Royal Passion-Bearers, a large white-stone temple, consisting of a lower and an upper temple, grew up. In front of the entrance there is a monument to the Royal Family.
Inside the church, next to the altar, is the main shrine of the Yekaterinburg church - the crypt (tomb). It was installed on the site of the very room where eleven martyrs were killed - the last Russian emperor, his family, the court doctor and servants. The crypt was decorated with bricks and the remains of the foundation of the historical Ipatiev house.
Every year, on the night of July 16-17, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the Church on the Blood, and then believers go in procession from the church to Ganina Yama, where after the execution the security officers took the bodies of the martyrs.
Zhana Bichevskaya song about the royal martyrs
Valery Malyshev Dedication
About the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers
The guidance for Emperor Nicholas II was his father’s political testament: “I bequeath to you to love everything that serves the good, honor and dignity of Russia. Protect autocracy, bearing in mind that you are responsible for the fate of your subjects before the Throne of the Most High. Let faith in God and the holiness of your royal duty be the basis of your life. Be strong and courageous, never show weakness. Listen to everyone, there is nothing shameful in this, but listen to yourself and your conscience.”
From the very beginning of his reign as a Russian power, Emperor Nicholas II treated the duties of a monarch as a sacred duty. The Emperor deeply believed that for the hundred million Russian people, tsarist power was and remains sacred. He always had the idea that the Tsar and Queen should be closer to the people, see them more often and trust them more.
The year 1896 was marked by coronation celebrations in Moscow. Royal wedding - most important event in the life of a monarch, especially when he is imbued with deep faith in his calling. The Sacrament of Confirmation was performed over the royal couple - as a sign that just as there is no higher, so there is no more difficult on earth royal power, there is no burden heavier than royal service, the Lord ... will give strength to our kings (1 Sam. 2:10). From that moment the Emperor felt himself to be a true Anointed One of God. Betrothed to Russia since childhood, he seemed to have married her on that day.
To the great sorrow of the Tsar, the celebrations in Moscow were overshadowed by the disaster on the Khodynskoye Field: a stampede occurred in the crowd awaiting royal gifts, in which many people died. Having become the supreme ruler of a huge empire, in whose hands the entire legislative, executive and judicial power was practically concentrated, Nikolai Alexandrovich took upon himself enormous historical and moral responsibility for everything that happened in the state entrusted to him. And the Sovereign considered one of his most important duties to be the preservation of the Orthodox faith, according to the word of the Holy Scripture: “the king... made a covenant before the Lord - to follow the Lord and keep His commandments and His revelations and His statutes with all my heart and with all my soul” (2 Kings 23 , 3).
Church of the Holy Royal Martyrs , Donetsk, Donetsk and Mariupol diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
A year after the wedding, on November 3, 1895, the first daughter, Grand Duchess Olga, was born; she was followed by the birth of three daughters, full of health and life, who were the joy of their parents, the Grand Duchesses Tatiana (May 29, 1897), Maria (June 14, 1899) and Anastasia (June 5, 1901). But this joy was not without an admixture of bitterness - cherished wish The royal couple had the birth of an Heir, so that the Lord would add days to the days of the king, and extend his years for generations and generations (Ps. 60:7).
The long-awaited event took place on August 12, 1904, a year after the Royal Family’s pilgrimage to Sarov, for the celebration of the glorification of St. Seraphim. It seemed that a new bright streak was beginning in their family life. But a few weeks after the birth of Tsarevich Alexy, it turned out that he had hemophilia. The child's life hung in the balance all the time: the slightest bleeding could cost him his life. The mother's suffering was especially intense...
Deep and sincere religiosity distinguished the Imperial couple from representatives of the then aristocracy. Spirit Orthodox faith The upbringing of the children of the Imperial Family was also permeated from the very beginning. All its members lived in accordance with the traditions of Orthodox piety. Mandatory attendance at divine services on Sundays and holidays, and fasting during fasting were an integral part of the life of the Russian tsars, for the tsar trusts in the Lord and will not be shaken in the goodness of the Most High (Ps. 20:8).
However, the personal religiosity of Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich, and especially his wife, was undoubtedly something more than simple adherence to traditions. The royal couple not only visit churches and monasteries during their numerous trips, venerate miraculous icons and relics of saints, but also make pilgrimages, as they did in 1903 during the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Brief services in court churches no longer satisfied the Emperor and Empress. Services were held especially for them in the Tsarskoe Selo Feodorovsky Cathedral, built in the style of the 16th century. Here Empress Alexandra prayed in front of a lectern with open liturgical books, carefully following the progress of the church service.
Church of the Holy Royal Martyrs, Alushta, Simferopol and Crimean dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
The Emperor paid great attention to the needs of the Orthodox Church throughout his reign. Like all Russian emperors, Nicholas II generously donated to the construction of new churches, including outside Russia. During the years of his reign, the number of parish churches in Russia increased by more than 10 thousand, and more than 250 new monasteries were opened. The emperor himself participated in the laying of new churches and other church celebrations.
The personal piety of the Sovereign was also manifested in the fact that during the years of his reign more saints were canonized than in the two previous centuries, when only 5 saints were glorified. During the last reign, Saint Theodosius of Chernigov (1896), Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky (1903), Saint Princess Anna Kashinskaya (restoration of veneration in 1909), Saint Joasaph of Belgorod (1911), Saint Hermogen of Moscow (1913), Saint Pitirim of Tambov (1914), Saint John of Tobolsk (1916). At the same time, the Emperor was forced to show special persistence, seeking the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Saints Joasaph of Belgorod and John of Tobolsk. Emperor Nicholas II highly revered the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt. After his blessed death, the king ordered a nationwide prayerful commemoration of the deceased on the day of his repose.
During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the traditional synodal system of governing the Church was preserved, but it was under him that the church hierarchy had the opportunity not only to widely discuss, but also to practically prepare for the convening of a Local Council.
Coronation
The desire to introduce Christian religious and moral principles of one’s worldview into public life has always distinguished foreign policy Emperor Nicholas II. Back in 1898, he approached the governments of Europe with a proposal to convene a conference to discuss issues of maintaining peace and reducing armaments. The consequence of this was the peace conferences in The Hague in 1889 and 1907. Their decisions have not lost their significance to this day.
But, despite the Tsar’s sincere desire for the First World, during his reign Russia had to participate in two bloody wars, which led to internal unrest. In 1904, without declaring war, Japan began military operations against Russia - the revolutionary turmoil of 1905 became the consequence of this difficult war for Russia. The Tsar perceived the unrest in the country as a great personal sorrow...
Few people communicated with the Emperor informally. And everyone who knew his family life first-hand noted the amazing simplicity, mutual love and agreement of all members of this closely knit family. Its center was Alexey Nikolaevich, all attachments, all hopes were focused on him. The children were full of respect and consideration towards their mother. When the Empress was unwell, the daughters were arranged to take turns on duty with their mother, and the one who was on duty that day remained with her indefinitely. The children's relationship with the Emperor was touching - he was for them at the same time a king, a father and a comrade; their feelings changed depending on the circumstances, moving from almost religious worship to complete trust and the most cordial friendship.
A circumstance that constantly darkened the life of the Imperial family was the incurable illness of the Heir. Attacks of hemophilia, during which the child experienced severe suffering, were repeated several times. In September 1912, as a result of a careless movement, internal bleeding occurred, and the situation was so serious that they feared for the life of the Tsarevich. Prayers for his recovery were served in all churches in Russia. The nature of the illness was a state secret, and parents often had to hide their feelings while participating in the normal routine of palace life. The Empress understood well that medicine was powerless here.
But nothing is impossible for God! Being a deeply religious person, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to fervent prayer in the hope of a miraculous healing. Sometimes, when the child was healthy, it seemed to her that her prayer had been answered, but the attacks were repeated again, and this filled the mother’s soul with endless sorrow. She was ready to believe anyone who was able to help her grief, to somehow alleviate the suffering of her son - and the Tsarevich’s illness opened the doors to the palace to those people who were recommended to the Royal Family as healers and prayer books.
Among them, the peasant Grigory Rasputin appears in the palace, who was destined to play his role in the life of the Royal Family, and in the fate of the entire country - but he had no right to claim this role. People who sincerely loved the Royal Family tried to somehow limit Rasputin’s influence; Among them were the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth, the Holy Martyr Metropolitan Vladimir...
In 1913, all of Russia solemnly celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov. After the February celebrations in St. Petersburg and Moscow, in the spring, the Royal Family completes a tour of ancient Central Russian cities, the history of which is connected with the events of the early 17th century. The Tsar was greatly impressed by the sincere manifestations of the people's devotion - and the population of the country in those years was rapidly increasing: in a multitude of people there is greatness to the king (Proverbs 14:28).
Russia was at the peak of glory and power at this time: industry was developing at an unprecedented pace, the army and navy were becoming more and more powerful, agrarian reform was being successfully implemented - about this time we can say in the words of Scripture: the superiority of the country as a whole is a king who cares about the country ( Ecclesiastes 5:8). It seemed that all internal problems would be successfully resolved in the near future.
But this was not destined to come true: the First World War was brewing. Using the murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a terrorist as a pretext, Austria attacked Serbia. Emperor Nicholas II considered it his Christian duty to stand up for the Orthodox Serbian brothers...
On July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia, which soon became pan-European. In August 1914, the need to help its ally France led Russia to launch an overly hasty offensive in East Prussia, which resulted in a heavy defeat. By the fall it became clear that there was no imminent end to hostilities in sight. However, since the beginning of the war, internal divisions have subsided in the country on a wave of patriotism. Even the most difficult issues became solvable - the Tsar’s long-planned ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages for the entire duration of the war was implemented. His conviction of the usefulness of this measure was stronger than all economic considerations.
The Emperor regularly travels to Headquarters, visiting various sectors of his huge army, dressing stations, military hospitals, rear factories - in a word, everything that played a role in the conduct of this grandiose war. The Empress devoted herself to the wounded from the very beginning. Having completed courses for sisters of mercy, together with her eldest daughters - Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana - she spent several hours a day caring for the wounded in her Tsarskoye Selo infirmary, remembering that the Lord requires us to love works of mercy (Mic. 6, 8).
On August 22, 1915, the Emperor left for Mogilev to assume command of all Russian armed forces. From the beginning of the war, the Emperor considered his tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief as the fulfillment of a moral and national duty to God and the people: he appointed paths for them and sat at their head and lived as a king in the circle of soldiers, as a comforter to those who mourn (Job 29, 25). However, the Emperor always provided leading military specialists with broad initiative in resolving all military-strategic and operational-tactical issues.
From that day on, the Emperor was constantly at Headquarters, and the Heir was often with him. About once a month the Emperor came to Tsarskoe Selo for several days. All important decisions were made by him, but at the same time he instructed the Empress to maintain relations with the ministers and keep him informed of what was happening in the capital. The Empress was the person closest to him, on whom he could always rely. Alexandra Feodorovna herself took up politics not out of personal ambition and thirst for power, as they wrote about it then. Her only desire was to be useful to the Emperor in difficult times and to help him with her advice. Every day she sent detailed letters and reports to Headquarters, which was well known to the ministers.
The Emperor spent January and February 1917 in Tsarskoe Selo. He felt that the political situation was becoming more and more tense, but continued to hope that a sense of patriotism would still prevail and retained faith in the army, whose position had improved significantly. This raised hopes for the success of the great spring offensive, which would deal a decisive blow to Germany. But forces hostile to the sovereign also understood this well.
On February 22, the Emperor left for Headquarters - this moment served as a signal for the enemies of order. They managed to sow panic in the capital because of the impending famine, because during the famine they will get angry and blaspheme their king and their God (Isa. 8:21). The next day, unrest began in Petrograd caused by interruptions in the supply of bread; they soon developed into a strike under political slogans - “Down with war”, “Down with autocracy”. Attempts to disperse the demonstrators were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, debates were going on in the Duma with sharp criticism of the government - but first of all these were attacks against the Tsar. The deputies claiming to be representatives of the people seemed to have forgotten the instruction of the supreme apostle: Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king (1 Pet. 2:17).
On February 25, Headquarters received a message about unrest in the capital. Having learned about the state of affairs, the Emperor sends troops to Petrograd to maintain order, and then he himself goes to Tsarskoe Selo. His decision was obviously caused by both the desire to be in the center of events to make quick decisions if necessary, and concern for his family. This departure from Headquarters turned out to be fatal. 150 versts from Petrograd, the Tsar's train was stopped - the next station, Lyuban, was in the hands of the rebels. We had to go through the Dno station, but even here the path was closed. On the evening of March 1, the Emperor arrived in Pskov, at the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front, General N.V. Ruzsky.
There was complete anarchy in the capital. But the Tsar and the army command believed that the Duma controlled the situation; in telephone conversations with the Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, the Emperor agreed to all concessions if the Duma could restore order in the country. The answer was: it's too late. Was this really the case? After all, only Petrograd and the surrounding area were covered by the revolution, and the authority of the Tsar among the people and in the army was still great. The Duma's response confronted the Tsar with a choice: abdication or an attempt to march on Petrograd with troops loyal to him - the latter meant civil war while the external enemy was within Russian borders.
Everyone around the Emperor also convinced him that renunciation was the only way out. The commanders of the fronts especially insisted on this, whose demands were supported by the Chief of the General Staff M.V. Alekseev - fear and trembling and murmuring against the kings occurred in the army (3 Ezra 15, 33). And after long and painful reflection, the Emperor made a hard-won decision: to abdicate both for himself and for the Heir, due to his incurable illness, in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. The Sovereign left supreme power and command as a Tsar, as a warrior, as a soldier, until last minute without forgetting his high duty. His Manifesto is an act of the highest nobility and dignity.
On March 8, the commissioners of the Provisional Government, having arrived in Mogilev, announced through General Alekseev the arrest of the Sovereign and the need to proceed to Tsarskoye Selo. IN last time he addressed his troops, calling on them to be loyal to the Provisional Government, the very one that arrested him, to fulfill their duty to the Motherland until complete victory. The farewell order to the troops, which expressed the nobility of the Tsar’s soul, his love for the army, and faith in it, was hidden from the people by the Provisional Government, which banned its publication. The new rulers, some overcoming others, neglected their king (3 Ezra 15, 16) - they, of course, were afraid that the army would hear the noble speech of their Emperor and Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
In the life of Emperor Nicholas II there were two periods of unequal duration and spiritual significance - the time of his reign and the time of his imprisonment, if the first of them gives the right to talk about him as an Orthodox ruler who fulfilled his royal duties as a sacred duty to God, about the Sovereign , remembering the words of the Holy Scripture: Thou hast chosen me as king for Thy people (Wisdom 9:7), then the second period is the way of the cross of ascension to the heights of holiness, the path to Russian Golgotha...
Born on the day of remembrance of the holy righteous Job the Long-Suffering, the Tsar accepted his cross just like the biblical righteous man, and endured all the trials sent down to him firmly, meekly and without a shadow of a murmur. It is this long-suffering that is revealed with particular clarity in the story of the last days of the Emperor. From the moment of abdication, it is not so much external events as the internal spiritual state of the Sovereign that attracts attention. The sovereign, having made, as it seemed to him, the only correct decision, nevertheless experienced severe mental anguish. “If I am an obstacle to the happiness of Russia and all the social forces now at the head of it ask me to leave the throne and hand it over to my son and brother, then I am ready to do this, I am even ready to give not only my kingdom, but also my life for the Motherland. I think no one who knows me doubts this,” the Emperor said to General D.N. Dubensky.
On the very day of abdication, March 2, the same General Shubensky recorded the words of the Minister of the Imperial Court, Count V.B. Fredericks: “The Emperor is deeply sad that he is considered an obstacle to the happiness of Russia, that they found it necessary to ask him to leave the throne. He was worried about the thought of his family, which remained alone in Tsarskoe Selo, the children were sick. The Emperor is suffering terribly, but he is the kind of person who will never show his grief in public.” Nikolai Alexandrovich is also reserved in his personal diary. Only at the very end of the entry for this day does his inner feeling break through: “My renunciation is needed. The point is that in the name of saving Russia and keeping the army at the front calm, you need to decide to take this step. I agreed. A draft Manifesto was sent from Headquarters. In the evening, Guchkov and Shulgin arrived from Petrograd, with whom I spoke and gave them the signed and revised Manifesto. At one o'clock in the morning I left Pskov with a heavy feeling of what I had experienced. There is treason and cowardice and deceit all around!”
Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, Hesbjerg estate , near Odense, Denmark
The Provisional Government announced the arrest of Emperor Nicholas II and his August wife and their detention in Tsarskoye Selo. The arrest of the Emperor and Empress did not have the slightest legal basis or reason.
When the unrest that began in Petrograd spread to Tsarskoe Selo, part of the troops rebelled, and a huge crowd of rioters - more than 10 thousand people - moved towards the Alexander Palace. The Empress that day, February 28, almost did not leave the room of the sick children. She was informed that all measures would be taken to ensure the safety of the palace. But the crowd was already very close - a sentry was killed just 500 steps from the palace fence. At this moment, Alexandra Feodorovna shows determination and extraordinary courage - together with Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, she bypasses the ranks of soldiers loyal to her, who have taken up defense around the palace and are ready for battle. She convinces them to come to an agreement with the rebels and not shed blood. Fortunately, at this moment prudence prevailed. The Empress spent the following days in terrible anxiety about the fate of the Emperor - only rumors of abdication reached her. It was only on March 3 that she received a short note from him. The Empress’s experiences during these days were vividly described by an eyewitness, Archpriest Afanasy Belyaev, who served a prayer service in the palace: “The Empress, dressed as a nurse, stood next to the Heir’s bed. Several thin wax candles were lit in front of the icon. The prayer service began... Oh, what a terrible, unexpected grief befell the Royal Family! The news arrived that the Tsar, who was returning from Headquarters to his family, was arrested and even possibly abdicated the throne... One can imagine the situation in which the helpless Tsarina, a mother with her five seriously ill children, found herself! Having suppressed the weakness of a woman and all her bodily ailments, heroically, selflessly, devoting herself to caring for the sick, [with] complete trust in the help of the Queen of Heaven, she decided first of all to pray before the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God. Hotly, on her knees, with tears, the Earthly Queen asked for help and intercession from the Queen of Heaven. Having venerated the icon and walked under it, she asked to bring the icon to the beds of the sick, so that all the sick children could immediately venerate the Miraculous Image. When we took the icon out of the palace, the palace was already cordoned off by troops, and everyone in it was arrested.”
On March 9, the Emperor, who had been arrested the day before, was transported to Tsarskoe Selo, where the whole family was eagerly awaiting him. An almost five-month period of indefinite stay in Tsarskoye Selo began. The days passed in a measured manner - with regular services, shared meals, walks, reading and communication with family. However, at the same time, the life of the prisoners was subjected to petty restrictions - A.F. Kerensky announced to the Emperor that he should live separately and see the Empress only at the table, and speak only in Russian. The guard soldiers made rude comments to him; access to the palace for persons close to the Royal Family was prohibited. One day, soldiers even took away a toy gun from the Heir under the pretext of a ban on carrying weapons.
Father Afanasy Belyaev, who regularly performed divine services in the Alexander Palace during this period, left his testimonies about the spiritual life of the Tsarskoye Selo prisoners. This is how the Matins service took place in the palace good friday March 30, 1917. “The service was reverent and touching... Their Majesties listened to the entire service while standing. Folding lecterns were placed in front of them, on which the Gospels lay, so that they could follow the reading. Everyone stood until the end of the service and left through the common hall to their rooms. You have to see for yourself and be so close to understand and see how the former royal family fervently, in the Orthodox manner, often on their knees, prays to God. With what humility, meekness, and humility, having completely surrendered themselves to the will of God, they stand behind the divine service.”
The next day the whole family went to confession. This is what the rooms of the royal children looked like, in which the Sacrament of Confession was performed: “What amazingly Christian decorated rooms. Each princess has a real iconostasis in the corner of the room, filled with many icons of different sizes depicting especially revered saints. In front of the iconostasis is a folding lectern, covered with a shroud in the form of a towel; prayer books and liturgical books, as well as the Holy Gospel and a cross are placed on it. The decoration of the rooms and all their furnishings represent an innocent, pure, immaculate childhood, ignorant of everyday dirt. To listen to prayers before confession, all four children were in the same room..."
“The impression [from the confession] was this: God grant that all children would be as morally high as the children of the former Tsar. Such kindness, humility, obedience to the parental will, unconditional devotion to the will of God, purity of thoughts and complete ignorance of earthly dirt - passionate and sinful, writes Father Afanasy, - I was amazed, and I was absolutely perplexed: is it necessary to remind me as a confessor about sins, perhaps unknown to them, and how to incite them to repent of the sins known to me.”
Kindness and peace of mind did not leave the Empress even in these most difficult days after the abdication of the Emperor. These are the words of consolation she addresses in a letter to cornet S.V. Markov: “You are not alone, do not be afraid to live. The Lord will hear our prayers and will help, comfort and strengthen you. Do not lose your faith, pure, childish, remain as small when you become big. It is hard and difficult to live, but ahead there is Light and joy, silence and reward, all suffering and torment. Walk straight on your path, do not look to the right or left, and if you do not see a stone and fall, do not be afraid and do not lose heart. Get up again and move forward. It hurts, it’s hard on the soul, but grief cleanses us. Remember the life and suffering of the Savior, and your life will seem to you not as black as you thought. We have the same goal, we all strive to get there, let us help each other find the way. Christ is with you, do not be afraid."
In the palace Church or in the former royal chambers, Father Athanasius regularly celebrated the all-night vigil and Divine Liturgy, which were always attended by all members of the Imperial family. After the Day of the Holy Trinity, alarming messages appeared more and more often in the diary of Father Afanasy - he noted the growing irritation of the guards, sometimes reaching the point of rudeness towards the Royal Family. The spiritual state of the members of the Royal Family does not go unnoticed by him - yes, they all suffered, he notes, but along with the suffering their patience and prayer increased. In their suffering they acquired true humility - according to the word of the prophet: Say to the king and queen: humble yourself... for the crown of your glory has fallen from your head (Jer. 13:18).
“...Now the humble servant of God Nikolai, like a meek lamb, kind to all his enemies, not remembering insults, praying earnestly for the prosperity of Russia, believing deeply in her glorious future, kneeling, looking at the cross and the Gospel... expresses to the Heavenly Father the innermost secrets of his long-suffering life and, throwing himself into the dust before the greatness of the Heavenly King, tearfully asks for forgiveness for his voluntary and involuntary sins,” we read in the diary of Father Afanasy Belyaev.
Meanwhile, serious changes were brewing in the lives of the Royal prisoners. The Provisional Government appointed a commission to investigate the activities of the Emperor, but despite all efforts to discover at least something discrediting the Tsar, nothing was found - the Tsar was innocent. When his innocence was proven and it became obvious that there was no crime behind him, the Provisional Government, instead of releasing the Tsar and his August wife, decided to remove the prisoners from Tsarskoye Selo. On the night of August 1, they were sent to Tobolsk - this was done allegedly in view of possible unrest, the first victim of which could be the Royal Family. In fact, by doing so, the family was doomed to the cross, because at that time the days of the Provisional Government itself were numbered.
On July 30, the day before the departure of the Royal Family to Tobolsk, the last Divine Liturgy was served in the royal chambers; for the last time, the former owners of their home gathered to pray fervently, asking with tears, on kneel, the Lord for help and intercession from all troubles and misfortunes, and at the same time realizing that they were entering the path outlined by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for all Christians: They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to prison, and bringing you before the rulers for My name’s sake (Luke 21:12). The entire Royal family and their already very few servants prayed at this liturgy.
On August 6, the royal prisoners arrived in Tobolsk. The first weeks of the Royal Family's stay in Tobolsk were perhaps the calmest during the entire period of their imprisonment. On September 8, the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the prisoners were allowed to go to church for the first time. Subsequently, this consolation extremely rarely fell to their lot. One of the greatest hardships during my life in Tobolsk was almost complete absence all sorts of news. The letters arrived with a huge delay. As for newspapers, we had to be content with a local leaflet, printed on wrapping paper and giving only old telegrams several days late, and even those most often appeared here in a distorted and truncated form. The Emperor watched with alarm the events unfolding in Russia. He understood that the country was rapidly heading towards destruction.
Kornilov suggested that Kerensky send troops to Petrograd to put an end to the Bolshevik agitation, which was becoming more and more threatening day by day. The Tsar’s sadness was immeasurable when the Provisional Government rejected this last attempt to save the Motherland. He understood perfectly well that this was the only way to avoid an imminent disaster. The Emperor repents of his abdication. “After all, he made this decision only in the hope that those who wanted to remove him would still be able to continue the war with honor and would not ruin the cause of saving Russia. He was afraid then that his refusal to sign the renunciation would lead to civil war in the sight of the enemy. The Tsar did not want even a drop of Russian blood to be shed because of him... It was painful for the Emperor to now see the futility of his sacrifice and realize that, having in mind then only the good of his homeland, he had harmed it with his renunciation,” recalls P. Gilliard , teacher of Tsarevich Alexei.
Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks had already come to power in Petrograd - a period had begun about which the Emperor wrote in his diary: “much worse and more shameful than the events of the Time of Troubles.” The news of the October revolution reached Tobolsk on November 15. The soldiers guarding the governor's house warmed up to the Royal Family, and several months passed after the Bolshevik coup before the change in power began to affect the situation of the prisoners. In Tobolsk, a “soldiers’ committee” was formed, which, striving in every possible way for self-affirmation, demonstrated its power over the Sovereign - they either force him to take off his shoulder straps, or destroy the ice slide built for the Tsar’s children: he mocks the kings, according to the word of the prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 1 , 10). On March 1, 1918, “Nikolai Romanov and his family were transferred to soldiers’ rations.”
The letters and diaries of members of the Imperial Family testify to the deep experience of the tragedy that unfolded before their eyes. But this tragedy does not deprive the Royal prisoners of fortitude, faith and hope for God’s help.
“It’s incredibly difficult, sad, hurtful, ashamed, but don’t lose faith in God’s mercy. He will not leave his homeland to perish. We must endure all these humiliations, disgusting things, horrors with humility (since we are unable to help). And He will save, long-suffering and abundantly merciful - He will not be angry to the end... Without faith it would be impossible to live...
How happy I am that we are not abroad, but with her [the Motherland] we are going through everything. Just as you want to share everything with your beloved sick person, experience everything and watch over him with love and excitement, so it is with your Motherland. I felt like her mother for too long to lose this feeling - we are one, and share grief and happiness. She hurt us, offended us, slandered us... but we still love her deeply and want to see her recovery, like a sick child with bad but also good qualities, and our homeland...
I firmly believe that the time of suffering is passing, that the sun will again shine over the long-suffering Motherland. After all, the Lord is merciful - he will save the Motherland...” wrote the Empress.
The suffering of the country and people cannot be meaningless - the Royal Passion-Bearers firmly believe in this: “When will all this end? Whenever God pleases. Be patient, dear country, and you will receive a crown of glory, a reward for all your suffering... Spring will come and bring joy, and dry up the tears and blood shed in streams over the poor Motherland...
There is still a lot of hard work ahead - it hurts, there is so much bloodshed, it hurts terribly! But the truth must finally win...
How can you live if there is no hope? You must be cheerful, and then the Lord will give you peace of mind. It’s painful, annoying, insulting, ashamed, you suffer, everything hurts, it’s punctured, but there is silence in your soul, calm faith and love for God, who will not abandon His own and will hear the prayers of the zealous and will have mercy and save...
...How much longer will our unfortunate Motherland be tormented and torn apart by external and internal enemies? Sometimes it seems that you can’t endure it anymore, you don’t even know what to hope for, what to wish for? But still, no one like God! May His holy will be done!”
Consolation and meekness in enduring sorrows are given to the Royal prisoners by prayer, reading spiritual books, worship, and Communion: “... The Lord God gave unexpected joy and consolation, allowing us to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, for the cleansing of sins and eternal life. Bright jubilation and love fill the soul.”
In suffering and trials, spiritual knowledge, knowledge of oneself, one’s soul, increases. Striving for eternal life helps to endure suffering and gives great consolation: “...Everything that I love suffers, there is no counting of all the dirt and suffering, and the Lord does not allow despondency: He protects from despair, gives strength, confidence in a bright future even at this point.” light."
In March it became known that a separate peace with Germany had been concluded in Brest. The Emperor did not hide his attitude towards him: “This is such a shame for Russia and it is “tantamount to suicide.” When there was a rumor that the Germans were demanding that the Bolsheviks hand over the Royal Family to them, the Empress declared: “I prefer to die in Russia than to be saved by the Germans.” The first Bolshevik detachment arrived in Tobolsk on Tuesday, April 22. Commissioner Yakovlev inspects the house and gets acquainted with the prisoners. A few days later, he reports that he must take the Emperor away, assuring that nothing bad will happen to him. Assuming that they wanted to send him to Moscow to sign a separate peace with Germany, the Sovereign, who under no circumstances abandoned his high spiritual nobility (remember the Message of the Prophet Jeremiah: king, show your courage - Epistle Jer. 1, 58), firmly said : “I’d rather let my hand be cut off than sign this shameful agreement.”
The heir was ill at that time, and it was impossible to carry him. Despite fear for her sick son, the Empress decides to follow her husband; Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna also went with them. Only on May 7, family members remaining in Tobolsk received news from Yekaterinburg: the Sovereign, Empress and Maria Nikolaevna were imprisoned in Ipatiev’s house. When the Heir's health improved, the remaining members of the Royal Family from Tobolsk were also taken to Yekaterinburg and imprisoned in the same house, but most of the people close to the family were not allowed to see them.
There is much less evidence left about the Yekaterinburg period of imprisonment of the Royal Family. Almost no letters. Basically this period is known only from short notes in the Emperor's diary and the testimony of witnesses in the case of the murder of the Royal Family. Particularly valuable is the testimony of Archpriest John Storozhev, who performed the last services in the Ipatiev House. Father John served mass there twice on Sundays; the first time was on May 20 (June 2), 1918: “... the deacon spoke the petitions of the litanies, and I sang. Two female voices (I think Tatyana Nikolaevna and one of them) sang along with me, sometimes in a low bass voice and Nikolai Alexandrovich... They prayed very earnestly..."
“Nikolai Alexandrovich was dressed in a khaki tunic, the same trousers, and high boots. On his chest is an officer's St. George's Cross. There were no shoulder straps... [He] impressed me with his firm gait, his calmness and especially his manner of looking intently and firmly into the eyes..." wrote Father John.
Many portraits of members of the Royal Family have been preserved - from beautiful portraits of A. N. Serov to later photographs taken in captivity. From them one can get an idea of the appearance of the Sovereign, Empress, Tsarevich and Princesses - but in the descriptions of many people who saw them during their lifetime, Special attention usually given to the eyes. “He looked at me with such lively eyes...” Father John Storozhev said about the Heir. Probably, this impression can most accurately be conveyed in the words of the Wise Solomon: “In the bright gaze of the king there is life, and his favor is like a cloud with the latter rain...” In the Church Slavonic text this sounds even more expressive: “in the light of life the son of kings” (Proverbs 16 , 15).
Living conditions in the “special purpose house” were much more difficult than in Tobolsk. The guard consisted of 12 soldiers who lived in close proximity to the prisoners and ate with them at the same table. Commissar Avdeev, an inveterate drunkard, worked every day together with his subordinates to invent new humiliations for the prisoners. I had to put up with hardships, endure bullying and obey the demands of these rude people - among the guards were former criminals. As soon as the Emperor and Empress arrived at Ipatiev’s house, they were subjected to a humiliating and rude search. The Royal couple and the Princesses had to sleep on the floor, without beds. During lunch, a family of seven was given only five spoons; The guards sitting at the same table smoked, brazenly blew smoke into the faces of the prisoners, and rudely took food from them.
A walk in the garden was allowed once a day, at first for 15-20 minutes, and then no more than five. The behavior of the guards was completely indecent - they were even on duty near the door to the toilet, and they did not allow the doors to be locked. The guards wrote obscene words and made indecent images on the walls.
Only Doctor Evgeny Botkin remained with the Royal Family, who surrounded the prisoners with care and acted as a mediator between them and the commissars, trying to protect them from the rudeness of the guards, and several tried and true servants: Anna Demidova, I. S. Kharitonov, A. E. Trupp and the boy Lenya Sednev.
The faith of the prisoners supported their courage and gave them strength and patience in suffering. They all understood the possibility of a speedy end. Even the Tsarevich somehow escaped the phrase: “If they kill, just don’t torture them...” The Empress and the Grand Duchesses often sang church hymns, which their guards listened to against their will. In almost complete isolation from the outside world, surrounded by rude and cruel guards, the prisoners of the Ipatiev House display amazing nobility and clarity of spirit.
In one of Olga Nikolaevna’s letters there are the following lines: “Father asks to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they may have influence, that they do not take revenge for him, since he has forgiven everyone and is praying for everyone, and so that they do not avenge themselves, and so that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will defeat evil, but only love.”
Even the rude guards gradually softened in their interactions with the prisoners. They were surprised by their simplicity, they were captivated by their dignified spiritual clarity, and they soon felt the superiority of those whom they thought to keep in their power. Even Commissar Avdeev himself relented. This change did not escape the eyes of the Bolshevik authorities. Avdeev was removed and replaced by Yurovsky, the guards were replaced by Austro-German prisoners and people chosen from among the executioners of the “extraordinary emergency” - the “special purpose house” became, as it were, its department. The life of its inhabitants turned into continuous martyrdom.
On July 1 (14), 1918, Father John Storozhev performed the last divine service in the Ipatiev House. The tragic hours were approaching... Preparations for the execution were being made in the strictest secrecy from the prisoners of the Ipatiev House.
On the night of July 16-17, around the beginning of three, Yurovsky woke up the Royal Family. They were told that there was unrest in the city and therefore it was necessary to move to a safe place. About forty minutes later, when everyone had dressed and gathered, Yurovsky and the prisoners went down to the first floor and led them into a semi-basement room with one barred window. Everyone was outwardly calm. The Emperor carried Alexei Nikolaevich in his arms, the others had pillows and other small things in their hands. At the request of the Empress, two chairs were brought into the room, and pillows brought by the Grand Duchesses and Anna Demidova were placed on them. The Empress and Alexei Nikolaevich sat on the chairs. The Emperor stood in the center next to the Heir. The remaining family members and servants settled in different parts of the room and prepared to wait for a long time - they were already accustomed to night alarms and various types of movements. Meanwhile, armed men were already crowded in the next room, waiting for the killer’s signal. At that moment, Yurovsky came very close to the Emperor and said: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, according to the resolution of the Ural Regional Council, you and your family will be shot.” This phrase was so unexpected for the Tsar that he turned towards the family, stretching out his hands to them, then, as if wanting to ask again, he turned to the commandant, saying: “What? What?" The Empress and Olga Nikolaevna wanted to cross themselves. But at that moment Yurovsky shot at the Sovereign with a revolver almost point-blank several times, and he immediately fell. Almost simultaneously, everyone else started shooting - everyone knew their victim in advance.
Those already lying on the floor were finished off with shots and bayonet blows. When it seemed that everything was over, Alexei Nikolaevich suddenly groaned weakly - he was shot several more times. The picture was terrible: eleven bodies lay on the floor in streams of blood. After making sure that their victims were dead, the killers began to remove their jewelry. Then the dead were taken out into the yard, where a truck was already standing ready - the noise of its engine was supposed to drown out the shots in the basement. Even before sunrise, the bodies were taken to the forest in the vicinity of the village of Koptyaki. For three days the killers tried to hide their crime...
Most of the evidence speaks of the prisoners of the Ipatiev House as suffering people, but deeply religious, undoubtedly submissive to the will of God. Despite the bullying and insults, they led a decent family life in Ipatiev’s house, trying to brighten up the depressing situation with mutual communication, prayer, reading and feasible activities. “The Emperor and Empress believed that they were dying as martyrs for their homeland,” writes one of the witnesses to their life in captivity, the Heir’s teacher, Pierre Gilliard, “they died as martyrs for humanity. Their true greatness stemmed not from their kingship, but from the amazing moral height to which they gradually rose. They became an ideal force. And in their very humiliation they were a striking manifestation of that amazing clarity of soul, against which all violence and all rage are powerless and which triumphs in death itself.”
Along with the Imperial family, their servants who followed their masters into exile were also shot. These, in addition to those shot along with the Imperial family by Doctor E. S. Botkin, the Empress's room girl A. S. Demidova, the court cook I. M. Kharitonov and footman A. E. Trupp, included those killed in various places and in different months of 1918 of the year, Adjutant General I. L. Tatishchev, Marshal Prince V. A. Dolgorukov, “uncle” of the Heir K. G. Nagorny, children's footman I. D. Sednev, maid of honor of the Empress A. V. Gendrikova and goflektress E. A. Schneider .
Soon after the execution of the Emperor was announced, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon blessed the archpastors and pastors to perform memorial services for him. His Holiness himself on July 8 (21), 1918, during a service in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, said: “The other day a terrible thing happened: the former Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was shot... We must, obeying the teaching of the word of God, condemn this matter, otherwise the blood of the executed person will fall on us, and not just those who committed it. We know that he, having abdicated the throne, did so with the good of Russia in mind and out of love for her. After his abdication, he could have found security and a relatively quiet life abroad, but he did not do this, wanting to suffer with Russia. He did nothing to improve his situation and resignedly resigned himself to fate.”
The veneration of the Royal Family, begun by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon in the funeral prayer and word at the memorial service in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow for the murdered Emperor three days after the Yekaterinburg murder, continued - despite the prevailing ideology - throughout several decades of the Soviet period of our history.
Many clergy and laity secretly offered prayers to God for the repose of the murdered sufferers, members of the Royal Family. IN last years in many houses in the red corner one could see photographs of the Royal Family, and icons depicting the Royal Martyrs began to circulate in large numbers. Prayers addressed to them, literary, cinematic and musical works were compiled, reflecting the suffering and martyrdom of the Royal Family. The Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints received appeals from ruling bishops, clergy and laity in support of the canonization of the Royal Family - some of these appeals had thousands of signatures. By the time of the glorification of the Royal Martyrs, a huge amount of evidence had accumulated about their gracious help - about the healing of the sick, the unification of separated families, the protection of church property from schismatics, about the streaming of myrrh from icons with images of Emperor Nicholas and the Royal Martyrs, about the fragrance and the appearance of blood stains on the icon faces of the Royal Martyrs colors.
One of the first witnessed miracles was the deliverance during the civil war of hundreds of Cossacks surrounded by red troops in impenetrable swamps. At the call of the priest Father Elijah, in unanimity the Cossacks addressed a prayer appeal to the Tsar-Martyr, the Sovereign of Russia - and incredibly escaped the encirclement.
In Serbia in 1925, a case was described when one elderly woman, whose two sons died in the war and the third was missing, had a vision in a dream of Emperor Nicholas, who reported that the third son was alive and in Russia - a few months later the son returned home.
In October 1991, two women went to pick cranberries and got lost in an impassable swamp. Night was approaching, and the swamp bog could easily drag in unwary travelers. But one of them remembered the description of the miraculous deliverance of a detachment of Cossacks - and, following their example, she began to fervently pray for help to the Royal Martyrs: “Murdered Royal Martyrs, save us, servant of God Eugene and Love!” Suddenly, in the darkness, the women saw a glowing branch from a tree; Grasping it, they got out to a dry place, and then went out into a wide clearing, along which they reached the village. It is noteworthy that the second woman, who also testified to this miracle, was at that time still a person far from the Church.
A high school student from the city of Podolsk, Marina, an Orthodox Christian who especially reveres the Royal Family, was spared from a hooligan attack by the miraculous intercession of the Royal children. The attackers, three young men, wanted to drag her into a car, take her away and dishonor her, but suddenly they fled in horror. Later they admitted that they saw the Imperial children who stood up for the girl. This happened on the eve of the Feast of the Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple in 1997. Subsequently, it became known that the young people repented and radically changed their lives.
Dane Jan-Michael was an alcoholic and drug addict for sixteen years, and became addicted to these vices from an early youth. On the advice of good friends, in 1995 he went on a pilgrimage to the historical places of Russia; He also ended up in Tsarskoe Selo. At the Divine Liturgy in the house church, where the Royal Martyrs once prayed, he turned to them with an ardent plea for help - and felt that the Lord was delivering him from sinful passion. On July 17, 1999, he converted to the Orthodox faith with the name Nicholas in honor of the holy Martyr Tsar.
On May 15, 1998, Moscow doctor Oleg Belchenko received an icon of the Martyr Tsar as a gift, in front of which he prayed almost every day, and in September he began to notice small blood-colored spots on the icon. Oleg brought the icon to the Sretensky Monastery; During the prayer service, all those praying felt a strong fragrance from the icon. The icon was transferred to the altar, where it remained for three weeks, and the fragrance did not stop. Later, the icon visited several Moscow churches and monasteries; the flow of myrrh from this image was repeatedly witnessed, witnessed by hundreds of parishioners. In 1999, miraculously, at the myrrh-streaming icon of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, 87-year-old Alexander Mikhailovich was healed of blindness: a complex eye operation did not help much, but when he venerated the myrrh-streaming icon with fervent prayer, and the priest serving the prayer service covered his face with a towel with marks peace, healing came - vision returned. The myrrh-streaming icon visited a number of dioceses - Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma, Odessa... Everywhere where the icon visited, numerous cases of its myrrh-streaming were witnessed, and two parishioners of Odessa churches reported healing from leg disease after praying before the icon. The Tulchin-Bratslav diocese reported cases of grace-filled help through prayers before this miraculous icon: the servant of God Nina was healed from severe hepatitis, the parishioner Olga received healing from a broken collarbone, the servant of God Lyudmila was healed from a severe lesion of the pancreas.
During the Jubilee Council of Bishops, parishioners of the church being built in Moscow in honor of the Monk Andrei Rublev gathered for joint prayer to the Royal Martyrs: one of the chapels of the future church is planned to be consecrated in honor of the new martyrs. While reading the akathist, the worshipers felt a strong fragrance emanating from the books. This fragrance continued for several days.
Many Christians now turn to the Royal Passion-Bearers with prayer for strengthening the family and raising children in faith and piety, for preserving their purity and chastity - after all, during persecution Imperial family was especially united and carried the indestructible Orthodox faith through all sorrows and suffering.
The memory of the holy passion-bearers Emperor Nicholas, Empress Alexandra, their children - Alexy, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia is celebrated on the day of their murder, July 4 (17), and on the day of the cathedral memory of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, January 25 (February 7), if this the day coincides with Sunday, and if it does not coincide, then on the nearest Sunday after January 25 (February 7).
Moscow Diocesan Gazette. 2000. No. 10-11. pp. 20-33.
God is marvelous in His saints. Nicholas II
Here are collected testimonies of miracles that occurred through prayers to the murdered Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexei, and the Tsar’s daughters Tatiana, Maria, Olga, and Anastasia.
Until our time, the intercession of the Royal Martyrs for the Russian land and for everyone who turns to them with words of prayer has not ceased.
The holiday of Russian saints was established in 1918 at the All-Russian church cathedral, when open persecution of the Church began. In this time of bloody trials, special support from Russian saints was required, real knowledge that we are not alone on the way of the cross. The Church was in the throes of giving birth to countless new saints. The saints are connected with each other, and one of the most remarkable events of our time is the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II for the construction of a temple of all Russian saints in Yekaterinburg. On the site of the bombed Ipatiev House, where the Royal Family was shot on July 17, 1918. Of course, this means nothing more than the recognition by the Patriarch of the holiness of the Royal Martyrs.
Those who protest against the canonization of the last Russian Tsar say that he died not as a martyr of the faith, but as political victim among other millions. It should be noted that the Tsar does not represent any exception here: the greatest lie of the communist regime was to present all believers as political criminals. It is remarkable that during the Passion, of all the accusations brought against Him, Christ rejected only one - precisely the one that represented Him in the eyes of Pilate as a political figure. My kingdom is not of this world- said the Lord. It is this temptation, an attempt to turn Him into a political messiah. Christ constantly rejected whether it came from the tempter in the desert, from Peter himself, or from the disciples in Gethsemane: return your sword to its place. In the end, what happened to the Sovereign can only be understood through the mystery of Christ’s cross. It is important for the researcher to find a position where the Providence of God is involved, where politics is put in its place and where a view of history is justified that is fully consistent with the church tradition and the faith of our fathers.
The Russian Church knows this type of holiness as passion-bearing: it glorifies those who endured suffering. Among the glorious face of saints in the heart of the Russian people, the holy princes-passion-bearers occupy a special place. They were not martyred for practicing their faith, but became victims of political ambitions caused by a crisis of power. The similarity between their innocent death and the suffering of the Savior is striking. Like Christ in Gethsemane, the first Russian martyrs Boris and Gleb were captured by the trick, but did not show any resistance, despite the readiness of their confidants to intercede on their behalf. Like Christ on Calvary, they forgave their executioners and prayed for them. Like the Savior in the throes of death, they were tempted to act according to their own will, and, like Him, they rejected it. In the consciousness of the young Russian Church, this was combined with the image of that innocent victim about which the prophet Isaiah speaks: Like a sheep, He was led to the slaughter, and like a blameless lamb before its shearer, He was silent.“Gleb’s cook, named Turchin,” writes the chronicler, “slaughtered him like a lamb.” Exactly the same passion-bearers were the princes of Kiev and Chernigov Igor, Prince Mikhail of Tver, Tsarevich Dmitry Uglichsky and Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky.
In the suffering and death of these saints there is much that unites them with the fate of the Royal Martyrs. The sleepless night of Sovereign Nicholas II in prayer and tears, in a carriage at the Dno station, in the black year of renunciation predicted by the saints, is comparable to the Gethsemane of Boris and Gleb - the beginning of his way of the cross, when, as he wrote in his diary, “treason” was all around and cowardice and deceit." The Tsar did not want to fight for power, fearing to become the cause of new bloodshed on Russian soil, already torn by war and civil strife. It is striking, by the way, that this point is used as a trump card by opponents of canonization: there is probably not a single newspaper that does not contain articles on this topic. The very fact of a bold discussion of such a deeply theological problem in the secular press seems to indicate a confusion of ecclesiastical and secular concepts among their authors. What is convincing for non-believers from the point of view of worldly wisdom and morality, for example, half-criticism and half-defense of Sergianism, can be assessed completely differently from a spiritual point of view. Isn’t it clear that in the atmosphere of fear and betrayal that surrounded the Emperor at that time, there was the beginning of revolutionary violence, which ended in a bloody massacre in the Ipatiev House! The king had no no kindness, no kindness, and in this surrender of himself completely to the will of God it would be in vain to look for any earthly success. It was in this defeat that he already had a martyr’s victory, which is not of this world.
Everyone should know this
The Servant of God Nina was honored by the Lord to witness the miraculous appearances of the holy murdered Royal Family. Moreover, they came to her in reality, all seven of them. Throughout her life, Nina repeatedly saw the holy murdered Tsar Nicholas II, but only in sleepy visions. All these extraordinary events were recorded in detail by her in several notebooks. First, she showed them to a fashionable archpriest in Moscow, whose church her family is parishioners of. But the little-faithful priest did not believe her and even ridiculed her in front of everyone. After the threats of this priest, she tore up her notebooks and stopped testifying to the miraculous help that she had received from God through the holy Royal Family. But after some time, God's servant Nina met other people who believed her. We really asked her to write down everything we saw and heard again, and she wrote it down, but not in as much detail as before.
She entrusted us with publishing these recordings in front of all Orthodox people in Russia. God bless!
As a child, I was often sick. And once I was even on the verge of death. This was in 1963. I was six years old then. The parents cried and prayed to God. I went down to the floor and felt very dizzy from weakness. At this time, a man I didn’t know came to us and began to tell my parents to pray to the murdered Royal Family for my recovery. He said: “Only the Royal Martyrs will help your maiden!” I understood that we're talking about about me. He repeated to his parents even more insistently: “Pray, she’s dying!” And at this time I began to lose consciousness and began to fall. He picked me up and said: “Don’t die!” Then he put me on the bed and began to leave. Mom asked him if I was alive? He replied: “Pray to them, everything is possible with God!” The parents began to cry again and began to ask him to stay and pray together. But he firmly said: “Do not be of little faith!” - and left.
As soon as my parents turned to the Royal Family in prayer, I saw that some people were coming to us. The man came in first, followed by a woman and a boy with girls. All of them were dressed in shining white long clothes, on their heads were golden royal crowns decorated with stones. The man had a square cloth in his right hand. He put it on my face and began to pray to God. Then he took the covers off me, took my hand and helped me get out of bed. I felt free and easy. The man asked me: “Do you know who I am?” I answered: “Doctor...” And he said: “I am not an earthly, but a heavenly doctor. God sent me to you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t get up again. You will not die, but will live until my glorification. I am Emperor Nicholas, and this is my entire Holy Family. She came to God through martyrdom!” And he called everyone by name. I approached Tsarevich Alexy and began to examine his crown. Suddenly my mother screamed: “My girl is burning!” And the parents began to look for water. I asked: “Mom, who is burning?” She shouts to me: “Get away from the fire, you’ll burn!” I said: “There are only people here, but there is no fire.” And dad says: “In fact, a very big flame! The fire moves around the room, but nothing lights up! What kind of miracle is this?!” I tell my parents: “Don’t worry, these are the doctors who came to cure me.”
And when they - the Royal Family - were leaving, I asked Tsar Nicholas: “How did they come to God through martyrdom?” And she also asked: “What, you can’t just go to God?” Queen Alexandra said: “Don’t, don’t scare the girl.” And the Emperor said in a sad voice: “Everyone should know this! They did such things to us that it’s terrible to even say!.. They poured us into glasses... and drank with pleasure and gloating that they destroyed us like that!..” I asked: “How did they pour you into glasses and drink?” "Yes. “They did this to us,” Tsar Nicholas answered, “I don’t want to scare you, time will pass and everything will open up. When you grow up, tell people directly: don’t let them look for our remains, they don’t exist!”
Then people from neighboring houses asked: “Who came to you? What kind of relatives did you have, and how were they dressed?!” I said again: “These were doctors from heaven. They came to cure me!” I was still very young then, a preschooler. And Emperor Nicholas himself appeared to me and healed me.
Our teacher was in class the whole time. After his fear passed, he asked: “What kind of fire was there, but there was no smoke?” And he also asked us: “Are you all safe? Nobody got burned? We answered him: “These were people, but there was no fire.” He asked questions, and we told him that Emperor Nicholas was here with his Family. He was perplexed, and kept repeating: “So there are no emperors now!”
Now I already have five children and we live in Moscow. Over the past years, I have seen Tsar Nicholas in my dreams several times. One day the Emperor said: “They don’t believe you, but they will soon believe you.” He repeated this several times and pointed to the wall calendar, where there was an image of him with the entire Family, and said: “Hang it in the holy corner and pray!”
Another time I saw Emperor Nicholas sitting on an elevated place in a huge field, and to his left was a source of strong light. The Emperor told me: “Go, come back, it’s too early for you to come here!” This vision happened more than once.
One day Tsar Nicholas appeared to me in a dream and said: “Come with me, there is very little time left!” We found ourselves inside big building, where there were a lot of people. There was a long table in front, and the authorities sat at the table. Everyone was gloomy. The clergy shone in the center, and to the side were doctors in white coats. Behind them could be seen ordinary people, some of whom were praying: “Lord, don’t let this happen.” The doctors said to themselves: “What are we doing?!” The Emperor approached them and prayed for their admonition. I asked him: “What are they doing?” Tsar Nicholas replied: “They are the ones arguing about me... Tell the clergy not to believe the authorities: these are not my bones! Let them tell the authorities: “We will not recognize the false relics, keep them with you, and we will leave holy name The Emperor and the predictions of the holy saints about him! Tell the priesthood to paint icons and pray. Through these icons I will beg for miraculous help, I have the power to help many... I will receive the power to help all the people when I am glorified on earth! And then, say, Russia will prosper for a short time!.. And let them not divide us on icons. They burned us to powder and drank us!.. And let them not look for our relics. If the clergy don’t believe you and call you crazy, then tell everyone what I tell you! If these false relics are buried in my family tomb, then the wrath of God will fall on this place! Something terrible will happen, not only to the temple, but also to the city! And if these false relics begin to be presented as saints, then I will pray to the Lord to burn them with fire... All the liars will fall dead! And those who venerate false relics will have a demon, they will go crazy and even die! And then there will be war! Demons will come out of the abyss, drive you out of your homes, and won’t let you into churches... Tell everyone that if we glorify Tsar Nicholas, he will arrange everything!.. and there will be no war!.. Write it down and pass it on to the clergy. But first you will give these words of mine to the wrong people. Among the priesthood there are not real ones, but framed, deceitful ones... They will hide a lot from people from what I said. And others will believe you and help you. As soon as you work for the glory of God, you will reap the fruits!”
The last time I saw Emperor Nicholas in reality was last winter. We arrived at the St. Danilovsky Monastery. Everyone went off to attend to their needs, and I stayed with the kids to guard the bags. A man came up and said to me: “Why have you forgotten about the Emperor?” I look at him in surprise and remain silent. He asked: “Why are you silent, Nina?” I replied: “Sorry, I don’t know you.” And he tells me: “You know me!” I shrugged my shoulders and silently prayed: “Lord, help me, what does he want from me?” He began to say amazing words to me: “It’s not for nothing that I raised you from your deathbed! Remember how I came to you with my entire Family, and you touched our crowns with your hands. My name is Tsar Nicholas! And suddenly he asked me: “Why are you silent and don’t act?!” “But,” I say, “I don’t know how to act or speak?..” He said to me: “You know, and you know even more than that!” Then I confessed to him: “If I know something, then my father Fr. Dmitry ordered to remain silent and to burn the notebook... She and my husband consider me abnormal because of it!” Then Emperor Nicholas says: “BEWARE OF EVERYONE WHO WILL DRIVE YOU FROM THE HOLY WORK! THEY ARE GOING AGAINST THE WILL OF GOD AND THE ROYAL WILL, BUT SOON THEY WILL GIVE AN ANSWER FOR THIS! (these words of the Sovereign are highlighted in the text of the collection “Crimean Athos”) And today you will come home and write down everything that happened to you in childhood and that I revealed to you! Fold your hands, I will bless you." I tell him: “You’re not a priest...” And he said: “Why are you looking at my clothes, we can come in different ways.” He blessed me and immediately disappeared. His words radiated calm and warmth. Then suddenly I started crying. Our people began to come up and ask: “What happened? Why are you crying?" I say: “A man who once treated me came up to me.” Our leader said: “Don’t listen to anyone! There are all sorts of people walking around here and upsetting people. Drop everything and calm down...” I tell her: “He blessed me and disappeared.” She shuddered: “How did you disappear?!” And he asks me: “Is he a priest?!” I say "No". “Did you recognize his name?” - asks. I tell her: “He told me that he is Emperor Nicholas.” She then stood up and said that we don’t have emperors now, and for some reason she herself went to the place where the Emperor appeared and began shouting: “Who is Emperor Nicholas here? We want to talk to you!” Two people came up to us at once: “Why are you lamenting like that?!” There is no Emperor here, this is a monastery! You better pray...” And they walked away. And we began to pray: “Lord, send us Tsar Nicholas!” And then the priest came up to us and asked her: “Who are you looking for? " She answered: "The king." And he asked again: “Nicholas?” She says: “Yes, yes,” and he asked her: “What do you want?” She replies: “Well, some man came up to her and said something... Now she’s crying. That's why I wanted to talk to him." And he told her: “Then speak, I’m listening. Ask, I will answer...” Then she turns to him: “Father, tell us, is Emperor Nicholas here?” He says: “Yes. Just not on earth, but in Heaven. Ask if you have another question, I will answer. And he (pointing at me) has already told her everything that needs to be done today!..” She asked me: “What has he already told you?” And I answered her: “That other person was not in vestments...” He smiled and told me: “So I am the person who came to you.” And she, seeing that the Emperor began to move away from us, grabbed the hem of his cassock with her hands and said: “Father, bless us...” He answered her: “You have a lot of pride, repent of your lack of faith!” And Emperor Nicholas began to disappear before our eyes, as if going upward, until he disappeared into thin air...
Pray for me, unworthy and sinful!
From the magazine "Crimean Athos"(6/1998 - 1/1999)
Vision of sailor Silaev
The vision that sailor Silaev had from the cruiser Almaz. This vision is described in the book of Archimandrite Panteleimon “The Life, Deeds, Miracles and Prophecies of Our Holy Righteous Father John, the Wonderworker of Kronstadt.”
“On the very first night after communion,” says sailor Silaev, “I had a terrible dream. I came out into a huge clearing that had no end; A light brighter than the sun pours from above, which one cannot look at, but this light does not reach the ground, and it seems to be all shrouded in either fog or smoke. Suddenly a singing was heard in the heavens, so harmonious and touching: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!” It was repeated several times, and behold, the entire clearing was filled with people in some special attire. In front of everyone was our Martyr Sovereign in royal purple and crown, holding in his hands a cup filled to the brim with blood. On the right next to him is a beautiful youth, the Heir Tsarevich, in a uniform, also with a cup of blood in his hands, and behind them, on his knees, is the entire tortured Royal Family in white robes and everyone has a cup of blood in their hands. In front of the Sovereign and Heir, on his knees, raising his hands to the heavenly radiance, stands and fervently prays to Fr. John of Kronstadt, turning to the Lord God, as if to a living being, as if he sees Him, for Russia, mired in evil spirits. This prayer made me sweat: “Master All-Holy, see this innocent blood, hear the groans of Your faithful children, who did not destroy Your talent, and do according to Your great mercy to Your chosen people who have now fallen! Do not deprive him of Your holy chosenness, but restore to him the mind of salvation, stolen from him in his simplicity by the wise of this age, so that, rising from the depths of his fall, and soaring on spiritual wings to the heights, they will glorify Your most holy name in the universe. The faithful martyrs pray to Thee, bringing their blood to Thee. Accept it to cleanse the iniquities of Your people, free and unwilling, forgive and have mercy.” After this, the Emperor raises the cup of blood and says: “Master, King of kings and Lord of lords! Accept the blood of me and my family to cleanse all the voluntary and involuntary sins of my people, entrusted to me by You, and raise them from the depths of their current fall. I know Your justice, but also the boundless mercy of Your mercy. Forgive me and have mercy on me, and save Russia.” Behind him, extending his cup upward, the pure youth Tsarevich spoke in a childish voice: “God, look at your perishing people, and extend to them the hand of deliverance. All-Merciful God, accept my pure blood for the salvation of innocent children who are being corrupted and perishing on our land, and accept my tears for them.” And the boy began to sob, spilling his blood from the cup onto the ground. And suddenly the whole multitude of people, kneeling down and raising their bowls to heaven, began to pray in one voice: “God, righteous Judge, but kind and merciful Father, accept our blood to wash away all the defilements committed on our land, and in our minds, and in unreason, for how can a person do unreasonable things in the mind of a being! And through the prayers of Your saints, who have shone in our land with Your mercy, return to Your chosen people, who have fallen into Satan’s snares, the mind of salvation, so that they may tear apart these destructive snares. Do not turn away from him completely, and do not deprive him of Your great chosenness, so that, having risen from the depths of his fall, he will glorify Your magnificent name throughout the entire universe, and will faithfully serve You until the end of centuries.” And again in the sky, more touchingly than before, the singing of “Holy God” was heard. I feel like goosebumps are running down my spine, but I can’t wake up. And finally I hear - the solemn singing of “Glorious be glorified” flashed across the entire sky, incessantly rolling from one end of the sky to the other. The clearing instantly became empty and seemed completely different. I see many churches, and such a beautiful ringing of bells is heard, my soul rejoices. Comes up to me o. John of Kronstadt says: “God’s sun has risen over Russia again. Look how it plays and rejoices! Now great Easter in Rus', where Christ was resurrected. Now all the powers of heaven rejoice, and after your repentance, you have labored since the ninth hour, and you will receive your reward from God.”
The Dream of Metropolitan Macarius
Soon after the revolution of 1917, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, lawlessly removed from the pulpit by the Provisional Government, a man truly “like one of the ancients,” had a vision: “I see,” he says, “a field, the Savior is walking along a path. I follow Him, and I keep repeating: “Lord, I am following You!” - and He, turning to me, still answers: “Follow Me!” Finally, we came to a huge arch decorated with flowers. On the threshold of the arch, the Savior turned to me and again said: “Follow Me!” - and entered a wonderful garden, and I remained on the threshold and woke up. Having soon fallen asleep, I see myself standing in the same arch, and behind it with the Savior stands Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich. The Savior says to the Emperor: “You see, there are two bowls in My hands. This one is bitter, for your people, and the other, sweet, is for you.” The Emperor falls to his knees and prays for a long time to the Lord to let him drink the bitter cup instead of his people. The Lord did not agree for a long time, but the Emperor persistently prayed. Then the Savior took out a large hot coal from the bitter cup and placed it on the Emperor’s palm. The Emperor began to transfer the coal from palm to palm and at the same time his body began to become enlightened until he became all bright, like a bright spirit. With this I woke up again. Having fallen asleep for the second time, I see a huge field covered with flowers. The Emperor stands in the middle of the field, surrounded by many people, and with his own hands distributes manna to them. An invisible voice at this time says: “The Emperor took the guilt of the Russian people upon himself, and the Russian people are forgiven.” What is the secret of the power of the Emperor’s prayer? In faith in the Lord and in love for enemies. Was it not for this faith that the Son of God promised the power of prayer that can move mountains? And today we reflect again and again on the last reminder of the holy King: “The evil that is in the world will be even stronger, but it is not evil that will win, but love.”
Miracles in Serbia
And another well-known story about a miracle that occurred in Serbia.
On March 30, 1930, a telegram was published in Serbian newspapers that Orthodox residents of the city of Leskovac in Serbia turned to the Synod of the Orthodox Serbian Church with a request to raise the issue of canonizing the late Russian Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II, who was not only the most humane and pure-hearted ruler of the Russian people, but also died a glorious martyr’s death. Back in 1925, a description appeared in the Serbian press of how an elderly Serbian woman, whose two sons were killed in the war and one was missing, who considered the latter also killed, one day, after fervent prayer for all those who died in the last war, was vision. The poor mother fell asleep and saw in a dream Emperor Nicholas II, who told her that her son was alive and in Russia, where he, along with his two murdered brothers, fought for the Slavic cause. “You will not die,” said the Russian Tsar, “until you see your son.” Soon after this prophetic dream, the old woman received news that her son was alive, and a few months after that, she, happy, hugged him alive and well, having arrived from Russia to his homeland. This case of a miraculous appearance in a dream of the late Russian Emperor Nicholas II, beloved by the Serbs, spread throughout Serbia and was passed on from mouth to mouth. The Serbian Synod began to receive information from all sides about how ardently the Serbian people, especially the simple ones, loved the late Russian Emperor and considered him a saint. On August 11, 1927, a notice appeared in newspapers in Belgrade under the title “The Face of Emperor Nicholas II in the Serbian Monastery of St. Naum, on Lake Ohrid.” This message read: “The Russian artist and academician of painting Kolesnikov was invited to paint a new temple in the ancient Serbian monastery of St. Naum, and he was given complete freedom creative work in decorating the internal dome and walls. While performing this work, the artist decided to paint on the walls of the temple the faces of fifteen saints, placed in fifteen ovals. Fourteen faces were painted immediately, but the place of the fifteenth remained empty for a long time, since some inexplicable feeling forced Kolesnikov to wait. One day at dusk Kolesnikov entered the temple. It was dark below, and only the dome was pierced by the rays of the setting sun. As Kolesnikov himself later said, at that moment there was a charming play of light and shadows in the temple. Everything around seemed unearthly and special. At that moment, the artist saw that the empty blank oval he had left had come to life, and from it, as if from a frame, the mournful face of Emperor Nicholas II was looking out. Struck by the miraculous appearance of the martyred Russian Sovereign, the artist stood rooted to the spot for some time, overcome by some kind of stupor. Further, as Kolesnikov himself describes, under the influence of a prayerful impulse, he placed a ladder against the oval and, without drawing the contours of the wonderful face with charcoal, began laying it with brushes alone. Kolesnikov could not sleep all night, and as soon as the light broke, he went to the temple and, at the first morning rays of the sun, was already sitting at the top of the stairs, working with such fervor as never before. As Kolesnikov himself writes, “I wrote without photography. At one time I saw the late Emperor several times, giving him explanations at exhibitions. His image is imprinted in my memory. I finished my work, and provided this portrait-icon with the inscription: All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II, who accepted the crown of martyrdom for the prosperity and happiness of the Slavs.” Soon, the commander of the troops of the Bitola Military District, General Rostich, arrived at the monastery. Having visited the temple, he looked for a long time at the face of the late Emperor painted by Kolesnikov, and tears flowed down his cheeks. Then, turning to the artist, he quietly said: “For us, Serbs, this is and will be the greatest, the most revered of all saints.”
This incident, as well as the vision of the old Serbian woman, explains to us why the residents of the city of Leskovac, in their petition to the Synod, say that they place the late Russian Sovereign Emperor on a par with the Serbian national saints - Simeon, Lazar, Stephen and others. In addition to the above cases about the appearance of the late Sovereign to individuals in Serbia, there is a legend that every year on the night before the assassination of the Sovereign and his family, the Russian Emperor appears in cathedral in Belgrade, where he prays in front of the icon of St. Sava for the Serbian people. Then, according to this legend, he goes on foot to the main headquarters and there checks the condition of the Serbian army. This legend spread widely among the officers and soldiers of the Serbian army.
The story of Hieroschemamonk Kuksha (Velichko)
“When I turned 14, I no longer lived at home, but was a novice in a monastery, and then I graduated from the seminary and at the age of 19 became a hieromonk. He was a royal priest and traveled from train to car to give communion to wounded soldiers. It happened that we were coming from the front, carrying a whole carriage of wounded. They were placed in three floors, even cradles were hung for the seriously wounded. On the road, on the go, we had liturgy from 7 to 10 in the morning. All the soldiers came from all the carriages, with the exception of those on duty, but this time the soldiers on duty also came, since the day was Sunday according to God's providence. One carriage was a church, the other a kitchen, a road hospital. The train is large - 14 cars. When we were approaching where the battle was going on, the Austrians unexpectedly made an ambush and overturned all the carriages, with the exception of four carriages, which remained unharmed by the providence of God. We got through miraculously, all the soldiers were saved, and what’s even more surprising is that the line was also damaged. The Lord Himself brought us out of such a fire. We arrived in Constantinople (the reigning city of St. Petersburg), and we were already met there. We get out of the cars and look - there is a 20-meter-long path running from the station to the square itself. They said that the Tsar (Emperor Nicholas II) had arrived and wanted to see us all. We lined up in two rows, soldiers and priests from different trains. In our hands we hold service crosses and bread and salt. The Tsar arrived, stood among us and said a speech: “Holy Fathers and Brothers! Thank you for your exploits. May God send His grace to you. I wish you to be like Sergius of Radonezh, Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk and in the future to pray for us all sinners.” And so everything came true. After his words, all of us, the military clergy, ended up on Athos. And everyone to whom he wished holiness became schema-monks, including me, a sinner.”
To better understand the meaning for Fr. After this meeting with the Tsar, let’s get acquainted with some episodes of his life.
“It was on the seashore: cold, frost, snow, and we were all hungry, even more freezing, all the monks and priests. I sat down on the edge of the raft, praying, asking the Lord: “Lord, You are all-seeing, You fed Your prophets, without leaving them, and Your servant is hungry, do not leave us either, Lord. Give strength in work and patience, in the cold.” I look - a raven is flying, in its claws is a loaf of white bread, the likes of which we have not seen for a long time, and some kind of bundle. He carried it and placed it directly on my lap. I look, and the sausage in the package is probably more than 1 kg. I called the bishop, he blessed it and distributed it to everyone. We thanked the Lord for His great mercy towards us sinners. The Lord strengthened us for the whole day. On the third day we worked in the snow again, I sat down to rest, but I was hungry. In the morning before work they gave me a cracker. If it weren’t for the Lord, no one would have stood it, the work is hard. I sit and think: “Lord, do not forsake us sinners.” I hear some noise. Not far from us a car arrived with pies and food for civilian workers. The pies were being unloaded, apparently for lunch. Crows flew at them and there was a noise. One raven is flying towards me, he has pies in his claws, two in one, three in the other. He flew up and dropped me on my lap.”
O. Kuksha is a holy man who can give a genuine assessment of holiness from within. He knows through whose intercession he was granted the grace of schema-mongering. The miracle that happened to him in exile and the miracle of saving everyone on the train in four cars thanks to Divine Liturgy, when the remaining ten carriages were crushed by bomb attacks, he puts it on a par with the miracle of the Tsar's wish.
On the day of the murder of the Royal Family.
The story of monk Boris (in the schema of Nicholas)
Just as the abdication of the Tsar on March 2, 1917 was sealed by the appearance of the miraculous image of the Sovereign Mother of God, the murder of the Royal Family was an event in the Church on earth and in heaven.
“On the evening of July 17, 1918, we arrived from mowing by boat at nine o’clock. Tired, I had dinner in the refectory and drank tea. He came to the cell, read a prayer for the coming sleep, crossed the bed on all four sides with the prayer “May God rise again,” and so on. Tired, I fell into a deep sleep.
Midnight. In a dream I hear joyful and pleasant solemn singing. It became clear in my soul, and out of joy I sang this song loudly, at the top of my voice: “Praise the Name of the Lord. Praise the servants of the Lord. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Blessed be the Lord of Zion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Confess to the Lord that He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah." I woke up from the joyful loud sound of singing. The soul was definitely not at home, it was so pleasant and joyful. I repeated this song of the Lord to myself, sitting on my bed and wondering why I sang so much in my sleep. I looked around: it was dark all around, so I couldn’t see what time it was. I wanted to go back to sleep, but my inner voice said: “Fulfill your little rule, and the rest will follow.” I obeyed, got out of bed, in the dark, before the Savior, fulfilled half of my rule and wanted to go to bed, but my conscience spoke again: “Pray before miraculously Mother of God,” and I fell on my knees before this image of the “Helper of Sinners” with zeal and tenderness; it felt good. The inner voice continued: “Pray, pray to the Lord and the Queen of Heaven, our Intercessor before His Son and our Lord, ask for mercy and protection, for the preservation of the Russian state and for the preservation of Christ-loving people, and for the overcoming of enemies visible and invisible, and for the installation of a Tsar in Russia after His own heart, and about the preservation of our monastery and those living in it, our brethren, and about preservation from evil people and insurance, from famine, flood, fire, sword and internecine warfare. Preserve, O Most Gracious Lady, our monastery and our brethren living with our rector, Fr. Peacock. How You Yourself came from distant places to us sinners to save and preserve this monastery with Your honest protection, intercession before Your Son and our God. Oh, our reverend fathers, Sergius and German, do not abandon us, sinners; mercy, pray to the Lord for us together with the Mother of God, may the Lord preserve us with His mercy at your request.”
So, standing before the miraculous image of the Mother of God, I prayed. An inner voice told me: “Ask for this in the darkness of the night with zeal.” When I, a sinner, finished my petition, I went to bed again. After a little while the bell was rung for the Midnight Office. I woke up and went to church. All day I, a sinner, felt good. This song sounded in my ears all the time.” That night the family of Nicholas II was brutally exterminated.
From documents collected by Georgy Novikov
They were published in the St. Petersburg Diocesan Gazette. In 1958, a 12-year-old Orthodox Russian girl Galina, who lived in the town of Khislavichi in the former Mogilev province, 100 versts east of Mogilev, now in the Smolensk region, had a dream. As if in some room on an elevated place stood the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II. He was dressed in an old Russian uniform, as in tsarist army, with orders. He had a beard and brown hair, a very Russian face, and “like God, a saint.” He looked at her tenderly and said something good, but she doesn’t remember what exactly. Her feeling was such that she was not at all afraid, she was interested, and in her heart there was peace, calmness and joy. In the morning the girl told her dream to her grandmother, with whom she lived, “that she saw God as a Tsar,” in the old Russian military uniform. “How do you know that it was the Tsar? You’d think you’ve seen the Tsar in your life!” - asked the grandmother. Galina had never really seen the Tsar in her life, even in photographs or portraits, but this is exactly how she imagined him, thought even earlier, and was sure that this is exactly how he should look. “As if there was no war,” said the grandmother. "Now?" - Galina asked. “No, in your lifetime,” she answered.
Testimony of the monk Hippolytus
And one more testimony received from the monk of Zosimova Hermitage Hippolytus. “Before I entered the monastery,” says Fr. Ippolit, I remember, I brought to my parents a portrait of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Taught by the time of the Soviet period to think about the despotism of tsars, my parents were perplexed about what kind of glorification we could be talking about, looking with alarm at these two portraits hung in a prominent place. My mother, a writer by training, immediately remembered Bloody Sunday of 1905, the Lena execution of workers, but, having feared God since childhood, she refrained from making many statements, asking only the question to herself: “How is this possible?!” My father, an unbeliever, as he called himself, did not skimp on his statements, but at the same time, having anger at the communists, he expressed regret about the fate of the Royal Martyrs. The nervousness of the home situation with various comments addressed to the Tsar was aggravated by the critical situation of my parents, or rather, my father: he was threatened with prison, since through his simplicity and ignorance he fell into a crowd of swindlers. A criminal case had already been opened, interrogations had already taken place, and a trial date had been set. And so, the parent sees a dream at night: the Emperor himself is standing in an officer’s uniform of the Tsar’s army, with shoulder straps, tall, blue-eyed, all fair, standing half-turned to the parent, and someone dressed in black says to the parent: “Bow to him, and he will help you!" - and he bowed. He also remembers: the Tsar is surrounded by his family and children. After this, the parent and his mother went to the small village parish church in honor of the Archangel of God Michael and all the ethereal heavenly powers and served a prayer service to the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas and all the Royal Martyrs, who agreed to serve the parish priest, having previously listened to the dream that the parent had. And what? Somewhere after 3-4 days there was a coup in Moscow, the famous shooting of the White House. And immediately there was a revolution in the region, they also replaced the head of the administration in the district, who hated the parent and in every possible way wanted to blame him and send him to prison. The change of officials gave hope for a lenient attitude towards the parent. Then, after a while there was a trial. My father was given one year of probation, and then an amnesty, and his conviction was expunged, and only one of the six defendants was expunged.
After this incident, the parent’s attitude towards the Tsar changed and even became reverent. Having once felt real help, he had hitherto blasphemed everything holy, and having stumbled upon another difficulty, he ran again to the one from whom he had already seen this help - to Tsar Nicholas II and all the Tsar’s martyrs, and it was so. The parent, himself a farmer, found himself in a situation where there was nothing to sow. There were no seeds to sow, and all this threatened to leave him not only without money, but also to give away all his property to pay off his debts. Together with their mother, they again served a prayer service to Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and all the Tsar’s martyrs. Immediately after this, the governor of a nearby monastery comes to their home and tells the parent that he has an acquaintance who wants to give him seeds for sowing. The entire land was sown, 150 hectares.”
HOLY ROYAL PASSION-BEARERS (†1918)
July 17 is the day of remembrance of the holy Royal Passion-Bearers of the Most Pious Autocratic Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, the Wife of His Most Pious Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the Heir of the Blessed Tsarevich Alexy Nikolaevich, the Blessed Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, Maria Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaev us.
On the night of July 16-17, 1918, a terrible crime was committed - in Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, His Family and faithful people who voluntarily remained with the Royal prisoners and shared Their fate were shot.
The Day of Remembrance of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers allows us to see how it is possible for a person to follow Christ and be faithful to Him, despite any sorrows and trials in life. After all, what the holy Royal martyrs endured goes beyond the boundaries of human understanding. The suffering they endured (suffering not only physical, but also moral) exceeds the measure of human strength and capabilities. Only a humble heart, a heart completely devoted to God, was capable of bearing such a heavy cross. It is unlikely that anyone else's name has been so maligned as that of Tsar Nicholas II. But very few endured all these sorrows with such meekness and such complete trust in God, as the Emperor did.
Childhood and adolescence
The last Russian Emperor Nicholas II was the eldest son of the Emperor Alexandra III and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna (daughter of the Danish king Christian VII). He born May 6 (19), 1868 on the day of rights Job the Long-Suffering near St. Petersburg, in Tsarskoe Selo.
The upbringing he received under the guidance of his father was strict, almost harsh. "I need normal, healthy Russian children"- this was the demand put forward by the Emperor to the educators of his children. And such an upbringing could only be Orthodox in spirit. Even as a small child, the Heir Tsarevich showed special love for God and His Church. He was deeply touched by every human grief and every need. He began and ended the day with prayer; He knew well the order of church services, during which he loved to sing along with the church choir. Listening to stories about the Passion of the Savior, he felt compassion for Him with all his soul and even pondered how to save Him from the Jews.
He received a very good education at home - he knew several languages, studied Russian and world history, had a deep understanding of military affairs, and was a widely erudite person. The best teachers of that time were assigned to him and he turned out to be a very capable student.
At age 16, he enlisted for active military service. At the age of 19, he was promoted to junior officer, and at 24, to colonel of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment. And Nicholas II remained in this rank until the end.
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A serious test was sent to the Royal Family in the fall of 1888: a terrible crash of the royal train occurred near Kharkov. The carriages fell with a roar from a high embankment down the slope. By the providence of God, the life of Emperor Alexander III and the entire August family was miraculously saved.
A new test followed in 1891 during the Tsarevich’s trip to the Far East: an attempt was made on his life in Japan. Nikolai Alexandrovich almost died from a saber blow from a religious fanatic, but the Greek Prince George knocked down the attacker with a bamboo cane. And again a miracle happened: only a slight wound remained on the head of the Heir to the Throne.
In 1884, in St. Petersburg, the marriage of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich with Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt (now canonized as Saint Martyr Elizabeth, commemorated July 5) was solemnly celebrated. Young Nicholas II was then 16 years old. At the celebrations he saw the bride’s young sister - Alix (Princess Alice of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England).
A strong friendship began between the young people, which then turned into deep and growing love. Five years later, when Alix of Hesse visited Russia again, the heir made the final decision to marry her. But Tsar Alexander III did not give his consent. "Everything is in the will of God,- the heir wrote in his diary after a long conversation with his father, “Trusting in His mercy, I look calmly and humbly to the future.”
Princess Alice - the future Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - was born on May 25, 1872 in Darmstadt. Alice's father was Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her mother was Princess Alice of England, the third daughter of Queen Victoria. As an infant, Princess Alice—her name at home was Alix—was a cheerful, lively child, earning her the nickname “Sunny” (Sunny). The children of the Hessian couple—there were seven of them—were brought up in deeply patriarchal traditions. Their life passed according to the rules strictly established by their mother; not a single minute should pass without doing anything. The children's clothing and food were very simple. The girls lit the fireplaces themselves and cleaned their rooms. From childhood, their mother tried to instill in them qualities based on a deeply Christian approach to life.
For five years the love of Tsarevich Nicholas and Princess Alice was experienced. Already a real beauty, to whom many crowned suitors wooed, she answered everyone with a decisive refusal. Likewise, the Tsarevich responded with a calm but firm refusal to all his parents’ attempts to arrange his happiness differently. Finally, in the spring of 1894, the august parents of the heir gave their blessing to the marriage.
The only obstacle remained the transition to Orthodoxy - according to Russian laws the bride of the Heir to the Russian throne must be Orthodox. She perceived this as apostasy. Alix was a sincere believer. But, raised in Lutheranism, her honest and straightforward nature resisted the change of religion. Over the course of several years, the young princess had to undergo the same rethinking of faith as her sister Elizabeth Feodorovna. But the princess’s complete conversion was helped by the sincere, passionate words of the heir to Tsarevich Nicholas, pouring out from his loving heart: "When you learn how beautiful, gracious and humble our Orthodox religion"How magnificent our churches and monasteries are and how solemn and majestic our services are - you will love them and nothing will separate us."
The days of their engagement coincided with the dying illness of Emperor Alexander III. 10 days before his death they arrived in Livadia. Alexander III, wanting to pay attention to his son’s bride, despite all the prohibitions of doctors and family, got out of bed, put on his dress uniform and, sitting in a chair, blessed the future spouses who fell at his feet. He showed great affection and attention to the princess, which the queen later remembered with excitement all her life.
Accession to the throne and beginning of reign
Joy mutual love was overshadowed by a sharp deterioration in the health of his father, Emperor Alexander III.
Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich ascended the throne after the death of his father - Emperor Alexander III - October 20 (old style) 1894 . That day, in deep sorrow, Nikolai Alexandrovich said that he did not want the Royal crown, but accepted it, fearing to disobey the will of the Almighty and his father’s will.
The next day, amid deep sadness, a ray of joy flashed: Princess Alix accepted Orthodoxy. The ceremony of joining it to the Orthodox Church was performed by the All-Russian Shepherd John of Kronstadt. During Confirmation, she was named Alexandra in honor of the holy Martyr Queen.
In three weeks, November 14, 1894 took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace wedding Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich and Princess Alexandra.
The honeymoon took place in an atmosphere of funeral services and mourning visits. "Our wedding," the empress later recalled, was like a continuation of these funeral services, they just dressed me in a white dress.”
On May 14 (27), 1896, the coronation took place Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
By a fateful coincidence, the days of the coronation celebrations were overshadowed tragedy on the Khodynka field , where about half a million people gathered. On the occasion of the coronation May 18 (31) folk festivities were scheduled on Khodynskoye Field. In the morning, people (often families) began to arrive on the field from all over Moscow and the surrounding area, attracted by rumors of gifts and the distribution of valuable coins. At the time of distribution of gifts, a terrible stampede occurred, which claimed the lives of more than a thousand people. The next day, the Tsar and Empress attended the memorial service for the victims and provided assistance to the families of the victims.
Tragedy on Khodynka May 18, 1896
The tragedy on Khodynka was considered a gloomy omen for the reign of Nicholas II, and at the end of the 20th century it was cited by some as one of the arguments against his canonization (2000).
Royal family
The first 20 years of the royal couple's marriage were the happiest in their personal family life.The Royal Couple exemplified a truly Christian family life. The relationship between the August Spouses was characterized by sincere love, cordial understanding and deep fidelity.
Born in the fall of 1895 first daughter- Great Princess Olga . She had a very lively mind and prudence. It is not surprising that her father often consulted with her, even on the most important issues. Holy Princess Olga loved Russia very much and, just like her father, she loved the simple Russian people. When it came to the fact that she could marry one of the foreign princes, she did not want to hear about it, saying: “I don’t want to leave Russia. I am Russian and I want to remain Russian.”
Two years later, a second girl was born, named in Holy Baptism Tatiana, two years later - Maria, and two years later - Anastasia .
With the advent of the children, Alexandra Feodorovna gave them all her attention: she fed them, bathed herself every day, was constantly in the nursery, not trusting her children to anyone. The Empress did not like to remain idle for a minute, and she taught her children to work. The two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatyana, worked with their mother in the infirmary during the war, performing the duties of surgical nurses.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna presents instruments during an operation. Vel is standing behind. Princesses Olga and Tatiana.
NThe cherished desire of the Royal couple was the birth of an Heir. The long-awaited event has happened August 12, 1904 , a year after the pilgrimage of the Royal Family to Sarov, for the celebrations of the glorification of St. Seraphim. But just a few weeks after birth Tsarevich Alexy It turned out that he had hemophilia. The child's life hung in the balance all the time: the slightest bleeding could cost him his life. Those close to him noted the nobility of the Tsarevich’s character, the kindness and responsiveness of his heart. "When I am King, there will be no poor and unhappy,- he said. - I want everyone to be happy."
The Tsar and Queen raised their children in devotion to the Russian people and carefully prepared them for the upcoming work and feat. "Children must learn self-denial, learn to give up own desires for the sake of other people,” the Empress believed. The Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses slept on hard camp beds without pillows; they dressed simply; clothes and shoes were passed down from the eldest to the youngest. The food was the simplest. Tsarevich Alexei’s favorite food was cabbage soup, porridge and black bread, "which,- as he said, - all my soldiers eat."
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The Tsar's surprisingly sincere gaze always shone with genuine kindness. One day the Tsar visited the cruiser Rurik, where there was a revolutionary who had sworn an oath to kill him. The sailor did not fulfill his vow. "I couldn't do it," he explained. “Those eyes looked at me so meekly, so affectionately.”
Persons standing close to the court noted the lively mind of Nicholas II - he always quickly grasped the essence of the issues presented to him, his excellent memory, especially for faces, and the nobility of his way of thinking. But Nikolai Alexandrovich, with his gentleness, tact in his address, and modest manners, gave many the impression of a man who had not inherited strong will my father.
The Emperor was unmercenary. He generously helped those in need from his own funds, without thinking about the size of the requested amount. "He will soon give away everything he has"- said the manager of His Majesty’s office. He did not like extravagance and luxury, and his dresses were often mended.
Religiosity and view of one's power. Church politics
The Emperor paid great attention to the needs of the Orthodox Church and generously donated for the construction of new churches, including outside Russia. During the years of his reign, the number of parish churches in Russia increased by more than 10 thousand, and more than 250 new monasteries were opened. The emperor personally participated in the laying of new temples and in other church celebrations. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the church hierarchy had the opportunity to prepare for the convening of a Local Council, which had not been convened for two centuries.
The personal piety of the Sovereign was manifested in the canonization of saints. During the years of his reign, Saint Theodosius of Chernigov (1896), Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1903), Holy Princess Anna Kashinskaya (restoration of veneration in 1909), Saint Joasaph of Belgorod (1911), Saint Hermogen of Moscow (1913) were canonized as saints. year), Saint Pitirim of Tambov (1914), Saint John of Tobolsk (1916). The Emperor was forced to show special persistence in seeking the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Saints Joasaph of Belgorod and John of Tobolsk. Nicholas II highly revered the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt. After his blessed death, the Tsar ordered a nationwide prayerful commemoration of the deceased on the day of his repose.
The imperial couple were distinguished by their deep religiosity. The Empress did not like social interaction or balls. The education of the children of the Imperial Family was imbued with a religious spirit. Brief services in court churches did not satisfy the Emperor and Empress. Services are held especially for them in the Tsarskoye Selo Feodorovsky Cathedral, built in the Old Russian style. Empress Alexandra prayed here in front of a lectern with open liturgical books, carefully watching the service.
Economic policy
The Emperor celebrated the beginning of his reign with deeds of love and mercy: prisoners in prisons received relief; there was a lot of debt forgiveness; Significant assistance was provided to needy scientists, writers and students.
The reign of Nicholas II was a period of economic growth: in 1885-1913, the growth rate of agricultural production averaged 2%, and the growth rate of industrial production was 4.5-5% per year. Coal production in the Donbass increased from 4.8 million tons in 1894 to 24 million tons in 1913. Coal mining began in the Kuznetsk coal basin.
The construction of railways continued, the total length of which, amounting to 44 thousand kilometers in 1898, by 1913 exceeded 70 thousand kilometers. In terms of the total length of railways, Russia surpassed any other European country and was second only to the United States.
In January 1887, a monetary reform was carried out, establishing a gold standard for the ruble.
In 1913, all of Russia solemnly celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov. Russia was at that time at the pinnacle of glory and power: industry was developing at an unprecedented pace, the army and navy were becoming more and more powerful, agrarian reform was being successfully implemented, and the country's population was rapidly increasing. It seemed that all internal problems would be successfully resolved in the near future.
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Foreign policy and the Russo-Japanese War
Nicholas II treated the duties of the monarch as his sacred duty. For him, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was a model politician - both a reformer and a careful guardian national traditions and faith. He inspired the first world conference on the prevention of war, which took place in the capital of Holland in 1899, and was the first among rulers to defend universal peace. During his entire reign, the Tsar did not sign a single death sentence, not a single request for pardon that reached the Tsar was rejected by him.
In October 1900, Russian troops, as part of the suppression of the uprising in China by the troops of the Eight Power Alliance (Russian Empire, USA, German Empire, Great Britain, France, Empire of Japan, Austria-Hungary and Italy), occupied Manchuria.
Russia's lease of the Liaodong Peninsula, the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the establishment of a naval base in Port Arthur, and Russia's growing influence in Manchuria clashed with the aspirations of Japan, which also laid claim to Manchuria.
On January 24, 1904, the Japanese ambassador presented the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs V.N. Lamzdorf with a note, which announced the termination of negotiations, which Japan considered “useless,” and the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia; Japan recalled its diplomatic mission from St. Petersburg and reserved the right to resort to “independent actions” as it deemed necessary to protect its interests. On the evening of January 26 Japanese fleet without declaring war, he attacked the Port Arthur squadron. On January 27, 1904, Russia declared war on Japan. The Russian-Japanese War began (1904-1905). The Russian Empire, having an almost threefold advantage in population, could field a proportionately larger army. At the same time, the number armed forces Russia directly on Far East(beyond Baikal) was no more than 150 thousand people, and taking into account the fact that most of these troops were involved in guarding the Trans-Siberian Railway/state border/fortresses, about 60 thousand people were directly available for active operations. On the Japanese side, 180 thousand soldiers were deployed. The main theater of military operations was the Yellow Sea.
The attitude of the leading world powers to the outbreak of war between Russia and Japan split them into two camps. England and the USA immediately and definitely took the side of Japan: an illustrated chronicle of the war that began to be published in London even received the name “Japan’s Struggle for Freedom”; and American President Roosevelt openly warned France against its possible action against Japan, saying that in this case he would “immediately take her side and go as far as necessary.”
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The outcome of the war was decided by the naval battle of Tsushima in May 1905, which ended in the complete defeat of the Russian fleet. On May 23, 1905, the Emperor received, through the US Ambassador in St. Petersburg, a proposal from President T. Roosevelt for mediation to conclude peace. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Russia recognized Korea as Japan's sphere of influence, ceded Southern Sakhalin and the rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy to Japan.
Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (the first in half a century) and the subsequent suppression of the unrest of 1905-1907. (subsequently aggravated by the emergence of rumors about Rasputin’s influence) led to a decline in the authority of the emperor in ruling and intellectual circles.
Revolution of 1905-1907
At the end of 1904, the political struggle in the country intensified. The impetus for the start of mass protests under political slogans was the shooting by imperial troops in St. Petersburg of a peaceful demonstration of workers led by priest Georgy Gapon January 9 (22), 1905 . During this period, the strike movement took on a particularly wide scale; unrest and uprisings occurred in the army and navy, which resulted in mass protests against the monarchy.
On the morning of January 9, columns of workers totaling up to 150,000 people moved from different areas to the city center. At the head of one of the columns, priest Gapon walked with a cross in his hand. As the columns approached military outposts, the officers demanded that the workers stop, but they continued to move forward. Electrified by fanatical propaganda, the workers stubbornly strove for the Winter Palace, ignoring warnings and even cavalry attacks. To prevent a crowd of 150,000 from gathering in the city center, the troops were forced to fire rifle salvos. In other parts of the city, crowds of workers were dispersed with sabers, swords and whips. According to official data, in just one day on January 9, 96 people were killed and 333 wounded. The dispersal of the unarmed march of workers made a shocking impression on society. Reports of the shooting of the procession, which repeatedly overestimated the number of victims, were spread by illegal publications, party proclamations, and passed on by word of mouth. The opposition placed full responsibility for what happened on Emperor Nicholas II and the autocratic regime. Priest Gapon, who had escaped from the police, called for an armed uprising and the overthrow of the dynasty. Revolutionary parties called for the overthrow of the autocracy. A wave of strikes took place under political slogans across the country. The traditional faith of the working masses in the Tsar was shaken, and the influence of the revolutionary parties began to grow. The slogan “Down with autocracy!” has gained popularity. According to many contemporaries, the tsarist government made a mistake by deciding to use force against unarmed workers. The danger of rebellion was averted, but the prestige of the royal power was irreparably damaged.
Bloody Sunday is undoubtedly a dark day in history, but the role of the Tsar in this event is much lower than the role of the organizers of the demonstration. For by that time the government had already been under a real siege for more than a month. After all, “Bloody Sunday” itself would not have happened if it were not for the atmosphere of political crisis that liberals and socialists created in the country.(author's note - an analogy with today's events involuntarily suggests itself). In addition, the police became aware of plans to shoot the sovereign as he came out to the people.
In October, a strike began in Moscow, which spread throughout the country and grew into the All-Russian October Strike. political strike. From October 12 to 18, over 2 million people went on strike in various industries.
This general strike and, above all, the strike of railway workers, forced the emperor to make concessions. On August 6, 1905, the Manifesto of Nicholas II established the State Duma as “a special legislative advisory institution, which is given the preliminary development and discussion of legislative proposals.” The Manifesto of October 17, 1905 granted civil liberties: personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and union. Trade unions and professional-political unions, Councils of Workers' Deputies arose, the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party were strengthened, the Constitutional Democratic Party, the "Union of October 17", "The Union of the Russian People" and others were created.
Thus, the liberals' demands were fulfilled. The autocracy went to the creation of parliamentary representation and the beginning of reform (Stolypin agrarian reform).
World War I
The World War began on the morning of August 1, 1914, on the day of remembrance of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Blessed Pasha of Sarov of Diveyevo said that the war was started by the enemies of the Fatherland in order to overthrow the Tsar and tear Russia apart. “He will be higher than all the kings,” she said, praying for portraits of the Tsar and the Royal Family along with icons.
On July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia: Russia entered the world war, which for it ended in the collapse of the empire and dynasty. Nicholas II made efforts to prevent war and in all pre-war years, and in the last days before it began, when (July 15, 1914) Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and began bombing Belgrade. On July 16 (29), 1914, Nicholas II sent a telegram to Wilhelm II with a proposal to “transfer the Austro-Serbian issue to the Hague Conference” (to the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague). Wilhelm II did not respond to this telegram.
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Emperor Nicholas II at headquarters
The First World War, which began in two heroic deeds Russia - by saving Serbia from Austria-Hungary and France from Germany, pulled away the best popular forces to fight the enemy. Since August 1915, the sovereign himself spent most of his time at headquarters, away from the capital and the palace. And so, when victory was so close that both the Council of Ministers and the Synod were already openly discussing the question of how the Church and the state should behave in relation to Constantinople liberated from Muslims, the rear, having finally succumbed to the flattering propaganda of the atheists, betrayed its To the Emperor. An armed uprising began in Petrograd, the tsar's connection with the capital and family was deliberately interrupted. Treason surrounded the sovereign on all sides; his orders to the commanders of all fronts to send military units to suppress the rebellion were not carried out.
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Abdication
Intending to personally find out the situation in the capital, Nikolai Alexandrovich left headquarters and went to Petrograd. In Pskov, a delegation from the State Duma came to him, completely cut off from the whole world. The delegates began to ask the sovereign to abdicate the throne to calm the rebellion. The generals of the Northern Front also joined them. They were soon joined by the commanders of other fronts.
The Tsar and his closest relatives made this request on their knees. Without violating the oath of the Anointed One of God and without abolishing the Autocratic Monarchy, Emperor Nicholas II transferred Royal power to the eldest of the family - brother Mikhail. According to recent studies, the so-called. The “manifesto” of abdication (signed in pencil!), drawn up contrary to the laws of the Russian Empire, was a telegram from which it followed that the Tsar had been betrayed into the hands of his enemies. Let him who reads understand!
Deprived of the opportunity to contact headquarters, his family, and those he still trusted, the Tsar hoped that this telegram would be perceived by the troops as a call to action - the release of God’s Anointed. To our greatest regret, the Russian people were unable to unite in the sacred impulse: “For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland.” Something terrible has happened...
How correctly the Emperor assessed the situation and the people around Him is evidenced by a short entry, which became historical, made by Him in his diary on this day: “There is treason, cowardice, and deceit all around.” Grand Duke Michael refused to accept the crown, and the monarchy in Russia fell.
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Icon of the Mother of God "Sovereign"
It was on that fateful day March 15, 1917 In the village of Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, a miraculous appearance of the icon of the Mother of God, called “Sovereign”, took place. The Queen of Heaven is depicted on it in royal purple, with a crown on her head, with a Scepter and Orb in her hands. The Most Pure One took upon herself the burden of Tsarist power over the people of Russia.
During the abdication of the sovereign, the empress did not receive news from him for several days. Her torment in these days of mortal anxiety, without news and at the bedsides of five seriously ill children, surpassed everything that one could imagine. Having suppressed in herself the weakness of women and all her bodily ailments, heroically, selflessly, she devoted herself to caring for the sick, with complete trust in the help of the Queen of Heaven.
Arrest and execution of the royal family
The Provisional Government announced the arrest of Emperor Nicholas II and his August wife and their detention in Tsarskoye Selo. The arrest of the Emperor and Empress did not have the slightest legal basis or reason. The commission of inquiry appointed by the Provisional Government tormented the Tsar and Tsarina with searches and interrogations, but did not find a single fact convicting them of treason. When one of the commission members asked why their correspondence had not yet been published, he was told: “If we publish it, the people will worship them as saints.”
The life of the prisoners was subjected to petty restrictions - A. F. Kerensky announced to the Emperor that he should live separately and see the Empress only at table, and speak only in Russian. The guard soldiers made rude comments to him; access to the palace for persons close to the Royal Family was prohibited. One day, soldiers even took away a toy gun from the Heir under the pretext of a ban on carrying weapons.
July 31 the royal family and a retinue of devoted servants were sent under escort to Tobolsk. At the sight of the August Family, ordinary people took off their hats, crossed themselves, many fell to their knees: not only women, but also men cried. The sisters of the Ioannovsky Monastery brought spiritual literature and helped with food, since all means of subsistence were taken away from the Royal Family. Restrictions in the life of the Prisoners intensified. Mental anxieties and moral suffering greatly affected the Emperor and Empress. They both looked exhausted, gray hair appeared, but their spiritual strength still remained in them. Bishop Hermogenes of Tobolsk, who at one time spread slander against the Empress, now openly admitted the mistake. In 1918, before his martyrdom, he wrote a letter in which he called the Royal Family the “long-suffering Holy Family.”
All the royal passion-bearers were undoubtedly aware of the approaching end and were preparing for it. Even the youngest, the holy Tsarevich Alexy, did not close his eyes to reality, as can be seen from the words that accidentally escaped from him: “If they kill, they just don’t torture”. The sovereign’s devoted servants, who courageously followed the royal family into exile, also understood this. “I know that I will not come out of this alive. I pray only for one thing - that I not be separated from the sovereign and allowed to die with him,”- said Adjutant General I.L. Tatishchev.
The royal family on the eve of the arrest and virtual collapse of the Russian Empire. Anxiety, excitement, grief for a once great country
The news of the October revolution reached Tobolsk on November 15. In Tobolsk, a “soldiers’ committee” was formed, which, in every possible way striving for self-affirmation, demonstrated its power over the Tsar - they either forced him to take off his shoulder straps, or destroyed the ice slide built for the Tsar’s children. On March 1, 1918, “Nikolai Romanov and his family were transferred to soldiers’ rations.”
Their next place of imprisonment was Ekaterinburg . There is much less evidence left about the Yekaterinburg period of imprisonment of the Royal Family. Almost no letters. Living conditions in the “special purpose house” were much more difficult than in Tobolsk. I lived here for two and a half months. royal family among a gang of arrogant, unbridled people - their new guards, being subjected to bullying. Guards were posted in all corners of the house and monitored every movement of the prisoners. They covered the walls with indecent drawings, mocking the Empress and the Grand Duchesses. They were even on duty near the door to the toilet, and they did not allow us to lock the doors. A guardhouse was set up in the lower floor of the house. The dirt there was terrible. Drunken voices were constantly bawling revolutionary or obscene songs, to the accompaniment of fists pounding on the piano keys.
Uncomplaining submission to the will of God, gentleness and humility gave the royal passion-bearers the strength to firmly endure all suffering. They already felt themselves on the other side of existence and with prayer in their souls and on their lips they were preparing for their transition to eternal life. IN Ipatiev House a poem was found written by the hand of Grand Duchess Olga, which is called “Prayer”, its last two quatrains speak of the same thing:
Lord of the world, God of the universe,
Bless us with your prayer
And give rest to the humble soul
At an unbearably terrible hour.
And at the threshold of the grave
Breathe into the mouths of Your servants
Superhuman powers
Pray meekly for your enemies.
When the Royal Family was captured by the godless authorities, the commissioners were forced to change their guards all the time. Because under the miraculous influence of the holy prisoners, being in constant contact with them, these people unwittingly became different, more humane. Captivated by the royal simplicity, humility and philanthropy of the crowned passion-bearers, the jailers softened their attitude towards them. However, as soon as the Ural Cheka felt that the guards of the royal family were beginning to be imbued with good feelings towards the prisoners, they immediately replaced them with a new one - from the Chekists themselves. At the head of this guard stood Yankel Yurovsky . He was constantly in touch with Trotsky, Lenin, Sverdlov and other organizers of the atrocity. It was Yurovsky, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, who read the order of the Yekaterinburg Executive Committee and was the first to shoot directly in the heart of our holy Tsar-Martyr. He shot at children and finished them off with a bayonet.
Three days before the murder of the royal martyrs, a priest was invited to them for the last time to perform a service. Father served as a liturgist; according to the order of the service, it was necessary to read the kontakion “Rest with the saints...” in a certain place. For some reason, this time the deacon, instead of reading this kontakion, sang it, and the priest also sang. The royal martyrs, moved by some unknown feeling, knelt down...
On the night of July 16-17 the prisoners were lowered into the basement under the pretext of a quick move, then soldiers with rifles suddenly appeared, the “verdict” was hastily read out, and then the guards opened fire. The shooting was indiscriminate - the soldiers had been given vodka beforehand - so the holy martyrs were finished off with bayonets. Together with the Royal Family, the servants died: the doctor Evgeny Botkin, the maid of honor Anna Demidova, the cook Ivan Kharitonov and the footman Trupp, who remained faithful to them to the end. The picture was terrible: eleven bodies lay on the floor in streams of blood. After making sure that their victims were dead, the killers began to remove their jewelry.
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Pavel Ryzhenko. In Ipatiev's house after the execution of the royal family
After the execution, the bodies were taken outside the city to an abandoned mine in the tract Ganina pit, where they were destroyed for a long time using sulfuric acid, gasoline and grenades. There is an opinion that the murder was ritual, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the walls of the room where the martyrs died. One of them consisted of four cabalistic signs. It was deciphered like this: " Here, on the orders of satanic forces. The Tsar was sacrificed to destroy the State. All nations are informed of this." Ipatiev's house was blown up in the 70s.
Archpriest Alexander Shargunov in the magazine "Russian House" for 2003. writes: “We know that the majority among the top of the Bolshevik government, as well as the bodies of repression, such as the sinister Cheka, were Jews. Here is a prophetic indication of the appearance from this environment of the “man of lawlessness,” the Antichrist. For the Antichrist, as the holy fathers teach, will be by origin a Jew from the tribe of Dan. And his appearance will be prepared by the sins of all mankind, when dark mysticism, debauchery and criminality become the norm and law of life. We are far from thinking of condemning any people for their nationality. In the end, Christ Himself according to the flesh he came from this people, His apostles and the first Christian martyrs were Jews. It’s not a matter of nationality..."
The date of the savage murder itself - July 17 - is no coincidence. On this day, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy noble prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who consecrated the autocracy of Rus' with his martyrdom. According to the chroniclers, the conspirators killed him in the most brutal manner. Holy Prince Andrei was the first to proclaim the idea of Orthodoxy and Autocracy as the basis of the statehood of Holy Rus' and was, in fact, the first Russian Tsar.
About the significance of the feat of the royal family
The veneration of the Royal Family, begun by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon in the funeral prayer and word at the memorial service in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow for the murdered Emperor three days after the Yekaterinburg murder, continued throughout several decades of the Soviet period of our history. During the entire period of Soviet power, frantic blasphemy was poured out against the memory of the holy Tsar Nicholas, nevertheless, many people, especially in emigration, revered the martyr Tsar from the very moment of his death.
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Countless testimonies of miraculous help through prayers to the Family of the last Russian Autocrat; popular veneration of the royal martyrs in the last years of the 20th century became so widespread that in 2000 Russian Orthodox Church, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia canonized as holy passion-bearers . Their memory is celebrated on the day of their martyrdom - July 17th .
Why was the royal family canonized?
Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov
Historical facts do not allow us to speak of members of the royal family as Christian martyrs. Martyrdom presupposes the opportunity for a person to save his life through renunciation of Christ. The sovereign's family was killed precisely as the sovereign's family: the people who killed them were quite secularized in their worldview and perceived them primarily as a symbol of the imperial Russia they hated.
In historical notes about Nicholas II, and in his life, a rather restrained and sometimes critical assessment of his state activities is given. Bloody Sunday on January 9, 1905, the problem of the attitude of the sovereign and empress to Rasputin, the problem of the abdication of the emperor - all this is assessed from the point of view of whether this prevents canonization or not.
If we consider the events of January 9, then, firstly, we must take into account that we are dealing with mass riots that took place in the city. They were unprofessionally suppressed, but it was truly a massive illegal demonstration. Secondly, the sovereign did not give any criminal orders that day - he was in Tsarskoe Selo and was largely misinformed by the Minister of Internal Affairs and the mayor of St. Petersburg. Nicholas II considered himself responsible for what happened, hence the tragic entry in his diary, which he left on the evening of that day after learning about what had happened: "Hard day! Serious riots occurred in St. Petersburg as a result of the workers’ desire to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different places in the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and difficult!”
As for the renunciation, it was definitely a politically erroneous act. Nevertheless, the sovereign’s guilt is to some extent redeemed by the motives that guided him. The desire of the emperor to prevent civil strife through abdication is justified from a moral point of view, but not from a political point of view... If Nicholas II had suppressed the revolutionary uprising by force, he would have gone down in history as an outstanding statesman, but it is unlikely that he would have become a saint.
All this allows us to take a slightly different look at the figure of the last king. However, the Church is in no hurry to justify Nicholas II in everything. A canonized saint is not sinless.
Five reports devoted to the study of the state and church activities of the last Russian sovereign were submitted to the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints. The commission decided that the activities of Emperor Nicholas II in themselves do not provide sufficient grounds for both his canonization and the canonization of his family members. However, the reports that determined the final - positive - decision of the Commission were the sixth and seventh: “The Last Days of the Royal Family” and “The Church’s Attitude to Passion.”
It is the last period of the life of the members of the royal family, spent in captivity, and the circumstances of their death that provide serious grounds for glorifying them as passion-bearers. They realized more and more that death was inevitable, but they managed to preserve spiritual peace in their hearts and at the moment of martyrdom they acquired the ability to forgive their executioners.
The family of Nicholas II is glorified in the rite of passion-bearing , characteristic specifically for the Russian Church. The drama of passion-suffering, “non-resistance to death” lies precisely in the fact that it is precisely weak people, who have often sinned a lot, who find the strength to overcome weak human nature and die with the name of Christ on their lips. This rank is traditionally used to canonize Russian princes and sovereigns who, imitating Christ, patiently endured physical and moral suffering or death at the hands of political opponents. By the way, in the history of the Russian Church there are not many canonized sovereigns. And of the Romanovs, only Nicholas II was canonized as a saint - this is the only case in the 300 years of the dynasty.
The famous Moscow archpriest, a deeply convinced monarchist, Father Alexander Shargunov, spoke very accurately about the internal, ideologically-deep, purely spiritual and timeless foundations of the feat of the royal family:
As you know, today’s detractors of the Tsar, both left and right, constantly blame him for his abdication. Unfortunately, for some, even after canonization, this remains a stumbling block and temptation, while this was the greatest manifestation of his holiness.
When speaking about the holiness of Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich, we usually mean his martyrdom, connected, of course, with his entire pious life. The feat of his renunciation is a feat of confession.
To understand this more clearly, let us remember who sought the abdication of the Emperor. First of all, those who sought a turn in Russian history towards European democracy or, at least, towards a constitutional monarchy. The Socialists and Bolsheviks were already a consequence and extreme manifestation of the materialist understanding of history.
It is known that many of the then destroyers of Russia acted in the name of its creation. Among them there were many honest, wise people in their own way, who were already thinking about “how to organize Russia.” But it was, as Scripture says, earthly, spiritual, demonic wisdom. The stone that the builders then rejected was Christ and Christ's anointing. The anointing of God means that the earthly power of the Sovereign has a Divine source. The renunciation of the Orthodox monarchy was a renunciation of divine authority. From power on earth, which is called upon to direct the general course of life to spiritual and moral goals - to the creation of conditions most favorable for the salvation of many, power that is “not of this world,” but serves the world precisely in this highest sense.
Most of the participants in the revolution acted as if unconsciously, but it was a conscious rejection of the God-given order of life and the God-established authority in the person of the King, the Anointed of God, just as the conscious rejection of Christ the King by the spiritual leaders of Israel was conscious, as described in the Gospel parable of the evil vinedressers. They killed Him not because they did not know that He was the Messiah, the Christ, but precisely because they knew it. Not because they thought that this was a false messiah who should be eliminated, but precisely because they saw that this was the real Messiah: “Come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance will be ours.” The same secret Sanhedrin, inspired by the devil, directs humanity to have a life free from God and His commandments - so that nothing prevents them from living as they want.
This is the meaning of “treason, cowardice and deception” that surrounded the Emperor. For this reason, Saint John Maksimovich compares the suffering of the Emperor in Pskov during his abdication with the suffering of Christ Himself in Gethsemane. In the same way, the devil himself was present here, tempting the Tsar and all the people with him (and all humanity, according to the exact words of P. Gilliard), as he once tempted Christ Himself in the desert with the kingdom of this world.
For centuries, Russia has been approaching the Ekaterinburg Golgotha. And here the ancient temptation was revealed in full. Just as the devil sought to catch Christ through the Sadducees and Pharisees, setting Him nets unbreakable by any human tricks, so through the socialists and cadets the devil puts Tsar Nicholas before a hopeless choice: either apostasy or death.
The king did not retreat from the purity of God’s anointing, did not sell his divine birthright for the lentil stew of earthly power. The very rejection of the Tsar occurred precisely because he appeared as a confessor of the truth, and this was nothing other than the rejection of Christ in the person of Christ’s Anointed. The meaning of the abdication of the Sovereign is the salvation of the idea of Christian power.
It is unlikely that the Tsar could have foreseen what terrible events would follow his abdication, because purely outwardly he abdicated the throne in order to avoid the senseless shedding of blood. However, by the depth of the terrible events that were revealed after his renunciation, we can measure the depth of suffering in his Gethsemane. The king was clearly aware that by his renunciation he was betraying himself, his family and his people, whom he dearly loved, into the hands of enemies. But the most important thing for him was fidelity to the grace of God, which he received in the Sacrament of Confirmation for the sake of the salvation of the people entrusted to him. For all the most terrible troubles that are possible on earth: hunger, disease, pestilence, from which, of course, the human heart cannot help but tremble, cannot be compared with the eternal “crying and gnashing of teeth” where there is no repentance. And as the prophet of the events of Russian history, the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, said, if a person knew that there is eternal life, which God gives for faithfulness to Him, he would agree to endure any torment for a thousand years (that is, until the end of history, together with all the suffering people). And about the sorrowful events that followed the abdication of the Sovereign, the Monk Seraphim said that the angels would not have time to receive souls - and we can say that after the abdication of the Sovereign, millions of new martyrs received crowns in the Kingdom of Heaven.
You can do any kind of historical, philosophical, political analysis, but the spiritual vision is always more important. We know this vision in the prophecies of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, saints Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov and other saints of God, who understood that no emergency, external government measures, no repression, the most skillful policy can change the course of events if there is no repentance among the Russian people. The truly humble mind of Saint Tsar Nicholas was given the opportunity to see that this repentance would, perhaps, be bought at a very high price.
After the renunciation of the Tsar, in which the people took part through their indifference, hitherto unprecedented persecution of the Church and mass apostasy from God could not but follow. The Lord showed very clearly what we lose when we lose the Anointed One of God, and what we gain. Russia immediately found satanic anointed ones.
The sin of regicide played a major role in the terrible events of the 20th century for the Russian Church and for the whole world. We are faced with only one question: is there atonement for this sin and how can it be realized? The Church always calls us to repentance. This means realizing what happened and how it continues in today's life. If we really love the Martyr Tsar and pray to him, if we truly seek the moral and spiritual revival of our Fatherland, we must spare no effort in order to overcome the terrible consequences of mass apostasy (apostasy from the faith of our fathers and trampling on morality) in our people .
There are only two options for what awaits Russia. Or, through the miracle of the intercession of the Royal Martyrs and all the new Russian martyrs, the Lord will grant our people to be reborn for the salvation of many. But this will happen only with our participation - despite natural weakness, sinfulness, powerlessness and lack of faith. Or, according to the Apocalypse, the Church of Christ will face new, even more formidable shocks, in the center of which the Cross of Christ will always be. Through the prayers of the Royal Passion-Bearers, who lead the host of new Russian martyrs and confessors, may it be given to us to withstand these trials and become partakers of their feat.
With his feat of confession, the Tsar disgraced democracy - “the great lie of our time,” when everything is determined by the majority of votes, and, in the end, by those who shout louder: We do not want Him, but Barabbas, not Christ, but the Antichrist.
Until the end of time, and especially in last times. The Church will be tempted by the devil, like Christ in Gethsemane and on Calvary: “Come down, come down from the Cross.” “Give up from those demands for the greatness of man that Your Gospel speaks of, become more accessible to everyone, and we will believe in You. There are circumstances when this needs to be done. Come down from the cross, and the affairs of the Church will go better.” The main spiritual meaning of today's events is the result of the 20th century - the increasingly successful efforts of the enemy so that “salt loses its strength”, so that the highest values of humanity turn into empty, beautiful words.
(Alexander Shargunov, Russian House magazine, No. 7, 2003)
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Troparion, tone 4
Today, people of good faith will brightly honor the honorable Seven of the Royal Passion-Bearers of Christ, the One Home Church: Nicholas and Alexandra, Alexy, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Because of these bonds and many different sufferings, you did not fear, you accepted death and desecration of bodies from those who fought against God, and you improved your boldness towards the Lord in prayer. For this reason, let us cry out to them with love: O holy passion-bearers, listen to the voice of peace and groaning of our people, strengthen the Russian land in love for Orthodoxy, save from internecine warfare, ask God for peace and great mercy to our souls.
Kontakion, tone 8
In the election of the Tsar of the Reigning and the Lord of the Lord from the line of the Tsars of Russia, the blessed martyrs, who accepted mental torment and bodily death for Christ, and were crowned with heavenly crowns, cry out to you as our merciful patron with loving gratitude: Rejoice, Royal passion-bearers, for holy Rus' before God with zeal in prayer. .
Prayer to the holy passion-bearer Tsar-martyr Nicholas II
O holy great Russian Tsar and passion-bearer Nicholas! Listen to the voice of our prayer and lift up to the Throne of the all-seeing Lord the groaning and sighing of the Russian people, once chosen and blessed by God, but now fallen and departed from God. Resolve the perjury that hitherto weighs heavily on the Russian people. We have sinned grievously by apostasy from the Heavenly King, leaving the Orthodox faith to be trampled upon by the wicked, breaking the conciliar oath and not forbidding the murder of yours, your family and your faithful servants.
Not because we obeyed the commandment of the Lord: “Touch not my anointed,” but to David who said: “Whoever stretches out his hand against the Lord’s Anointed, will not the Lord strike him?” And now, worthy of our deeds, we are acceptable, for even to this day the sin of shedding the royal blood weighs on us.
To this day our holy places are being desecrated. Fornication and lawlessness do not diminish from us. Our children are given over to reproach. Innocent blood cries to heaven, shed every hour in our land.
But see the tears and contrition of our hearts, we repent, just as the people of Kiev once did before Prince Igor, who was martyred by them; like the people of Vladimir before Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who was killed by them, we ask: pray to the Lord, may he not turn away from us completely, may he not deprive the Russian people of His great chosenness, but may he give us the wisdom of salvation, so that we can rise from the depths of this fall.
Imashi, Tsar Nicholas, have great boldness, for you shed your blood for your people, and you laid down your soul not only for your friends, but also for your enemies. For this reason, stand now in the Everlasting Light of the King of Glory, as His faithful servant. Be our intercessor, protector, and protector. Do not turn away from us, and do not leave us to be trampled underfoot by the wicked. Grant us the strength to repent, and incline God’s justice to mercy, so that the Lord will not destroy us completely, but may He forgive us all and mercifully have mercy on us, and save the Russian land and its people. May our Fatherland be delivered from the troubles and misfortunes that have befallen us, may it revive faith and piety, and may it restore the throne of the Orthodox Kings, so that the prophecies of the saints of God may come true. And may the Russian people throughout the entire universe glorify the all-praised name of the Lord and serve Him faithfully until the end of the age, singing the glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Ah min.
July 17 is the day of remembrance of the Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia.
In 2000, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized by the Russian Church as holy passion-bearers. Their canonization in the West - in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - occurred even earlier, in 1981. And although the holy princes Orthodox tradition not uncommon, this canonization still raises doubts among some. Why is the last Russian monarch glorified as a saint? Does his life and the life of his family speak in favor of canonization, and what were the arguments against it? Is the veneration of Nicholas II as the Tsar-Redeemer an extreme or a pattern?
We are talking about this with the secretary of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, the rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov.
Death as an argument
- Father Vladimir, where does this term come from - royal passion-bearers? Why not just martyrs?
— When in 2000, the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints discussed the issue of glorifying the royal family, it came to the conclusion: although the family of Emperor Nicholas II was deeply religious, ecclesiastical and pious, all its members performed their prayer rule daily, regularly received the Holy Mysteries of Christ and lived a highly moral life, observing the Gospel commandments in everything, constantly performed works of mercy, during the war they worked diligently in the hospital, caring for wounded soldiers; they can be canonized as saints primarily for their Christianly accepted suffering and violent death caused by persecutors Orthodox faith with incredible cruelty. But it was still necessary to clearly understand and clearly formulate why exactly the royal family was killed. Maybe it was just a political assassination? Then they cannot be called martyrs. However, both the people and the commission had an awareness and feeling of the holiness of their feat. Since the noble princes Boris and Gleb, called passion-bearers, were glorified as the first saints in Rus', and their murder was also not directly related to their faith, the idea arose to discuss the glorification of the family of Emperor Nicholas II in the same person.
— When we say “royal martyrs,” do we mean only the king’s family? The relatives of the Romanovs, the Alapaevsk martyrs, who suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries, do not belong to this list of saints?
- No, they don’t. The very word “royal” in its meaning can only be attributed to the family of the king in the narrow sense. Relatives did not reign; they were even titled differently than members of the sovereign’s family. Besides, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova, the sister of Empress Alexandra, and her cell attendant Varvara can be called martyrs for the faith. Elizaveta Feodorovna was the wife of the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, but after his murder she was not involved in state power. She devoted her life to the cause of Orthodox charity and prayer, founded and built the Martha and Mary Convent, and led the community of her sisters. The cell attendant Varvara, a sister of the monastery, shared her suffering and death with her. The connection between their suffering and faith is completely obvious, and they were both canonized as new martyrs - abroad in 1981, and in Russia in 1992. However, now such nuances have become important for us. In ancient times, no distinction was made between martyrs and passion-bearers.
- But why was it that the family of the last sovereign was glorified, although many representatives of the Romanov dynasty ended their lives in violent deaths?
— Canonization generally takes place in the most obvious and edifying cases. Not all killed representatives of the royal family show us an image of holiness, and most of these murders were committed for political purposes or in the struggle for power. Their victims cannot be considered victims for their faith. As for the family of Emperor Nicholas II, it was so incredibly slandered by both contemporaries and the Soviet government that it was necessary to restore the truth. Their murder was epochal, it amazes with its satanic hatred and cruelty, leaving a feeling of a mystical event - the reprisal of evil against the divinely established order of life of the Orthodox people.
—What were the criteria for canonization? What were the pros and cons?
“The Canonization Commission worked on this issue for a very long time, very pedantically checking all the pros and cons.” At that time there were many opponents of the canonization of the king. Someone said that this could not be done because Emperor Nicholas II was “bloody”; he was blamed for the events of January 9, 1905 - the shooting of a peaceful demonstration of workers. The commission carried out special work to clarify the circumstances of Bloody Sunday. And as a result of the study of archival materials, it turned out that the sovereign was not in St. Petersburg at that time, he was in no way involved in this execution and could not give such an order - he was not even aware of what was happening. Thus, this argument was eliminated. All other arguments “against” were considered in a similar way until it became obvious that there were no significant counter-arguments. The royal family was canonized not simply because they were killed, but because they accepted the torment with humility, in a Christian way, without resistance. They could have taken advantage of the offers to flee abroad that were made to them in advance. But they deliberately did not want this.
- Why can’t their murder be called purely political?
— The royal family personified the idea of the Orthodox kingdom, and the Bolsheviks not only wanted to destroy possible contenders for the royal throne, they hated this symbol - the Orthodox king. By killing the royal family, they destroyed the very idea, the banner of the Orthodox state, which was the main defender of all world Orthodoxy. This becomes understandable in the context of the Byzantine interpretation of royal power as the ministry of the “external bishop of the church.” And during the synodal period, the “Basic Laws of the Empire” published in 1832 (Articles 43 and 44) stated: “The Emperor, as a Christian Sovereign, is the supreme defender and guardian of the dogmas of the ruling faith and the guardian of orthodoxy and all holy deanery in the Church. And in this sense, the emperor in the act of succession to the throne (dated April 5, 1797) is called the Head of the Church.”
The Emperor and his family were ready to suffer for Orthodox Russia, for their faith, this is how they understood their suffering. The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt wrote back in 1905: “We have a Tsar of righteous and pious life, God sent Him a heavy cross of suffering, as His chosen one and beloved child.”
Renunciation: weakness or hope?
- How to understand then the abdication of the sovereign from the throne?
- Although the sovereign signed the abdication of the throne as a responsibilities for governing the state, this does not mean his renunciation of royal dignity. Until his successor was installed as king, in the minds of all the people he still remained the king, and his family remained the royal family. They themselves understood themselves this way, and the Bolsheviks perceived them the same way. If the sovereign, as a result of abdication, would lose his royal dignity and become an ordinary person, then why and who would need to pursue and kill him? When, for example, the presidential term ends, who will prosecute the former president? The king did not seek the throne, did not conduct election campaigns, but was destined for this from birth. The whole country prayed for their king, and the liturgical rite of anointing him with holy myrrh for the kingdom was performed over him. The pious Emperor Nicholas II could not refuse this anointing, which manifested God’s blessing for the most difficult service to the Orthodox people and Orthodoxy in general, without having a successor, and everyone understood this perfectly well.
The sovereign, transferring power to his brother, stepped away from fulfilling his managerial duties not out of fear, but at the request of his subordinates (almost all front commanders were generals and admirals) and because he was a humble man, and the very idea of a struggle for power was completely alien to him. He hoped that the transfer of the throne in favor of his brother Michael (subject to his anointing as king) would calm the unrest and thereby benefit Russia. This example of renouncing the struggle for power in the name of the well-being of one’s country and one’s people is very edifying for modern world.
— Did he somehow mention these views in his diaries and letters?
- Yes, but this can be seen from his very actions. He could strive to emigrate, go to a safe place, organize reliable security, and protect his family. But he did not take any measures, he wanted to act not according to his own will, not according to his own understanding, he was afraid to insist on his own. In 1906, during the Kronstadt rebellion, the sovereign, after the report of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the following: “If you see me so calm, it is because I have an unshakable belief that the fate of Russia, my own fate and the fate of my family lies in hands of the Lord. Whatever happens, I bow to His will.” Shortly before his suffering, the sovereign said: “I would not like to leave Russia. I love her too much, I’d rather go to the farthest end of Siberia.” At the end of April 1918, already in Yekaterinburg, the Emperor wrote: “Perhaps an atoning sacrifice is necessary to save Russia: I will be this sacrifice - may God’s will be done!”
“Many see renunciation as an ordinary weakness...
- Yes, some see this as a manifestation of weakness: a powerful person, strong in the usual sense of the word, would not abdicate the throne. But for Emperor Nicholas II, strength lay in something else: in faith, in humility, in the search for a grace-filled path according to the will of God. Therefore, he did not fight for power - and it was unlikely that it could be retained. But the holy humility with which he abdicated the throne and then accepted a martyr’s death even now contributes to the conversion of the entire people with repentance to God. Still, the vast majority of our people—after seventy years of atheism—consider themselves Orthodox. Unfortunately, the majority are not churchgoers, but still not militant atheists. Grand Duchess Olga wrote from captivity in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg: “Father asks to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they may have influence, so that they do not take revenge for him - he has forgiven everyone and is praying for everyone, and so that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will defeat evil, but only love.” And, perhaps, the image of the humble martyr king moved our people to repentance and faith to a greater extent than a strong and powerful politician could have done.
Revolution: the inevitability of disaster?
- The way they lived, the way they believed the last Romanovs, influenced their canonization?
- Undoubtedly. A lot of books have been written about the royal family, a lot of materials have been preserved that indicate a very high spiritual structure of the sovereign himself and his family - diaries, letters, memoirs. Their faith was evidenced by all who knew them and by many of their actions. It is known that Emperor Nicholas II built many churches and monasteries; he, the empress and their children were deeply religious people who regularly partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In conclusion, they constantly prayed and prepared in a Christian manner for their martyrdom, and three days before their death, the guards allowed the priest to perform a liturgy in the Ipatiev House, during which all members of the royal family received communion. There, Grand Duchess Tatiana, in one of her books, emphasized the lines: “Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ went to death as if on a holiday, facing inevitable death, they retained the same wondrous calm of spirit that did not leave them for a minute. They walked calmly towards death because they hoped to enter into a different, spiritual life, which opens up for a person beyond the grave.” And the Emperor wrote: “I firmly believe that the Lord will have mercy on Russia and pacify passions in the end. Let His Holy Will be done." It is also well known what place in their lives occupied works of mercy, which were performed in the spirit of the Gospel: the royal daughters themselves, together with the empress, cared for the wounded in the hospital during the First World War.
— There are very different attitudes towards Emperor Nicholas II today: from accusations of lack of will and political insolvency to veneration as a tsar-redeemer. Is it possible to find a middle ground?
“I think that the most dangerous sign of the difficult state of many of our contemporaries is the lack of any attitude towards the martyrs, towards the royal family, towards everything in general. Unfortunately, many are now in some kind of spiritual hibernation and are not able to accommodate any serious questions in their hearts or look for answers to them. The extremes that you named, it seems to me, are not found in the entire mass of our people, but only in those who are still thinking about something, are still looking for something, are internally striving for something.
— How can one answer such a statement: the Tsar’s sacrifice was absolutely necessary, and thanks to it Russia was redeemed?
“Such extremes come from the lips of people who are theologically ignorant. Therefore, they begin to reformulate some points of the doctrine of salvation in relation to the king. This, of course, is completely wrong; there is no logic, consistency or necessity in this.
- But they say that the feat of the new martyrs meant a lot for Russia...
—Only the feat of the new martyrs was able to withstand the rampant evil to which Russia was subjected. At the head of this martyr's army were great people: Patriarch Tikhon, the greatest saints, such as Metropolitan Peter, Metropolitan Kirill and, of course, Emperor Nicholas II and his family. These are such great images! And the more time passes, the clearer their greatness and their meaning will become.
I think that now, in our time, we can more adequately assess what happened at the beginning of the twentieth century. You know, when you are in the mountains, an absolutely amazing panorama opens up - many mountains, ridges, peaks. And when you move away from these mountains, all the smaller ridges go beyond the horizon, but above this horizon there remains one huge snow cap. And you understand: here is the dominant!
So it is here: time passes, and we are convinced that these new saints of ours were truly giants, heroes of the spirit. I think that the significance of the feat of the royal family will be revealed more and more over time, and it will be clear what great faith and love they showed through their suffering.
In addition, a century later it is clear that no most powerful leader, no Peter I, could have restrained with his human will what was happening then in Russia.
- Why?
- Because the cause of the revolution was the state of the entire people, the state of the Church - I mean its human side. We often tend to idealize that time, but in reality everything was far from rosy. Our people received communion once a year, and it was a mass phenomenon. There were several dozen bishops throughout Russia, the patriarchate was abolished, and the Church had no independence. The system of parochial schools throughout Russia is a huge merit of the Chief Prosecutor Holy Synod K. F. Pobedonostsev - was created only for end of the 19th century century. This is, of course, a great thing; people began to learn to read and write precisely under the Church, but this happened too late.
There is a lot to list. One thing is clear: faith has become largely ritualistic. Many saints of that time testified to the difficult state of the people's soul, so to speak - first of all, St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), saint righteous John Kronstadt. They foresaw that this would lead to disaster.
— Did Tsar Nicholas II himself and his family foresee this catastrophe?
- Of course, and we find evidence of this in their diary entries. How could Tsar Nicholas II not feel what was happening in the country when his uncle, Sergei Aleksandrovich Romanov, was killed right next to the Kremlin by a bomb thrown by the terrorist Kalyaev? And what about the revolution of 1905, when even all the seminaries and theological academies were engulfed in rebellion, so that they had to be temporarily closed? This speaks about the state of the Church and the country. For several decades before the revolution, systematic persecution took place in society: the faith and the royal family were persecuted in the press, terrorist attempts were made on the lives of rulers...
— Do you want to say that it is impossible to blame solely Nicholas II for the troubles that befell the country?
- Yes, that’s right - he was destined to be born and reign at this time, he could no longer simply change the situation with an effort of will, because it came from the depths folk life. And under these conditions, he chose the path that was most characteristic of him - the path of suffering. The Tsar suffered deeply, suffered mentally long before the revolution. He tried to defend Russia with kindness and love, he did it consistently, and this position led him to martyrdom.
What kind of saints are these?..
— Father Vladimir, in Soviet time Obviously, canonization was impossible for political reasons. But even in our time it took eight years... Why so long?
— You know, more than twenty years have passed since perestroika, and the remnants Soviet era still have a very strong impact. They say that Moses wandered through the desert with his people for forty years because the generation that lived in Egypt and was raised in slavery needed to die. For the people to become free, that generation had to leave. And it is not very easy for the generation that lived under Soviet rule to change their mentality.
— Because of a certain fear?
- Not only because of fear, but rather because of the cliches that were implanted from childhood, which owned people. I knew many representatives of the older generation - among them priests and even one bishop - who still saw Tsar Nicholas II during his lifetime. And I witnessed what they did not understand: why canonize him? what kind of saint is he? It was difficult for them to reconcile the image that they had perceived since childhood with the criteria of holiness. This nightmare, which we now cannot truly imagine, when huge parts of the Russian Empire were occupied by the Germans, although the First World War promised to end victoriously for Russia; when terrible persecution, anarchy, and Civil War began; when famine came in the Volga region, repressions unfolded, etc. - apparently, in the young perception of people of that time, it was somehow linked to the weakness of the government, to the fact that the people did not have a real leader who could resist all this rampant evil . And some people remained under the influence of this idea until the end of their lives...
And then, of course, it is very difficult to compare in your mind, for example, St. Nicholas of Myra, the great ascetics and martyrs of the first centuries with the saints of our time. I know one old woman whose priest uncle was canonized as a new martyr - he was shot for his faith. When they told her about this, she was surprised: “How?! No, he, of course, was a very good person, but what kind of saint was he? That is, it is not so easy for us to accept the people with whom we live as saints, because for us saints are “celestials,” people from another dimension. And those who eat, drink, talk and worry with us - what kind of saints are they? It is difficult to apply the image of holiness to a person close to you in everyday life, and this also has a very great importance.
— In 1991, the remains of the royal family were found and buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress. But the Church doubts their authenticity. Why?
— Yes, there was a very long debate about the authenticity of these remains, many examinations were carried out abroad. Some of them confirmed the authenticity of these remains, while others confirmed the not very obvious reliability of the examinations themselves, that is, an insufficiently clear scientific organization process. Therefore, our Church avoided resolving this issue and left it open: it does not risk agreeing with something that has not been sufficiently verified. There are fears that by taking one position or another, the Church will become vulnerable, because there is no sufficient basis for an unambiguous decision.
End crowns the work
— Father Vladimir, I see on your table, among others, there is a book about Nicholas II. What is your personal attitude towards him?
— I grew up in Orthodox family and from the very early childhood knew about this tragedy. Of course, he always treated the royal family with reverence. I have been to Yekaterinburg several times...
I think that if you pay attention and seriously, you cannot help but feel and see the greatness of this feat and not be fascinated by these wonderful images - the sovereign, the empress and their children. Their life was full of difficulties, sorrows, but it was beautiful! How strictly the children were brought up, how they all knew how to work! How can one not admire the amazing spiritual purity of the Grand Duchesses! Modern young people need to see the life of these princesses, they were so simple, majestic and beautiful. For their chastity alone they could have been canonized, for their meekness, modesty, readiness to serve, for their loving hearts and mercy. After all, they were very modest people, unassuming, never aspired to glory, they lived as God placed them, in the conditions in which they were placed. And in everything they were distinguished by amazing modesty and obedience. No one has ever heard of them displaying any passionate traits of character. On the contrary, a Christian disposition of the heart was nurtured in them - peaceful, chaste. It is enough to even just look at photographs of the royal family; they themselves already reveal an amazing inner appearance - of the sovereign, and the empress, and the grand duchesses, and Tsarevich Alexei. The point is not only in upbringing, but also in their very life, which corresponded to their faith and prayer. They were true Orthodox people: they lived as they believed, they acted as they thought. But there is a saying: “The end is the end.” “Whatever I find, that’s what I judge,” says Holy Bible on behalf of God.
Therefore, the royal family was canonized not for their life, which was very high and beautiful, but, above all, for their even more beautiful death. For the suffering before death, for the faith, meekness and obedience with which they went through this suffering to the will of God - this is their unique greatness.