Why was Emperor Nicholas II canonized? Russian history in faces.

In 1981 royal family was glorified by the Russian Church Abroad.

In the 1980s, even in Russia, voices began to be heard about the official canonization of at least shot children, whose innocence is beyond doubt. Icons painted without church blessing are mentioned, in which only they were depicted alone, without parents. In 1992, the sister of the Empress Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, another victim of the Bolsheviks, was canonized. However, there were also many opponents of canonization.

Arguments against canonization

Canonization of the royal family

Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad canonized Nicholas and the entire royal family in 1981. At the same time, the Russian New Martyrs and ascetics of that time were canonized, including Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin) of Moscow and All Russia.

ROC

Alexandra Fedorovna. Modern icon.

The official church of the latter raised the issue of the canonization of the executed monarchs (which, of course, was connected with the political situation in the country). When considering this issue, she was faced with the example of other Orthodox churches, the reputation that the dead had long begun to enjoy in the eyes of believers, as well as the fact that they had already been glorified as locally venerated saints in the Yekaterinburg, Lugansk, Bryansk, Odessa and Tulchinsk dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church .

The results of the work of the Commission were reported to the Holy Synod at a meeting on October 10, 1996. A report was published in which the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue was announced. Based on this positive report, further steps were possible.

The main theses of the report:

Based on the arguments taken into account by the ROC (see below), as well as thanks to petitions and miracles, the Commission announced the following conclusion:

“Behind the many sufferings endured by the Royal Family over the last 17 months of their lives, which ended in execution in the basement of the Yekaterinburg Ipatiev House on the night of July 17, 1918, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom, the light of Christ's faith that overcomes evil was revealed, just as it shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians who suffered persecution for Christ in the 20th century. It is in understanding this feat of the Royal Family that the Commission, in complete unanimity and with the approval of the Holy Synod, finds it possible to glorify in the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the face of the Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia.

From the “Acts on the Cathedral Glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the 20th Century”:

“Glorify as passion-bearers in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia the Royal Family: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his Family, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Imperial family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 4 (17), 1918, the light of Christ's faith conquering evil was revealed, just as it shone in life and death millions of Orthodox Christians who endured persecution for Christ in the 20th century... Report the names of the newly glorified saints to the Primates of the fraternal Local Orthodox Churches for their inclusion in the calendar of calendars.

Arguments for canonization, taken into account by the ROC

Refutation of the arguments of opponents of canonization

Aspects of canonization

Question about the face of holiness

In Orthodoxy, there is a very developed and carefully worked out hierarchy of faces of holiness - categories into which it is customary to divide saints depending on their work during their lifetime. The question of what kind of saints the royal family should be included in causes a lot of controversy among various currents of the Orthodox Church, which evaluate the life and death of the family in different ways.

"Coronation of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna". Painting by L. Tuxen

The position of the Russian Orthodox Church itself regarding the canonization of servants is as follows: “Due to the fact that they voluntarily remained with the Royal Family and were martyred, it would be legitimate to raise the question of their canonization”. In addition to the four who were shot in the basement, the Commission mentions that this list should have included those “killed” in various places and in different months of 1918, Adjutant General I. L. Tatishchev, Marshal Prince V. A. Dolgorukov, the “uncle” of the Heir K. G. Nagorny, children's footman I. D. Sednev, maid of honor of the Empress A. V. Gendrikov and goflektriss E. A. Schneider. Nevertheless, the Commission concluded that it “does not appear to it possible to make a final decision on the existence of grounds for the canonization of this group of laity, who, on duty as court service, accompanied Royal Family”, since there is no information about the broad prayerful commemoration of these servants by believers, in addition, there is no information about their religious life and personal piety. The final conclusion was: “The commission came to the conclusion that the most appropriate form of honoring the Christian feat of the faithful servants of the Royal Family, who shared its tragic fate, today may be to perpetuate this feat in the lives of the Royal Martyrs” .

Besides, there is one more problem. While the royal family has been canonized as martyrs, it is not possible to classify the suffered servants as the same, since, as one of the members of the Commission stated in an interview, “since ancient times, the rank of martyrs has been applied only to representatives of grand ducal and royal families” .

Society's reaction to canonization

Positive

Negative

Modern veneration of the royal family by believers

Churches

  • Church-on-the-Blood in honor of All Saints who shone in the Russian Land on the site of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.
  • The chapel-monument to the deceased Russian emigrants, Nicholas II and his august family was erected at the cemetery in Zagreb (1935)
  • Chapel in memory of Emperor Nicholas II and Serbian King Alexander I in Harbin (1936)
  • Temple of the Royal Passion-Bearers at the entrance to Ryazan from Moscow.
  • Church of the Royal Passion-Bearers in the Tver Nativity Monastery.
  • Church of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers in Kursk
  • Church of Tsarevich Alexy in Sharya, Kostroma Region
  • Church of St. martyr king and sv. New Martyrs and Confessors in Villemoisson, France (1980s)
  • Church of the Holy Royal Martyrs and All New Martyrs and Confessors of the 20th century, Mogilev Belarus
  • Temple of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, Zhukovsky
  • Church of St. Tsar Martyr Nicholas, Nikolskoye
  • Church of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers Nicholas and Alexandra, pos. Sertolovo
  • Church of the Royal Martyrs in Mar del Plata (Argentina)
  • Monastery in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers near Yekaterinburg.
  • Church of the Royal Martyrs, Dnepropetrovsk (f/m Igren), Ukraine.
  • Temple in the name of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, Saratov, Russia.
  • Temple in the name of the Holy Royal Martyrs, Dubki village, Saratov district, Saratov region, Russia.

Icons

Iconography

There is both a collective image of the whole family, and each of the members individually. In the icons of the “foreign” model, canonized servants join the Romanovs. Passion-bearers can be depicted both in contemporary clothes of the early twentieth century, and in stylized Ancient Russia robes, in style reminiscent of royal robes with parsun.

The figures of the Saint Romanovs are also found in the multi-figured icons "Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia" and "Cathedral of the Saint Patrons of Hunters and Fishermen".

relics

Patriarch Alexy, on the eve of the classes of the Bishops' Council in 2000, which performed an act of glorification of the royal family, spoke about the remains found near Yekaterinburg: “We have doubts about the authenticity of the remains, and we cannot encourage believers to worship false relics if they are recognized as such in the future.” Metropolitan Yuvenaly (Poyarkov), referring to the judgment of the Holy Synod of February 26, 1998 (“The assessment of the reliability of scientific and investigative conclusions, as well as evidence of their inviolability or irrefutability, is not within the competence of the Church. Scientific and historical responsibility for the decisions taken during the investigation and studying the conclusions regarding the “Yekaterinburg remains” falls entirely on the Republican Center for Forensic Medical Research and the Prosecutor General’s Office Russian Federation. Solution State Commission about the identification of the remains found near Yekaterinburg as belonging to the Family of Emperor Nicholas II caused serious doubts and even opposition in the Church and society. ), reported to the Council of Bishops in August 2000: “The “Ekaterinburg remains” buried on July 17, 1998 in St. Petersburg today cannot be recognized by us as belonging to the Royal Family.”

In view of this position of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has not changed since then, the remains identified by the government commission as belonging to members of the royal family and buried in July 1998 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral are not revered by the church as holy relics.

Revered as the relics of relics with a clearer origin, for example, the hair of Nicholas, cut off at the age of three.

Declared miracles of royal martyrs

  • Descent of the miraculous fire. It is alleged that this miracle happened in the Cathedral of the Holy Iberian Monastery in Odessa, when during the divine service on February 15, 2000, a tongue of snow-white flame appeared on the throne of the temple. According to Hieromonk Peter (Golubenkov):
When I finished communing people and entered the altar with the Holy Gifts, after the words: “Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thy inheritance,” a flash of fire appeared on the throne (on the diskos). At first I did not understand what it was, but then, when I saw this fire, it was impossible to describe the joy that seized my heart. At first I thought it was a piece of coal from a censer. But this little petal of fire was the size of a poplar leaf and all white and white. Then I compared the white color of the snow - and it is impossible even to compare - the snow seems to be grayish. I thought that this is a demonic temptation that happens. And when he took the cup with the Holy Gifts to the altar, there was no one near the altar, and many parishioners saw how the petals of the Holy Fire scattered over the antimension, then gathered together and entered the altar lamp. The evidence of that miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire continued throughout the day...

Skepticism about miracles

Osipov also notes the following aspects of canonical norms regarding miracles:

  • Church recognition of a miracle requires the testimony of the ruling bishop. Only after it can we talk about the nature of this phenomenon - whether it is a divine miracle or a phenomenon of a different order. With regard to most of the described miracles associated with the royal martyrs, there is no such evidence.
  • Declaring someone a saint without the blessing of the ruling bishop and a conciliar decision is a non-canonical act, and therefore all references to the miracles of the royal martyrs before their canonization should be taken with skepticism.
  • The icon is an image of an ascetic canonized by the church, so the miracles from the icons painted to the official canonization are doubtful.

"The rite of repentance for the sins of the Russian people" and more

Since the end of the 1990s, annually, on the days dedicated to the anniversaries of the birth of the "Martyr Tsar Nicholas" by some representatives of the clergy (in particular, Archimandrite Peter (Kucher)), in Taininsky (Moscow Region), at the monument to Nicholas II by the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, a special "Order of repentance for the sins of the Russian people" is performed; the holding of the event was condemned by the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarch Alexy II in 2007).

Among a part of the Orthodox, the concept of the “Tsar-Redeemer” is in circulation, according to which Nicholas II is revered as “the redeemer of the sin of unfaithfulness of his people”; critics refer to this concept as the "royal heresy".

see also

  • Canonized ROCOR Martyrs of the Alapaevskaya mine (Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, nun Varvara, Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich, Igor Konstantinovich, John Konstantinovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich (junior), Prince Vladimir Paley).
  • Tsarevich Dmitry, who died in 1591, canonized in 1606 - before the glorification of the Romanovs, he was chronologically the last representative of the ruling dynasty, canonized.
  • Solomonia Saburova(Reverend Sophia of Suzdal) - the first wife of Vasily III, chronologically the penultimate of the canonized.

Notes

  1. Tsar Martyr
  2. Emperor Nicholas II and his family canonized as saints
  3. Osipov A. I. On the canonization of the last Russian Tsar
  4. Shargunov A. Miracles of the Royal Martyrs. M. 1995. S. 49
  5. Blessed Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich and his family on pravoslavie.ru
  6. Grounds for the canonization of the royal family. From the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, chairman of the synodal commission for the canonization of saints. www.pravoslavie.ru
  7. CHRONICLE OF HONORING THE HOLY ROYAL PASSION BEARERS IN THE URALS: HISTORY AND PRESENT
  8. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. On the canonization of the royal family as saints // Russian Thought, September 6, 1991 // Reprint: Izvestia. August 14, 2000
  9. He had every reason to be embittered... Interview of Deacon Andrey Kuraev to the Vslukh magazine. Journal "Orthodoxy and Peace". Mon, 17 Jul 2006
  10. Russian Bulletin. Explanation of the canonization of the royal family
  11. From an interview with Mr. Nizhny Novgorod Nikolai Kutepov (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, section Figures and Faces, 26.4.2001
  12. The rite of canonization of the newly glorified saints took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior Orthodoxy.Ru
  13. Metropolitan Yuvenaly: We have received 22,873 appeals in three years
  14. Emperor Nicholas II and the events of January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg. Part I // Orthodox newspaper. - Yekaterinburg, 2003. - No. 31.
  15. Emperor Nicholas II and the events of January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg. Part II // Orthodox newspaper. - Ekaterinburg, 2003. - No. 32.
  16. Protopresbyter Michael Polsky. New Russian martyrs. Jordanville: T. I, 1943; T. II, 1957. (Abridged English edition of The new martyrs of Russia. Montreal, 1972. 137 p.)
  17. Inok Vsevolod (Filipiev). Way of the Holy Fathers. Patrology. Jordanville, M., 2007, p. 535.
  18. "On Tsar John the Terrible" (Appendix to the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints
  19. Akathist to the Holy Tsar-Redeemer Nicholas II
  20. Kuraev A. The temptation that comes "from the right". M .: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2005. S. 67
  21. The Voronezh diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church MP accused the members of the group of “nationwide repentance for the sin of regicide” of commercial aspirations
  22. The martyrdom of the emperor is the main reason for his canonization
  23. The canonization of the royal family eliminated one of the contradictions between the Russian and Russian Churches Abroad
  24. Prince Nikolai Romanov welcomes the decision to canonize the royal family
  25. The head of the Romanov dynasty will not come to the act of canonization of Nicholas II
  26. The Miracle of the Myrrh-streaming of the Icon of the Royal Martyrs
  27. Great shrine of Orthodoxy
  28. Ten years later, conflicting data appeared about the fate of the icon of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, which became myrrh-streaming in Moscow on November 7, 1998.
  29. Patriarch Alexy: The attitude of the church towards the "Ekaterinburg remains" remains unchanged
  30. ZhMP. 1998, No. 4, p. 10. The decision of the Holy Synod also, among other things, said: “<…>In this regard, the Holy Synod speaks in favor of the immediate burial of these remains in a symbolic memorial grave. When all doubts about the “Ekaterinburg remains” are removed and the grounds for embarrassment and confrontation in society disappear, we should return to the final decision on the place of their burial.”
  31. REPORT BY METROPOLITAN YUVENALY OF KRUTITSKY AND KOLOMENSKOYE, CHAIRMAN OF THE SYNODAL COMMISSION FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAINTS, AT THE BISHOPAL JUBILEE COUNCIL

Although the sovereign signed the abdication of the throne as from the duties of governing the state, this does not mean yet his renunciation of royal dignity. Until his successor was appointed to the kingdom, in the minds of the whole people he still remained the king, and his family remained the royal family. They themselves perceived themselves as such, and the Bolsheviks perceived them in the same way. If the sovereign, as a result of renunciation, would lose his royal dignity and become an ordinary person, then why and who would need to persecute and kill him? When, for example, the presidential term ends, who will persecute 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 its king, and a liturgical rite of anointing with holy chrism to the kingdom was performed over him. From this anointing, which was the blessing of God on the most difficult service to the Orthodox people and Orthodoxy in general, the pious sovereign Nicholas II could not refuse without having a successor, and everyone understood this very well.

The sovereign, transferring power to his brother, withdrew from 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 person, and the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bstruggle for power was absolutely alien to him. He hoped that the transfer of the throne in favor of brother Michael (subject to his anointing to the throne) would calm the unrest and thereby benefit Russia. This example of refusal to fight for power in the name of the well-being of one's country, one's people is very instructive for the modern world.

The royal train in which Nicholas II signed his abdication

- Did he somehow mention these views of his in diaries, letters?

Yes, but it can be seen from his very actions. He could have sought to emigrate, to go to a safe place, to organize a reliable guard, to secure 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 faith that the fate of Russia, my own fate and the fate of my family are in the hands of Lord. Whatever happens, I bow to His will." Already shortly before his suffering the sovereign said: “I would not want 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 Sovereign wrote: “Perhaps a redemptive sacrifice is needed to save Russia: I will be this sacrifice - may the will of God be done!”

“Many see renunciation as an ordinary weakness…

Yes, some see this as a manifestation of weakness: a powerful man, strong in the usual sense of the word, would not abdicate. But for Emperor Nicholas II, strength was 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 hardly possible to keep it. On the other hand, the holy humility with which he abdicated the throne and then accepted a martyr's death still contributes to the conversion of the whole 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 churched people, but still they are not militant atheists. Grand Duchess Olga wrote from imprisonment in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg: “The father asks to convey to all those who remained devoted to him, and to those on whom they can have influence, so that they do not avenge him - he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and that they remember that the evil that is now in the world, will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will conquer evil, but only love.” And, perhaps, the image of a humble martyr tsar moved our people to repentance and faith to a greater extent than a strong and powerful politician could do.

Room of the Grand Duchesses in the Ipatiev House

Revolution: catastrophe inevitable?

- Did the way the last Romanovs lived, how they believed, 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 dispensation of the sovereign himself and his family - diaries, letters, memoirs. Their faith is attested by all who knew them and by many of their deeds. It is known that Emperor Nicholas II built many churches and monasteries, he, the Empress and their children were deeply religious people, regularly partaking of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In conclusion, they constantly prayed and prepared in a Christian way for their martyrdom, and three days before their death, the guards allowed the priest to celebrate the liturgy in the Ipatiev House, at which all members of the royal family took communion. In the same place, Grand Duchess Tatiana in one of her books underlined the lines: “Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ went to their death, as if on a holiday, facing inevitable death, retaining the same wondrous peace of mind that did not leave them for a minute. They walked calmly towards death because they hoped to enter into a different, spiritual life, opening up for a person beyond the grave. And the Sovereign wrote: “I firmly believe that the Lord will have mercy on Russia and pacify passions in the end. May His Holy Will be done." It is also well known what place in their lives was occupied by 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 is a very different attitude towards Emperor Nicholas II today: from accusations of lack of will and political failure to veneration as a redeeming king. Is it possible to find a golden mean?

I think that the most dangerous sign of the grave condition of many of our contemporaries is the absence of any relation to the martyrs, to the royal family, to everything in general. Unfortunately, many people are now in some kind of spiritual hibernation and are not able to contain any serious questions in their hearts, to look for answers to them. It seems to me that the extremes that you have named are not found in the entire mass of our people, but only in those who are still thinking about something, looking for something else, striving for something internally.

What can be answered to 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. So they begin to reformulate certain 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 to Russia...

Only the feat of the New Martyrs alone was able to withstand the rampant evil that Russia was subjected to. Great people stood at the head of this martyr's army: Patriarch Tikhon, the greatest saints, such as Metropolitan Peter, Metropolitan Kirill and, of course, Tsar Nicholas II and his family. These are such great images! And the more time passes, the clearer will be their greatness and their significance.

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 - a lot of mountains, ridges, peaks. And when you move away from these mountains, then all the smaller ridges go beyond the horizon, but only one huge snow cap remains above this horizon. And you understand: here is the dominant!

So it is here: time passes, and we are convinced that these new saints of ours were really 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, by his human will, restrain what was happening then in Russia.

- Why?

Because the cause of the revolution was the state of the whole people, the state of the Church - I mean the human side of it. We often tend to idealize that time, but in fact, everything was far from cloudless. Our people took 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 - a huge merit of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. F. Pobedonostsev - was created only by late XIX century. This, of course, is a great thing, the people began to learn to read and write precisely under the Church, but this happened too late.

Much can be listed. One thing is clear: faith has become largely ritual. Many saints of that time, if I may say so, testified to the difficult state of the soul of the people - first of all, St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. They foresaw that this would lead to disaster.

Did Tsar Nicholas II 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 is happening in the country when his uncle, Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, was killed right by the Kremlin with 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 a riot, so that they had to be temporarily closed? This speaks volumes about the state of the Church and the country. For several decades before the revolution, systematic persecution took place in society: faith, the royal family were persecuted in the press, terrorists attempted to kill the rulers ...

- You want to say that it is impossible to blame only Nicholas II for the troubles that have fallen on the country?

Yes, that's right - he was destined to be born and reign at that time, he could no longer change the situation simply by exerting his 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, mentally suffered long before the revolution. He tried to defend Russia with kindness and love, he did it consistently, and this position led him to martyrdom.

Basement of the Ipatiev house, Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Emperor Nicholas II was killed here along with his family and household

What are these saints?

Father Vladimir, in Soviet times, 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 of the Soviet era still have a very strong effect. They say that Moses wandered in the desert with his people for forty years because the generation that lived in Egypt and was brought up in slavery had 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 stamps that were planted from childhood, which owned people. I knew many representatives of the older generation - among them priests and even one bishop - who still found 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, which they perceived from 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, civil war began; when the famine came in the Volga region, repressions unfolded, etc. - apparently, somehow it turned out to be linked in the young perception of the people of that time with the weakness of power, with the fact that there was no real leader among the people 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 uncle, a priest, was canonized as a new martyr - he was shot for his faith. When she was told about this, she was surprised: “How ?! No, of course he was very good man but what kind of a saint is he? That is, it is not so easy for us to accept the people with whom we live as saints, because for us the 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 is also of 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 has evaded the solution of this issue and left it open: it does not risk accepting what 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.

Cross at the construction site of the Church of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, the Monastery of the Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama.Photo provided by the press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

End crowns the work

Father Vladimir, I see that on your table, among others, there is a book about Nicholas II. What is your personal attitude towards him?

I grew up in an Orthodox family and knew about this tragedy from early childhood. Of course, he always treated the royal family with reverence. I have been to Yekaterinburg many times...

I think if you treat it with attention, seriously, then you can’t help but feel, 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 wonderful! In what severity the children were brought up, how they all knew how to work! How not to 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 already be canonized, for their meekness, modesty, readiness to serve, for their loving hearts and mercy. After all, they were very modest people, unpretentious, they never aspired to glory, they lived the way God set them, in the conditions in which they were placed. And in everything they were distinguished by amazing modesty, obedience. No one has ever heard them display any passionate character traits. On the contrary, a Christian dispensation of the heart was nurtured in them - peaceful, chaste. It is enough even just to look at the photographs of the royal family, they themselves already show an amazing inner appearance - of the sovereign, and the empress, and the grand duchesses, and Tsarevich Alexei. The point is not only in education, but also in their very life, which corresponded to their faith and prayer. They were real Orthodox people: as they believed, so they lived, as they thought, so they acted. But there is a saying: "The end crowns the deed." “In whatever I find, in that I will judge,” says the Holy Scripture on behalf of God.

Therefore, the royal family was canonized not for their very high and beautiful life, but above all for their even more beautiful death. For the sufferings before death, for the faith, meekness and obedience to the will of God they went through these sufferings - this is their unique greatness.

Valeria POSASHKO

According to the unanimous opinion of observers, the key event of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Church taking place in Moscow was the issue of the canonization of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family. It is to this topic that the last few days have been devoted to the main subjects of television news and the front pages of newspapers and magazines. The dramatic situation was reinforced by the fact that until the very last moment it was not known whether the canonization of the royal martyrs would take place or not.

Certain forces even tried to exert massive informational pressure on the Moscow Patriarchate in order to prevent canonization. In his report at the opening of the Council on August 13, His Holiness the Patriarch deliberately refrained from any opinion on this issue, saying: “I would not impose my opinion on this topic on anyone. I propose to discuss it especially carefully and think about how to transfer this difficult issue to the will of God.”

The question of the canonization of the New Martyrs was decided at the Council of Bishops today, August 14. In the hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where the chairman of the Synodal Commission for Canonization, Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, was making a presentation, only bishops were present. At 5:20 p.m. we were informed from the Cathedral Hall that a few minutes ago the final positive decision on canonization had been made. In the debate before this, about 60 bishops spoke, who, with tears in their eyes, spoke of the need to glorify the martyr tsar and his family. Some doubts were expressed by only one bishop from Western Ukraine. They voted by standing up, and the hall of Church Councils, full of standing bishops, testified better than any words to the holiness of the royal martyrs. The decision was taken unanimously.

The Council also decided to canonize 860 of the vast number of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia who suffered for Christ in the 20th century. A number of locally revered saints are also included in the Council. The church celebration of the canonization of the host of the New Martyrs of Russia will take place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the second day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 20. After that, the newly-glorified saints, including the martyrs Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Tsarevna Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, will be composed services, written lives, blessed icons for church-wide veneration. Ranking among the saints means that the Church testifies to the closeness of these people to God and prays to them as to their patrons.

The act of the Council, in particular, reads: “In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his Family, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 4 (17), 1918, the light of Christ's faith conquering evil was revealed.

Prior to this, the royal martyrs were glorified as locally venerated saints in the Yekaterinburg, Lugansk, Bryansk, Odessa and Tulchinsk dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were revered as saints in the Serbian Church. Among the church people, the veneration of the Royal Family, as Metropolitan Yuvenaly noted in one of his reports, was begun by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon in a prayer for the dead and a word at a memorial service for the murdered emperor three days after the Yekaterinburg murder "and continued - despite the prevailing ideology - throughout several decades of the Soviet period of our history. In recent years, many miracles and healings have been recorded through prayers to the royal martyrs. Portraits and even icons of the royal family were distributed among the church people, which could be seen not only in houses, but also in churches. All this testified to the wide popular veneration of the royal martyrs, which served as one of the main grounds for their glorification as saints. According to church canons, the presence of the relics of a saint during his canonization is optional.

Orthodoxy 2000

On August 20, 2000, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, in the presence of the heads and representatives of all the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, the glorification of many saints of God, New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian twentieth century, including the Royal Family in full force, took place. The deed on the conciliar glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the 20th century reads:

""Glorify as passion-bearers in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia the Royal Family: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his Family, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Imperial Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 4 (17), 1918, the light of Christ's faith that conquered evil was revealed, just as it shone in life and death. millions of Orthodox Christians who endured persecution for Christ in the 20th century... Report the names of the newly-glorified saints to the Primates of the fraternal Local Orthodox Churches for their inclusion in the holy calendar.

There is no reason to reconsider this decision.

http://www.rv.ru/content.php3?id=811

This is how the royal family, including Nicholas II, was canonized as a saint. Here's what I think about it.

Some rush about with Nicholas II and his family like with a hand-written bag, saying how wonderful the tsar was! But let's briefly recap history.

1. Immediately after the tragedy on the Khodynka field, he indulged in amusements with the ambassadors of foreign powers, not deeming it necessary to cancel them.

After the execution of the workers of St. Petersburg, in his speech of January 19, 1905, Nicholas II said:
« I believe in the honest feelings of working people and in their unshakable devotion to Me, and therefore I forgive them their guilt. Now return to your peaceful work, blessed, get down to business together with your comrades, and may God help you».

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%87%D1%8C_%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0 %B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%8F_II_%D0%BA_ %D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0 %BE%D1%87%D0%B8%D1%85_19_%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8F_1905_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4 %D0%B0

So Nicholas II granted forgiveness to the workers whom he shot. The people, seeing such neglect towards themselves, repaid the tsar in kind.

3. Bad Conduct Russo-Japanese War and defeat in it.

4. The First World War. For some reason, they forget how many hundreds of thousands of people died due to the fact that the tsar dragged Russia into an unnecessary and in the interests of the first world war, although no one attacked Russia and was not going to (the German Schlieffen Plan was developed specifically against France).

How many people took a hard death, how many wives and children were doomed to hunger and suffering because of this war? Did the ministers of the church think about these hundreds of thousands, millions of people? After all, so many people died because of his mediocre actions!!! So maybe we will glorify these hundreds of thousands of people, who were driven to slaughter for the sake of the interests of allied sponsors?

5. Moreover, in the end, the war, incomprehensible to the people, and the deprivation of the people (and the bourgeoisie, on the contrary, profited) caused social protests and a second revolution. What kind of a tsar is so holy that revolutions follow one after another? From a good life, probably ... In addition, it does not hurt to notice that the February Revolution was not made by the Bolsheviks, but just their future enemies (otherwise in Lately all dogs are hanged on them, that they Russian empire destroyed. It's not true, they aren't.)

The Russian Empire came to an end, resulting in chaos and civil war, which led to even more victims. Such were the results of the mediocre reign of Nicholas II.

And what else should you pay special attention to.

When the February revolution took place, no one interceded for the tsar, not a single political force wishing to intercede for Nicholas II appeared. This best of all, most clearly shows the attitude of the people towards the "holy king." And in civil war the main belligerents: the Whites (whose leader Kornilov arrested the royal family, and the other leader Alekseev was one of the main conspirators who prepared the overthrow of the tsar)) and the Reds did not return the throne to Nicholas II nor did they plan to restore the monarchy at all.

But, when almost all the people who lived under Nicholas diedII- you can already declare him a saint, and write history in a new way, showing what a benefactor of the people he is ...

Thus, the ministers of the church, ranking NicholasIIto the face of the saints showed first of all how far they are from the people.

In 1981, the royal family was glorified by the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad. This event increased attention to the question of the sanctity of the last Russian tsar in the USSR, as underground literature was sent there and foreign broadcasting was carried out.

July 16, 1989 In the evening, people began to gather in the wasteland where Ipatiev's house had once stood. For the first time, people's prayers to the Royal Martyrs were openly heard. On August 18, 1990, the first wooden cross was installed on the site of the Ipatiev House, near which believers began to pray once or twice a week, read akathists.

In the 1980s, even in Russia, voices began to be heard about the official canonization of at least shot children, whose innocence is beyond doubt. Icons painted without church blessing are mentioned, in which only they were depicted alone, without parents. In 1992, the sister of the Empress Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, another victim of the Bolsheviks, was canonized as a saint. However, there were also many opponents of canonization.

Arguments against canonization

Canonization of the royal family

Russian Orthodox Church Abroad

The results of the work of the Commission were reported to the Holy Synod at a meeting on October 10, 1996. A report was published in which the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue was announced. Based on this positive report, further steps were possible.

The main theses of the report:

Based on the arguments taken into account by the ROC (see below), as well as thanks to petitions and miracles, the Commission announced the following conclusion:

“Behind the many sufferings endured by the Royal Family over the last 17 months of their lives, which ended in execution in the basement of the Yekaterinburg Ipatiev House on the night of July 17, 1918, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom, the light of Christ's faith that overcomes evil was revealed, just as it shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians who suffered persecution for Christ in the 20th century.

It is in understanding this feat of the Royal Family that the Commission, in complete unanimity and with the approval of the Holy Synod, finds it possible to glorify in the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the face of the Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia.

From the “Acts on the Cathedral Glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the 20th Century”:

“Glorify as passion-bearers in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia the Royal Family: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his Family, we see people who sincerely strived to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Imperial family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 4 (17), 1918, the light of Christ's faith conquering evil was revealed, just as it shone in life and death millions of Orthodox Christians who endured persecution for Christ in the 20th century... Report the names of the newly glorified saints to the Primates of the fraternal Local Orthodox Churches for their inclusion in the calendar of calendars.

Arguments for canonization, taken into account by the ROC

  • Circumstances of death- physical, moral suffering and death at the hands of political opponents.
  • Wide popular veneration royal passion-bearers served as one of the main grounds for their glorification in the face of saints.
  • « Testimonies of miracles and grace-filled help through prayers to the Royal Martyrs. They are about healings, uniting separated families, protecting church property from schismatics. Particularly abundant is evidence of the myrrh-streaming of icons with images of Emperor Nicholas II and the Royal Martyrs, of the fragrance and miraculous appearance of blood-colored spots on the icons of the Royal Martyrs.
  • Personal piety of the Sovereign: the emperor paid great attention to the needs of the Orthodox Church, generously donated to the construction of new churches, including those outside Russia. Deep religiosity singled out the Imperial couple among the representatives of the then aristocracy. All its members lived in accordance with the traditions of Orthodox piety. During the years of his reign, more saints were canonized than in the previous two centuries (in particular, Theodosius Chernigov, Seraphim Sarov, Anna Kashinskaya, Joasaph Belgorod, Hermogenes Moscow, Pitirim Tambov, John Tobolsk).
  • “The Church policy of the Emperor did not go beyond the traditional synodal system of governing the Church. However, it was precisely during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II that until then for two centuries the church hierarchy, which had been officially silent on the issue of convening the Council, had the opportunity not only to widely discuss, but also to practically prepare the convening of the Local Council.
  • The activities of the Empress and the Grand Duchesses as sisters of mercy during the war.
  • “Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich often likened his life to the trials of the sufferer Job, on the day of whose church memory he was born. Having accepted his cross in the same way as the biblical righteous man, he endured all the trials sent down to him firmly, meekly and without a shadow of grumbling. It is this long-suffering that is revealed with particular clarity in the last days of the Emperor's life. From the moment of renunciation, not so much external events as internal spiritual state The sovereign draws our attention to himself. Most witnesses of the last period of the life of the Royal Martyrs speak of the prisoners of the Tobolsk governor's and Yekaterinburg Ipatiev houses as people who suffered and, despite all the mockery and insults, led a pious life. "Their true greatness did not stem from their royal dignity, but from that amazing moral height to which they gradually rose."

Refutation of the arguments of opponents of canonization

  • The blame for the Events of January 9, 1905, cannot be placed on the Emperor. The petition about workers' needs, with which the workers went to the tsar, had the character of a revolutionary ultimatum, which excluded the possibility of its adoption or discussion. The decision to prevent workers from entering the area of ​​the Winter Palace was made not by the emperor, but by the government headed by the Minister of the Interior P. D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. Minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky did not provide the emperor with sufficient information about the ongoing events, and his messages were of a reassuring nature. The order to the troops to open fire was also given not by the emperor, but by the commander of the St. Petersburg Military District Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. Thus, "historical data does not allow us to detect in the actions of the Sovereign in the January days of 1905 a conscious evil will directed against the people and embodied in specific sinful decisions and actions" . Nevertheless, Emperor Nicholas II did not see in the actions of the commander reprehensible actions to shoot demonstrations: he was neither convicted nor removed from office. But he saw the blame in the actions of the minister Svyatopolk-Mirsky and the mayor I. A. Fullon, who were dismissed immediately after the January events.
  • The fault of Nicholas as unfortunate statesman should not be considered: “we should not evaluate this or that form state structure but the place occupied by a particular person in the state mechanism. The extent to which this or that person has managed to embody Christian ideals in his activity is subject to assessment. It should be noted that Nicholas II treated the duties of the monarch as his sacred duty.
  • Renunciation of the royal dignity is not a crime against the Church: “The desire, typical for some opponents of the canonization of Emperor Nicholas II, to present his abdication of the Throne as an ecclesiastical canonical crime, similar to the refusal of a representative of the church hierarchy from the holy dignity, cannot be recognized as having any serious grounds. . The canonical status of the Orthodox sovereign anointed for the Kingdom was not defined in church canons. Therefore, attempts to discover the composition of some ecclesiastical canonical crime in the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from power seem to be untenable. On the contrary, “The spiritual motives for which the last Russian Sovereign, who did not want to shed the blood of his subjects, decided to abdicate the Throne in the name of inner world in Russia, gives his act a truly moral character.
  • “There is no reason to see in the relations of the Royal Family with Rasputin signs of spiritual delusion, and even more so of insufficient churchness.”

Aspects of canonization

Question about the face of holiness

In Orthodoxy, there is a very developed and carefully worked out hierarchy of faces holiness - categories into which it is customary to divide saints depending on their work during life. The question of what kind of saints the royal family should be included in causes a lot of controversy among various currents of the Orthodox Church, which evaluate the life and death of the family in different ways.

Canonization of servants

Together with the Romanovs, four of their servants, who followed their masters into exile, were also shot. ROCOR canonized them jointly with the royal family. And the ROC points to a formal mistake made by the Church Abroad during the canonization against custom: “It should be noted that the decision, which has no historical analogies in the Orthodox Church, to include in the number of canonized, who, together with the Royal Family, was martyred, the royal servant of the Roman Catholic Aloysius Egorovich Troupe and the Lutheran goflektriss Catherine Adolfovna Schneider” .

As a basis for such canonization, Archbishop Anthony of Los Angeles  (Sinkevich) cited the argument “that these people, being devoted to the tsar, were baptized with their martyr’s blood, and they are worthy, thereby, to be canonized along with the Family” .

The position of the Russian Orthodox Church itself regarding the canonization of servants is as follows: “Due to the fact that they voluntarily remained with the Royal Family and were martyred, it would be legitimate to raise the question of their canonization”. In addition to the four who were shot in the basement, the Commission mentions that this list should have included those “killed” in various places and in different months of 1918, Adjutant General I. L. Tatishchev, Marshal Prince V. A. Dolgorukov, the “uncle” of the Heir K. G. Nagorny, children's lackey I. D. Sednev, maid of honor of the Empress A. V. Gendrikov and goflectress E. A. Shneider. Nevertheless, the Commission concluded that it "does not seem possible to it to make a final decision on the existence of grounds for the canonization of this group of laity, who accompanied the Royal Family on duty in their court service", since there is no information about the wide prayerful commemoration of these servants by the faithful, in addition , there is no information about their religious life and personal piety. The final conclusion was: “The commission came to the conclusion that the most appropriate form of honoring the Christian feat of the faithful servants of the Royal Family, who shared its tragic fate, today can be the perpetuation of this feat in the lives of the Royal Martyrs” .

Besides, there is one more problem. While the royal family has been canonized as martyrs, it is not possible to rank the suffered servants in the same category, because, as Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov, a member of the Synodal Commission, said, “the rank of martyrs since ancient times has been applied only in relation to representatives of grand ducal and royal families” .

Reaction to canonization

The canonization of the royal family eliminated one of the contradictions between the Russian and Russian Churches Abroad (which canonized them 20 years earlier), noted in 2000 the chairman of the department for external church relations, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill. The same point of view was expressed by Prince Nikolai Romanovich Romanov (Chairman of the Association of the House of the Romanovs), who, however, refused to participate in the act of canonization in Moscow, citing that he was present at the canonization ceremony, which was held in 1981 in New York by ROCOR.

I have no doubts about the holiness of the last tsar, Nicholas II. Critically evaluating his activities as an emperor, I, being the father of two children (and he was the father of five!), I cannot imagine how he could maintain such a firm and at the same time gentle state of mind in prison, when it became clear that they would all die. His behavior at this moment, this side of his personality, causes my deepest reverence.

We glorified the royal family precisely as passion-bearers: the basis for this canonization was the innocent death accepted by Nicholas II with Christian humility, and not political activity which was quite controversial. By the way, this cautious decision did not suit many, because someone did not want this canonization at all, and someone demanded the canonization of the sovereign as a great martyr, “ritually martyred by the Jews.”

Modern veneration of the royal family by believers

Churches

The figures of the Saint Romanovs are also found in the multi-figure icons "Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia" and "Cathedral of the Saints of Hunters and Fishermen".

relics

Patriarch Alexy, on the eve of the classes of the Bishops' Council in 2000, which performed an act of glorification of the royal family, spoke about the remains found near Yekaterinburg: “We have doubts about the authenticity of the remains, and we cannot encourage believers to worship false relics if they are recognized as such in the future.” Metropolitan Yuvenaly  (Poyarkov), referring to the judgment of the Holy Synod of February 26, 1998 (“Assessment of the reliability of scientific and investigative conclusions, as well as evidence of their inviolability or irrefutability, is not within the competence of the Church. Scientific and historical responsibility for those accepted during the investigation and studying the conclusions regarding the "Yekaterinburg remains" falls entirely on the Republican Center for Forensic Research and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. The decision of the State Commission to identify the remains found near Yekaterinburg as belonging to the Family of Emperor Nicholas II caused serious doubts and even opposition in the Church and society. " ), reported to the Council of Bishops in August 2000: “The “Ekaterinburg remains” buried on July 17, 1998 in St. Petersburg today cannot be recognized by us as belonging to the Royal Family.”

In view of this position of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has not changed since then, the remains identified by the government commission as belonging to members of the royal family and buried in July 1998 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral are not revered by the church as holy relics.

Relics with a clearer origin are revered as relics, for example, the hair of Nicholas II, cut off at the age of three.

Declared miracles of royal martyrs

  • Miraculous deliverance of hundreds of Cossacks. The story about this event appeared in 1947 in the Russian émigré press. The story set forth in it dates back to the time of the civil war, when a detachment of White Cossacks, surrounded and driven into impenetrable swamps by the Reds, appealed for help to the not yet officially glorified Tsarevich Alexei, since, according to the regimental priest, Fr. Elijah, in trouble, one should have prayed to the prince, as to the ataman of the Cossack troops. To the objection of the soldiers that the royal family was not officially glorified, the priest allegedly replied that the glorification takes place by the will of "God's people", and swore he assured the others that their prayer would not go unanswered, and indeed, the Cossacks managed to get out through the swamps that were considered impassable. The numbers of those saved by the intercession of the prince are called - “ 43 women, 14 children, 7 wounded, 11 elderly and disabled, 1 priest, 22 Cossacks, total 98 men and 31 horses».
  • The miracle of dry branches. One of the latest miracles recognized by the official ecclesiastical authority, happened on January 7, 2007 in the temple of the Transfiguration of the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery in Zvenigorod, which was once a place of worship for the last tsar and his family. The boys from the monastery shelter, who came to the temple to rehearse the traditional Christmas performance, allegedly noticed that the long-withered branches lying under the glass of the icons of the royal martyrs gave seven shoots (according to the number of faces depicted on the icon) and released green flowers, 1-2 in diameter. see resembling roses, and the flowers and the mother branch belonged to different plant species. According to the publications referring to this event, the service, during which the twigs were placed on the icon, was held in Intercession, that is, three months earlier. Miraculously grown flowers, four in number, were placed in an icon case, where by the time of Easter "they had not changed at all", but by the beginning of Holy Week of Great Lent, green shoots up to 3 cm long were unexpectedly thrown out. Another flower broke off, was planted in the ground , where it turned into a small plant. What happened to the other two is unknown. With the blessing of Savva, the icon was transferred to the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, to Savvin's chapel, where, apparently, it is found to this day.
  • Descent of the miraculous fire. It is alleged that this miracle happened in the Cathedral of the Holy Iberian Monastery in Odessa, when during the divine service on February 15, 2000, a tongue of snow-white flame appeared on the throne of the temple. According to Hieromonk Peter (Golubenkov):
When I finished communing people and entered the altar with the Holy Gifts, after the words: “Save, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thy inheritance”, a flash of fire appeared on the throne (on the diskos). At first I did not understand what it was, but then, when I saw this fire, it was impossible to describe the joy that seized my heart. At first I thought it was a piece of coal from a censer. But this little petal of fire was the size of a poplar leaf and all white and white. Then I compared the white color of the snow - and it is impossible even to compare - the snow seems to be grayish. I thought that this is a demonic temptation that happens. And when he took the cup with the Holy Gifts to the altar, there was no one near the altar, and many parishioners saw how the petals of the Holy Fire scattered over the antimension, then gathered together and entered the altar lamp. The evidence of that miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire continued throughout the day...

Skepticism about miracles

Osipov also notes the following aspects of canonical norms regarding miracles:

  • Church recognition of a miracle requires the testimony of the ruling bishop. Only after it can we talk about the nature of this phenomenon - whether it is a divine miracle or a phenomenon of a different order. With regard to most of the described miracles associated with the royal martyrs, there is no such evidence.
  • Declaring someone a saint without the blessing of the ruling bishop and a conciliar decision is a non-canonical act, and therefore all references to the miracles of the royal martyrs before their canonization should be taken with skepticism.
  • The icon is an image of an ascetic canonized by the church, so the miracles from the icons painted to the official canonization are doubtful.

"The rite of repentance for the sins of the Russian people" and more

Since the end of the 1990s, annually, on the days dedicated to the anniversaries of the birth of the “Martyr Tsar Nicholas” by some representatives of the clergy (in particular, Archimandrite Peter (Kucher)), in Taininsky (Moscow Region), at the monument to Nicholas II by the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, a special "Order of repentance for the sins of the Russian people" is performed; the holding of the event was condemned by the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarch Alexy II in 2007).

Among a part of the Orthodox, the concept of the "Tsar-Redeemer" is in circulation, according to which Nicholas II is revered as "the redeemer of the sin of infidelity of his people"; critics refer to this concept as the "royal heresy".

In 1993, "repentance for the sin of regicide on behalf of the entire Church" was brought by Patriarch Alexy II, who wrote: “We call to repentance all our people, all their children, regardless of their political views and views on history, regardless of their ethnic origin, religious affiliation, their attitude to the idea of ​​a monarchy and to the personality of the last Russian Emperor”. In the 21st century, with the blessing of Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Vladimir annually began to conduct a penitential procession from St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg to the place of death of the family of Nicholas II. It symbolizes repentance for the sin of the retreat of the Russian people from the conciliar oath 1613 of allegiance to the royal family of the Romanovs.

see also

  • Canonized ROCOR Martyrs of the Alapaevsk mine(Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fedorovna, nun Varvara, Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich, Igor Konstantinovich, John Konstantinovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich (junior), Prince Vladimir Paley).
  • Tsarevich Dmitry, who died in 1591, canonized in 1606 - before the glorification of the Romanovs, he was chronologically the last representative of the ruling dynasty, canonized as saints.
  • Solomonia Saburova(Reverend Sophia of Suzdal) - the first wife of Vasily III, chronologically the penultimate of the canonized.

Notes

Sources

  1. Tsar Martyr
  2. Emperor Nicholas II and his family are canonized as saints
  3. Osipov A. I. On canonization of the last Russian tsar
  4. Shargunov A . Miracles of the Royal Martyrs. M. 1995. S. 49
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