The future Emperor Nicholas II Romanov was born on May 6 (19), 1868. His father Alexander III gave his son a semi-military strict upbringing, the Tsarevich forever developed the habit of a modest life, simple food and hard work. The boy grew up in an atmosphere of Orthodox piety, and from early childhood he had a deep religious feeling. Those who knew him tell that the Royal Child, hearing stories about the Passion of the Savior, sympathized with Him with all his soul and even pondered how to save Him from the Jews.

In 1894, after the death of his father, Nikolai Alexandrovich ascended the Russian Throne and in the same year married the Hessian princess Alix, who received the name Alexandra Feodorovna in Holy Baptism. The coronation celebrations were overshadowed by several accidental tragedies, which were perceived by the people as ominous omens.

The Royal Couple had five children: daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia and a son - the heir Alexei. The Sovereign brought up his children in the same way as he was brought up himself - in the spirit of the Orthodox faith and folk traditions: the whole Family often attended Divine services, goveli. Empress Alexandra, who was born in Lutheranism, like her sister, the venerable martyr Elizabeth, embraced Orthodoxy with all her heart and stood out with her piety even among the Russian people. She loved the long, orderly statutory services, she always followed the course of the service from books. It is not surprising that the frivolous court society revered her as a hypocrite and saint.

The sovereign actively participated in church life, much more than his predecessors: during the reign of Nicholas II, 250 monasteries and more than 10 thousand churches were opened in Russia and abroad. During his reign, more saints were glorified than in the previous 2 centuries. At the same time, the Emperor had to show special perseverance, seeking the canonization of the now so revered Seraphim of Sarov, Joasaph of Belgorod, John of Tobolsk. Nicholas II highly honored St. John of Kronstadt, and the righteous John often called on the people to stand up for their Tsar, predicting that otherwise the Lord would take the Tsar away from Russia and let her rulers who would flood the whole earth with blood.

The deep sincere faith of the Tsar brought him closer to the common people. However, the Sovereign also patronized other religions, therefore not only the Orthodox loved him; for example, the Emperor's bodyguards were Muslim Caucasians. Sometimes the Tsar's tolerance even went against the interests of the Orthodox Church.

The Sovereign treated the Tsar's ministry as his sacred domain. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was a model politician for him - at the same time a reformer and careful guardian of national traditions and faith. In public affairs, Nicholas II proceeded from religious and moral convictions. On his initiative, the famous Hague conventions on the humane conduct of war were concluded, but his proposal for general disarmament remained misunderstood.

From the beginning of the First World War, the Emperor was always with his army, personally led, although not always successfully, military operations, and communicated a lot with the soldiers. The Empress and her daughters became sisters of mercy and cared for the wounded. The personal participation of the royal family in the feat of war helped the people to patiently bear this feat. However, the pro-Western intelligentsia, which already fell away from folk traditions and faith before the war, now, taking advantage of the difficulties of wartime, has stepped up its activities of Orthodoxy and the monarchy. There is no doubt that Nicholas II made significant miscalculations in foreign and domestic policy, he deeply experienced them and was inclined to see his personal fault in the misfortunes of the Fatherland.

By the spring of 1917, a conspiracy had matured in the tsar's entourage to remove Nicholas II from power. On March 2, betrayed by his closest people, the Sovereign was forced to sign the Abdication of the Throne in favor of his brother Michael. “I do not want at least one drop of Russian blood to be shed for me,” said Nikolai Alexandrovich. Grand Duke Mikhail refused to accept the crown, and the monarchy in Russia fell. The former emperor and his family were arrested by the Provisional Government.

Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was born on the day of the memory of Job the Long-suffering and often repeated that this coincidence was not accidental: the Sovereign, according to many, foresaw the misfortunes that would fall to his lot, and in the last year of his life, Nicholas II really became like an ancient righteous man . Together with the Sovereign, all the members of his Family carried the same cross. Once in custody, they were subjected to incessant humiliation and bullying, the guards enjoyed the power over the former Autocrat. The royal prisoners experienced a particularly difficult time, having fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks. At the same time, they behaved with unfailing calmness and good-naturedness, it seemed that they were completely insensitive to harassment and insults. The most hard-hearted escorts, faced with the meekness of the former Tsar and his Family, were soon imbued with sympathy for them, and therefore the authorities had to change guards frequently. In captivity, the Imperial Family did not leave prayer, the reading of the Holy Scriptures. According to the memoirs of the executioners, the prisoners amazed everyone with their religiosity. The confessor allowed to confess them testifies to the amazing moral height at which these sufferers, especially children, were, as if completely alien to any earthly dirt. According to the diaries and letters of the Royal Family, it is clear that it was not their own misfortunes, for example, the constant illnesses of their children, that caused them the most suffering, but the fate of Russia, which was dying before our eyes. Outwardly calm, the Sovereign wrote: “The best time for me is the night, when I can forget at least a little.”

On April 26, 1918, the Royal Family was transported to Yekaterinburg to the house of engineer Ipatiev, as the Bolsheviks feared that the advancing White Army would free the prisoners. The regime is being tightened: walks are prohibited, the doors to the rooms were not closed - the guards could enter at any moment. On July 16, a cipher message was received from Moscow containing an order to execute the Romanovs. On the night of July 16-17, the prisoners were lowered into the basement under the pretext of an early move, then suddenly soldiers with rifles appeared, the “verdict” was hastily read out, and immediately the guards opened fire. The shooting was chaotic - the soldiers were given vodka before that - therefore the holy martyrs were finished off with bayonets. Servants died together with the Royal Family: doctor Yevgeny Botkin, maid of honor Anna Demidova, cook Ivan Kharitonov and lackey Trupp, who remained faithful to them to the end. After the execution, the bodies were taken outside the city to an abandoned mine in the Ganina Yama tract, where they were destroyed for a long time with the help of sulfuric acid, gasoline and grenades. There is an opinion that the murder was ritual, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the walls of the room where the martyrs died. Ipatiev's house was blown up in the 70s.

During all the time of Soviet power, violent blasphemy poured out on the memory of the holy Tsar Nicholas, nevertheless, many among the people, especially in emigration, from the very moment of his death, revered the martyr tsar. Countless testimonies of miraculous help through prayers to the Family of the last Russian Autocrat; popular veneration of the royal martyrs in the last years of the twentieth century became so widespread that in August 2000, at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children Alexei, Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia were canonized as holy martyrs. Their memory is celebrated on the day of their martyrdom - July 17th.

Passion-bearer - the name of the Christian martyrs. In principle, this name can be applied to all martyrs who endured suffering (passion, lat. passio) in the name of Christ. Mostly, this name refers to those saints who endured suffering and death with Christian meekness, patience and humility, and in their martyrdom the light of Christ's faith conquering evil was revealed. Often the holy martyrs accepted a martyr's death not from the persecutors of Christianity, but from their co-religionists - because of their malice, deceit, conspiracy. Accordingly, in this case, the special nature of their feat is emphasized - good-naturedness and non-resistance to enemies. So, in particular, the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, St. Demetrius Tsarevich are often referred to.

Based on the materials of the report of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

At the dawn of Christianity, persecution of the Church of Christ was almost universal. It was very difficult for the pagan world to accept the teachings of Christ.

How can you, for example, love and forgive your enemy? For a person of that time - an unacceptable thought: countries and peoples were in constant war. How can you ever forgive? After all, there is a court with well-developed Roman law.

The ideas of the Divine Teacher led many into bewilderment, and it very often grew into hatred and anger towards those who managed to contain the New Testament. And many of the latter became the first: martyrs, persecuted.

Recent history has also revealed many martyrs who (unlike the ancients) had no choice: to apostatize from God or not.

Such is the family of the last Russian emperor, whom none of the persecutors offered to renounce Christ. But it was precisely in the lack of alternatives to suffering for Him that our Church saw a feat worthy of glorification.

Such are the hundreds of known and nameless victims of mass repressions during the hard times.

New persecutions not only surpassed in their scale the persecution of Christians in the ancient world. The most sophisticated methods of reprisals, deceit and falsifications were developed.

Unlike the Roman executioners, the experts from Lubyanka were well aware of the teachings and practices of the Church. And from the very beginning of the persecution, one of their tasks was to prevent the glorification of new saints. That is why the true fate of confessors of the faith was unknown to their contemporaries: interrogations took place in dungeons, investigation materials were often falsified, executions were carried out secretly.

Hiding the true motives of their repressive policy, the persecutors passed sentences on confessors under political articles, accusing their victims of "counter-revolutionary activities."

Outwardly, this is very unlike the fate of the martyrs of the Ancient Church. However, only at first glance. After all, the people of the Church, who had not taken off their cross during the years of repression, and who had often already gone through arrests, prisons and camps, knew what lay ahead for them. Arrest and execution only completed their daily confessional feat.

The royal martyrs are the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family. They were martyred - in 1918 they were shot by order of the Bolsheviks. In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized them as saints. We will tell about the feat and the day of remembrance of the Royal Martyrs, which is celebrated on July 17.

Who are the Royal Martyrs

Royal Passion-Bearers, Royal Martyrs, Royal Family- this is how, after being canonized as a saint, the Russian Orthodox Church calls the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. They were canonized for the feat of martyrdom - on the night of July 16-17, 1918, by order of the Bolsheviks, they, along with the court doctor and servants, were shot in the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg.

What does the word "passion bearer" mean?

"Passion-bearer" is one of the ranks of holiness. This is a saint who was martyred for the fulfillment of God's commandments, and most often at the hands of fellow believers. An important part of the feat of the martyr is that the martyr does not hold a grudge against the tormentors and does not resist.

This is the face of saints who suffered not for their actions or not for the preaching of Christ, but for by whom they were. The passion-bearers' fidelity to Christ is expressed in their fidelity to their calling and destiny.

It was in the guise of martyrs that Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized.

When the memory of the Royal Passion-Bearers is celebrated

The Holy Passion-Bearers of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia are commemorated on the day of their murder - July 17, according to the new style (July 4, according to the old one).

Murder of the Romanov family

The last Russian Emperor Nicholas II Romanov abdicated on March 2, 1917. After his abdication, he, along with his family, doctor, and servants, were placed under house arrest in the palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Then, in the summer of 1917, the Provisional Government sent the prisoners into exile in Tobolsk. And finally, in the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks exiled them to Yekaterinburg. It was there that on the night of July 16-17 the Tsar's family was shot - by order of the executive committee of the Ural Regional Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.

Some historians believe that the execution order was received directly from Lenin and Sverdlov. The question of whether this is so is debatable, perhaps historical science has yet to find out the truth.

Very little is known about the Yekaterinburg period of exile of the Imperial family. Several entries in the emperor's diary have come down to us; There are testimonies of witnesses in the case of the murder of the Royal Family. In the house of engineer Ipatiev Nicholas II and his family, 12 soldiers guarded. Basically, it was a prison. The prisoners slept on the floor; the guards were often cruel to them; prisoners were allowed to walk in the garden only once a day.

The royal martyrs courageously accepted their fate. We have received a letter from Princess Olga, where she writes: “Father asks me to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they can have influence, so that they do not avenge him, since he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and so that they do not avenge themselves, and so that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will overcome evil, but only love.

Those arrested were allowed to attend worship services. Prayer was a great comfort to them. Archpriest John Storozhev performed his last service in the Ipatiev House just a few days before the execution of the Royal Family - on July 14, 1918.

On the night of July 16-17, the Chekist and leader of the execution, Yakov Yurovsky, woke up the emperor, his wife and children. They were told to assemble under the pretext that unrest had begun in the city and that they urgently needed to move to a safe place. The prisoners were escorted to a basement room with one barred window, where Yurovsky informed the Sovereign: "Nikolai Alexandrovich, by order of the Ural Regional Council, you and your family will be shot." The Chekist fired several shots at Nicholas II, the other participants in the execution - at the rest of the condemned. Those who fell, but were still alive, were finished off with shots and stabbed with bayonets. The bodies were taken out into the yard, loaded into a truck and taken to Ganina Yama - the abandoned Isetsky. They threw it into the mine, then burned it and buried it.

Together with the royal family, the court physician Yevgeny Botkin and several servants were shot: the maid Anna Demidova, the cook Ivan Kharitonov and the valet Alexei Trupp

On July 21, 1918, during a divine service in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon said: “The other day a terrible thing happened: the former Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was shot ... We must, obeying the teaching of the word of God, condemn this case, otherwise the blood of the executed will fall on us and not just those who committed it. We know that when he abdicated, he did this with the good of Russia in mind and out of love for her. After his renunciation, he could have found security and a relatively quiet life abroad, but he did not do this, wanting to suffer along with Russia. He did nothing to improve his position, meekly resigned himself to fate.

For many decades, no one knew where the executioners buried the bodies of the executed Royal Passion-Bearers. And only in July 1991, the alleged remains of five members of the imperial family and servants were discovered not far from Yekaterinburg, under the embankment of the Old Koptyakovskaya road. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case and during the investigation confirmed that these were indeed prisoners of the Ipatiev House.

After several years of research and public controversy, on July 17, 1998, the martyrs were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. And in July 2007, the remains of the son of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria were found.

Canonization of the Royal Family

The repose of the Imperial family in the Russian diaspora has been praying since the 1920s. In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia canonized Nicholas II and his family.

The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the Royal Martyrs almost twenty years later - in 2000: "To glorify the royal family as martyrs in the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia."

Why do we venerate the Royal Passion-Bearers

“We revere the royal family for devotion to God; for martyrdom; for giving us an example of the real leaders of the country, who treated it like their own family. After the revolution, Emperor Nicholas II had many opportunities to leave Russia, but he did not use them. Because he wanted to share the fate with his country, no matter how bitter this fate was.

We see not only the personal feat of the Royal Passion-Bearers, but the feat of all that Russia, which was once called the outgoing, but which in fact is abiding. As in 1918 in the Ipatiev House, where the martyrs were shot, so here, now. This is a modest, but at the same time majestic Russia, in contact with which you understand what is valuable and what is secondary in your life.

The royal family is not an example of correct political decisions; the Church glorified the Royal Passion-Bearers not at all for this. For us, they are an example of the Christian attitude of the ruler towards the people, the desire to serve him even at the cost of his life.

How to distinguish the veneration of the Royal Martyrs from the sin of the Tsarist God?

Archpriest Igor FOMIN, Rector of the Church of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky at MGIMO:

“The royal family is among those saints whom we love and glorify. But the Royal Passion-Bearers do not “save us,” because the salvation of man is the work of Christ alone. The royal family, like any other Christian saints, leads, accompanies us on the path to salvation, to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Icon of the Royal Martyrs

Traditionally, icon painters depict the Royal Passion-Bearers without a doctor and servants, who were shot along with them in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. We see on the icon of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their five children - Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and the heir Alexei Nikolaevich.

On the icon, the Royal Passion-Bearers hold crosses in their hands. This is a symbol of martyrdom, known from the first centuries of Christianity, when the followers of Christ were crucified on crosses, just like their Teachers. In the upper part of the icon, two angels are depicted, they carry the image of the icon of the Mother of God "Reigning".

Temple in the name of the Royal Passion-Bearers

The Church-on-the-Blood in the name of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land, was built in Yekaterinburg on the site of the house of the engineer Ipatiev, in which the Tsar's family was shot in 1918.

The very building of the Ipatiev House was demolished in 1977. In 1990, a wooden cross was erected here, and soon a temporary temple without walls, with a dome on supports. The first Liturgy was served there in 1994.

The stone temple-monument began to be built in 2000. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy laid at the foundation of the church a capsule with a commemorative letter of consecration of the construction site. Three years later, on the site of the execution of the Royal Passion-Bearers, a large white-stone temple grew up, consisting of the lower and upper temples. In front of the entrance to it there is a monument to the Royal family.

Inside the church, next to the altar, is the main shrine of the Yekaterinburg church - the crypt (tomb). It was installed on the site of the very room where eleven martyrs were killed - the last Russian emperor, his family, court physician and servants. The crypt was decorated with bricks and the remains of the foundation of the historic Ipatiev House.

Every year, on the night of July 16-17, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the Church-on-the-Blood, and after that, the believers go in procession from the church to Ganina Yama, where the bodies of the martyrs were taken by the Chekists after the execution.

July 17 is the day of memory of the Passion-Bearers of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia.

In 2000, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized by the Russian Church as holy martyrs. Their canonization in the West - in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - took place even earlier, in 1981. And although holy princes are not uncommon in the Orthodox tradition, this canonization is still in doubt among some. Why is the last Russian monarch glorified in the face of saints? Does his life and the life of his family speak in favor of canonization, and what were the arguments against it? The veneration of Nicholas II as the king-redeemer - an extreme or a pattern?

We are talking about this with the secretary of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, the rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov.

Death as an argument

- Father Vladimir, where does such a term come from - royal martyrs? Why not just martyrs?

When in 2000 the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints discussed the issue of glorifying the royal family, it came to the conclusion that although the family of Tsar Nicholas II was deeply religious, ecclesiastical and pious, all its members performed their prayer rule daily, regularly partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and lived highly moral life, observing the gospel commandments in everything, constantly doing works of mercy, during the war they worked diligently in the hospital, caring for wounded soldiers, they can be canonized as saints primarily for their Christianly perceived suffering and violent death inflicted by the persecutors of the Orthodox faith with incredible cruelty. But still, it was necessary to clearly understand and clearly articulate why exactly the royal family was killed. Maybe it was just a political assassination? Then they cannot be called martyrs. However, both among the people and in the commission there was a consciousness and a sense of the holiness of their feat. Since the noble princes Boris and Gleb, called martyrs, were glorified as the first saints in Russia, and their murder was also not directly related to their faith, the idea arose to discuss the glorification of the family of Tsar Nicholas II in the same face.

When we say “royal martyrs”, do we mean only the family of the king? The relatives of the Romanovs, the Alapaevsk martyrs, who suffered at the hands of the revolutionaries, do not belong to this rank of saints?

No, they don't. The very word "royal" in its meaning can only be attributed to the family of the king in the narrow sense. After all, relatives did not reign, they were even titled differently than members of the sovereign's family. In addition, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova - the sister of Empress Alexandra - and her cell-attendant Varvara can be called precisely martyrs for the faith. Elizaveta Feodorovna was the wife of the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, but after his assassination she was not involved in state power. She devoted her life to the cause of Orthodox mercy and prayer, founded and built the Martha and Mary Convent, and led the community of her sisters. Varvara, the sister of the monastery, shared her suffering and death with her. The connection of their suffering with faith is quite obvious, and both of them were canonized as new martyrs - abroad in 1981, and in Russia in 1992. However, now such nuances have become important for us. In ancient times, no distinction was made between martyrs and martyrs.

But why was it the family of the last sovereign who was glorified, although many representatives of the Romanov dynasty ended their lives with violent death?

Canonization generally takes place in the most obvious and instructive cases. Not all the murdered representatives of the royal family show us an image of holiness, and most of these murders were committed for political purposes or in the struggle for power. Their victims cannot be considered victims for their faith. As for the family of Tsar Nicholas II, it was so incredibly slandered by both contemporaries and the Soviet government that it was necessary to restore the truth. Their murder was epoch-making, it strikes with its satanic hatred and cruelty, leaves a feeling of a mystical event - the reprisal of evil with the God-established order of life of the Orthodox people.

- And what were the criteria for canonization? What were the arguments for and against?

The canonization commission worked on this issue for a very long time, very meticulously checking all the arguments “for” and “against”. At that time there were many opponents of the canonization of the king. Someone said that this should not be done because Tsar Nicholas II was "bloody", he was charged with the events of January 9, 1905 - the shooting of a peaceful demonstration of workers. The commission carried out special work to clarify the circumstances of Bloody Sunday. And as a result of the study of archival materials, it turned out that the sovereign at that time was not in St. Petersburg at all, he was in no way involved in this execution and could not give such an order - he was not even aware of what was happening. Thus, this argument was dropped. All other "against" arguments were considered in a similar way, until it became clear that there were no weighty counter-arguments. The royal family was canonized not just because they were killed, but because they accepted the torment with humility, in a Christian way, without resistance. They could have taken advantage of those offers to flee abroad, which were made to him in advance. But they deliberately didn't want to.

- Why can't their murder be called purely political?

The royal family personified the idea of ​​the Orthodox kingdom, and the Bolsheviks not only wanted to destroy possible contenders for the royal throne, they hated this symbol - the Orthodox Tsar. Killing the royal family, they destroyed the very idea, the banner of the Orthodox state, which was the main defender of all world Orthodoxy. This becomes understandable in the context of the Byzantine interpretation of royal power as the ministry of the “outside bishop of the church.” And in the synodal period, in the “Basic Laws of the Empire” published in 1832 (Articles 43 and 44), it was said: “The Emperor, like a Christian Sovereign, is the supreme defender and guardian of the dogmas of the dominant faith and the guardian of orthodoxy and every holy deanery in the Church. And in this sense, the emperor in the act of succession to the throne (dated April 5, 1797) is called the Head of the Church.

The sovereign and his family were ready to suffer for Orthodox Russia, for the faith, they understood their suffering in this way. The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt wrote back in 1905: “Our Tsar of a righteous and pious life, God sent Him a heavy cross of suffering, as His chosen one and beloved child.”

Renunciation: Weakness or Hope?

- How to understand then the abdication of the sovereign from the throne?

Although the sovereign signed the abdication of the throne as 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 the former president? The king did not seek the throne, did not conduct election campaigns, but was destined for this from birth. The whole country prayed for 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 ​​a struggle 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.

- 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 the 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 an expiatory 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: “Father asks me to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they can influence, so that they do not avenge him - he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and so that they remember that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will overcome 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.

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 towards the end of the 19th 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 of people's 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.

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 a 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 of the process was recorded. 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.

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.

On February 10, 2020, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the Synod of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church (traditionally, since 2000, this holiday has been celebrated on the first Sunday after February 7). To date, the Cathedral includes more than 1700 names. Here are just a few of them.

, archpriest, first martyr of Petrograd

The first priest in Petrograd who died at the hands of the God-fighting authorities. In 1918, on the threshold of the diocesan administration, he stood up for women insulted by the Red Army, and was shot in the head. Father Peter had a wife and seven children.

At the time of his death he was 55 years old.

Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia

The first bishop of the Russian Church, who died during the revolutionary turmoil. Killed by armed bandits led by a sailor commissar not far from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

At the time of his death, Metropolitan Vladimir was 70 years old.

, Archbishop of Voronezh

The last Russian emperor and his family were shot in 1918 in Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, by order of the Ural Council of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies.

At the time of the execution, Emperor Nicholas was 50 years old, Empress Alexandra 46 years old, Grand Duchess Olga 22 years old, Grand Duchess Tatyana 21 years old, Grand Duchess Maria 19 years old, Grand Duchess Anastasia 17 years old, Tsarevich Alexy 13 years old. Together with them, their confidants were shot - life doctor Yevgeny Botkin, cook Ivan Kharitonov, valet Alexei Trupp, maid Anna Demidova.

and

The sister of the Empress-martyr Alexandra Feodorovna, the widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich killed by the revolutionaries, after the death of her husband, Elisaveta Feodorovna became a sister of mercy and abbess of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow, which she herself created. When Elisaveta Feodorovna was arrested by the Bolsheviks, her cell-attendant, nun Varvara, despite the offer of freedom, voluntarily followed her.

Together with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and his secretary Fyodor Remez, Grand Dukes John, Konstantin and Igor Konstantinovich and Prince Vladimir Paley, the Martyr Elisaveta and the nun Varvara were thrown alive into a mine near the city of Alapaevsk and died in terrible agony.

At the time of her death, Elisaveta Feodorovna was 53 years old, and nun Varvara was 68 years old.

Metropolitan of Petrograd and Gdov

In 1922 he was arrested for resisting the Bolshevik campaign to confiscate church valuables. The actual reason for the arrest is the rejection of the renovationist split. Together with Hieromartyr Archimandrite Sergius (Shein) (52 years old), Martyr John Kovsharov (lawyer, 44 years old) and Martyr Yuri Novitsky (Professor of St. Petersburg University, 40 years old), he was shot in the vicinity of Petrograd, presumably at the Rzhev firing range. Before the execution, all the martyrs were shaved and dressed in rags so that the executioners would not recognize the clergy.

At the time of his death, Metropolitan Veniamin was 45 years old.

Hieromartyr John Vostorgov, Archpriest

A well-known Moscow priest, one of the leaders of the monarchist movement. He was arrested in 1918 on charges of intending to sell the Moscow diocesan house (!). He was held in the Internal Prison of the Cheka, then in Butyrki. With the beginning of the "Red Terror", he was executed extrajudicially. He was publicly shot on September 5, 1918 in Petrovsky Park, along with Bishop Ephraim, as well as the former chairman of the State Council Shcheglovitov, the former ministers of internal affairs Maklakov and Khvostov, and Senator Beletsky. After the execution, the bodies of all those executed (up to 80 people) were robbed.

At the time of his death, Archpriest John Vostorgov was 54 years old.

, layman

The ailing Theodore, who suffered from paralysis of the legs from the age of 16, was revered during his lifetime as an ascetic by the faithful of the Tobolsk diocese. Arrested by the NKVD in 1937 as a "religious fanatic" for "preparing for an armed uprising against Soviet power." He was taken to the Tobolsk prison on a stretcher. In the cell, Theodore was placed facing the wall and forbidden to speak. They did not ask him anything, they did not take him to interrogations, and the investigator did not enter the cell. Without trial or investigation, by the verdict of the "troika", he was shot in the prison yard.

At the time of the execution - 41 years old.

, archimandrite

Famous missionary, monk of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood, one of the founders of the illegal Theological and Pastoral School in Petrograd. In 1932, together with other members of the brotherhood, he was accused of counter-revolutionary activities and sentenced to 10 years in Siblag. In 1937, he was shot by the "troika" of the NKVD for "anti-Soviet propaganda" (that is, for talking about faith and politics) among the prisoners.

At the time of the execution - 48 years.

, laywoman

In the 1920s and 30s, Christians throughout Russia knew about it. Employees of the OGPU for many years tried to "unravel" the phenomenon of Tatyana Grimblit, and, in general, to no avail. She devoted her entire adult life to helping prisoners. She carried parcels, sent parcels. She often helped people completely unfamiliar to her, not knowing whether they were believers or not, and under what article they were convicted. She spent almost everything she earned herself on this, and encouraged other Christians to do the same.

Many times she was arrested and exiled, together with the prisoners she traveled along the stage through the whole country. In 1937, being a nurse in the hospital in Konstantinov, she was arrested on false charges of anti-Soviet agitation and "deliberately killing patients."

She was shot at the Butovo training ground near Moscow at the age of 34.

, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

The first Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, who ascended the Patriarchal throne after the restoration of the patriarchate in 1918. In 1918, he anathematized the persecutors of the Church and the participants in the massacres. In 1922-23 he was kept under arrest. In the future, he was under constant pressure from the OGPU and the "gray abbot" Yevgeny Tuchkov. Despite blackmail, he refused to join the Renovationist schism and conspire with the godless authorities.

He died at the age of 60 from heart failure.

, Metropolitan of Krutitsy

He took holy orders in 1920, at the age of 58, was the closest assistant to His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon in matters of church administration. Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne from 1925 (death of Patriarch Tikhon) until the false announcement of his death in 1936. From the end of 1925 he was imprisoned. Despite constant threats to extend his imprisonment, he remained faithful to the canons of the Church and refused to remove himself from the rank of Patriarchal locum tenens before the legitimate Council.

He suffered from scurvy and asthma. After a conversation with Tuchkov in 1931, he was partially paralyzed. The last years of his life he was kept as a "secret prisoner" in solitary confinement in the Verkhneuralsk prison.

In 1937, at the age of 75, by the verdict of the “troika of the NKVD in the Chelyabinsk region, he was shot for “slandering the Soviet system” and accusing the Soviet authorities of persecuting the Church.

, Metropolitan of Yaroslavl

After the death of his wife and newborn son in 1885, he took holy orders and monasticism, and since 1889 he served as a bishop. One of the candidates for the post of locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne, according to the will of Patriarch Tikhon. We persuaded the OGPU to cooperate, but to no avail. For resistance to the renovationist split in 1922-23 he was imprisoned, in 1923-25. - in exile in the Narym region.

He died in Yaroslavl at the age of 74.

, archimandrite

Coming from a peasant family, he took holy orders at the height of the persecution of the faith in 1921. He spent a total of 17.5 years in prisons and camps. Even before the official canonization in many dioceses of the Russian Church, Archimandrite Gabriel was revered as a saint.

In 1959 he died in Melekesse (now Dmitrovgrad) at the age of 71.

, Metropolitan of Almaty and Kazakhstan

Coming from a poor family with many children, from childhood he dreamed of monasticism. In 1904 he took tonsure, in 1919, at the height of persecution of the faith, he became a bishop. For resistance to renovationism in 1925–27 he was imprisoned. In 1932 he was sentenced to 5 years in concentration camps (according to the investigator, "for popularity"). In 1941, for the same reason, he was exiled to Kazakhstan, almost died of starvation and disease in exile, and was homeless for a long time. In 1945, he was released from exile ahead of schedule at the request of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), and headed the Kazakh diocese.

He died in Almaty at the age of 88. The veneration of Metropolitan Nicholas among the people was enormous. Vladyka's funeral in 1955, despite the threat of persecution, was attended by 40,000 people.

, archpriest

Hereditary village priest, missionary, unmercenary. In 1918, he supported the anti-Soviet peasant uprising in the Ryazan province, blessed the people "to go to the fight against the persecutors of the Church of Christ." Together with Hieromartyr Nicholas, the Church commemorates with him the martyrs Cosmas, Victor (Krasnov), Naum, Philip, John, Paul, Andrew, Paul, Basil, Alexy, John, and Martyr Agathia. All of them were brutally killed by the Red Army on the banks of the Tsna River near Ryazan.

At the time of his death, Father Nikolai was 44 years old.

Saint Kirill (Smirnov), Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk

One of the leaders of the Josephite movement, a staunch monarchist and opponent of Bolshevism. He was repeatedly arrested and exiled. In the will of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, he was named as the first candidate for the post of locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne. In 1926, when a secret gathering of opinions on a candidate for the post of Patriarch took place among the episcopate, the largest number of votes was given to Metropolitan Kirill.

To Tuchkov’s proposal to head the Church, without waiting for the Council, Vladyka replied: “Eugene Alexandrovich, you are not a cannon, and I am not a bomb with which you want to blow up the Russian Church from within,” for which he received another three years of exile.

, archpriest

The rector of the Resurrection Cathedral in Ufa, a well-known missionary, church historian and public figure, he was accused of "agitation in favor of Kolchak" and shot by Chekists in 1919.

The 62-year-old priest was beaten, spat in his face, pulled by his beard. He was led to the execution in his underwear, barefoot in the snow.

, metropolitan

An officer of the tsarist army, an outstanding artilleryman, as well as a doctor, composer, artist ... He left worldly glory for the sake of serving Christ and took the holy rank in obedience to his spiritual father - St. John of Kronstadt.

On December 11, 1937, at the age of 82, he was shot at the Butovo training ground near Moscow. He was taken to prison in an ambulance, and carried out on a stretcher to be executed.

, Archbishop of Vereya

Outstanding Orthodox theologian, writer, missionary. During the Local Council of 1917–18, the then Archimandrite Hilarion was the only non-bishop who was mentioned in backroom conversations among the desirable candidates for the patriarchate. He received the episcopal dignity at the height of the persecution of the faith - in 1920, and soon became the closest assistant to the holy Patriarch Tikhon.

In the Solovki concentration camp he spent a total of two three-year terms (1923–26 and 1926–29). “I stayed for a second course,” as Vladyka himself joked… Even in prison, he continued to rejoice, joke and thank the Lord. In 1929, during the next step along the stage, he fell ill with typhus and died.

He was 43 years old.

Martyr Princess Kira Obolenskaya, laywoman

Kira Ivanovna Obolenskaya was a hereditary noblewoman, belonged to the ancient Obolensky family, which traced its lineage from the legendary Prince Rurik. She studied at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, worked as a teacher at a school for the poor. Under the Soviet regime, as a representative of "class alien elements", she was transferred to the position of a librarian. She took an active part in the life of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood in Petrograd.

In 1930-34 she was imprisoned in concentration camps for counter-revolutionary views (Belbaltlag, Svirlag). Upon her release from prison, she lived at the 101st kilometer from Leningradral, in the town of Borovichi. In 1937, she was arrested along with the clergy of the Borovichi and shot on false charges of creating a "counter-revolutionary organization."

At the time of the execution, the martyr Kira was 48 years old.

Martyr Catherine of Arskaya, laywoman

Merchant's daughter, was born in St. Petersburg. In 1920, she experienced a tragedy: her husband, an officer in the Tsarist army and headman of the Smolny Cathedral, died of cholera, then five of their children. Seeking help from the Lord, Ekaterina Andreevna joined the life of the Alexander Nevsky Brotherhood at the Feodorovsky Cathedral in Petrograd, became the spiritual daughter of the Hieromartyr Leo (Egorov).

In 1932, along with other members of the brotherhood (a total of 90 people), Catherine was also arrested. She received three years in concentration camps for participating in the activities of a "counter-revolutionary organization." Upon returning from exile, like the martyr Kira Obolenskaya, she settled in the city of Borovichi. In 1937 she was arrested in the case of the Borovichi clergy. She refused to admit her guilt in "counter-revolutionary activities" even under torture. She was shot on the same day as the martyr Kira Obolenskaya.

At the time of the execution, she was 62 years old.

, layman

Historian, publicist, honorary member of the Moscow Theological Academy. The grandson of a priest, in his youth he tried to create his own community, living according to the teachings of Count Tolstoy. Then he returned to the Church and became an Orthodox missionary. With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, Mikhail Alexandrovich entered the Provisional Council of the United Parishes of the city of Moscow, which at its first meeting called on the faithful to stand up for the defense of churches, to protect them from the encroachments of the atheists.

Since 1923, he went into hiding, hiding with friends, writing missionary pamphlets ("Letters to Friends"). When he was in Moscow, he went to pray at the Exaltation Church on Vozdvizhenka. On March 22, 1929, not far from the temple, he was arrested. Mikhail Alexandrovich spent almost ten years in prison, he led many of his cellmates to the faith.

On January 20, 1938, he was shot in a Vologda prison at the age of 73 for anti-Soviet statements.

, priest

At the time of the revolution, he was a layman, assistant professor of dogmatic theology at the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1919, the academic career came to an end: the Moscow Academy was closed by the Bolsheviks, and the professorship was dispersed. Then Tuberovsky decided to return to his native Ryazan. In the early 1920s, in the midst of anti-church persecution, he took holy orders and, together with his father, served in the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in his native village.

In 1937 he was arrested. Other priests were also arrested along with Father Alexander: Anatoly Pravdolyubov, Nikolay Karasev, Konstantin Bazhanov and Evgeny Kharkov, as well as the laity. All of them were deliberately falsely accused of "participation in a rebel-terrorist organization and counter-revolutionary activities." Archpriest Anatoly Pravdolyubov, 75-year-old rector of the Church of the Annunciation in the city of Kasimov, was declared “the head of the conspiracy” ... According to legend, before the execution, the convicts were forced to dig a trench with their own hands and immediately, putting their faces to the moat, were shot.

Father Alexander Tuberovsky was 56 years old at the time of the execution.

Martyr Augusta (Zashchuk), schema-nun

The founder and first head of the Optina Pustyn Museum, Lydia Vasilievna Zashchuk, was of noble origin. She spoke six foreign languages, had literary talent, and before the revolution she was a well-known journalist in St. Petersburg. In 1922 she took monastic vows in Optina Hermitage. After the closure of the monastery by the Bolsheviks in 1924, she managed to preserve Optina as a museum. Many of the inhabitants of the monastery were thus able to remain in their places as museum workers.

In 1927–34 schema-nun Augusta was imprisoned (she was involved in the same case with hieromonk Nikon (Belyaev) and other “optintsy”). From 1934 she lived in the city of Tula, then in the city of Belev, where the last rector of the Optina Hermitage, Hieromonk Issakiy (Bobrikov), settled. She headed a secret women's community in Belev. She was shot in 1938 in the case at 162 km of the Simferopol highway in the Tesnitsky forest near Tula.

Schema-nun Augusta was 67 at the time of the execution.

, priest

Hieromartyr Sergius, son of the holy righteous Alexis, Presbyter of Moscow, graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. During the First World War, he voluntarily went to the front as a nurse. In the midst of persecution in 1919, he took holy orders. After the death of his father in 1923, Hieromartyr Sergius became rector of the church of St. Nicholas in Klenniki and served in this church until his arrest in 1929, when he and his parishioners were accused of creating an "anti-Soviet group."

The holy righteous Alexy himself, already known during his lifetime as an elder in the world, said: "My son will be higher than me." Father Sergius managed to rally around him the spiritual children of the deceased father Alexy and his own children. Members of the community of Father Sergius carried the memory of their spiritual father through all the persecutions. Since 1937, upon leaving the camp, Father Sergius, secretly from the authorities, served liturgy at his home.

In the fall of 1941, following a denunciation from his neighbors, he was arrested and accused of “working to create underground so-called. “catacomb churches”, promotes secret monasticism in the manner of the Jesuit orders, and on this basis organizes anti-Soviet elements for an active struggle against Soviet power.” On Christmas Eve 1942, Hieromartyr Sergius was shot and buried in an unknown common grave.

At the time of the execution, he was 49 years old.

Have you read the article New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Read also:

The Christian Church throughout its two centuries of existence proved its fidelity to God. The best proof is human life. Neither theological works, nor beautiful sermons, nothing proves the truth of religion as a person who is ready to give his life for its sake.

Living in the modern world, where everyone can freely profess their faith, express their opinion, it is hard to imagine that just a hundred years ago this could lead to execution. The 20th century left a bloody trail in the history of Russia and the Russian Church, which will never be forgotten and will forever remain an example of what an attempt by the state to gain total control over society can lead to. Thousands of people were killed just because their faith was objectionable to the authorities.

Who are the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

The main Christian denomination of the Russian Empire is Orthodoxy. After the revolution of 1917, representatives of the faith were among those who were subjected to communist repression. It was from these people that the host of saints later descended, which is a treasure for the Orthodox Church.

Origin of words

The word "martyr" is of ancient Greek origin ( μάρτυς, μάρτῠρος) and translates as "witness". Martyrs have been revered as saints since the beginning of Christianity. These people were firm in their faith and did not want to renounce even their valuable lives. The first Christian martyr was killed around the year 33-36 (First Martyr Stephen).

Confessors (Greek ὁμολογητής) are those people who openly confess, that is, they testify to their faith even in the most difficult times, when this faith is prohibited by the state or does not correspond to the religious beliefs of the majority. They are also revered as saints.

The meaning of the concept

Those Christians who were killed in the 20th century during political repressions are called New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The martyrdom is divided into several categories:

1. Martyrs are Christians who gave their lives for Christ.
2. New martyrs (new martyrs) are people who suffered for the faith relatively recently.
3. A holy martyr is a person in the priesthood who has been martyred.
4. Reverend Martyr - a monk who was martyred.
5. A great martyr is a martyr of high rank or rank who has endured great torment.

For Christians, to accept martyrdom is a joy, because when they die, they resurrect for eternal life.

New Martyrs of Russia

After the Bolsheviks came to power, their main goal was to preserve it and eliminate enemies. They considered enemies not only structures directly aimed at overthrowing the Soviet regime (white army, popular uprisings, etc.), but also people who did not share their ideology. Since Marxism-Leninism assumed atheism and materialism, the Orthodox Church, as the most numerous, immediately became their opponent.

History reference

Since the clergy had authority among the people, they could, as the Bolsheviks thought, incite the people to overthrow the government, which means they posed a threat to them. Immediately after the October uprising, persecution began. Since the Bolsheviks were not completely consolidated and did not want their government to look totalitarian, the removal of representatives of the Church was not due to their religious beliefs, but was presented as a punishment for "counter-revolutionary activities" or for other invented violations. The wording was sometimes absurd, for example: “he dragged out the church service in order to disrupt the field work on the collective farm” or “he deliberately kept a small change of silver coin in his possession, pursuing the goal of undermining the correct circulation of money.”

The fury and cruelty with which innocent people were killed sometimes exceeded that of the Roman persecutors in the first centuries.

Here are just a few such examples:

• Bishop Theophan of Solikamsk was undressed in the bitter cold in front of the people, tied a stick to his hair and lowered into the hole until he was covered with ice;
• Bishop Isidore Mikhailovsky was impaled;
• Bishop Ambrose of Serapul was tied to the tail of a horse and let it gallop.

But most often mass execution was used, and the dead were buried in mass graves. Such graves are still found today.

One of the places for execution was the Butovo training ground. There were killed 20,765 people, of which 940 are clergy and laity of the Russian Church.

List

It is impossible to enumerate the entire Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. According to some estimates, by 1941, about 130,000 clergymen were killed. By 2006, 1,701 people had been canonized.

This is just a small list of martyrs who suffered for the Orthodox faith:

1. Hieromartyr Ivan (Kochurov) is the first of the murdered priests. Born July 13, 1871. He served in the United States, conducted missionary activities. In 1907 he moved back to Russia. In 1916 he was appointed to serve in the Catherine's Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo. On November 8, 1917, he died after prolonged beatings and dragging along the sleepers of the railway tracks.
2. Hieromartyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky) - the first of the murdered bishops. Born January 1, 1848. Was the Metropolitan of Kyiv. January 29, 1928, being in his chambers, he was taken out by sailors and killed.
3. Hieromartyr Pavel (Felitsyn) was born in 1894. He served in the village of Leonovo, Rostokinsky District. He was arrested on November 15, 1937. He was charged with anti-Soviet agitation. On December 5, he was sentenced to 10 years of work in a forced labor camp, where he died on January 17, 1941.
4. Venerable Martyr Theodosius (Bobkov) was born on February 7, 1874. The last place of service was the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the village of Vikhorna, Mikhnevsky District. On January 29, 1938 he was arrested and on February 17 he was shot.
5. Hieromartyr Alexy (Zinoviev) was born on March 1, 1879. On August 24, 1937, Father Alexy was arrested and imprisoned in the Taganka prison in Moscow. He was accused of holding services in people's homes and conducting anti-Soviet conversations. On September 15, 1937 he was shot.

It should be noted that often during interrogations they did not admit to what they did not do. It was usually said that they were not engaged in any anti-Soviet activities, but this did not matter, because the interrogations were purely formal.

Speaking of the martyrs of the 20th century, one cannot fail to mention St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow (January 19, 1865 - March 23, 1925). He is not glorified as a martyr, but his life was a martyr because the patriarchal ministry fell on his shoulders during these difficult and bloody years. His life was full of hardships and suffering, the biggest of which is to know that the Church entrusted to you is being destroyed.

The family of Emperor Nicholas is also not canonized as martyrs, but for their faith and worthy acceptance of death, the Church venerates them as holy martyrs.

Memorial Day of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Even at the Bishops' Council of 1817-1818. decided to commemorate all the dead who suffered in persecution. But at that time no one could be canonized.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was the first to take a step towards their glorification November 1st, 1981, and set a date for the celebration February 7, if this day coincides with Sunday, if not, then on the nearest Sunday. In Russia, their glorification took place at the Council of Bishops in 2000.

Celebration traditions

The Orthodox Church celebrates all its holidays with the Holy Liturgy. On the feast day of St. This is especially symbolic of the martyrs, because at the Liturgy the sacrifice of Christ is experienced, and at the same time the sacrifice of the martyrs who gave their lives for Him and for the holy Orthodox faith is remembered.

On this day, Orthodox Christians remember with bitterness those tragic events when the Russian land was saturated with blood. But a consolation for them is that the 20th century left the Russian Church with thousands of holy prayer books and intercessors. And when they are asked who the new martyrs are, they can simply show old photographs of their relatives who died in persecution.

Video

This video contains a slide of photographs of the New Martyrs.

"Russian Golgotha" - a film about the feat of the Saints of the twentieth century.