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Please note that this Royal Russia News blog will be CLOSING permanently by the end of December 2019.

I will continue to publish articles, news, photos and videos about Nicholas II and his family, updates on the restoration of the Alexander Palace, the Ekaterinburg remains, and much more on my other blog Nicholas II. Emperor. Tsar. and Saint.

If you want to continue to receive my posts, please go to my Nicholas II blog to sign up.

Thank you for your continued interest and support of my work – PG

More than 100,000 participate in Liturgy, all-night procession for 100th anniversary of Holy Royal Martyrs

Posted on July 25, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

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The Russian Orthodox Church has been celebrating the centenary of the martyrdom of the last Imperial family of Russia with numerous events throughout Russia all year, with the celebrations culminating in a Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in Ekaterinburg and all-night cross procession in their honor.

100,000 faithful Orthodox Christians, monarchists, among others from around the world, including Azerbaijan, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Serbia, USA, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, France, Estonia, South Korea, and Japan, gathered in Ekaterinburg on the night of 16/17 July for the liturgical celebrations.

The first Tsar’s Days procession took place in 1992, with the participation of but a few dozen.

The event began with the Divine Liturgy celebrated on the square in front of the Church on the Blood in Ekaterinburg, built on the site where the Ipatiev House once stood, where the family was murdered. The service was headed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill with more than 35 hierarchs and multiple clergy concelebrating.

The entire service was broadcasted live on the Orthodox TV station “Union:”

A special platform was erected for the Liturgy in front of the gates of the lower church, where the “Imperial Room” is located—a chapel in honor of the Royal Martyrs, built on specific site of their martyrdom.

Following the Liturgy, the patriarch led the traditional Royal Cross Procession from the place of martyrdom of the holy Royal Martyrs and their servants to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers at Ganina Yama ravine, covering a distance of 21 km (13 miles).

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According to law enforcement agencies, about 100,000 took part in the procession.

According to tradition, the faithful carried banners and icons in the procession, including a 6.5-ft. icon of the Tsar-Martyr, painted in 2017 for the Church of the “Reigning” Icon of the Mother of God at Ganina Yama. Together with the kiot, the icon weighs 330 lbs. A special bier on wheels was made to move the heavy icon.

The procession was also accompanied by 25 mobile groups from an Orthodox charity service, consisting of clergy, representatives of the Dormition Orthodox Brotherhood of Ekaterinburg, sisters of mercy, and volunteers, who provided assistance to those who could not walk the entire route of the procession. Field kitchens and tests were also set up at the Royal Passion-Bearers Monastery for the pilgrims to rest.

His Holiness and the procession arrived at the monastery in the morning, where the patriarch served a moleben to the Royal Martyrs in front of the memorial cross erected at Mine #7, where the bodies of the Royal Martyrs were abused and disposed of. His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II thus referred to Ganina Yama as “a living antimens, permeated with particles of the burnt holy relics.”

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His Holiness then addressed the sea of faithful with a primatial word:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

Your Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine! Fellow archpastors! Dear brothers and sisters, gathered in a multitude this night before the place where one hundred years ago was committed a terrible crime—wholly innocent people, who had committed their lives to the service of their Motherland, were killed by the evil will of man!

This atrocity still chafes our conscience, still causes us to mentally return to that time and try to understand what happened to our country and to our people. Where did this insanity, this attack come from? Looking from a distance of one hundred years, even if we want to we cannot see all the nuances of the national life of our people, which fade from memory and are missed by even the most penetrating gaze. But such crimes, as were committed here, cannot be accidental. Something stood behind this crime; behind it is the collective guilt of our people, a turn in the historical life of Holy Rus’, which led the people into a heavy, terrible impasse.

What happened to our people? After all, the country was covered with churches and monasteries, an absolute majority of the people were baptized, and the churches were filled with people. Why did it happen? Why did the murderers squeeze the trigger, without trembling at what they were doing? It means not everything was favorable. It means the sunlight reflected in the gilded domes was not always refracted into human hearts to strengthen faith in the Lord in them. And we know how over the course of at least 200 years preceding the tragedy of the Ipatiev House some changes occurred in the people’s consciousness that gradually but steadily led many to a departure from God, neglect of the commandments, and a loss of spiritual connection with the Church and the centuries-old spiritual tradition.

Why did this happen to our people? Why did they at some point become like a train whose engineer didn’t calculate its speed and heads into a steep turn, rushing towards an imminent catastrophe? When did we as people start this turn? We entered when alien thoughts, alien ideals, and an alien worldview, formed under the influence of philosophical and political theories, having nothing in common either with Christianity or our national tradition and culture, began to be perceived by the intelligentsia and aristocracy and even part of the clergy as advanced thoughts by which it was possible to change the people’s lives for the better.

Indeed, the idea of changing the life of the people for the better arises whenever there is a plan to abruptly change the course of history. We know that the worst and bloodiest revolutions have always occurred in view of people’s aspirations for a better life. The leaders of these revolutions instilled in the people that there is no other way to make life better—only by blood, only through death, only through the destruction of the existing way of life. And at some point, having abandoned their spiritual birthright, having lost their true connection with the Church and God, the intelligentsia, aristocracy, and even, as I have already said, part of the clergy were darkened in mind and infected with the thought of the need to drastically change the course of our national history and to try to build as quickly as possible a world where justice reigns, where there is no bygone separation according to material indicators, where people live peacefully and happily. As a result, many of those captured by this idea reach the point of committing crimes.

A question arises: “Is it possible through crime, through blood, through violence, and through the destruction of holy sites to build a happy life?” History clearly testifies: It is impossible! And, perhaps, the first and most important lesson that we should learn today from the tragedy of a century ago is that no promises of a happy life, no hope for help from outside, from some supposedly more educated and advanced people should seduce our people. We must remember the tragedy of the past. We must develop an immunity to any call to attain to human happiness through the destruction of that which is.

Hardly did anyone who called for the destruction of the people’s lives destroy their own lives, renouncing their own wellbeing. But with what fury they proposed to do it to everyone! And the people absorbed this lie; and the crowning act of departure from the most sacred and valuable that they had was the hideous execution of the Royal Family—innocent people who had not violated the law. And what kind of law could we even be talking about if it was necessary to kill the Tsar and his family to build a happy life? We know that nothing turned out well, and taught by bitter experience, we must build a robust rejection of any ideas and any leaders who propose to strive for some obscure “happy future” through the destruction of the life of the people, our traditions, and our faith.

Today, gathered here in such a great number, we remember the tragedy of the Ipatiev House. We have lifted up prayers to the Lord, we have prayed to the Emperor and Passion-Bearer Nicholas and those who suffered with him, that they would pray in Heaven for our earthly Fatherland and for our people and strengthen the Orthodox faith in every subsequent generation of Russians; that faithfulness to God and love for the Fatherland would accompany the lives of the youth and subsequent generations, and that no tragedy of this kind would ever happen again in our land.

May the Lord preserve our Russian land and the Russian people who today live in various countries; and although they are called by various names, are the same people who came out of the Kievan baptismal font, and passing though the most severe historical circumstances, have retained the Orthodox faith until today. May God’s blessing be upon our people, upon our Fatherland, and upon our martyric Russian Orthodox Church. May the life of our people be transfigured by the prayers of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church—without any upheavals or blood, but upon the firm foundation of faith and hope that God is with us! May the Lord save us all by the prayers of the holy Royal Passion-Bearers and all the New Martyrs!

Amen.

In Memory of the Russian Imperial Family – 17th July 2018

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

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In the early morning hours of 17th July 1918, Russia’s last Emperor and Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their four daughters the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia Nikolaevna, their son and heir Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich were murdered by a Bolshevik firing squad in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the Ural city of Ekaterinburg.

Their bodies were taken to an abandoned mine (Ganina’s Pit) were they were thrown into the mine. The following day, their bodies were removed and buried in a shallow grave about 3.8 km away in Porosenkov Log on the Koptyakovskaya Road on the northwestern outskirts of Sverdlovsk (now Ekaterinburg). There they would remain hidden for more than 60 years, before being discovered by local geologists in 1979. It was not until the summer of 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, that the remains were dug up. The remains were were buried on 17th July 1998, in St Catherine’s Chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The remains of Tsesarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria were discovered in 2007, they are still awaiting burial, and are currently held in the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow.

On the night of 16/17 July 2018, Orthodox Christians, monarchists, and adherents of the Imperial Family from across Russia and around the world, will gather at the Church on the Blood for a Divine Liturgy performed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Following the Liturgy, tens of thousands will take part in a 21-km pilgrimage from the Church on the Blood to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion Bearers in Ganina Yama.

I will be among these pilgrims, paying homage to the Imperial Family. Upon my return, I will prepare a summary of my spiritual journey to Ekaterinburg, complete with my own photos. I will also write a longer article for a future issue of Royal Russia, and update my forthcoming book My Russia. Ekaterinburg with additional information and photos.

Click HERE to review a new page in my Royal Russia site, dedicated to the 2018 Tsar’s Days in Ekaterinburg.

Léon Bakst Portrait of Nicholas II to be Displayed in Moscow

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

The State Historical Museum in Moscow have announced that the portrait of Emperor Nicholas II by Léon Bakst, has been returned from their restoration workshop.

After the 1917 Revolution, the portrait was hidden in the museum funds. In September, the portrait will be presented for the first time at an exhibition dedicated to Nicholas II and his family, the first time it has been displayed in more than a century.

Click HERE to read more about the exhibition

Государственный исторический музей

Государственный исторический музей

Государственный исторический музей

Léon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, (1866-1924) was a Russian painter and scene and costume designer. He was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costumes.

During his years in St Petersburg, he taught painting to the children of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. In 1902, Nicholas II commissioned Bakst to paint The Meeting of Russian Sailors. In 1914, Bakst was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Divine Liturgy for Two Other Loyal Servants of Nicholas II Performed in Ekaterinburg

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

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Thursday 28th June 2018, marked the 100th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of two faithful servants to Emperor Nicholas II and his family – Ivan Dmitriyevich Sednev (left) and Klimenty Grigorievich Nagorny (right).

A Divine Liturgy was performed on 28th June 2018, in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, situated in the Novo-Tikhvinsky Convent in Ekaterinburg.

Ivan Sednev and Klimenty Nagorny selflessly served the Tsar’s children. Nagorny in particular, lay the great responsibility of protecting the Tsesarevich, even the slightest injury could put the heir to the Russian throne in danger, due to his hemophilia. Alexei was very fond of Nagorny, who in turn showed complete devotion to the Tsesarevich, faithfully sharing with him all the joys and sorrows.

Nagorny and Tsesarevich Alexei in Tsarskoe Selo, 1907

Klimenty Nagorny and Ivan Sednev voluntarily stayed with the Tsar’s family during their house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo, and then followed them to Tobolsk, where Nagorny shared a room with the Tsesarevich, serving him day and night. Together with the Imperial family, Nagorny also attended all the divine services, and the only member of the family’s retinue who was a member of the choir organized by the Empress: he sang and read for the Imperial family during services held in the house church.

In the spring of 1918 Nagorny and Sednev once again, voluntarily followed the Imperial family to Ekaterinburg. They spent only a few days in the Ipatiev House, and then were separated from the Imperial prisoners. They were arrested and imprisoned, their sole crime had been their inability to hide their indignation on seeing the Bolshevik commissaries seize the little gold chain from which the holy images hung over the sick bed of the Tsesarevich.

On 28th June 1918, they were shot in the back by the Bolsheviks, in a small wooded area behind the Yekaterinburg-2 railway station (modern name – Shartash). Nagorny and Sednev were “killed for betraying the cause of the revolution” – as indicated in the resolution on their execution. The murderers left their bodies unburied.

When Ekaterinburg was occupied by the Whites, the the half-decayed bodies of Nagorny and Sednev, were found and solemnly buried near the Church of All the Afflicted (demolished). Witnesses at the funeral recall that the graves of the former sailors of the Imperial yacht Shtandart were strewn with white flowers. Their graves were not preserved – they were destroyed when the Soviet authorities built a city park on the site of the cemetery.

Both Nagorny and Sednev were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) on 14 November 1981, and both rehabilitated by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation on 16 October 2009.

Nagorny and Alexeei Nikolaevich, in the Finnish skerries, 1914

Nagorny, Klementy Grigorovich (1887—1918) – from 1909, he served on the Imperial yacht Shtandart and appointed as a footman to the imperial children. He received the Court title Garderobshik (wardrobe keeper) in 1909 and accompanied the Imperial family on every tour. In November 1913, he was appointed assistant dyadka to guard the Imperial children. He travelled with the Tsesarevich Alexei to Mogilev during 1914-16. After the Tsar’s abdication, he lived under detention with the Imperial family in Tsarskoe Selo, Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg.

Sednev, Ivan Dmitrievich (1881—1918) – was recruited into the Russian Imperial Navy in 1911, where he began as a machinist on the Polyarnaya Zvezda then transferred onto the Imperial yacht Shtandart. By invitation became a Lakei (liveried footman) to the Grand Duchesses, and subsequently to the Tsesarevich. Ivan lived under detention with the Imperial family in Tsarskoe Selo, Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg.

Nicholas II, Stalin and Lenin top popularity rating of Russian historical figures

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

Recent poll shows Nicholas II as the most popular figure in the 20th century Russian history

Note: this article has been edited and updated with additional information by Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia

Public attitudes towards Nicholas II have undergone several shifts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, with the most recent studies carried out during the last few years showing an increase in appreciation of the monarch. This is partially due to the the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church, and research by post Soviet Russian historians. Both have worked diligently by challenging the negative assessments of the life and reign of Russia’s last emperor and tsar, disproving the lies and myths which continue to be popular to this day, particularly by Western historians and biographers.

According to the most recent poll, Emperor Nicholas II, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin are the most popular figures among Russians from the 20th century.

Research conducted by the Russian state-run public opinion center VTSIOM showed that the last Russian emperor is now the most popular of all historical figures throughout the volatile 20th century – 54 percent of respondents said that they sympathize with the monarch. Joseph Stalin was second with 51 percent and the head of the Bolshevik party and the mastermind behind the 1917 revolution, Vladimir Lenin, was on the third place with 49 percent. Leader of the White Movement during the Russian Civil War, Alexander Kolchak was in fourth place with 36 percent, while general of the White Movement during the Russian Civil War Anton Denikin came in fifth place with 30 percent.

The share of respondents who told researchers that the feeling they had towards these people was strongly negative was 23 for Nicholas II, 28 for Stalin and 29 for Lenin. Most of the other prominent figures of the period, both among the revolutionaries and on the Tsarist sides, cause neither good nor bad emotions in the Russian public, research revealed.

Results of the poll show Nicholas II more popular among Russian than both Stalin and Lenin

The least liked figures were the leader of the Ukrainian anarchists Nestor Makhno, and the founder of the Red Army Leon Trotsky. 58 and 46 percent of Russians described their attitude to them as negative and only 12 and 20 percent confessed to sympathizing with them.

In the same poll researchers asked the Russian public what sources they used to get information about the October Revolution and the Civil War. 79 percent of respondents named schools and universities, 48 percent said they got information from books and 30 percent mentioned films and television series.

A different poll conducted by VTSIOM in late 2017, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, revealed that 92 percent of Russians wanted similar events prevented at any cost, up from 78 percent five years ago. Only 5 percent of respondents told researchers that they considered a new revolution necessary (13 percent in 2012). 3 percent of respondents said that they had no opinion on the issue.

Still, 46 percent of the public agreed with the statement that the 1917 revolution was in the interests of the majority of Russians. 13 percent hold that the revolution benefited a minority and 33 percent said that only a small group of people managed to gain anything from the events of 1917.

38 percent of Russians currently think that the 1917 Revolution was a major stimulus for the social and economic development of the country. 23 percent agreed that the revolution “had opened a new era in Russia’s history.” At the same time, 14 percent of the poll participants said that the revolution had seriously impeded the development of Russia and 13 percent called the events a total disaster. 12 percent remained undecided over the role that the revolution had played in the Russian history.

Princess Hisako Takamado visits Church on the Blood in Ekaterinburg

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

Princess Hisako Takamado standing outside the Church on the Blood, Ekaterinburg

On 23rd June 2018, Japanese *Princess Hisako Takamado visited the Church on the Blood and the Tsarsky Spiritual and Educational Center during her official visit to Ekaterinburg. She is the first member of Japan’s Imperial family to visit Russia since 1916, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Princess Hisako was shown the renewed Imperial Room in the Lower Church

Her Highness was given a tour of the church, where she was told the story of the Imperial family’s last days in the city in 1918. Princess Hisako was shown the renewed Imperial Room in the Lower Church – altar chapel in honour of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, built on the site of the room where Emperor Nicholas II and his family were all murdered on the night of 16/17 July 1918. Special attention was drawn to the unique mosaic panel in the central part of the altar, depicting the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers and their faithful retainers who suffered with them: Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsesarevich Alexei, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia, Saint Eugene Botkin, Alexei Trupp, Ivan Kharitonov, and Anna Demidova. The altar is adorned to the memorable date of the century of the feat of the Royal Family with the blessing of Metropolitan Kirill of Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye.

Her Highness visited the upper church in the name of All Saints in the Russian Land

After viewing the exhibition dedicated to the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers and the Alapaevsk martyrs – Saint Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and the nun Varvara, Her Highness visited the upper church in the name of All Saints in the Russian Land. Here Princess Hisako, delighted with decoration of the cathedral, took up her camera, taking pictures of the vault and frescoes, on which the scenes of the life of the Passion-Bearer Tsar and his family are depicted.

Princess Hisako inside the Patriarchal Compound

Her Highness and her entourage then visited the Patriarchal Compound on the opposite side of the courtyard. Here, she visited the Tsarsky Spiritual and Educational Center, the Museum of the Holy Royal Martyrs, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the exhibition of the Ural artists Alexei Efremov and Alexander Remezov. Her Highness also took great interest in the legendary grand piano of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, which she took with her when the Imperial family had gone into exile.

Princess Hisako visits the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker

At the end of the visit, Her Highness signed the Visitors’ Book, thanking her hosts for the inspirational journey through Russian history and noting the great importance of the preservation of the heritage of churches in the Urals.

Upon leaving the Patriarchal Compound, the Japanese princess thanked the representatives of the Ekaterinburg Diocese for their warm welcome, and speaking in Russian with special cordiality, she said: “This is a special place.”

Her Highness visits the Museum of the Holy Royal Martyrs

Princess Hisako Takamado of Japan arrived in the Ural capital on 22nd June. During her stay, she plans to attend a FIFA match between Japan and Senegal, which will be held on 24th June.

*Born on 10 July 1953, Princess Hisako Takamado is a member of the Japanese Imperial Family as the widow of Norihito, Prince Takamado (1954-2002). Prince Takamado was the third son of Takahito, Prince Mikasa and Yuriko, Princess Mikasa. He was a first cousin of Emperor Akihito, and was seventh in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Princess Hisako stops to take a photo after leaving the Patriarchal Compound

Divine Liturgy for Two Loyal Servants of Nicholas II Performed in Ekaterinburg

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

Back row: General Ilya Tatishchev, Pierre Gilliard, and Prince V.A. Dolgorukov
Front row: Ekaterina Schneider and Countess A.V. Hendrikova

Sunday 10th June, marked the 100th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of two faithful servants to Emperor Nicholas II – General Ilya Leonidovich Tatishchev and Prince Vasili Alexandrovich Dolgorukov.

A Divine Liturgy was performed on 10th June 2018, in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, situated in the Novo-Tikhvinsky Convent in Ekaterinburg.

General Tatishchev and Prince Dolgorukov, faithfully and selflessly served Emperor Nicholas II, for many years. With Christian courage and nobility, they remained faithful to the sovereign, voluntarily followed the Emperor and his family to Tobolsk, and then to Ekaterinburg.

It was on 10th June 1918, that they together took a martyr’s death at the hands of the Bolsheviks and were buried in the cemetery of the Novo-Tikhvin Convent.

General Ilya Tatishchev (left) and Prince V.A. Dolgorukov (right)

Ilya Leonidovich Tatishchev (1859 – 1918) – Adjutant-General of Emperor Nicholas II. The son of General Leonid Aleksandrovich Tatishchev (1827-1881) and Catherine Ilinishna (1835-1915), Ilya Tatishchev is one of the descendants of the founder of Ekaterinburg. He graduated from the Corps des Pages in St Petersburg, and later entered the service of the His Majesty’s Life Guard Hussar Regiment. He later served as adjutant to the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909). On 6th December 1895, he was promoted to colonel. From 1905 he served as Major-General of the Retinue of His Imperial Majesty. In 1910 he was promoted to Adjutant General. He was a member of the Holy Prince Vladimir Brotherhood. He faithfully followed Emperor Nicholas II and his family into exile. He was murdered by the Bolsheviks on 10th June 1918. Ilya Tatishchev is buried in the cemetery (*lost during the Soviet years) of the Novo Tikhvinsky Convent in Ekaterinburg.

Prince Vasily Alexandrovich Dolgorukov ( 1868 – 1918) – Major-General, marshal of the Ministry of the Imperial Court and lands. The son of Prince Alexander Vasilyevich Dolgorukov (1839-1876) and Princess Mary Sergeyevna (1846-1936). He graduated from the Corps des Pages in St Petersburg, and then entered the service of the Life-Guards Horse-Grenadier Regiment. In 1907, he was promoted adjutant to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Nicholas II. From 1912-1914, he served as Regimental Commander of the Life-Guards Horse-Grenadier Regiment. During the First World War, he served at General Headquaters in Mogilev. Dolgorukov faithfully and selflessly served Emperor Nicholas II for 22 years. In March 1917, he voluntarily stayed with the Emperor during his house arrest in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. In August 1917, he then followed the Emperor and his family into exile to Tobolsk.

After his arrival in Ekaterinburg on 30th April 1918, Prince Dolgorukov was arrested “in order to protect public safety.” He was placed in the political department of the Ekaterinburg prison. The Chekists tried to accuse him of planning the escape of the Imperial family. Historians call these accusations groundless. On 10th June 1918, he was shot in a wooded area near the city’s Ivanovskoe Cemetery,. His body was later discovered by a unit of the White Army, and buried in the autumn of 1918 in the cemetery (*lost during the Soviet years) of the Novo-Tikhvinsky Convent in Ekaterinburg.

Tatishchev and Dolgorukov were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) in October 1981.

Monument to the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers Established in Godenovo

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

On 11th June 2018, a new monument of the Royal Passion-Bearer – Tsar Nicholas II and his August family, was established and consecrated in the courtyard of the Pereslavlskiy Nikolskiy Convent in the village of Godenovo – situated 140 km NE of Moscow.

The initiative to install monuments to Tsar Nicholas II in Russian cities and towns was made by the participants of the Forum for the Preservation of the Heritage of Emperor Nicholas II, which was held on 18th May in Ekaterinburg. Experts and forum participants supported the initiative, put forward by member of the Regional Public Chamber, chairman of the Ural branch of the Union of Russian Paratroopers Yevgeny Teterin. The initiative received the blessing of Metropolitan Kirill of Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye.

The Monument to the Royal Passion-Bearers in the village of Godenovo, was established on the initiative of Abbess of Eustolia (Afonina) of the Pereslavlskiy Nikolskiy Convent, with the blessing of Bishop of Pereslavl and Uglich Theodore.

The monument represents a picture of Russian history in which the August family led by Nicholas II – the last Emperor and Tsar of the Russian Empire – ascended on a pedestal under a precious crown that embraced Russia, and his children, whose faces are designed to embody the best ideals of the Motherland during their times.

The Tsar’s Alley – situated behind the monument – of the Pereslavlskiy Nikolskiy Convent, was decorated with 26 banners depicting photographs and biographies of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

Exhibition: The Tragedy of the Family … The Tragedy of the Motherland Opens in Ekaterinburg

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Paul Gilbert

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The exhibition project The Tragedy of the Family … The Tragedy of the Motherland, dedicated to the Romanov family, opened on 5th June in the Ural city of Ekaterinburg.

The venue for the exhibition is the Poklevsky-Kozell House – a branch of the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum. The exhibit is a joint historical and art project with the Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve, and the Elisavetinsky-Sergievskoe Enlightenment Society.

Visitors to the exhibition can acquaint themselves with the private life of members of the Imperial family in the palaces of St. Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof and Pavlovsk. The exhibition presents more than 150 unique items, including examples of fine and applied art, watercolours and amateur photographs, lovely trinkets from private collections and priceless gifts to the emperor, the Empress and their children.

For the first time in the Urals, numerous well-executed original photographs taken by court photographers are exhibited: a portrait of a young Tsesarevich Alexei, ordered by the Empress herself. The photograph in an elegant frame, accompanied Alexandra Feodorovna from Tsarskoye Selo first to Tobolsk, then to Ekaterinburg, and now stored in the collection of the Pavlovsk State Museum-Reserve. Also among the exhibits are the beautifully preserved children’s shoes of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna and a house dress of the last empress, in which only the closest people saw her; two silver cigarette case of Nicholas II, one of which he had with him during his internment in the Ipatiev House. Also on display – for the first time – is a unique, rare banner with the Romanov emblem, made for the 200 year anniversary celebrations of 1913.

The exhibition The Tragedy of the Family … The Tragedy of the Motherland runs from June 5 to September 23, 2018, in the Poklevsky-Kozell House in Ekaterinburg.

Beautifully preserved children’s shoes of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna