Metropolitan Hilarion: The Royal Passion-Bearers accepted the trials that befell them with sincere Christian feeling and humility. Sermon by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) on the day of remembrance of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers

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

I congratulate you on the day of remembrance of the holy passion-bearers: Emperor Nicholas, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Olga, Maria, Anastasia. They suffered not just as martyrs, but suffered for the commandments of God. Suffering for the commandments of God is the suffering that John the Baptist had. John preached the law of God so much that he was ready to die and did so, just so as not to renounce the law of God. Princes Boris and Gleb followed this path, the brightest one in Rus'; they were ready to die so as not to start a fratricidal war. Close to them is the feat of the martyr king, who abdicated in order to avoid civil war and not shed innocent blood.

The essence of the feat of the royal martyrs is that Nicholas II, while in power, wanted to rule according to Christ, he rejected the thesis that everyone now recognizes, that “politics is a dirty business.” He argued the opposite, “politics is a pure thing!” The ruler must rule the country so that it goes to Christ. And this is not news, the whole story Orthodox Church over the last fifteen hundred years, starting with Saint Constantine the Great, it has been built precisely on this idea, that all people should serve God, not only personally, but also at work and in society. All people are united in Christ, so that, fulfilling the commandments, they all go together to God. And earthly authorities should not interfere with this matter, but, on the contrary, should hasten worldwide, limiting the invasions of evil. All Christian rulers, including Nicholas II, served this purpose.

Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was spiritually a rotting state, infected with communism, atheism, Judaism, spiritualist teachings and Freemasonry.
And in this spiritually infected society, Tsar Nicholas II very successfully tried to restrain evil, and through this darkness, standing at the pinnacle of power, he remained good Christian. He had mistakes, but everyone living on earth has them. We often think that a saint is some kind of unattainable person who does not make mistakes, any of his deeds is holy and righteous. No. What is the difference between a saint and a sinner? The sinner falls and does not rise, but the righteous falls, gets up and moves on. The holy passion-bearers were distinguished precisely by the fact that they tried in every possible way to strengthen the Church. Whatever slanderers say about Tsar Nicholas II, his arrest, imprisonment and emotional experiences of that period justify him. The Church did not glorify the king-politician, because politics is a temporary thing. She glorified the king-Christian, who reached the heights of Christian virtues. We saw that the king and his family, while in prison, were distinguished by humility and forgiveness of everyone. The ability to forgive enemies is the greatest virtue, despite the fact that the king was overthrown from the pinnacle of power, he had extreme humility. He knew how to rely entirely on the will of God, did not lose heart, knew how to pray, preserve love - this is what we should learn from the passion-bearers.

The royal family was killed ritually, an educated person will not argue about this. Their murder was a natural, not tragic, but a victorious conclusion to their journey. It was a tragedy for the apostates: Ulyanov-Lenin, Bronstein-Trotsky, Eyman-Sverdlov and for all this godless trash that took over our country. It is a tragedy for them because this is innocent blood, like the blood of Abel, screaming to God for vengeance. And we know that all these scoundrels got what they deserved while still on earth. For the royal martyrs themselves and for the Church, this is a day of glory, because the day of the death of a person who dies in God is the day of his glorification, the day of his ascension to Heaven. These steps that the Emperor and his family went down to the Ipatiev basement became for them steps up to Heaven. When he dies, he comes to life and washes away all his sins with his blood, soaring like a bird to Heaven, thereby showing us that the road there is open to everyone. We know that the blood of martyrdom washes away all sins, except the sins of schism and heresy.

God accepts people according to the will of the heart, and not according to some external disposition or for success in political life, and not for success in state building, but accepts that a person will love Him with all his heart, and tries to saturate his life with this Divine love. Whatever the circumstances in society, a person can always rise to the top. Most of Princes before the revolution were members of Masonic lodges, where they practiced spiritualism, witchcraft, sorcery, debauchery, and other abominations. But there were also those who preserved the purity and faith of Christ, including Emperor Nicholas II. And this is an example for us that no spiritual state in society, no political situation, can justify us if we do not fulfill God’s commandments. They can be done always and everywhere, therefore no human activity in itself is dirty, including politics and government. And politics can not only not interfere, but also help the cause of a person’s heartfelt, spiritual ascent.

Another example we can draw from the lives of the passion-bearers is how we feel about suffering? Many people try with all their might to fight off suffering. This is an understandable and natural desire of any person. But a wise man knows that he cannot avoid suffering, and he knows how to turn it to his advantage. If we see that there is nowhere to put the explosives, then we need to move them so that they explode in the right direction. And as a result, with skillful placement of explosives, we can even pave our way out of prison. The energy of a directed explosion should be directed to our benefit. Also suffering. If they are correctly oriented and perceived, then they are capable of providing the greatest benefits. The very name of the royal martyrs - passion-bearers - suggests that they endured suffering, and through this achieved glory. They endured suffering and humiliation, which was much harder for them because they had great honor. And they were able to direct this pain to strengthen the heart, to cleanse it of all impurity, and to love. And in such cases it is usually directed towards anger, malice, irritation, self-pity.

When a Christian suffers for the sake of Christ, it is much easier for him to suffer than when he suffers not for the sake of Christ. As the Fathers of the Church said: “If they bind a martyr for Christ, then Christ is bound with him; if they beat a martyr, then Christ takes the pain upon himself.” Because Christ suffers as a martyr, comforts the broken, supports those who fall. Because Christ is our affirmation, our heart, our breath, our love, and the source of all good things. On this day, let us learn to use suffering correctly, to use it for our benefit and not for our harm. It is necessary not to scold others for suffering, but to receive Divine strength in order to pray meekly for enemies, - this is how the passion-bearer Princess Olga wrote. The Lord will help us with this! Save me, God!

This sermon by Father Daniil Sysoev is taken from the book “Lessons of Holiness”

The ceremony of consecrating the foundation stone at the construction site of the Church of the Sovereign Icon Mother of God in the monastery of saints Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama, after which he addressed the believers with the Primate’s word.

Christ is Risen!

Your Eminence, Metropolitan Kirill! Your Eminences and Graces! Dear senior leadership of the region! Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!

It was with great joy that I arrived in Yekaterinburg in the year when we remember the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov. This royal dynasty came to power after the decisive battle for the independence of our Fatherland, which took place at the end of the so-called Time of Troubles. The country, at least a significant part of it, was liberated from foreign occupation, and the Russian people had the opportunity to elect a legitimate government. Then, at the Zemsky Sobor, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected - still a very young man, from a pious, well-known boyar family, who laid the foundation of a dynasty that ruled for more than 300 years. Among the sovereigns and empresses were outstanding people, and even if among them there were less successful ones and less capable of ruling, then they also served their Motherland and their people.

We know that during these 300 years of small state our country has become a great power from Baltic Sea before Pacific Ocean. Russia, especially during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II - before the outbreak of the First World War - showed miracles of economic, social and political development. In the coming decades, Russia could become the leader of the whole world, and this happened without camps, without prisons, without forced collectivization, because it stemmed from the people's potential, which was really revealed in those years in Russia. But we know that the war, which was aimed primarily at weakening the power of the Russian state, led to a split in our society, and then revolutionary events, civil war and all the grave consequences that our people experienced in the twentieth century.

We also remember the 145th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Nicholas II and the 95th anniversary of his martyrdom. This gives us the opportunity to think about the history of our Fatherland, about the tragedy of our people, to remember once again spiritual feat sovereign Emperor Nicholas II and his family, who was revealed in accepting death as any Christian should accept it - in kindness and calmness, in forgiveness of enemies, in complete humility and in surrendering his soul and body into the hands of God. That is why we glorify the holy passion-bearer Emperor Nicholas II and his family.

On this place, in Ganina Yama, where the gravest crime was committed - hiding the remains of the holy passion-bearers - a wonderful monastery has now been erected; and on the day when we remember all these events on Yekaterinburg land, the foundation of the temple erected in honor of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God was consecrated.

Probably, those who killed the royal family, who tried to destroy their bodies and completely erase everything that happened from history, were guided, on the one hand, by fear, and on the other hand, by hatred. Those people had power on their side and had the opportunity to control the destinies, including the captured sovereign emperor and his family. It would seem that the subsequent decades lay down on the memory of this family like a huge concrete slab through which it cannot grow. green grass. It seemed to many that the memory of them had been destroyed, and if it was preserved, it was only as an object of ridicule and desecration. Few could imagine that the memory of the royal family was alive among the people and that even at a time when politic system assessed the activities of the late emperor extremely negatively, commemoration of the sovereign and his family began, veneration of the terrible Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, where the execution took place.

Today we see that our people reverence with deep faith the memory of the deceased sovereign and his family. And the question arises: how did all this become possible? The words of the great Easter hymn - the kontakion of Holy Pascha - come to mind: “Although you descended into the grave, Immortal, you crushed the power of hell.” The Lord crushed the power of hell with His Resurrection. And this means that any evil that is present in human history cannot achieve final victory - it has already been defeated. The victory of evil, especially on the scale of history, is temporary, fleeting. And how clearly for all of us the glorification of the royal family testifies to the crushing of hellish power! How amazingly green sprouts, sprouts of life emerged through concrete slab, with which they tried to close any memory of those times in the historical consciousness of the people!

In order to have strong faith, you need to be able to read history and see the signs of God's presence. Sometimes it seems to us that what is happening is inexplicable; people brush aside any attempts to explain, including, what happened to our Fatherland in the twentieth century. But we, believers, understand that evil was punished and destroyed precisely because the Risen Christ crushed the power of hell.

What does all this mean for our modern life? And this means that we must live with the fear of God in our hearts, not do evil, not carry lies and untruths with us. Sometimes it seems to us that only we, or perhaps some narrow circle of people, know that we are doing bad, disgusting things, and no one will ever know anything about it. However, life experience shows that everything becomes clear, and history gives surprisingly correct assessments of historical figures, despite all attempts to distort history.

I am very glad to see all of you, my dears. It is with a special emotional feeling that I visit this place where I was now praying with you. Today and tomorrow we will continue these anniversary celebrations on Yekaterinburg soil. May the Lord protect you all, strengthening you in the Orthodox faith, in purity of life, in purity of thoughts, in a way of thinking and a way of acting that would always correspond to God’s truth. And if something doesn’t work out for someone, if the enemy tempts, if it seems that evil is invincible, remember Ganina’s pit and remember the amazing words of the Easter hymn “thou hast crushed the power of hell,” and these memories, like these words, will help us perk up even in the most difficult life circumstances. May the Lord protect our Fatherland, the land of Yekaterinburg and all of you.

Christ is Risen!

Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

On July 17, 2016, on the 4th Sunday after Pentecost and the day of remembrance of the passion-bearers Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Moscow Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” on Bolshaya Ordynka. The archpastor was served by the clergy of the temple.

After the special litany, Bishop Hilarion offered a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Hilarion addressed those present with a sermon:

“In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

On this Sunday, our Holy Church celebrates the memory of the holy passion-bearers Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. One of the most tragic events Russian history became one of the most glorious events in the history of our Church. How did this happen?

Let us remember the life of the holy passion-bearer Tsar Nicholas - when he was born, when he grew up, when he accepted the royal power, nothing, it would seem, foreshadowed such a terrible end. Imagine the birth of an heir to the throne - the whole country rejoices at God. The child grows up surrounded by love, honor, glory; he is still a baby and a youth, and they are already pouring on him state awards. The life of every crowned monarch with outside has a lot of attractive things, a lot of brilliant things, but we know from history how many autocrats ended their lives tragically, how many were overthrown from the throne, killed in a cruel and inhuman way.

Speaking about the passion-bearer Tsar Nicholas, we remember, first of all, his last months, last days and how he met his death with deep Christian humility. And with him we remember his entire family, which was also destroyed by the Bolshevik authorities, who feared that the monarchy would be restored in one way or another.

Why does the Christian Church treat the feat of the pious kings and pious queens this way? Why in church calendar so many people who have held the rank of monarch? Because the Church perceives the service of the Tsar as a sacred service - it is no coincidence that all our Russian monarchs were anointed to the Tsar. It was a special rite, a special rite, one might even say, a special joy. Just as in ancient times the prophets anointed kings as kings, so the Holy Church saw a special service in the life and works of the king, and if outwardly it seemed brilliant and attractive, then internally for the monarchs themselves it was a sacrificial service. This was manifested, in particular, in the fact that they were not masters of their lives.

In 1897, during the census of the population of the Russian Empire, Emperor Nicholas II, filling out a questionnaire, indicated in the “occupation” column: “owner of the Russian land.” And he really was an autocrat, an absolute monarch, the master of the entire Russian land, but he was not the master of his own destiny. This was manifested, in particular, in the fact that future monarchs were sent to study not where they wanted, but where the autocratic father wished. They were married not to the girls they liked, but to those whose marriage was in the interests of the state. This led to different results, and very rarely was a royal marriage a love marriage.

But the holy passion-bearer Tsar Nicholas, as we know from the history of his life, married his beloved. This was perhaps a rare case when state interests coincided with personal feelings. He, while still a very young man, fell in love with a very young Hessian princess and patiently waited for her to grow up and reach the accepted marriageable age. He proposed to her, despite the fact that her parents were initially against this union. And he entered into a marriage that was happy from the beginning to the very end, because the royal spouses remained faithful to each other both in the days of glory and in times of difficult trials. This is evidenced by the surviving correspondence - they wrote letters to each other almost every day and, no matter what happened, shared their impressions, thoughts and feelings with each other.

They had five children. First, four daughters were born, but, as you understand, the whole country was waiting for the appearance of imperial family son, because the throne was inherited through the male line. Therefore, when this long-awaited prince was born, the whole country rejoiced and rejoiced. The parents also rejoiced until they learned about the sword of Damocles that hung over the entire Hessian clan and took the lives of its male representatives - about the terrible hereditary disease, passed down through a mother to her son.

And then terrible events happened, which we all know about. Gradually, the minds of people in the country were taken over by demonic obsession - in other words it is impossible to describe it. Several decades before the revolution, Dostoevsky, in his novel “Demons,” described those people who ultimately came to power. They are responsible for millions of victims, including the Royal Family.

But when we remember the Royal Passion-Bearers, this is a reason for us not only to think about history once again, but also to thank the Lord for the courage of those people who accepted the trials that befell them with sincere Christian feeling and humility. It is no coincidence that today all the parishes of our Church glorify the Royal Passion-Bearers. It is no coincidence that all tonight a procession of thousands of people walked from the place where they were killed to the supposed burial site. I don’t know how many people took part in the prayer procession this year, but usually 60-70 thousand people walk at night for five hours in order to honor the memory of the holy passion-bearers Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.

I remember the time when they had not yet been canonized, when the Church debated whether the last tsar and his family should be canonized. There was a lot of controversy, a lot of publications, then this topic was raised at the Council of Bishops in 2000. Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna read a report; someone was against it, someone was in favor, and then they asked to vote. And when the entire Council voted to glorify them as saints, including those who until recently were against or doubted, then, I think, all the participants in the Council of Bishops were visited by a very special feeling. They felt the breath of the Spirit of God, which suggested that this is how, and not otherwise, it was necessary to evaluate this feat, that it was precisely in this way, and not otherwise, that these innocent people had to be glorified - the meek king, queen and their children, who shared the fate of their parents, although they could not be accused of anything other than the fact that they were born into the royal family.

The Church recently glorified another person who suffered with them, Dr. Evgeniy Botkin. He was a man of special destiny: he was born into a family of hereditary doctors, and a famous hospital in Moscow was named after his father. Evgeny Botkin did not want to leave the Royal Family, although he was offered to leave and he knew that the end would be tragic. There was a letter left in which he wrote to his family that he would soon die, but could not do otherwise and must stay. And with the same truly Christian humility with which the Royal Family ascended to their Golgotha, he also ascended to his Golgotha, giving his life to God with them.

The Church glorifies the Royal Passion-Bearers as those who followed Christ to Calvary, who were obedient to the Father even to death, and death on the cross. To this day they are our heavenly prayer books and intercessors.

Let us pray to the holy Royal Passion-Bearers that they will never allow our country to find itself on the edge of the abyss, that the terrible obsession that we allowed will never happen again, that innocent people will never die again, that a godless ideology will never again be implanted by violent means, that Rus' The saint preserved the Orthodox faith, and our people strengthened their strength and faith. Let us pray that the Lord will protect us all under the omophorion of His Most Pure Mother. Amen".

DECR Communications Service

On the day of remembrance of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers on July 17, sermons were heard in churches about the martyrdom of Tsar Nicholas II and his long-suffering family - Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses - Tatiana, Maria, Olga, Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei.

By omitting the details of the brutal regicide, it is impossible to avoid the issue of the spiritual betrayal of their Sovereign by the Russian people. A hundred years have already passed since this shameful stain in the annals of Russian history. Songs of repentance are heard, in churches from the icons the faces of the holy royal passion-bearers, glorified in the martyrdom, look at us - their faces are bright, illuminated with smiles, they pray there, in Heaven for their people, who even after their death did not cease to be Their people, but so the people learned to live without a king - in the soul and in the head.

But churches are being built in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers throughout the Russian land! Here is one such temple - in the village of Peniki, ten kilometers from Lomonosov - a decade has passed - they cannot complete it. Who lives in these very Peniki? - you ask. Yes, ordinary Russian people drink, sometimes they commit robbery in neighboring farms, they live hard, without work and money. And there are also visiting people there who do not relate to our Tsar in any way, due to their national and religious characteristics. So, they can probably donate to the temple occasionally, little by little, but for the whole world to come together and finish the temple, people are not yet mature enough. Passing by expensive cars, from afar the turrets of cottages and mansions are visible, and the temple still stands in the woods...

But inside the church it is light, cozy, golden log walls with a few icons, candlesticks with burning candles, and the priest-rector, alone: ​​both as a priest and as a deacon, conducts the service. July 17 is the Patronal Feast, a few days before the date the church was decorated inside, and on the very day of remembrance of the murdered family of the last Russian Tsar there was a procession of the Cross. Not many, I must say.

Well, have our simple Orthodox people not yet matured spiritually for sincere veneration of the Tsar, who laid his head on the block of that revolution, which was called the Great October Revolution and proclaimed its bloody sacrifices for the good and prosperity of ordinary working people? So we still believe that for the sake of the “theory of happiness for all” we had to go through a civil war, when brother against brother? Or are we silent, not touching on this topic, so as not to offend the memory of the heroes who “fell for our common happiness”?

We don’t touch, and we don’t repent... This is a sad day, there are tears and a lump in your throat when you think about Them, stabbed with soldiers’ bayonets on a still living body, meeting their killers with beautiful, bewildered gazes. First, Their people raised their hands against the Tsar, the Anointed of God, and then against the priesthood, then they beheaded churches, in the heat of war and in the post-revolutionary years of building a “bright future”, the people who became God-fighters removed and threw down bells from churches, destroyed temples.

This is a Holy day - the day of Their execution, a day that should become a day of unification of the people in repentance of the crime committed, and then the Lord can give the people another chance for salvation as a bearer of the true faith, repentant of betrayal, which has no statute of limitations.

I would like to quote excerpts from several sermons on the day of the Holy Royal Martyrs.

“On this day we glorify all Royal Family. Throughout Rus' and throughout the world today prayers are being sung to our Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov and His Holy Family. Everywhere and, of course, in Yekaterinburg there are numerous Processions of the Cross in memory of the holy Royal Passion-Bearers. The bells are ringing.

Every year the veneration of the Royal Family grows. Every year we see more and more clearly the greatness of Their feats and the moral beauty of Their lives. And every year we become more and more aware of the depth of the tragedy that happened on July 17, 1918. Shooting at the Tsar then, they were shooting at Christ Himself. After all, the King is God’s Anointed One.

What happened then was monstrous and incredible. ...Only a great insanity of the entire Russian people could lead to such a spiritual catastrophe. After all, the sin of Regicide is a disaster for the entire people. ...

And so the Tsar, having suffered martyrdom together with His Family, was brutally shot in the Ipatiev House. Who dared to raise his hand against our King? To the Great Sovereign, the sovereign ruler who raised Rus' to great spiritual heights, giving it unprecedented material opportunities.

Let us remember that under Tsar Nicholas II the construction of the Great Siberian Railroad was completed, along which Orthodoxy and Russian culture rushed to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. And Rus' finally established itself in the Far East. The level of well-being of the people was such that all Soviet rulers later tried to equal the economic indicators of 1913.

And how many temples were built! Almost half of the monasteries in Russian Empire was founded under Tsar Nicholas II. ...Under Emperor Nicholas II, more saints were glorified than in all previous years of the Synodal period, starting from the time of Peter the Great.

Remember how St. Seraphim the Wonderworker of Sarov was glorified. At the Synod’s report on the beginning of preparations for glorification, the Tsar wrote: “Glorify immediately.” All Royal Family was at the Diveyevo Monastery at the great celebrations of glorification St. Seraphim, dearly loved and revered by the Russian people.

How much is written today about the Holy King! There is so much criticism and all kinds of comments on his actions and political decisions. But is any of the critics capable of knowing what our Martyr King experienced, what he thought, how he suffered? Great is the suffering of a betrayed, innocently slandered and condemned person. But what is the suffering of the King, responsible before the Lord for his people, and betrayed by these people! ... And the people committed the sin of Regicide and this sin on everyone who belongs to this people. Throughout all generations, until nationwide repentance occurs.

The Holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas and His Holy Family were glorified in the year 2000. This is a great step in the repentance of the Russian people.

Today is popularly called Russian Easter. After all, our King and His Family are winners. Following Christ, they conquered death through their suffering. They have achieved holiness. And the highest glory to the Lord. They look at us from the heights of the spiritual sky and pray for us. About my people, about Russia. And we believe that our people, through the prayers of the holy Royal Passion-Bearers, will receive their sight and bring repentance before the Lord. And Rus' will rise again and shine in its sovereign greatness, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Amen." Metropolitan Benjamin (Pushkar)

“The Holy Royal Martyrs, like all saints, are so close to the feat of Christ that everything connected with their martyrdom is filled with prophetic meaning. It is no coincidence that they occupy a central place in the history of Russian holiness of the past century. And what happened in Ipatiev’s house has a mysterious continuation in the events that have already happened and are still expected in the life of our Church and our people.

...When the Royal Family was captured by the godless authorities, the commissars were forced to change their guards all the time. Because under the miraculous influence of the holy prisoners, being in constant contact with them, these people unwittingly became different, more humane.

...The Tsar-Martyr is in a special way, spiritually connected with the Russian people. And by his fate, and his service, and his readiness to sacrifice himself for the salvation of Russia. He did it. And we pray to him, giving a clear account of the fact that the sin of regicide played main role in the terrible events of the 20th century for the Russian Church and for the whole world. We are faced with only one question: is there any atonement for this sin and how can it be realized. The Church calls us to repentance. This means realizing what happened and how it continues in today's life.

If we really love the Martyr Tsar and pray to him, if we truly seek the moral and spiritual revival of our Fatherland, we must spare no effort in order to overcome the terrible consequences of mass apostasy (apostasy from the faith of our fathers and trampling on morality) in our people .

There are only two options for what awaits Russia. Or, through the miracle of the intercession of the Royal Martyrs and all the new Russian martyrs, the Lord will grant our people to be reborn for the salvation of many. But this will happen only with our participation - despite natural weakness, sinfulness, powerlessness and lack of faith. Or, according to the Apocalypse, the Church of Christ will face new, even more formidable shocks, in the center of which the Cross of Christ will always be.

Through the prayers of the Royal Passion-Bearers, who lead the host of new Russian martyrs and confessors, may it be given to us to withstand these trials and become partakers of their feat.”

Archpriest Alexander Shargunov

The Constantinople-Elenin Monastery preserves one of the relics left from the family last emperor- a curl of Tsarevich Alexei. The reliquary with this relic is located in the Church of the Saints Equal to the Apostles Constantine and Elena.