A total of 19 Romanovs who were liquidated by the Bolshevik government were canonized as new martyrs for Christ’s sake (victims of anti-Christian forces), first by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, later recognized as such by the Moscow Patriarchate, and are revered by all Orthodox sister churches.
When the villainous execution of the imperial family took place in Ekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, the All-Russian Patriarch Tikhon delivered a speech at the Kazan Council: for sin, but is justified as something lawful. So, these days a terrible thing has happened: the former tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich was shot dead by a decree of the Ural Council and of our highest government – the Executive Committee, which approved this and recognized it as legal. But we are obliged, according to the teaching of the Word of God, to condemn this act, otherwise the blood of the shot will be on us, and not only on those who have committed the evil deed. We will not evaluate and judge the deeds of the former ruler (Nikolai II Alexandrovich, son of Alexander III and Maria Fyodorovna, born May 6, 1868, reigned from October 21, 1894 to March 2, 1918), but we know that he, renouncing the throne, did so in the name of Russia and out of love for it. After his denial, he could find a quiet life for himself abroad, but he did not do so in order to endure the hardships with his homeland. And suddenly, he was sentenced to death, somewhere in the deep countryside, not because of his guilt, but because someone wanted to kidnap him … Our conscience cannot come to terms with this, and we as Christians must declare this in public, as true sons of the Church. ”
On the next day, July 18, 1918, in Alapaevsk in the Urals, the local Cheka, on the instructions of Moscow, shot Grand Duchess Elisaveta Fyodorovna and members of the Romanov dynasty: Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov, Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (Junior), Igor Konstantinovich Romanov, Ioan Konstantinovich Romanov, Varvara Yakovleva (godsister of Grand Duke E.F. Romanova) and the manager of the affairs of Grand Duke S.M. Romanov – F.S. Remeza. They were taken out of the city on the Sinyachikhinsky road and in an area with deep shafts beaten with butts. Only Sergei Mikhailovich was shot. When the White Guard troops captured Alapaevsk and the corpses were taken out of the shafts, it became clear that some of them lived on the ground for another two or three days and Elisaveta Fyodorovna there, “in the dark dungeons”, helped them according to her strength. Later, the bodies of Great Princess Elizabeth and Barbara Yakovleva were taken to Jerusalem to the Orthodox Church (in the Garden of Gethsemane), dedicated to Mary Magdalene, where they gained eternal peace.
An authoritative documentary study of the martyrdom of Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, brother of the last Russian emperor, can be found in the book by Edward Radzinski “The Royal Diaries: Nicholas II. Life. Death. ” Mikhail Romanov voluntarily abdicated the Russian throne and received enthusiastic greetings from all over radical Russia, including some prominent Bolsheviks. His valet tells of the prince’s resolute perseverance and tenacity when the executioners from the Motovilikhinsky council came: first, he asked for a telephone connection from Perm, where the described event took place, with the chairman of the local Cheka Malkov and referred to the “Decree for Free Residence”. was handed to him in Moscow. The prince came from another era and did not know that under the new system everything had a new meaning, the opposite of normal. Thus, the telegram received from Moscow that he enjoyed all the rights of a citizen meant that he had no rights, and the head of the Cheka (transl. Еmergency Commission, Cheka is the first Soviet state-security organization) was obliged to ensure only his death. At 11 o’clock in the evening, on June 11, 1918, the executioners broke into M. Romanov’s hotel room. He continued to ask for a meeting with government officials, with his personal doctor, citing his illness, but was forced to wear it, and was told that others would take his belongings. He then asked to be accompanied by at least his personal secretary, Brian Johnson, and, as one of the participants in the Penalty Five, Andrei Vasilevich Markov, testified: “Since this was in our plans, he was allowed to.” They take him out by the collar, push him into one of the two closed carriages and head in the direction of the kerosene warehouses near the city, shrinking into the woods a few kilometers away. They bring out the doomed with shouts. Johnson was shot immediately, but the executioner of Grand Duke Michael only wounded him. The wounded emperor’s brother ran to the other monster, begging him to say goodbye to his secretary, while at the same time detecting the reprimand of the second Red Army man, as they had homemade cartridges. The third, however, shot the Grand Duke in the head.
One horse is frightened by the shots, runs into the woods and overturns the carriage, which is a prophetic foreshadowing of the end of the satanic communist system, choking on the blood of its own victims.
A poem (which I will try to submit in an authorized translation for the first time in English), composed and recorded by Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova in her personal book, found among the personal belongings of the royal family shot near Ekaterinburg, published in „Ogonek“ magazine, (№38, Sept. 1990) is an illustration of the profound confession of the faith of Christ before their demise:
Prayer
Send us patience, Lord
In the year of stormy gloomy days
To endure the people’s persecution
And the torture of our executioners.
Give us a fortress, oh my God
Forgive the evil of your neighbor
And the Cross heavy and bloody
Let us meet with Your meekness.
And in days of tumult,
When we are robbed by enemies,
To endure shame and insult,
Christ the Savior, help.
Lord of the world, God of the whole universe,
Bless us with prayer
And give peace to a humble soul
In the unbearable and terrible hour.
And in the vestibule of the tomb
Breathe into the mouths of Your servants
Inhuman forces –
To pray meekly for the enemy.
