On the night of July 16-17, 1918 in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the house of mining engineer Nikolai Ipatiev, Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their children - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, heir Tsarevich Alexei, as well as -medic Evgeny Botkin, valet Alexey Trupp, room girl Anna Demidova and cook Ivan Kharitonov.
The last Russian Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II) ascended the throne in 1894 after the death of his father, Emperor Alexander III, and ruled until 1917, until the situation in the country became more complicated. On March 12 (February 27, old style), 1917, an armed uprising began in Petrograd, and on March 15 (March 2, old style), 1917, at the insistence of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, Nicholas II signed an abdication of the throne for himself and his son Alexei in favor of the younger brother Mikhail Alexandrovich.
After his abdication, from March to August 1917, Nicholas and his family were under arrest in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. A special commission of the Provisional Government studied materials for the possible trial of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on charges of treason. Having not found evidence and documents that clearly convicted them of this, the Provisional Government was inclined to deport them abroad (to Great Britain).
In August 1917, the arrested were transported to Tobolsk. The main idea of the Bolshevik leadership was an open trial of the former emperor. In April 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the Romanovs to Moscow. Vladimir Lenin spoke out for the trial of the former tsar; Leon Trotsky was supposed to be the main accuser of Nicholas II. However, information appeared about the existence of “White Guard conspiracies” to kidnap the Tsar, the concentration of “conspiratorial officers” in Tyumen and Tobolsk for this purpose, and on April 6, 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the royal family to the Urals. The royal family was transported to Yekaterinburg and placed in the Ipatiev house.
The uprising of the White Czechs and the offensive of the White Guard troops on Yekaterinburg accelerated the decision to shoot the former tsar.
The commandant of the Special Purpose House, Yakov Yurovsky, was entrusted with organizing the execution of all members of the royal family, Doctor Botkin and the servants who were in the house.
© Photo: Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg
The execution scene is known from investigative reports, from the words of participants and eyewitnesses, and from the stories of the direct perpetrators. Yurovsky spoke about the execution of the royal family in three documents: “Note” (1920); "Memoirs" (1922) and "Speech at a meeting of old Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg" (1934). All the details of this atrocity, conveyed by the main participant at different times and under completely different circumstances, agree on how the royal family and its servants were shot.
Based on documentary sources, it is possible to establish the time when the murder of Nicholas II, members of his family and their servants began. The car that delivered the last order to exterminate the family arrived at half past two on the night of July 16-17, 1918. After which the commandant ordered physician Botkin to wake up the royal family. It took the family about 40 minutes to get ready, then she and the servants were transferred to the semi-basement of this house, with a window overlooking Voznesensky Lane. Nicholas II carried Tsarevich Alexei in his arms because he could not walk due to illness. At Alexandra Feodorovna’s request, two chairs were brought into the room. She sat on one, and Tsarevich Alexei sat on the other. The rest were located along the wall. Yurovsky led the firing squad into the room and read the verdict.
This is how Yurovsky himself describes the execution scene: “I invited everyone to stand up. Everyone stood up, occupying the entire wall and one of the side walls. The room was very small. Nikolai stood with his back to me. I announced that the Executive Committee of the Councils of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies The Urals decided to shoot them. Nikolai turned and asked. I repeated the order and commanded: “Shoot.” I shot first and killed Nikolai on the spot. The shooting lasted a very long time and, despite my hopes that the wooden wall would not ricochet, the bullets bounced off it ". For a long time I was not able to stop this shooting, which had become careless. But when, finally, I managed to stop, I saw that many were still alive. For example, Doctor Botkin was lying, leaning on the elbow of his right hand, as if in a resting position, with a revolver shot ended him. Alexey, Tatyana, Anastasia and Olga were also alive. Demidova was also alive. Comrade Ermakov wanted to finish the matter with a bayonet. But, however, this did not succeed. The reason became clear later (the daughters were wearing diamond armor like bras). I was forced to shoot each one in turn."
After death was confirmed, all the corpses began to be transferred to the truck. At the beginning of the fourth hour, at dawn, the corpses of the dead were taken out of Ipatiev’s house.
The remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia Romanov, as well as people from their entourage, shot in the House of Special Purpose (Ipatiev House), were discovered in July 1991 near Yekaterinburg.
On July 17, 1998, the burial of the remains of members of the royal family took place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg.
In October 2008, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided to rehabilitate Russian Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office also decided to rehabilitate members of the imperial family - the Grand Dukes and Princes of the Blood, executed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Servants and associates of the royal family who were executed by the Bolsheviks or subjected to repression were rehabilitated.
In January 2009, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation stopped investigating the case into the circumstances of the death and burial of the last Russian emperor, members of his family and people from his entourage, shot in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, "due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution responsibility and death of persons who committed premeditated murder" (subparagraphs 3 and 4 of part 1 of article 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR).
The tragic history of the royal family: from execution to reposeIn 1918, on the night of July 17 in Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the house of mining engineer Nikolai Ipatiev, Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and their children - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and heir Tsarevich Alexei were shot.On January 15, 2009, the investigator issued a resolution to terminate the criminal case, but on August 26, 2010, the judge of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow decided, in accordance with Article 90 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, to recognize this decision as unfounded and ordered the violations to be eliminated. On November 25, 2010, the investigation decision to terminate this case was canceled by the Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee.
On January 14, 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that the resolution was brought in accordance with the court decision and the criminal case regarding the death of representatives of the Russian Imperial House and people from their entourage in 1918-1919 was discontinued. The identification of the remains of members of the family of the former Russian Emperor Nicholas II (Romanov) and persons from his retinue has been confirmed.
On October 27, 2011, a resolution was issued to terminate the investigation into the case of the execution of the royal family. The 800-page resolution outlines the main conclusions of the investigation and indicates the authenticity of the discovered remains of the royal family.
However, the question of authentication still remains open. The Russian Orthodox Church, in order to recognize the found remains as the relics of royal martyrs, the Russian Imperial House supports the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue. The director of the chancellery of the Russian Imperial House emphasized that genetic testing is not enough.
The Church canonized Nicholas II and his family and on July 17 celebrates the day of remembrance of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Nicholas II was born in 1868 and went down in history as the last emperor of the Russian Empire. Nicholas II's father was Alexander III, and his mother was Maria Fedorovna.
Nicholas II had three brothers and two sisters. He was the eldest, so after the death of Alexander III in 1894, it was he who took the throne. Contemporaries of Nicholas II note that he was a fairly easy-to-communicate person
The period of the reign of Nicholas II was marked by a fairly rapid development of the economy of the Russian Empire. However, at the same time, social and political contradictions and revolutionary movements were growing in Russia.
During more than twenty years of his reign, Nicholas II did a lot for the Russian Empire.
First of all, it is worth noting that during his reign the population of the Russian Empire increased by almost 50,000,000 people, that is, by 40%. And natural population growth increased to 3,000,000 people per year. At the same time, the overall standard of living has increased significantly.
Thanks to the active development of agriculture, as well as more sophisticated communication routes, the so-called “hunger years” at the beginning of the twentieth century were quickly eliminated. A crop failure now did not mean that there would be famine, since a bad harvest in some areas was compensated by a good harvest in others. Under Nicholas II, the grain harvest increased significantly.
Coal production has increased very significantly. During the entire reign of Nicholas II, it increased almost fourfold.
Also, during the reign of Nicholas II, the metallurgical industry increased very significantly. For example, iron smelting increased almost fourfold, and copper production increased fivefold. Thanks to this, quite rapid growth began in the field of mechanical engineering. Consequently, the number of workers increased from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 people.
The length of railways and telegraph poles has increased significantly. It is also worth noting that under Nicholas II the army of the Russian Empire increased significantly. Nicholas II managed to create the most powerful river fleet in the world.
Under Nicholas II, the level of education of the population increased significantly. The production of books also increased.
Finally, it is worth saying that during the entire reign of Nicholas II, the treasury of the Russian Empire increased significantly. At the beginning of his reign it was 1,200,000,000 rubles, and at the end - 3,500,000,000 rubles.
All this indicates that Nicholas II was a very talented ruler. According to his contemporaries, if everything had continued like this, then by the 1950s the Russian Empire would have become the most developed country in all of Europe.
Let's take a closer look at his reign:
When they talk about Nicholas II, two polar points of view are immediately identified: Orthodox-patriotic and liberal-democratic. For the first, Nicholas II and his family are an ideal of morality, an image of martyrdom; his reign is the highest point of Russian economic development in its entire history. For others, Nicholas II is a weak personality, a weak-willed man who failed to protect the country from revolutionary madness, who was entirely under the influence of his wife and Rasputin; Russia during his reign is seen as economically backward.
Attitudes towards the personality of the last Russian emperor are so ambiguous that there simply cannot be a consensus on the results of his reign.
When they talk about Nicholas II, two polar points of view are immediately identified: Orthodox-patriotic and liberal-democratic. For the first, Nicholas II and his family are an ideal of morality, an image of martyrdom; his reign is the highest point of Russian economic development in its entire history. For others, Nicholas II is a weak personality, a weak-willed man who failed to protect the country from revolutionary madness, who was entirely under the influence of his wife and Rasputin; Russia during his reign is seen as economically backward
Let's consider both points of view and draw our own conclusions.
Orthodox-patriotic point of view
In the 1950s, a report by the Russian writer Boris Lvovich Brazol (1885-1963) appeared in the Russian diaspora. During World War I he worked for Russian military intelligence.
Brasol's report is called “The Reign of Emperor Nicholas II in Figures and Facts. A response to slanderers, dismemberers and Russophobes.”
At the beginning of this report there is a quote from the famous economist of the time, Edmond Thery: “If the affairs of European nations go from 1912 to 1950 in the same way as they went from 1900 to 1912, Russia by the middle of this century will dominate Europe both politically and both economically and financially." (Economist Europeen magazine, 1913).
Let us present some data from this report.
On the eve of the First World War, the population of the Russian Empire was 182 million people, and during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II it increased by 60 million.
Imperial Russia based its fiscal policy not only on deficit-free budgets, but also on the principle of significant accumulation of gold reserves.
During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, by law of 1896, gold currency was introduced in Russia. The stability of monetary circulation was such that even during the Russo-Japanese War, which was accompanied by widespread revolutionary unrest within the country, the exchange of banknotes for gold was not suspended.
Before World War I, taxes in Russia were the lowest in the world. The burden of direct taxes in Russia was almost 4 times less than in France, more than 4 times less than in Germany and 8.5 times less than in England. The burden of indirect taxes in Russia was on average half as much as in Austria, France, Germany and England.
Between 1890 and 1913 Russian industry increased its productivity fourfold. Moreover, it should be noted that the increase in the number of new enterprises was achieved not due to the emergence of fly-by-night companies, as in modern Russia, but due to actually working factories and factories that produced products and created jobs.
In 1914, the State Savings Bank had deposits worth 2,236,000,000 rubles, i.e. 1.9 times more than in 1908.
These indicators are extremely important for understanding that the population of Russia was by no means poor and saved a significant part of their income.
On the eve of the revolution, Russian agriculture was in full bloom. In 1913, the harvest of major cereals in Russia was one-third higher than that of Argentina, Canada and the United States of America combined. In particular, the rye harvest in 1894 yielded 2 billion poods, and in 1913 - 4 billion poods.
During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, Russia was the main breadwinner of Western Europe. At the same time, special attention is drawn to the phenomenal growth in the export of agricultural products from Russia to England (grain and flour). In 1908, 858.3 million pounds were exported, and in 1910, 2.8 million pounds, i.e. 3.3 times.
Russia supplied 50% of the world's egg imports. In 1908, 2.6 billion pieces worth 54.9 million rubles were exported from Russia, and in 1909 - 2.8 million pieces. worth 62.2 million rubles. The export of rye in 1894 amounted to 2 billion poods, in 1913: 4 billion poods. Sugar consumption during the same period of time increased from 4 to 9 kg per year per person (at that time sugar was a very expensive product).
On the eve of World War I, Russia produced 80% of the world's flax production.
In 1916, i.e., at the very height of the war, more than 2,000 miles of railways were built, which connected the Arctic Ocean (port of Romanovsk) with the center of Russia. The Great Siberian Road (8,536 km) was the longest in the world.
It should be added that Russian railways, compared to others, were the cheapest and most comfortable in the world for passengers.
During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, public education achieved extraordinary development. Primary education was free by law, and from 1908 it became compulsory. Since this year, about 10,000 schools have been opened annually. In 1913 their number exceeded 130,000. In terms of the number of women studying in higher educational institutions, Russia ranked first in Europe, if not in the whole world, at the beginning of the 20th century.
During the reign of Sovereign Nicholas II, the government of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin carried out one of the most significant and most brilliant reforms in Russia - the agrarian reform. This reform is associated with the transition of the form of ownership of land and land production from communal to private land. On November 9, 1906, the so-called “Stolypin Law” was issued, which allowed the peasant to leave the Community and become the individual and hereditary owner of the land he cultivated. This law was a huge success. Immediately, 2.5 million requests for release from family farmers were submitted. Thus, on the eve of the revolution, Russia was already ready to turn into a country of property owners.
For the period 1886-1913. Russia's exports amounted to 23.5 billion rubles, imports – 17.7 billion rubles.
Foreign investment in the period from 1887 to 1913 increased from 177 million rubles. up to 1.9 billion rubles, i.e. increased by 10.7 times. Moreover, these investments were directed into capital-intensive production and created new jobs. However, what is very important, Russian industry was not dependent on foreigners. Enterprises with foreign investment accounted for only 14% of the total capital of Russian enterprises.
The abdication of Nicholas II from the throne was the greatest tragedy in the thousand-year history of Russia.
By the definition of the Council of Bishops from March 31 to April 4, 1992, the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints was instructed “in studying the exploits of the new Russian martyrs to begin researching materials related to the martyrdom of the Royal Family.”
Excerpts from “GROUNDS FOR CANONIZATION OF THE ROYAL FAMILY
FROM THE REPORT OF METROPOLITAN JUVENALIY OF KRUTITSKY AND KOLOMENSKY,
CHAIRMAN OF THE SYNODAL COMMISSION FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SAINTS.”
“As a politician and statesman, the Emperor acted based on his religious and moral principles. One of the most common arguments against the canonization of Emperor Nicholas II is the events of January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg. In the historical information of the Commission on this issue, we indicate: having become acquainted on the evening of January 8 with the contents of Gapon’s petition, which had the nature of a revolutionary ultimatum, which did not allow entering into constructive negotiations with representatives of the workers, the Sovereign ignored this document, illegal in form and undermining the prestige of the already wavering in the conditions wars of state power. Throughout January 9, 1905, the Sovereign did not make a single decision that determined the actions of the authorities in St. Petersburg to suppress mass protests by workers. The order for the troops to open fire was given not by the Emperor, but by the Commander of the St. Petersburg Military District. Historical data does not allow us to detect in the actions of the Sovereign in the January days of 1905 a conscious evil will directed against the people and embodied in specific sinful decisions and actions.
Since the beginning of the First World War, the Tsar regularly travels to Headquarters, visiting military units of the active army, dressing stations, military hospitals, rear factories, in a word, everything that played a role in the conduct of this war.
From the very beginning of the war, the Empress devoted herself to the wounded. Having completed nursing courses together with her eldest daughters, Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, she spent several hours a day caring for the wounded in the Tsarskoye Selo infirmary.
The Emperor viewed his tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief as the fulfillment of a moral and national duty to God and the people, however, always presenting leading military specialists with a broad initiative in resolving the entire range of military-strategic and operational-tactical issues.
The Commission expresses the opinion that the very fact of the abdication of the Throne of Emperor Nicholas II, which is directly related to his personal qualities, is generally an expression of the then historical situation in Russia.
He made this decision only in the hope that those who wanted to remove him would still be able to continue the war with honor and would not ruin the cause of saving Russia. He was afraid then that his refusal to sign the renunciation would lead to civil war in the sight of the enemy. The Tsar did not want even a drop of Russian blood to be shed because of him.
The spiritual motives for which the last Russian Sovereign, who did not want to shed the blood of his subjects, decided to abdicate the Throne in the name of internal peace in Russia, give his action a truly moral character. It is no coincidence that during the discussion in July 1918 at the Council of the Local Council of the question of the funeral commemoration of the murdered Sovereign, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon made a decision on the widespread service of memorial services with the commemoration of Nicholas II as Emperor.
Behind the many sufferings endured by the Royal Family over the last 17 months of their lives, which ended with execution in the basement of the Ekaterinburg Ipatiev House on the night of July 17, 1918, we see people who sincerely sought to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom, the evil-conquering light of Christ's faith was revealed, just as it shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians who suffered persecution for Christ in the twentieth century.
It is in understanding this feat of the Royal Family that the Commission, in complete unanimity and with the approval of the Holy Synod, finds it possible to glorify in the Council the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in the guise of the passion-bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.”
Liberal Democratic point of view
When Nicholas II came to power, he had no program other than the firm intention not to cede his autocratic power, which his father had handed over to him. He always made decisions alone: “How can I do this if it’s against my conscience?” - this was the basis on which he made his political decisions or rejected the options offered to him. He continued to pursue the contradictory policies of his father: on the one hand, he tried to achieve social and political stabilization from above by preserving the old class-state structures, on the other, the industrialization policy pursued by the Minister of Finance led to enormous social dynamics. The Russian nobility launched a massive offensive against the state's economic policy of industrialization. Having removed Witte, the tsar did not know where to go. Despite some reform steps (for example, the abolition of corporal punishment of peasants), the tsar, under the influence of the new Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve, decided in favor of a policy of fully preserving the social structure of the peasantry (preserving the community), although the kulak elements, that is, the richer peasants, had an easier exit from peasant community. The Tsar and the ministers did not consider reforms necessary in other areas either: on the labor issue, only a few minor concessions were made; Instead of guaranteeing the right to strike, the government continued repression. The tsar could not satisfy anyone with his policy of stagnation and repression, which at the same time cautiously continued the economic policy he had begun.
At a meeting of zemstvo representatives on November 20, 1904, the majority demanded a constitutional regime. The forces of the progressive landed nobility, rural intelligentsia, city government and broad circles of urban intelligentsia, united in opposition, began to demand the introduction of parliament in the state. They were joined by St. Petersburg workers, who were allowed to form an independent association, headed by priest Gapon, and they wanted to submit a petition to the tsar. The lack of overall leadership under the already effectively dismissed Minister of the Interior and the Tsar, who, like most ministers, did not understand the seriousness of the situation, led to the disaster of Bloody Sunday on January 9, 1905. Army officers, who were supposed to restrain the crowd, in a panic ordered to shoot at civilians to people. 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 are believed to have been wounded. Workers and intellectuals responded with strikes and protest demonstrations. Although the workers for the most part put forward purely economic demands and revolutionary parties could not play an important role either in the movement led by Gapon or in the strikes that followed Bloody Sunday, a revolution began in Russia.
When the revolutionary and opposition movement in October 1905 reached its climax - a general strike that practically paralyzed the country, the tsar was forced to again turn to his former Minister of the Interior, who, thanks to the very beneficial peace treaty for Russia that he concluded with the Japanese in Portsmouth ( USA), gained universal respect. Witte explained to the Tsar that he either had to appoint a dictator who would brutally fight the revolution, or he had to guarantee bourgeois freedoms and elected legislative power. Nicholas did not want to drown the revolution in blood. Thus, the fundamental problem of constitutional monarchies - creating a balance of power - was exacerbated by the actions of the prime minister. The October Manifesto (10/17/1905) promised bourgeois freedoms, an elected assembly with legislative powers, expansion of suffrage and, indirectly, equality of religions and nationalities, but did not bring the country the pacification that the tsar expected. Rather, it caused serious unrest, which broke out as a result of clashes between forces loyal to the tsar and revolutionary forces, and led in many regions of the country to pogroms directed not only against the Jewish population, but also against representatives of the intelligentsia. The development of events since 1905 has become irreversible.
However, there were positive changes in other areas that were not blocked at the political macro level. The rate of economic growth has again almost reached the level of the nineties. In the countryside, Stolypin's agrarian reforms, which aimed at creating private ownership, began to develop independently, despite resistance from the peasants. The state, through a whole package of measures, sought large-scale modernization in agriculture. Science, literature and art reached a new flowering.
But the scandalous figure of Rasputin decisively contributed to the loss of prestige of the monarch. The First World War mercilessly exposed the shortcomings of the late tsarist system. These were primarily political weaknesses. In the military field, by the summer of 1915 it was even possible to take control of the situation at the front and establish supplies. In 1916, thanks to Brusilov's offensive, the Russian army even held most of the territorial gains of the Allies before the collapse of Germany. However, in February 1917, tsarism was approaching its death. The tsar himself was entirely to blame for this development of events. Since he increasingly wanted to be his own prime minister, but did not live up to this role, during the war no one could coordinate the actions of the various institutions of the state, primarily civil and military.
The provisional government that replaced the monarchy immediately placed Nicholas and his family under house arrest, but wanted to allow him to leave for England. However, the British government was in no hurry to respond, and the Provisional Government was no longer strong enough to resist the will of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In August 1917, the family was transported to Tobolsk. In April 1918, local Bolsheviks achieved their transfer to Yekaterinburg. The king endured this time of humiliation with great calm and hope in God, which in the face of death gave him undeniable dignity, but which, even in the best of times, sometimes prevented him from acting rationally and decisively. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the imperial family was shot. The liberal historian Yuri Gautier spoke with cold precision upon learning of the tsar’s assassination: “This is the denouement of yet another of the countless minor knots of our troubled times, and the monarchical principle can only benefit from it.”
The paradoxes of the personality and reign of Nicholas II can be explained by the objectively existing contradictions of Russian reality at the beginning of the 20th century, when the world was entering a new phase of its development, and the tsar did not have the will and determination to master the situation. Trying to defend the “autocratic principle,” he maneuvered: he either made small concessions or refused them. As a result, the regime rotted, pushing the country towards the abyss. By rejecting and slowing down reforms, the last tsar contributed to the beginning of the social revolution. This should be recognized both with absolute sympathy for the fate of the king, and with his categorical rejection. At the critical moment of the February coup, the generals betrayed their oath and forced the tsar to abdicate.
Nicholas II himself pulled the rug out from under his feet. He stubbornly defended his positions, did not make serious compromises, and thereby created the conditions for a revolutionary explosion. He also did not support the liberals, who sought to prevent the revolution in the hope of concessions from the tsar. And the revolution was accomplished. The year 1917 became a fatal milestone in the history of Russia.
On my own behalf, I can say that I am more of an adherent of the Orthodox-patriotic point of view.
A biography of Emperor Nicholas II from birth and adolescence to the heir to the throne until the last days of his life.
Nicholas II (May 6 (19), 1868, Tsarskoe Selo - July 17, 1918, Yekaterinburg), Russian Emperor (1894-1917), eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1876).
His reign coincided with the rapid industrial and economic development of the country. Under Nicholas II, Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which was one of the reasons for the Revolution of 1905-1907, during which the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 was adopted, which allowed the creation of political parties and established the State Duma; The Stolypin agrarian reform began to be implemented. In 1907, Russia became a member of the Entente, as part of which it entered the First World War. Since August (September 5), 1915, Supreme Commander-in-Chief. During the February Revolution of 1917, on March 2 (15), he abdicated the throne. Shot along with his family. In 2000 he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Nikolai's regular homework began when he was 8 years old. The curriculum included an eight-year general education course and a five-year course in higher sciences. It was based on a modified classical gymnasium program; Instead of Latin and Greek, mineralogy, botany, zoology, anatomy and physiology were studied. Courses in history, Russian literature and foreign languages were expanded. The cycle of higher education included political economy, law and military affairs (military jurisprudence, strategy, military geography, service of the General Staff). Classes in vaulting, fencing, drawing, and music were also conducted. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna themselves selected teachers and mentors. Among them were scientists, statesmen and military figures: K. P. Pobedonostsev, N. Kh. Bunge, M. I. Dragomirov, N. N. Obruchev, A. R. Drenteln, N. K. Girs.
From an early age, Nicholas 2 had a passion for military affairs: he knew the traditions of the officer environment and military regulations perfectly, in relation to the soldiers he felt like a patron-mentor and did not shy away from communicating with them, resignedly endured the inconveniences of army everyday life at camp gatherings or maneuvers.
Immediately after his birth, he was enrolled in the lists of several guards regiments and appointed chief of the 65th Moscow Infantry Regiment. At the age of five he was appointed chief of the Life Guards of the Reserve Infantry Regiment, and in 1875 he was enlisted in the Erivan Life Guards Regiment. In December 1875 he received his first military rank - ensign, and in 1880 he was promoted to second lieutenant, and 4 years later he became a lieutenant.
In 1884, Nikolai entered active military service, in July 1887 he began regular military service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was promoted to staff captain; in 1891, Nicholas 2 received the rank of captain, and a year later - colonel.
On October 20, 1894, Nicholas, at the age of 26, accepted the crown in Moscow under the name of Nicholas II. On May 18, 1896, during the coronation celebrations, tragic events occurred on the Khodynskoye field. His reign occurred during a period of sharp aggravation of the political struggle in the country, as well as the foreign policy situation (Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905; Bloody Sunday; Revolution of 1905-1907 in Russia; World War I; February Revolution of 1917).
During the reign of Nicholas 2, Russia turned into an agrarian-industrial country, cities grew, railways and industrial enterprises were built. Nicholas supported decisions aimed at the economic and social modernization of the country: the introduction of gold circulation of the ruble, Stolypin's agrarian reform, laws on workers' insurance, universal primary education, and religious tolerance.
Not being a reformer by nature, Nicholas II was forced to make important decisions that did not correspond to his inner convictions. He believed that in Russia the time had not yet come for a constitution, freedom of speech, and universal suffrage. However, when a strong social movement in favor of political change arose, he signed the Manifesto on October 17, 1905, proclaiming democratic freedoms.
In 1906, the State Duma, established by the Tsar's manifesto, began to work. For the first time in Russian history, the emperor began to rule with a representative body elected by the population. Russia gradually began to transform into a constitutional monarchy. But despite this, the emperor still had enormous power functions: he had the right to issue laws (in the form of decrees); appoint a prime minister and ministers accountable only to him; determine the course of foreign policy; was the head of the army, court and earthly patron of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The personality of Nicholas II, the main traits of his character, advantages and disadvantages caused conflicting assessments of his contemporaries. Many noted “weak will” as the dominant feature of his personality, although there is a lot of evidence that the tsar was distinguished by a persistent desire to implement his intentions, often reaching the point of stubbornness (only once was someone else’s will imposed on him - the Manifesto of October 17). Unlike his father Alexander III, Nicholas 2 did not give the impression of a strong personality. At the same time, according to the reviews of people who knew him closely, he had exceptional self-control, which was sometimes perceived as indifference to the fate of the country and people (for example, he met the news of the fall of Port Arthur or the defeats of the Russian army during the First World War with composure, striking the royal entourage). In dealing with state affairs, the tsar showed “extraordinary perseverance” and accuracy (he, for example, never had a personal secretary and himself stamped letters), although in general the rule of a huge empire was a “heavy burden” for him. Contemporaries noted that Nicholas II had a tenacious memory, keen powers of observation, and was a modest, friendly and sensitive person. At the same time, most of all he valued his peace, habits, health and especially the well-being of his family.
Nicholas's support was his family. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) was not only a wife for the Tsar, but also a friend and adviser. The habits, ideas and cultural interests of the spouses largely coincided. They got married on November 14, 1894. They had five children: Olga (1895-1918), Tatiana (1897-1918), Maria (1899-1918), Anastasia (1901-1918) and Alexey (1904-1918).
The fatal drama of the royal family was associated with the incurable illness of their son, Tsarevich Alexei - hemophilia (incoagulability of blood). The illness of the heir to the throne led to the appearance in the royal house of Grigory Rasputin, who, even before meeting the crowned crown bearers, became famous for his gift of foresight and healing; He repeatedly helped Tsarevich Alexei overcome attacks of illness.
The turning point in the fate of Nicholas 2 was 1914 - the beginning of the First World War. The tsar did not want war and until the very last moment tried to avoid a bloody clash. However, on July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia.
In August (September 5), 1915, during a period of military failures, Nicholas 2 assumed military command (previously, this position was held by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich). Now the tsar visited the capital only occasionally, and spent most of his time at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev.
The war exacerbated the country's internal problems. The tsar and his entourage began to be held primarily responsible for military failures and the protracted military campaign. Allegations spread that there was “treason in the government.” At the beginning of 1917, the high military command led by the Tsar (together with allies - England and France) prepared a plan for a general offensive, according to which it was planned to end the war by the summer of 1917.
At the end of February 1917, unrest began in Petrograd, which, without encountering serious opposition from the authorities, a few days later grew into mass protests against the government and the dynasty. Initially, the tsar intended to restore order in Petrograd by force, but when the scale of the unrest became clear, he abandoned this idea, fearing much bloodshed. Some high-ranking military officials, members of the imperial retinue and political figures convinced the king that in order to pacify the country, a change in government was required, his abdication of the throne was necessary. On March 2, 1917, in Pskov, in the lounge carriage of the imperial train, after painful thoughts, Nicholas signed an act of abdication, transferring power to his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.
On March 9, Nicholas 2 and the royal family were arrested. For the first five months they were under guard in Tsarskoe Selo, in August 1917 they were transported to Tobolsk. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks transferred the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 17, 1918, in the center of Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the Ipatiev house, where the prisoners were imprisoned, Nicholas, the queen, five of their children and several close associates (11 people in total) were summarily shot.
Birth and youth of Nicholas II. Nikolai Alexandrovich - Grand Duke
Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov was born on May 6/19, 1868, into the family of Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and His wife Maria Fedorovna, the first-born was born, for whom no one predicted an early reign. For the boy's grandfather - the fifty-year-old Russian Emperor Alexander the Second - was a strong, healthy man, whose reign could last decades, and his father - the future Russian Emperor Alexander the Third - was a young man, twenty-three years old. The following entry was preserved in the diary of Alexander the Third: “God sent us a son, whom We named Nicholas. What kind of joy there was, it’s impossible to imagine. I rushed to hug my darling wife, who at once cheered up and was terribly happy. I cried like a child, and my soul was so light and pleasant... and then Ya. G. Bazhanov came to read prayers, and I held My little Nikolai in my arms.” (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 85-86.)
Let us note that Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich does not know the prophecies of the Monk Abel, neither about His fate, nor about the fate of His son, for they are sealed and are in the Gatchina Palace. But He names His firstborn son Nicholas. For this obedience to His heart, the Lord endows the Tsarevich with joy that “cannot be imagined,” gives tears of joy, and His soul “felt light and pleasant”!
Birth on the day of Job the Long-Suffering
The birth of the future Tsar Nicholas II took place at 14.30 in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo on the day when the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Saint Job the Long-Suffering. Both Nikolai Alexandrovich Himself and many of those around Him attached great importance to this coincidence as a harbinger of terrible trials.
“Truly,” St. John Chrysostom wrote about the righteous Job, “there is no human misfortune that this man, harder than any adamant, would not endure, who suddenly experienced hunger, and poverty, and illness, and the loss of children, and the deprivation of such wealth; and then, having experienced treachery from his wife [from his neighbors], insults from friends, attacks from slaves. In everything he turned out to be harder than any stone, and, moreover, to law and grace." According to the teachings of the Church, Saint Job is a prototype of the suffering Redeemer of the world.” For all his sufferings were not because of his sins; the words have nothing to do with him: those who shouted wickedness and sowed evil reaped it; they perish by the breath of God and disappear by the spirit of His wrath (Job 4:8-9).
To his friends, who told him: how can a man be right before God, and how can one born of a woman be pure? (Job 25:4) - and many other similar things, Saint Job answered: what do your accusations prove? Are you making up diatribes? You are throwing your words into the wind (Job 6:25-26). As God lives, who has deprived me of judgment, and the Almighty, who has grieved my soul, so that while my breath is still in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my mouth will not speak unrighteousness, and my tongue will not utter a lie! I am far from recognizing you as fair; Until I die, I will not yield to my integrity (Job 27:2-5).
And the Lord, summing up the denunciations of the “pious” friends, said to one of those who accused the righteous Job: My anger burns against you and against your two friends because you did not speak about Me as truly as My servant Job (Job 42:7 ). If it were not for his sake, I would have destroyed you (Iov. 42:8). That is, you were pardoned for the sake of his prayers, for you his prayers are saving. And the accusers of their wrong faith went and did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord (Job 42:9) forgave their sins for Job’s sake (Job 42:9). And the Lord restored Job’s loss when he prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10). Here we see that God’s plan included the most difficult temptations of the righteous Job and the holy Tsar Nicholas II, including from relatives and friends, and the prayer of the tempted for those who tempted them. And in the case of Saint Nicholas II, the Lord God intended prayer for the entire Russian people, who, having broken the vow given to God in 1613 to faithfully serve the legitimate Tsars from the Reigning House of Romanov, committed the sin of perjury. Abel the Seer directly predicted this: “The people are between fire and flame... But they will not be destroyed from the face of the earth, as the prayer of the martyred King is sufficient for them!”
The character of Emperor Alexander Alexandrovich the Third is based on truth, honesty and directness.
“Nicholas’ father, Tsarevich Alexander, was a truly Russian man in both soul and appearance, a deeply religious, caring husband and father. With His life, He set an example for those around Him: He was unpretentious in everyday life, wore clothes almost full of holes, and did not like luxury. Alexander was distinguished by physical strength and strength of character, most of all he loved the truth, calmly thought through every matter, was remarkably easy to use, and generally preferred everything Russian.” (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 86).
“In addition to general and special military education, Tsarevich Alexander was taught political and legal sciences by invited professors from St. Petersburg and Moscow universities. After the premature death of His dearly beloved elder brother, the Sovereign Heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (April 12, 1865), hotly mourned by the August family and the entire Russian people, His Imperial Highness Alexander Alexandrovich, having become the Heir Tsarevich, began to continue both theoretical studies and implementation many responsibilities for state affairs entrusted to Him. As ataman of the Cossack troops, chancellor of the University of Helsingfors, head of successively various military units (including the command of the district troops), member of the State Council, His Imperial Highness was involved in all areas of government. The travels undertaken throughout Russia strengthened the seeds of deep love for everything truly Russian and historical that had been buried since childhood.
During the last Eastern War with Turkey (1877-1878), His Highness was appointed commander of the Rushunsky detachment, which played, tactically, both an important and difficult role in this campaign, glorious for the Russian name.” (Encyclopedia of the Russian Monarchy, edited by V. Butromeev. U-Factoria. Yekaterinburg, 2002).
“Alexander the Third became Emperor at thirty-six years old. For 16 of these years He was Tsarevich, preparing, in the words of his father, “to intercede for me every minute.” By this age, even an ordinary, average person enters a period of maturity. The Emperor differed from any of His subjects in that on His shoulders lay a huge responsibility before the country and people, for which He was answerable only to God and Himself. Such a heavy burden could not but affect the formation of the Heir’s worldview, His actions, and attitude towards others.
A capacious psychological portrait of Alexander III of that period was recreated many years later by Prince V.P. Meshchersky: “The Emperor was then 36 years old. But He was undoubtedly older in spiritual age in the sense of life experience. This temper was greatly facilitated by His life as the leader of the Rushchuk detachment during the war, where, separated from his family in constant concentration, He experienced all impressions alone in front of Himself, and then His also lonely political life after the war in those difficult years 79, 80 and 81st, when, again, in Himself He had to conceal so many difficult impressions from the heard role of spectator and participant in the course of internal politics, where His voice of straightforwardness and common sense did not always have the power to carry out what He considered necessary, and interfere with what He recognized as harmful...
Three main characteristics were firmly at the core of His character: truth, honesty and integrity. I will not be mistaken if I say that it was precisely thanks to these three main features of His spiritual personality, which made it truly beautiful, that disappointment began to penetrate His soul even when it was very young...
But this disappointment... did not influence His spiritual personality enough to arm Him against people with the armor of fundamental distrust or implant the beginnings of apathy in His soul...” “.
“A kind and caring, but at the same time domineering and intolerant of any contradiction father in the family, the Emperor transferred this patriarchal-fatherly attitude to His huge country. [Which many of His entourage, damaged by Western freethinking, did not like.] None of the Romanovs, according to contemporaries, corresponded to such an extent with the traditional popular idea of the real Russian Tsar as Alexander the Third. A mighty brown-bearded giant, towering above any crowd, He seemed to be the embodiment of the strength and dignity of Russia. Alexander III’s commitment to domestic traditions and interests greatly contributed to His popularity [among the Russian people and the fierce hatred of the enemies of God, the enemies of His Anointed One and the enemies of the Russian people].” “As a politician and statesman, the father of Nicholas II showed a strong will in implementing the decisions made (a trait that, as we will see later, His son inherited).
The essence of the policy of Alexander the Third (the continuation of which was the policy of Nicholas the Second) can be characterized as the preservation and development of Russian foundations, traditions and ideals. Assessing the reign of Emperor Alexander III, the Russian historian V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote: " Science will give Emperor Alexander III his rightful place not only in the history of Russia and the entire country, but also in Russian historiography, will say that He won a victory in the area where victories are most difficult to achieve, defeated the prejudice of peoples and thereby contributed to their rapprochement, conquered the public conscience in the name of peace and truth, increased the amount of good in the moral circulation of humanity, encouraged and raised Russian historical thought, Russian national self-awareness." ...
Alexander the Third had great physical strength. Once, during a train crash, He managed to hold on to the falling roof of the carriage for some time until His wife and children were safe.».
You and I will remember the prophecy of the Monk Abel about Emperor Alexander the Third, told to Emperor Paul the First, which the Emperor Himself did not know: “Your great-grandson, Alexander the Third, is the true Peacemaker. Glorious will be His reign. He will besiege the accursed sedition, He will bring peace and order. But he will only reign for a short time.” “There is an opinion that the king is played by his retinue. The personality of Alexander the Third completely contradicts this established measure of the merits of statesmen. [And it’s clear why: the king may be played by his retinue, but the Anointed One is “played” by the Lord God Himself!]
There were no favorites in the Emperor's entourage. He was the sole master and director, determining...[the rules for preparing His subjects for life in the Kingdom of Heaven] on one sixth of the world's landmass, in His, Alexander the Third, Russian Empire. Even such outstanding statesmen as S. Yu. Witte, K. P. Pobedonostsev, D. A. Tolstoy could not claim exclusivity, a special place at the Court or the government - here everything was decided by one person - Autocrat of All-Russia Alexander III Alexandrovich Romanov . Emperor Alexander the Third sought to set by personal example a model of behavior that he considered true and correct for each of His subjects. The basis of His ethical standards of behavior, His entire worldview came from deep religiosity. It is unlikely that any of the twelve predecessors of Alexander III on the Russian Imperial throne was more devout and sincerely religious. [At the same time, one should still remember that all legitimate Kings - the Anointed of God, being the Incarnate Name of God - are always sincere believers and the most devout Christians, for the Lord God Himself chose Them to shepherd His people, Jacob, and the earthly Church - His inheritance, Israel, and the Lord Himself helps Them to do this in the purity of His heart and to lead them with wise hands (Ps. 77:71-72).]
The faith of Emperor Alexander III - pure and free from dogmatism [more precisely: from inertia and fanaticism] - explained both the divine choice of the Russian Autocracy and the special Russian path that His power should follow. For Alexander III, believing was as natural as breathing. He scrupulously observed Orthodox rituals, whether fasting or divine services, and regularly visited St. Isaac's and Peter and Paul Cathedrals, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and palace churches.
Not all clergy could boast of such knowledge of the intricacies of the complex church Orthodox rite as the Russian Emperor sometimes showed. ...The faith of Alexander the Third was combined with a sober, rational mind that did not tolerate sectarianism or obscurantism. The emperor watched with undisguised skepticism the attempts of some hierarchs to strengthen their political influence.
[Any Orthodox hierarch (from bishop to metropolitan and patriarch) is a monk who has renounced this world; being a clergyman, any bishop has the power from God only to shepherd spiritually, without dominating the inheritance of God (1 Peter 5:3). And therefore, even the patriarch (as we remember, the ruling bishop of the city of Moscow) does not have any lordly power and cannot interfere in the decisions of worldly affairs, and, therefore, no bishop can have any political influence on life in the Orthodox Kingdom.]
When the Kiev Metropolitan Philotheus, deciding to be like John Chrysostom, gave the Emperor a note in which he reproached Him [the Anointed One!] for distancing himself from the people, Alexander the Third only shrugged his shoulders and offered to examine the Bishop’s mental abilities. [Or maybe it is necessary to check the mental abilities of those who came up with the idea of calling the Orthodox ruling bishop of the city of Moscow “Great Lord and Our Father of all Russia” instead of the canonical “Holy Patriarch”, and those who, instead of praying for the coming victorious Tsar, at every service he repeatedly offers “prayers” (in reproach of himself!) for the “Great Master...”. After all, a sick person, deprived of intelligence by God, will not be judged at the Last Judgment as a papist heretic!] A deeply religious Orthodox man, Emperor Alexander the Third professed Christian norms not only when solving state problems, but also in private life.” (Unknown Alexander the Third. pp. 197-198).
“I need normal, healthy Russian children”
There were five children in the family - Nikolai (the eldest), Georgy, Ksenia, Mikhail and Olga. The father taught his children to sleep on simple soldier's beds with hard pillows, to douse themselves with cold water in the morning, and to eat simple porridge for breakfast. Nikolai's first, of course unconscious, acquaintance with ordinary Russian people took place through his wet nurse. Mothers were chosen from Russian peasant families and, at the end of their mission, went back to their native villages, but had the right to come to the palace, firstly, on the day of the Angel of their pet, and secondly, on Easter and for the Christmas tree, on Christmas day.
During these meetings, teenagers talked with their mothers, absorbing into their consciousness the popular expressions of Russian speech. As rightly noted, “with the incredible mixture of blood in the Royal Family, these mothers were, so to speak, a precious reservoir of Russian blood, which poured into the veins of the Romanov House in the form of milk and without which it would have been very difficult to sit on the Russian Throne. All the Romanovs who had Russian mothers spoke Russian with a touch of common folk. That’s what (Nicholas’ father) Alexander the Third said. If He didn’t take care of himself, then in His intonations... there was something of Varlamov’s boomingness.”
From 1876 until the age of ten, Nikolai’s teacher was Alexandra Petrovna Ollengren (nee Okoshnikova), the daughter of an admiral, Knight of St. George, and the widow of a Russian officer of Swedish origin. Nicholas’s first teacher was tasked with teaching Him basic Russian literacy, basic prayers, and arithmetic.
The dialogue that took place between Nikolai’s father and his first teacher is very characteristic (I present it briefly):
“They give you two boys, who are too early to think about the Throne, who you need not to let go of and not give in to. Keep in mind that neither I nor the Grand Duchess want to turn Them into greenhouse flowers. They should be naughty in moderation, play, study, pray well to God and not think about any thrones,” said Tsarevich Alexander.
- Your Highness! - Ollengren exclaimed. - But I still have little Vladimir.
- How old is he? - asked the Heir.
- Eighth year.
- Just the same age as Nika. “Let him be brought up together with My children,” said the Heir, “and you will not be separated, and Mine will have more fun.” Everyone is an extra boy.
- But he has character, Your Highness.
- What character?
- Pugnacious, Your Highness... [In the words of this Vladimir: “By the age of seven, I had developed into that type of street boy who in Paris is called “gaman.” ...My main concern was to achieve the title of “first strongman” on Pskovskaya Street [outskirts of St. Petersburg]. This title, as is known in boyish circles all over the globe, is developed in tireless battles and feats close to military ones. And so bruises and lanterns were, to my mother’s horror, permanent marks of my differences.” As we can see, behind the word “pugnacious” is really the character of the street “Daredevil” of the St. Petersburg outskirts.]
- It's nothing, honey. This is before the first deal. Mine are not heavenly angels either. There are two of them. With their united forces, They will quickly bring your hero to the Christian faith. Not made from sugar. Teach the boys well, don’t give them any concessions, enforce them to the fullest extent of the law, don’t encourage laziness in particular. If anything, address yourself directly to Me, and I know what to do. I repeat that I don’t need porcelain. I need normal, healthy Russian children. They'll fight, please. But the informer gets the first whip. This is My very first requirement. Do you understand me?
- Got it, Your Imperial Highness. From childhood, the future Tsar Nicholas II cultivated in himself a deep religious feeling and genuine piety. The boy was not burdened by long church services, which were held strictly and solemnly in the palace. The child empathized with the torments of the Savior with all his soul and, with childish spontaneity, thought about how to help Him. The son A.P. Ollengren, who grew up with Nicholas, recalled, for example, how the ceremony of taking out the Shroud on Good Friday, solemn and mournful, struck Nicholas’s imagination. He became mournful and depressed all day and asked to tell how the evil high priests tortured the good Savior. [In March 1917, the high priests of the Russian Orthodox Church were in the forefront of those who betrayed the Anointed Tsar Nicholas II.] “His little eyes filled with tears, and He often said, clenching his fists: “Oh, I wasn’t there then, I would have shown them!” And at night, left alone in the bedchamber, the three of us (Nikolai, His brother George and Ollengren’s son Volodya. - O.P.) developed plans for the salvation of Christ. Nicholas II especially hated Pilate, who could have saved Him and did not. I remember that I was already dozing off when Nikolai came up to my bed and, crying, said mournfully: I feel sorry for God. Why did they hurt him so much? And I still can’t forget His big excited eyes.”
In his childhood and youth, Nicholas 2 slept on a narrow iron bed with a simple mattress. He spent a significant part of his time outdoors, playing sports. Even in the cold season, in order to harden his son, the Father insisted on walks. Active children's games and physical work in the garden were encouraged. Nikolai and the other children of Tsarevich Alexander often visited the poultry yard, greenhouse, farm, and worked in the menagerie. They were given birds, geese, rabbits, bear cubs, which They themselves looked after: they fed them, cleaned them. Birds constantly lived in the children's rooms - bullfinches, parrots, canaries, which the children took with them when they went to Gatchina in the summer.
During the years 1876-1879, Nikolai passed all the subjects in the program for admission to a secondary educational institution. To test Nikolai's knowledge, a special commission was assembled, which gave him an exam. The commission was very pleased with the success of the ten-year-old boy. To further continue the teaching of his son, Tsarevich Alexander invited Adjutant General G. G. Danilovich, who at his discretion chose teachers of the Law of God, the Russian language, mathematics, geography, history, French and German for Nicholas.
To be able to restrain yourself... to fulfill your duty... to love ordinary people... - the main traits of Tsarevich Nicholas
The child grew up quiet and thoughtful. From an early age, the main features of His character are already reflected in him, and - above all - self-control. “It happened, during a major quarrel with brothers or playmates,” says His teacher K.I. Heath, “Nikolai Alexandrovich, in order to refrain from a harsh word or movement, silently went into another room, took up a book and, only having calmed down, he returned to the offenders and took up the game again, as if nothing had happened.”
And another trait: a sense of duty. The boy studies his lessons diligently; He reads a lot, especially what concerns the life of the people. The love of His people... This is what He always dreams of. One day He reads with His teacher Heath one of the episodes from the history of England, which describes the entry of King John, who loved the common people, and whom the crowd greeted with enthusiastic cries: “Long live the king of the people!” The boy’s eyes sparkled, he blushed all over with excitement and exclaimed: “Oh, I would like to be like that!”
To be able to restrain yourself... to step away silently... to fulfill your duty... to love ordinary people... These traits of the boy reflect the whole of Emperor Nicholas II.
But by His character, a boy, and then a youth and a young man, is far from gloomy sadness; Even the flame of naive and carefree fun burns in Him, which, later, under the pressure of the heavy burden of power, worries and grief, will fade and occasionally only manifest itself in quiet humor, in a smile, in a good-natured joke.
Used Books:
See the prophecy of St. Abel the Seer of Mysteries, section 2.1.
Tsar's collection. Compiled by S. and T. Fomin. Services. Akathists. Monthsword. Memorial. Prayers for the King. Coronation. From-Pilgrim. 2000. [below is the Tsar's collection.] P. 414.
Let us pay attention to the fact that on the icon of the holy Tsar-Redeemer Nicholas II, on the scroll that the Tsar holds in His hands, these are precisely these words.
The prophecy of St. Abel the Seer of Mysteries is given in section 2.1.
O. Barkovets, A. Krylov-Tolstikovich. Unknown Alexander the Third. RIPOL CLASSIC. M. 2002. [below - Unknown Alexander the Third.] P. 106-107.
Nikolai Romanov. Pages of life. Compiled by N. Yu. Shelaev and others. "Faces of Russia". SPb.2001. [below - Pages of life.] P. 8.
Oleg Platonov. Russia's crown of thorns. Nicholas II in secret correspondence. Spring. M. 1996. [below - O. Platonov. Nicholas II in secret correspondence.] pp. 10-11.
For this reason, not a single Orthodox clergyman (from a simple priest to the most holy patriarch) can bear the title of our Great Master and Father. If someone calls a clergyman the Great Master, then this someone loudly declares to the Lord and the coming victorious King that he is in the heresy of papism, just like the Catholics, who honor the Pope as the Great Master.
Compiled by R.S., a fragment of chapter 14 from Oleg Platonov’s book “Conspiracy of the Regicides” is given.
Surguchev I. Childhood of Emperor Nicholas II. Paris, b/g. pp. 138-139.
His brother Georgiy also studied with Nikolai.
Ilya Surguchev. The childhood of Emperor Nicholas II. A royal matter. St. Petersburg 1999. pp. 11-13.
Babkin Mikhail Anatolyevich - Candidate of Historical Sciences, senior lecturer at South Ural State University. In the journals of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Questions of History” (No. 6 2003, No. 2-5 2004, No. 2 2005) and “Domestic History” (No. 3 2005). And also in the book “The Russian Clergy and the Overthrow of the Monarchy in 1917” (Materials and archival documents on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. Indrik Publishing House. 2006) he published interesting documents “dedicated to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) for the period from early March to mid-July 1917. From them one can get an idea of the attitude of the clergy to the overthrow of the Monarchy in Russia, the establishment of the power of the Provisional Government and its activities.” But most importantly, these documents very effectively cure mild and moderate degrees of spiritual damage to Orthodox Christians by the heresy of papism!
Surguchev I. Childhood of Emperor Nicholas II. Paris, b/g. P. 108.
Compiled by R.S., a fragment of the 1st chapter from the book by I.P. Yakobiy “Emperor Nicholas II and the Revolution” is given.
After the murder of his grandfather, Nikolai Alexandrovich became the Heir to the Throne of the Russian Empire.
After several unsuccessful assassination attempts, Emperor (God's Anointed!!!) Alexander II, the dear and beloved grandfather of Nicholas II, was villainously killed. Alexander II (1818-1881), who went down in Russian history under the name of the Tsar-Liberator, was one of the most outstanding statesmen Russia of the XIX century.
The greatest act of His reign was the signing of the Manifesto on February 19, 1861 on the abolition of serfdom of some Orthodox Christians over others.
The question that arose during the reign of Boris Godunov, which weighed heavily on all the Tsars and Emperors from the Royal House of Romanov and before which all His predecessors hesitated, was resolved by Him.
The world's evil, through the hands of spiritually corrupt half-educated Russian intellectuals, responded to the liberation of God's chosen Russian people from serfdom with such a terrible crime - the murder of the Father of the great Russian people.
“The mysterious prediction of a fortune teller has come true, who once prophesied to Alexander the Second that He would survive seven attempts on His life. This tragedy became an important milestone in the development of Nikolai’s personality and character.”
The end of the serene childhood of Tsarevich Nicholas
But this was an important milestone for all humanity. And before, tsars and kings were publicly killed, but the Lord God allowed His Anointed Ones, due to the sins of His chosen Russian people, to be killed only secretly.
And although Emperor Paul the First was brutally killed (on the night of March 11 - on Sophronius of Jerusalem in 1801) by drunken “guards” officers, he was also drunk at night!
And then the artists spent the whole night making up what the world evil of English origin had created at the hands of drunken Russian traitors to God, the Tsar, and the Fatherland. The murder was declared a death from apoplexy, that is, from a rapidly developing hemorrhage in the brain, supposedly a natural death. So, “Nicholas’s serene childhood ended on March 1, 1881.
On this day, a thirteen-year-old boy was faced with a terrible crime that amazed Him with its monstrous cruelty - the murder of his grandfather, Emperor Alexander II, by political bandits. The criminals pelted the Emperor [the Anointed One!!!] with bombs, seriously wounding Him. Alexander II was brought to the Winter Palace bleeding, with his legs broken.” (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 89).
You and I will remember the prophecy spoken to Emperor Paul the First by the Venerable Abel about Emperor Alexander the Second, which Alexander the Second Himself did not know: “Your grandson, Alexander the Second, was ordained to be the Tsar-Liberator. Your plan will be fulfilled: He will give freedom to the serfs, and after that He will beat the Turks and free the Slavs from the yoke of the infidel. The Jews will not forgive Him for his great deeds, they will begin to hunt for Him, they will kill Him in the middle of a clear day in the loyal capital with the hands of renegades. Like You, He will seal the feat of His service with Royal blood, and on the blood the Temple will be erected.”
It was Emperor Alexander II who turned the bedroom into the home’s “Temple on the Blood” where Emperor Paul the First was killed as a result of a conspiracy planned in the English embassy, but at the hands of Russian officers who forgot their oaths to faithfully serve their Emperor. From the windows of this “Church on Blood”, behind the trees of the park of the Russian Museum, another “Temple on Blood” is clearly visible - the Church of the Resurrection of Christ - “Savior on Blood”, built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded in 1881.
As Abel the Seer predicted, “the Jews did not forgive Him for His great deeds, they organized a hunt for Him and on the eighth attempt they killed Him “in the middle of a clear day in the capital of a loyal subject with renegade hands.”
Already on March 2, 1881, at an emergency meeting, the city duma asked Emperor Alexander III “to allow the city public administration to erect... at the expense of the city a chapel or monument.” The emperor replied: “It would be desirable to have a church... and not a chapel.” However, they temporarily decided to build a chapel. Already in April the chapel was erected. Every day, memorial services were served in the chapel in memory of the murdered Emperor Alexander II. This chapel stood on the embankment until the spring of 1883, then, in connection with the start of construction of the cathedral, it was moved to Konyushennaya Square. Emperor Alexander the Third expressed his wish that the temple be in the style of Russian churches of the 16th-17th centuries. Naturally, the Emperor's wish became a prerequisite. In October 1883, the ceremonial laying of the temple took place. Its construction took 24 years. For the construction of the temple-monument, the state allocated an estimated 3 million 600 thousand rubles in silver. This was huge money at that time. However, the actual cost of construction exceeded the estimate by 1 million rubles. The Royal Family contributed this million rubles to the construction of the memorial temple. On August 19/September 1, 1907, the Cathedral of the Resurrection was consecrated.
“Together with his younger brother George, Nikolai was present at the death of His Grandfather.” “My Father led Me to the bed,” the last [currently] Autocrat later recalled. - “Dad,” He said, raising his voice, “Your ray of sunshine” is here.” I saw my eyelashes tremble, My Grandfather’s blue eyes opened, He tried to smile. He moved his finger, He could not raise his hands or say what he wanted, but He undoubtedly recognized Me...” [“On the night of the assassination of Alexander II, a solid crowd of people loyal to the Sovereigns did not disperse through the streets of the capitals. Sovereign Nicholas II remembered that day and night...” (Pavlov. His Majesty Sovereign Nicholas II. P. 47).]
The shock he experienced remained in Nikolai’s memory until the last days of His life; He remembered it even in distant Tobolsk. “...Anniversary of the death of Apap (Alexander II. - Author),” noted in the diary on March 1, 1918. - At 2 o’clock we had a memorial service. The weather was the same as then - frosty and sunny...”
In 1881, “for a week, twice a day, Nikolai, along with the entire Family, came to solemn funeral services in the Winter Palace. On the morning of the eighth day, the body [of the deceased Anointed of God] was solemnly transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. So that the Russian people could say goodbye to the Tsar-Liberator, the Tsar-Great Martyr, the longest path was chosen along all the main streets of the capital, which Nicholas took along with everyone else.
The murder of Grandfather changed the political situation and [status] of Nicholas. From a simple Grand Duke He became Heir to the Throne of the Russian Empire, clothed with enormous responsibility before the country [and before the earthly Church of Christ, as the Heir to the Throne of David].
A few hours after the death of Alexander II, the Highest Manifesto was issued, which said: “We announce to all Our faithful subjects: the Lord God was pleased in His inscrutable ways to strike Russia with a fatal blow and suddenly recall to Himself its benefactor, the State. Imp. Alexandra II. He fell from the sacrilegious hand of murderers who made repeated attempts on His precious life. They encroached on this so precious life because they saw in it the stronghold and guarantee of the greatness of Russia and the prosperity of the Russian people. Humbling ourselves before the mysterious dictates of Divine Providence and raising prayers to the Almighty for the repose of the pure soul of Our deceased Parent, We ascend to Our Ancestor Throne of the Russian Empire...
Let us lift the heavy burden that God places on Us, with firm hope in His Almighty help. May He bless Our labors for the good of Our beloved Fatherland and may He direct Our strength to create the happiness of all Our loyal subjects.
Repeating the vow given to Us by Our Parent, sacred before the Lord Almighty, to devote, according to the behest of Our ancestors, Our entire life to the care of the prosperity, power and glory of Russia, We call upon Our loyal subjects to unite their prayers with Our prayers before the Altar of the Most High and command them to take an oath of allegiance to Us and the Heir Ours, His Imp. High Tsarevich Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich."
[The above text from the Manifesto makes it possible for Orthodox Christians, and all believers in God, to see how the Anointed Tsar, chosen by God Himself for the Royal Service, differs from the President elected by people. In addition, the Russian Tsar strives to direct all His forces to “arranging the happiness of all His loyal subjects,” and not just the Russian people. The atheist in the above text will see some meaningless, from his point of view, spells and appeals to “some” God, he will see an attempt by Alexander the Third to shift all responsibility for governing the country to the incomprehensible entity “God” for the atheist. This is for such atheists, offended by God or punished by Him, “the institution of monarchy has only historical and sentimental significance in the modern world.” The only thing that can be done for those enlightened by the world’s evil is to pray to God for them, so that He would grant them “if death, then instantaneous,” but it would be better, if still possible, then He would grant them at least a handful of the mind of Christ!]
For the teenager Nikolai, such a terrible death of Grandfather became an unhealing mental wound. He could not understand why the murderers raised their hands against the Tsar, who was famous among the Russian people for his justice, kindness and meekness, who freed the serfs, who established a public court and self-government of local authorities. Even then, Nikolai begins to realize that not all subjects of Russia want the good of their Motherland [that is, not all subjects are loyal subjects, but it turns out that in Russia the Anointed of God has subjects who want to serve not God, the Tsar and the Fatherland, but Satan , world evil and the underworld]. Dark, atheistic forces rebelled against Holy Rus' and the Russian state and social structure, the existence of which the boy was once told about by His mentor according to the Law of God.
Nicholas’s consciousness also included the understanding that the most essential thing in the state life of Russia had been violated - the traditional spiritual, patriarchal connection between the Tsar and the Russian people.” It became clear after March 1, 1881 that the Russian Tsar would never again be able to treat His subjects with boundless trust. He will not be able to forget the regicide and devote himself entirely to state affairs.
Training course for gymnasium and university, from ensign to colonel
Tsarevich “Nicholas was slightly taller than average, physically well developed and resilient - this was the result of his father’s training and the habit of physical labor, which He did, at least little by little, all his life.
The king had an “open, pleasant, thoroughbred face.” Everyone who knew the Tsar, both in his youth and in his mature years, noted His amazing eyes, so wonderfully conveyed in the famous portrait of V. Serov. They are expressive and radiant, although sadness and defenselessness lurk in their depths.
The upbringing and education of Nicholas II took place under the personal guidance of His Father, on a traditional religious basis in Spartan conditions. “Since Nicholas by His very birth was destined for the future supreme power, the closest attention was paid to His upbringing and education.
His systematic education began at the age of eight according to a special program developed by Adjutant General G. G. Danilovich, who was obliged to supervise Nikolai’s educational activities. The program was divided into two parts.
The general education course, designed for eight years, in general terms corresponded to the gymnasium course, although with significant changes. The ancient [classical] languages - Greek and Latin - were excluded, and instead of them, the Tsarevich was taught political history, Russian literature, geography, and the elementary fundamentals of mineralogy and biology in an expanded volume. In the first eight years of study, special attention was paid to studying modern European languages.
Nikolai mastered English and French perfectly, but knew German and Danish less well.
Since childhood, he fell in love with historical and fiction literature, read it both in Russian and in foreign languages, and even once admitted that “if he were a private person, he would devote himself to historical works.” Over time, His literary preferences were also revealed: Tsarevich Nikolai turned with pleasure to Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, loved Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov...”
The higher course of education, “the next five years were devoted to the study of military affairs, legal and economic sciences necessary for a statesman. The teaching of these sciences was carried out by outstanding Russian scientists with a worldwide reputation: [presbyter] Yanyshev I.L. taught canon law in connection with the history of the church, the most important departments of theology and the history of religion”; "HER. Zamyslovsky conducted political history; professor-economist, minister of finance in 1881-1889 and chairman of the committee of ministers in 1887-1895 N. H. Bunge taught - statistics and political economy [financial law]; Russian Foreign Minister in 1882-1895 N.K. Girs introduced the Tsarevich into the complex world of European international relations; Academician N.N. Beketov taught a course in general chemistry. Professor and corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences... Infantry General G. A. Leer was entrusted with courses in strategy and military history. Military engineer General Ts. A. Cui... conducted classes on fortification. The history of military art was read by A.K. Puzyrevsky. This series was supplemented by professors of the Academy of the General Staff, generals M.I. Dragomirov, N.N. Obruchev, P.K. Gudima-Levkovich, P.L. Lobko and others. The role of the Tsarevich's spiritual and ideological mentor undoubtedly belonged to K. P. Pobedonostsev, a prominent lawyer who taught Nicholas courses in jurisprudence, state, civil and criminal law.
Tsarevich Nikolai studied a lot. By the age of fifteen, He had more than 30 lessons a week, not counting the daily hours of self-study. During the training process, the mentors could not grade Him for his performance and did not ask questions to test his knowledge, but in general their impression was favorable. Nikolai was distinguished by perseverance, pedantry and innate accuracy. He always listened carefully and was very efficient. ...The heir, like all the children of Alexander III, had an excellent memory. He easily remembered what he heard or read. A fleeting meeting with a person (and there were thousands of such meetings in His life) was enough for him to remember not only the name and patronymic of the interlocutor, but also his age, origin and length of service. Nikolai’s natural tact and delicacy made communicating with him pleasant.” (Pages of life. 12-13).
“In order for the future Tsar to become practically acquainted with military life and the order of military service, the Father sends Him to military training. First, Nikolai served for two years in the ranks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, performing the duties of a subaltern officer and then a company commander. For two summer seasons, Tsarevich Nicholas served in the ranks of the cavalry hussar regiment as a platoon officer and then as a squadron commander. And finally, the future Emperor holds one camp meeting in the ranks of the artillery.” He received successive officer ranks, starting with warrant officer, and successively held corresponding positions in the troops.
“According to the testimony of contemporaries, He was loved in the guards regiments, noting the amazing evenness and goodwill in relations with fellow officers, regardless of ranks and titles. The Tsarevich was not one of those who were frightened by the hardships of camp life. He was hardy, strong, unpretentious in everyday life and truly loved the army. ...
Nicholas's military career reached its peak on August 6, 1892, when He was promoted to colonel. Due to the premature death of Alexander the Third, His Son was not destined to become a general in the Russian army, which were all of His predecessors on the Throne and most of the Grand Dukes. The emperors did not assign military ranks to themselves... “But He was awarded general ranks in the armies of the allies.
The Tsarevich's activities were not limited to military service. At the same time, the Father introduces Him to the affairs of governing the country, inviting Him to participate in the sessions of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers.
“By the age of 21, Nikolai had become a highly educated person with a broad outlook, an excellent knowledge of Russian history and literature, and a perfect command of the main European languages.... Nikolai’s brilliant education was combined with deep religiosity and knowledge of spiritual literature, which was not often found among young people from higher education. , the ruling class of the time. Alexander the Third managed to instill in His Son selfless love for Russia and a sense of responsibility for its fate. [All this gave Him the opportunity to bear the cross of the redemptive feat, to become like Jesus Christ!] From childhood, Nicholas became close to the idea that His main purpose was to follow the Russian Orthodox, spiritual foundations, traditions and ideals.” (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 94.)
The miraculous rescue of the Royal Family in Borki
On October 17, 1888, Tsarevich Nikolai experienced a terrible shock. On this day, near the Borki station, the entire Royal Family could have died during a train accident. When the Tsar's train passed through a deep beam, subsidence occurred and several cars fell into a hole at full speed.
The Royal Family was in the dining car at the time of the crash. Breakfast was coming to an end when everyone felt a terrible shaking. The disaster had three moments. Two shocks, and then not even a second had passed before the wall of the carriage began to shatter into pieces.
This is what the newspaper “Citizen”, published at that time, wrote: “ After the first shock there was a stop.
The second push, the force of inertia, knocked out the bottom of the car. Everyone fell onto the embankment. Then came the third moment, the most terrible: the walls of the carriage separated from the roof and began to fall inward. By the will of the Lord, the falling walls met and formed a roof onto which the roof of the carriage fell: the dining car turned into a flattened mass.
The entire course of the wheels was thrown far to the side and broken into tiny pieces. The roof, then folded and thrown aside, revealed the pitiful remains of a carriage. It seemed that the Royal Family was buried under the rubble.
But the Lord showed a great miracle. The Tsar, Queen and Royal Children were preserved for the Fatherland by a miracle of the Almighty.
The roof fell on them askew, says eyewitness Zichy, who was in the carriage.
“There was a hole between the wall of the carriage and the roof through which I entered. Countess Kutuzova came in behind me. The Empress was taken out of the carriage window. The Sovereign Emperor had a flattened silver cigarette case in his pocket on the right side».
According to an eyewitness, the crash site presented a terrible picture. The kitchen car went downhill.
The roof of another, ministerial, carriage was blown towards the lake. The first four cars were a pile of wood chips, sand and iron. The locomotive, undamaged, stood on the track, but the rear wheels dug into the ground, derailing.
The second locomotive dug into the sand of the embankment. When Alexander III saw the picture of the crash, tears came to his eyes.
Little by little, the retinue and all the survivors began to group around the Sovereign. The only witnesses to the crash were the soldiers of the Penza Infantry Regiment, numb with horror, standing in a chain in this area. Seeing that there was no way to provide assistance to the victims using the forces and means of the broken train, the Emperor ordered the soldiers to shoot. The alarm began. Soldiers came running all along the line; a doctor from the Penza regiment was with them; dressings appeared, although in meager quantities.
There was slush, there was a fine, cold rain with frost. The Empress was wearing only a dress, which was badly damaged at the time of the disaster. There was nothing at hand to cover Her from the cold, and an officer's coat was thrown over Her shoulders. At the first moment, many of the generals who were on the spot, wanting to provide all possible assistance, each made their own orders, but this only slowed down the overall progress of the relief work. Seeing this, the Emperor took upon himself the order to provide assistance.”
Since 1889, the Sovereign began to involve Nicholas in work in the highest government bodies, inviting him to participate in the sessions of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers. Alexander III developed a practical educational program for his Son to familiarize himself with various regions of Russia.
For this purpose, the Heir accompanied His Father on numerous trips around the country. [“To complete His education, Nicholas II traveled around the world. In nine months He traveled through Austria, Trieste, Greece, Egypt, India, China, Japan, and then by land through all of Siberia.”]
In Vladivostok, He participated in the opening of the construction of the Siberian Railway, at the laying of a dock and a monument to Admiral Nevelsky.
In Khabarovsk, the Heir attended the consecration of the monument to Muravyov-Amursky. Through Irkutsk, Tobolsk, and Yekaterinburg, Nikolai returned to Tsarskoe Selo, matured and stronger. He spent 9 months away from his parents (from October 23, 1890 to August 4, 1891), traveling 35 thousand miles.
After such a school of life, which the Heir went through during his trip around the world, Alexander III began to entrust Him with more serious matters. Nikolai was appointed chairman of the Siberian Railway Committee. He attended all its meetings, treating this appointment with great responsibility. His father also instructed Nikolai to chair a special committee for the delivery of aid to the population of the provinces affected by crop failure (valid until March 5, 1893). The committee collected donations worth more than 13 million rubles and distributed them among the starving peasants.
In addition to working on these committees, Nikolai is constantly invited to meetings of higher government institutions, where he practically gets acquainted with the science of governing a great country.
“Oh, You, Heavenly Chosen One, Oh, great redeemer, You are above all!”
The sermon delivered after the war by Bishop (then Archpriest) Mitrofan (Znosko-Borovsky) on the name day of the Tsar-Redeemer is very interesting and explains a lot in the actions of Tsar Nicholas II during His Reign and in Russian events after 1917.
[The sermon tells a prophecy about the stunningly grandiose role of the holy Tsar, then still Tsarevich, Nicholas in the destinies of the whole world, in the salvation of the Russian people, in the victory of good over evil.]
A). All Buddhism, represented by Buddhist clergy, bowed before the Tsarevich
“Our tortured and murdered Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, while still the Heir, [in April 1891] visited Japan. This interesting voyage is described by Prince Ukhtomsky in his 2-volume work. May the Lord bless me to tell you, my dears, about this interesting and extremely important, but little known, page from the life of the Redeemer King before we begin to pray for Him. [It would be more correct to turn to Him in prayer!] During this journey, the general attention, says the historian, a participant in the journey, was attracted by those special signs of veneration and honors that were shown to the Heir Tsarevich by Buddhist clergy when He visited Buddhist temples. These were not just honors given to the Heir to the Throne of the Great Power - in their person, it was as if all Buddhism bowed before the Tsarevich. [Isn’t this the preaching of Orthodoxy by Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, and by Buddhism the recognition of the omnipotence of Jesus Christ!]
One day, one of the thoughtful companions of the Tsarevich rightly noted that each such meeting bore the character of some incomprehensible mysterious cult, performed before the highest incarnation, who, by the will of Heaven, came to earth with a special mission. When the Tsarevich entered the temple, the Buddhist clergy prostrated themselves before Him, and when He raised them, they looked at Him with reverence and awe, solemnly, barely touching Him, they introduced Him into the sanctuary of their temple.
If anyone from the retinue wanted to enter after the Tsarevich, he was not allowed in. Once Prince George of Greece made such an attempt, but the lamas blocked his path.
[Here let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul: it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified, for when the pagans, who do not have the law, by nature do what is lawful, then, not having the law, they are a law unto themselves: they show that the work of the law they have it written in their hearts, as their conscience and their thoughts testify to (Rom. 2:13-15).
Buddhists are pagans who do not have the law of Christ, but by their nature, having cleansed their hearts from earthly passions by observing moral laws, they can find the Truth, which will be written in their hearts! This is what Jesus Christ Himself said about such pagans: Blessed are the pure heart, for they will see God (Matt. 5:8).
And the Buddhists saw the earthly God - the Redeemer King, who redeemed, for the likeness and glory of Christ, the collective sin of treason committed by His subjects; they saw an earthly man whose holy feat is in likening the Most Important Feat of Jesus Christ - in likening His Redemptive Feat.
To the possible question of why the Lord revealed to the Buddhists, but hid the “ascetics” from the “Orthodox”, we will answer together with the Apostle Paul: “The Lord gives Orthodox Christians a reason to boast of a pure heart, and even pagans, so that they may have something to say to those who boast in their appearance, and not with the heart” (2 Cor. 5:12).
And about the “Orthodox” Christians who blasphemed and blaspheme the holy Tsar Nicholas II, Jesus Christ says: these people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; but in vain they worship Me, teaching doctrines, commandments and wisdom of men (Matthew 15:8-9). Here is one of these human wisdom: “The Priesthood is higher than the Kingdom!” Why would this be like this???
And the Lord explains why they think so, He convicts them: your heart is hardened (Mark 8:17), and therefore the Holy Spirit does not penetrate such a heart and does not cleanse it of human wisdom. If anyone among you thinks that he is pious and does not bridle his tongue about the anointed of God, but deceives his heart with his arrogance, his piety is empty (James 1:26).
To those who reject the order of holiness, the “King Redeemer” said Jesus Christ: O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe everything that the prophets predicted! (Luke 24:25) For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears are hard to hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and lest they be converted, that I might heal them (Matt. 13) ,15; Acts 28:27) from the heresy of kingship, from the non-Orthodox understanding of the dogmas of Icon Veneration and Redemption. Fierce-necked! People with uncircumcised hearts and ears! you always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did, so do you (Acts 7:51).
To all priests and other thieves of the Royal power, the Lord's brother the Apostle James strongly advises: if in your heart you have bitter envy towards the owners of the power of the Anointed of God and are quarrelsome, because you do not understand Their actions, then do not boast about your piety and do not lie about the truth (Jas. 3.14).
This is said about them: a veil lies over their heart (2 Cor. 3:15), and their eyes are filled with lust and incessant sin; they seduce unsteady souls; their heart is accustomed to covetousness: these are the sons of the curse (2 Peter 2:14).
Therefore I was indignant at this generation and said: they continually err in heart, they have not known My ways; therefore I have sworn in My wrath that they will not enter My rest (Heb. 3:10-11).]
B). “There is no more blessed than Thy sacrifice for all Thy people!”
In Japan, the Heir Tsarevich was pleased to visit on one island the cemetery of our sailors from the frigate "Askold", which circumnavigated the world in the 1860s under the command of the outstanding Unkovsky and was under repair for a long time near this island.
In the Tsarevich's retinue were the sons of two officers from Askold - Ukhtomsky and Eristov. The heir charmed with His affection and attention the old Japanese, the keeper of the graves of our sailors. During a meal in a purely Japanese spirit and taste, he asked the Heir for the grace to give Him advice, for which he received the Highest permission. “The distinguished Guest is going to visit our sacred ancient capital of Kyoto,” began the Japanese, the keeper of the graves of Russian sailors, “not far from the latter our famous hermit monk Terakuto labors, to whose gaze the secrets of the world and the fate of people are revealed. There is no time for it and it gives only signs of deadlines. He does not like to interrupt his contemplative solitude and rarely goes out to see anyone. If the Royal traveler wishes to see him, he will come out to Him, if there is a blessing from Heaven.
In civilian dress, accompanied by Prince George of Greece and an interpreter - the Marquis of Ito, a prominent figure in Japan, the Heir Tsarevich walked on foot to Terakuto, who lived in one of the groves near Kyoto. Already from a distance, those approaching saw the prostrate figure of a reclusive Buddhist. The heir bent down and carefully picked it up from the ground. No one said a word, waiting for what the recluse would say. Looking with unseeing eyes, as if cut off from everything earthly, Terakuto spoke:
O You, Heavenly Chosen One, O great Redeemer, shall I prophesy the secret of Your earthly existence? You are above all. There is no guile or flattery in my mouth before the Almighty. And here is a sign for this: danger hovers over Your head, but death will recede and the reed will be stronger than the sword... and the reed will shine with brilliance. Two crowns are destined for You, Tsarevich: earthly and heavenly. Precious stones play on Your crown, Lord of the mighty Power, but the glory of the world passes away and the stones on the earthly crown will fade, but the radiance of the heavenly crown will remain forever. The heritage of Your ancestors calls You to sacred duty. Their voice is in Your blood. They are alive in You, many of them are great and beloved, but of all of them You will be the greatest and most beloved.
Great sorrows and upheavals await You and Your country. You will fight for EVERYONE, and EVERYONE will be against You. Beautiful flowers bloom on the edge of the abyss, but their poison is pernicious; children rush to flowers and fall into the abyss if they do not listen to the Father. Blessed is he who lays down his life for his friends. Thrice blessed is he who lays it down for his enemies. But there is nothing more blessed than Your sacrifice for all Your people. [That is, none of the earthly people has and will not have a feat higher than the holy Tsar Nicholas!] It will come that You are alive and the people are dead, but it will come true: the people are saved, and (You) are holy and immortal. Your weapon against anger is meekness, against resentment is forgiveness. Both friends and enemies will bow before You, and the enemies of Your people will be destroyed. [While there is still a little time, the enemies of the God-bearing Russian people may still try to become friends and allies of the Russians against the world behind the scenes to save their souls and bodies! The Russians accept everyone who comes in peace.
But whoever comes to Rus' with a sword will die by the sword! This happens for one single reason: God is with us, with the Russians, and therefore tremble, Gentiles, and submit! And remember what Abel the Seer of the Mystery said about the Jewish yoke to Emperor Paul the First: “do not be sad, Father the Tsar, the Christ-killers will bear their toll.” “Russia will then be great, having thrown off the Jewish yoke.
He will return to the origins of his ancient life, to the times of the Equal-to-the-Apostles, and will learn wisdom through bloody misfortune [the bloody scourge of the Jewish yoke!]. ... A great destiny is destined for Russia. [That is why the enemies of God hate everything Russian; everything connected with Russia; everything that reminds of its great past and future greatness! That is why Russians should not forget their destiny, their service to God!] That is why she will suffer in order to be cleansed and kindle the light in the revelation of tongues... “] I see tongues of fire above Your head and Your Family. This is dedication. I see countless sacred lights in the altars before you. This is execution. May a pure sacrifice be made and atonement be accomplished. You will become a shining barrier to evil in the world. Terakuto told You what was revealed to him from the Book of Fates. Here is wisdom and part of the mystery of the Creator. Beginning and the end. Death and immortality, moment and eternity. Blessed be the day and hour at which You came to old Terakuto.
IN). The cane turned out to be stronger than the sword and the cane began to shine
Having touched the ground, Terakuto, without turning around, began to move away until he disappeared into the thicket of trees. [What reverence this Buddhist monk has for the saint, whose feat of serving God in terms of height and likeness to Jesus Christ is the highest among those possible for humans. What a powerful reproof for their lack of the Spirit of Christ to all “Orthodox” Christians who lived at the same time as Saint Nicholas Alexandrovich and who still blaspheme and revile Him.
Holy Tsar Nicholas said that the Old Believers and Cossacks would not understand Him. And it’s clear why: these two communities of people, and now fighters against the Taxpayer Identification Number, with globalization, with new passports, etc., have a firmly established practice of zealously pleasing God to serve Satan!
These communities of Orthodox Christians, zealously engaged in the virtues of fallen nature, are zealous to serve God as and where they themselves decide, and not as and where the Lord will bless. And therefore they absolutely do not understand that the heart of the King is in the hand of God ( Proverbs 21:1), and not in their hands. They do not understand that the Lord God Himself guides His Anointed One, and not servile wisdom! But they wear a cross and go to church regularly, and now they also offer fervent prayers for the Great Lord and Father of all papist heretics!]
The Tsarevich stood with his head bowed. His companions too. The Tsarevich returned excitedly and asked not to talk about Terakuto’s prediction. A few days later, an attempt was made on the life of the Heir to the Tsarevich in Kyoto.
A Japanese fanatic [also zealous to serve God!] hit Him on the head with a saber, but the blow only slipped, causing a harmless wound. Prince George of Greece hit the criminal with all his might with a bamboo cane, which saved the life of the Tsarevich. Upon the return of the heir to the Tsarevich in St. Petersburg, talking with Prince George, Emperor Alexander III expressed a desire to receive a cane for a while. The Emperor returned it to Prince George already in a frame of the finest jewelry, all sprinkled with diamonds. The sign came true, the first prediction of old Terakuto: the cane turned out to be stronger than the sword and the cane began to shine.
On June 23, 1901, the Sovereign Emperor was pleased to receive in the great hall of the Peterhof Palace a special mission of the Dalai Lama, who arrived from Tibet. The embassy bowed low when His Majesty entered the hall, accompanied by his retinue. The Tibetan embassy carried with it a heavily shackled chest, which it never left for a moment.
Presenting His Majesty with the robes taken out of the chest, the head of the embassy, the old honored lama, said: “These are the original robes of the Buddha, which no one touched after him. They belong to you alone by right, and now accept them from all of Tibet.” The words of the embassy from Tibet, like those predicted by the recluse Terakuto, are the key to understanding the secret sealed from Above of our Sovereign and Russia.” (Bishop Mitrofan (Znosko). Chronicle of one life. To the sixtieth anniversary of pastoral ministry IX.1935-IX.1995. M. 1995. pp. 294-297).
The Tsarevich showed himself to be deeply religious, selflessly loving and possessing an exceptionally strong character
A). “Everything is in the will of God. Trusting in His mercy, I calmly and humbly look to the future."
The Heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich had to endure the first serious test of willpower in connection with His marriage, when, thanks to His stubborn persistence, endurance and patience, He successfully overcame three seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Back in 1884, when He was only sixteen years old, He first met the twelve-year-old strikingly beautiful Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, who came to the wedding of His elder sister Vel. Book Elizaveta Feodorovna and Vel. Book Sergei Alexandrovich - uncle of the Heir to the Tsarevich.
From that moment on, a close friendship arose between Them, and then a holy, selfless, selfless and ever-increasing love that united Their lives until their joint acceptance...[martyrdom].
Such marriages are a rare gift of God even among mere mortals, and among Crowned Persons, where marriages are performed mainly for political reasons and not for love, this is an exceptional phenomenon.
In 1889, when the Heir Tsarevich was twenty-one years old and had reached adulthood, according to Russian laws, He turned to His Parents with a request to bless Him for marriage with Princess Alice. Emperor Alexander III’s answer was brief: “You are very young to get married.” There is still time, and, in addition, remember the following: You are the Heir to the Russian Throne, You are betrothed to Russia, and we will still have time to find a wife.”
Before the will of the Father - heavy, unwavering - what is said, that is, the law, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich resignedly resigned himself for a while and began to wait.
A year and a half after this conversation, He wrote in His diary: “Everything is in the will of God. Trusting in His mercy, I look calmly and humbly to the future.”
From Princess Alice's family, their marriage plans also did not meet with sympathy. Since She lost Her mother when She was only 6 years old, and her father at eighteen, She was raised mainly by Her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria of England.
This Queen, so celebrated in the Anglo-Saxon world, during many decades of her 64-year reign (1837-1901), pursued an extremely ignoble foreign policy, built on intricate insidious intrigues directed mainly against Russia.
Queen Victoria especially disliked the Russian Emperors Alexander II and Alexander III, who in turn responded to Her with contemptuous hostility. It is no wonder that with such unfriendly relations between the Russian and English Courts, the Heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich could not find support from the grandmother of Princess Alice. [“For Alexander III, his son’s love did not seem something serious. The marriage of the Heir to the Russian Throne was always too serious a political event for only tender feelings to be taken into account. Although Nikolai’s parents did not intend to forcefully marry him, at different times he was offered several options for a possible marriage.
One of the brides was the daughter of the Count of Paris, head of the Bourbon dynasty, possible president of France. This marriage could significantly strengthen the Russian-French alliance, the favorite foreign policy brainchild of Alexander III. Princess Margaret of Prussia was considered as another contender for the role of the future Empress.
Nikolai wrote at the end of 1891: “December 21. In the evening at Mom's...they talked about family life...; involuntarily this conversation touched the most living string of my soul, touched the dream and the hope with which I live every day. A year and a half has already passed since I talked about this with Papa in Peterhof... My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent six weeks in St. Petersburg! I resisted my feeling for a long time, trying to deceive myself with the impossibility of realizing my cherished dream. ... The only obstacle or gap between her and me is the question of religion! Apart from this barrier, there is no other; I'm almost sure that our feelings are mutual! [Everything is in the will of God. Trusting in His mercy, I calmly and humbly look to the future]"...
Maria Feodorovna decided to distract Him a little from thoughts about Alex. At this time, a new star shone on the stage of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater - ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. [The parents of the Tsarevich contributed to the rapprochement of the young people... “There was gossip about this affair, but in Nicholas’s Family they did not attach serious importance to it - the Heir seemed too responsible and devoted to duty to connect His life with a dancer. Alexander the Third was condescending towards his son’s hobby and, perhaps, even hoped that Kshesinskaya would help him forget the German princess his parents didn’t like.”]
Of course, Kshesinskaya understood the hopelessness of their romance, and Nikolai’s love for the Darmstadt princess was not a secret to her: “We have more than once talked about the inevitability of His marriage and the inevitability of our separation. Of all those whom He was prophesied as a bride, He considered her the most suitable and that He was attracted to her more and more [for they were created for each other according to God’s plan!], that she would be His chosen one, if parental permission followed.”]
Five years have passed since the day when Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich turned to His August Father with a request to allow Him to marry Princess Alice.
[During these ten years, they saw each other only when Princess Alice came to Russia twice (in 1884 and 1889). They are united by the Lord God. And those around Them only see that “between Them there are only fantasies and memories, correspondence fueling passions through sister Ella” (through Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna).]
In the early spring of 1894, seeing the unshakable decision of His Son, His patience and meek submission to the Parental will, Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna finally gave Their blessing for the marriage.
At the same time, in England, Princess Alice, who by this time had lost Her father, who died in 1890, received a blessing from Queen Victoria. The last obstacle remained - a change of religion and the adoption by the August Bride of holy Orthodoxy.
B). Tsarevich Nicholas managed to reveal to Princess Alice the truth of His Orthodox faith
Princess Alice was extremely religious. She was raised Protestant and was sincerely and deeply convinced of the truth of Her religion. At the same time, She knew that She could not become the Russian Empress without accepting Holy Orthodoxy, but changing religion.
She considered it a betrayal of Her most sacred feelings and beliefs. Being extremely honest with herself, distinguished by nobility and devotion to Her ideals and, moreover, being well educated - She received a PhD from Oxford University - She was not able to sacrifice Her entire inner world as a sacrifice of love for her loved one.
Thus, this question became a matter of conscience for Princess Alice, since the Russian Throne, although the most brilliant of that era, in itself, did not seduce Her, especially since, thanks to Her amazing beauty and inner attractiveness, She enjoyed enormous success among European Crowned Grooms and Heirs to Thrones.
So, the last obstacle to the marriage of the Heir to the Tsarevich and Princess Alice seemed insurmountable. There was only one possible way out - a complete reversal of Her religious views, i.e. sincere understanding of the falsity of the Protestant faith and sincere acceptance of holy Orthodoxy. This difficult and complex task fell to the lot of Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich himself.
At the beginning of April, He visited Coburg and spent twelve days in the palace of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, where Princess Alice was also staying. Here Their fate was to be decided, depending on the conviction of the Heir to the Tsarevich in the correctness of His arguments. On the third day, a decisive conversation took place between Them. There was no one in the living room. They were left alone to decide the question of their lives. The princess was lovely. There was no need to speak, it was clear without words. He now knew that Their love was mutual, that in this love was the happiness of the future life. One obstacle remained - a change of religion; He had foreseen this before, but did not imagine that this obstacle could turn out to be so decisive and difficult.
He saw the spiritual struggle of Princess Alice - the real real struggle of a Christian woman. He understood that it now depended on Him to convince Her that She was not committing apostasy, that by accepting Orthodoxy, She was approaching God in the brightest forms of communication with Him. And He found wonderful words in His heart. “Alix, I understand and respect your religious feelings. But we believe in Christ alone; there is no other Christ. God, who created the world, gave us a soul and a heart. He filled both my heart and yours with love, so that we could merge soul with soul, so that we would become united and walk the same path in life.
Without His will there is nothing. Let your conscience not disturb you that my faith will become your faith. When you learn later how beautiful, gracious and humble our Orthodox religion is, how majestic and magnificent our churches and monasteries are and how solemn and stately our divine services are, you will love them, Alix, and nothing will separate us “...
At that moment, the great, immense one appeared before Him - from the Solovetsky monasteries to the New Athos monasteries, from the northern grayish-blue waters of the Baltic Sea to the bright blue Pacific Ocean - His sovereign Mother Russia, Holy God-Bearing Orthodox Rus'. Tears of tenderness and delight appeared in my eyes. The Princess listened attentively, looking into His blue eyes, at His excited face, and a transformation took place in Her soul. Seeing the tears, She could not help herself. Then she whispered only two words: “I agree.” Their tears mixed together.
He laid out the sequence of His conversations, told how He convinced Her to change religion and how She felt.
... “She cried all the time and only from time to time said in a whisper: “No, I can’t.” I, however, continued to insist and repeat my arguments, and although this conversation lasted two hours, it did not lead to anything , because neither she nor I gave in. I gave her your letter and after that she could no longer argue. She decided to talk with Aunt Michen (Grand Prince Maria Pavlovna (senior)). As for me, during these three days I was always in the most anxious state... This morning we were left alone, and then, from the very first words, she agreed. Only God knows what happened to me. I cried like a child and so did she. But her face expressed complete contentment.
No, dear Mom, I cannot express to you how happy I am, and at the same time, how sorry I am that I cannot hold you and my dear Dad to my heart. The whole world immediately changed for me: nature, people, everything; and everyone seems kind, sweet and happy to me. I couldn’t even write, my hands were shaking so much. She completely changed: she became cheerful, funny, talkative and tender... The Savior told us: “Everything that you ask of God, God will give you.” These words are endlessly dear to me, because for five years I prayed with them, repeating them every night, begging Him to ease Alix’s transition to the Orthodox faith and give me her as a wife...
It's time to finish the letter. Goodbye my dear Mom. I hug you tightly. Christ is with you. Niki, who loves you warmly and with all my heart.” He took an elegant dark crimson notebook of shagreen leather - his diary and made the following entry in it: “A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life - the day of my engagement to my dear, beloved Alix... God, what a weight has fallen from my shoulders; what joy we managed to please dear Dad and Mom. I walked around all day as if in a daze, not fully realizing what had actually happened to me.”... [After breakfast we went to Comrade Marie’s church and served a thanksgiving prayer service.]... (S. Pozdnyshev. Op. Cit., pp. 11-16).
On the same day, April 8/21, 1894, their engagement was officially announced. [Until her death, Alexandra Fedorovna wore Nicholas's groom's gift - a ring with a ruby - around her neck along with a cross. (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 102.) “The news delivered to Russia on the same day prompted a response telegram from the parents, and a few days later... a personal message from Alexander the Third arrived. “Dear, dear Niki,” the father wrote, “you can imagine with what a feeling of joy and with what gratitude to the Lord we learned about your engagement! I confess that I did not believe the possibility of such an outcome and was sure of the complete failure of your attempt, but the Lord instructed you, strengthened you and blessed you, and great gratitude to Him for His mercies... Now I am sure that you are doubly enjoying and everything you have gone through, although forgotten, I am sure it has brought you benefit, proving that not everything comes so easily and for free, and especially such a great step that decides your entire future and your entire subsequent family life! ”(Pages of Life. P. 24.)]
Ten years have passed since the August Bride and Groom met for the first time, and five years have passed since the Parents refused to bless Their marriage. The heir Tsarevich meekly humbled himself, but waited patiently and steadily strived towards His goal. Over these years, He managed to gradually overpower His August Father, a mighty hero distinguished by his unshakable willpower, overcome the lack of sympathy for His plans on the part of Empress Maria Feodorovna and Princess Alice’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, and, finally, without being a theologian, reveal to Princess Alice the truth of His faith, change Her firm religious convictions and incline Her to a sincere, sincere acceptance of holy Orthodoxy. Only a deeply religious and selflessly loving person with an exceptionally strong character could overcome all these obstacles.
[“After almost a quarter of a century, She [Alexandra Feodorovna] will remind Him [Nikolai Alexandrovich] of the events of that day with words in which sincere love is felt: “On this day, the day of our engagement, all my tender thoughts are with you, filling my heart with endless gratitude for the deep love and happiness that you have always given me, since that memorable day - 22 years ago. May God help me to repay you a hundredfold for all your affection!
Yes, I,” I say quite sincerely, “I doubt that there are many wives as happy as I am; you have shown me so much love, trust and devotion in these long years in happiness and sorrow. For all my torment, suffering and indecision, you gave me so much in return, my precious fiancé and husband... Thank you, my treasure, do you feel how I want to be in your strong arms and relive those wonderful days that brought Are we getting new evidence of love and tenderness? Today I will wear that expensive brooch. I can still feel your gray clothes and smell them - there by the window in Coburg Castle.
How vividly I remember all this! Those sweet kisses that I dreamed and yearned for for so many years and which I no longer hoped to receive. You see how, already at that time, faith and religion played a big role in my life. I cannot take this simply and if I decide on something, it is forever, the same is true in my love and affection.
The heart is too big - it devours me. Also love for Christ - it was always so closely connected with our lives during these 22 years! “(Correspondence of Nikolai and Alexandra Romanov. M.-L. 1926. T.4. P. 204).
Before leaving for Russia, Nikolai decided to tell his bride about his affair with Kshesinskaya. “What happened, happened,” Alice writes with tears in her eyes, “the past can never be returned. We are all subject to temptation in this world, and when we are young, it is especially difficult for us to resist and not give in to temptation. But if we can repent, God will forgive us. Sorry that I talk about this so much, but I want you to be sure of my love for you. I love you even more after you told me this story. Your trust touched me deeply. I will try to be worthy of him. God bless you, my beloved Nicky...”
The words that Alice writes in her fiancé’s diary are imbued with the most sublime feeling of love, the light of which they were able to carry throughout their lives.” Just before leaving England, She will write in His diary: “I am yours, and you are mine, rest assured. You are locked in my heart, the key is lost, and you will have to stay there forever."]
Used Books:
Pages of life. P. 7.
As Abel the Seer of the Seer predicted to the holy Emperor Paul the First.
G. P. Butnikov. Savior on Spilled Blood. St. Petersburg B/g.
This is how Emperor Alexander II called his beloved grandson Tsarevich Nicholas.
Pages of life. P. 7.
About the oath, see the explanation of St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow, given in the notes “Christian Teaching on Royal Power and the Obligations of Loyal Subjects.”
A popular proverb teaches us: “Whoever God wants to punish, He takes away his reason.”
TVNZ. March 23, 2006.
Oleg Platonov. Plot of regicides. 89-91.
“The perfection with which the Heir spoke the English language was such that an Oxford professor mistook Him for an Englishman.” (Oleg Platonov. Conspiracy of the Regicides. P. 94.)
Pages of life. P. 12.
O. Platonov. Nicholas II in secret correspondence. P. 11.
Oleg Platonov. Plot of regicides. P. 94.
Pages of life. P. 14.
Compiled by R.S., a fragment of chapter 16 from Oleg Platonov’s book “Conspiracy of the Regicides” is given.
O. Platonov. Nicholas II in secret correspondence. pp. 11-12.
The compiler R.S. quotes the text from the book compiled by S. Fomin “Orthodox Tsar-Martyr”. (Hegumen Seraphim (Kuznetsov). Pilgrim. 1997. [below - Hegumen Seraphim. Orthodox Tsar.] P. 499-501.)
In Russia, the book of Bishop Mitrofan (Znosko-Borovsky) “Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Sectarianism” (Lectures on comparative theology, read at the Holy Trinity Theological Seminary) is known. (Publication of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (reprint). 1991.) We draw attention to this fact in order to prevent in advance possible accusations by “zealots” not according to the mind of Christ of this bishop of ignorance of the teachings of the Orthodox Church and of being unorthodox, of having a biased attitude towards Buddhism and predictions of the Buddhist hermit monk Terakuto.
S. Fomin has it here and everywhere below: Tsar-Martyr.
Who boast of their theological or other education, their ordination to the priesthood, their “Orthodoxy,” their belonging to the Russian chosen people of God, their social status, etc. It should be understood that all of these are talents given by God, which impose an obligation on their owners to use them in a godly manner and thereby acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The double-headed eagle in the State Emblem of the Russian Empire clearly indicates that both the Priesthood and the Kingdom are in obedience to the Anointed Tsar!
The root of this word is “fornication,” and therefore being deceived in heart means spiritual fornication.
That is, chosen as the King of Heaven!
No one has greater love than this, but one who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13) - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
The compiler cites the 2nd chapter from the book by E. E. Alferyev “Emperor Nicholas II as a man of strong will.” (Published by Holy Trinity Monastery. Jordanville, 1983. pp. 15-21.)
S. Pozdnyshev. Crucify Him. Paris. 1952. P. 9.
Ibidem, p. 10.
From Queen Victoria, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna inherited, as a transmitter, the fatal disease hemophilia. which She passed on to Her son, the Heir, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich. See The Last Courts of Europe - A Royal Family Album 1860-1914. Introductory text by Robert K. Massie. J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., London, 1981, p. 25.
Pages of life. P. 20.
Pages of life. P. 18.
Unknown Alexander the Third. pp. 215-216.
Pages of life. P. 18.
Wife of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, daughter of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna is the third lady in the Russian Empire after both Empresses. She was considered the head of the grand ducal opposition to Emperor Nicholas II. (Encyclopedia of the Russian Empire. Edited by V. Butromeev. U-Factoria. Yekaterinburg. 2002.) (Note from the compiler R.S.).
Pages of life. P. 22.
E. E. Alferev. Letters from the Royal Family from captivity. Publication of the Holy Trinity Monastery. Jordanville, 1974, pp. 340-341.
Unknown Alexander the Third. P. 218.
Oleg Platonov. Plot of regicides. pp. 101-102.
Professor Sergei Mironenko about the personality and fatal mistakes of the last Russian emperor
In the year of the 100th anniversary of the revolution, conversations about Nicholas II and his role in the tragedy of 1917 do not stop: truth and myths are often mixed in these conversations. Scientific director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Sergei Mironenko- about Nicholas II as a man, ruler, family man, passion-bearer.
“Nicky, you’re just some kind of Muslim!”
Sergei Vladimirovich, in one of your interviews you called Nicholas II “frozen.” What did you mean? What was the emperor like as a person, as a person?
Nicholas II loved the theater, opera and ballet, and loved physical exercise. He had unpretentious tastes. He liked to drink a glass or two of vodka. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich recalled that when they were young, he and Niki once sat on the sofa and kicked with their feet, who would knock whom off the sofa. Or another example - a diary entry during a visit to relatives in Greece about how wonderfully he and his cousin Georgie were left with oranges. He was already quite a grown-up young man, but something childish remained in him: throwing oranges, kicking. Absolutely alive person! But still, it seems to me, he was some kind of... not a daredevil, not “eh!” You know, sometimes meat is fresh, and sometimes it’s first frozen and then defrosted, do you understand? In this sense - “frostbitten”.
Sergey Mironenko
Photo: DP28
Restrained? Many noted that he very dryly described terrible events in his diary: the shooting of a demonstration and the lunch menu were nearby. Or that the emperor remained absolutely calm when receiving difficult news from the front of the Japanese War. What does this indicate?
In the imperial family, keeping a diary was one of the elements of education. A person was taught to write down at the end of the day what happened to him, and thus give himself an account of how you lived that day. If the diaries of Nicholas II were used for the history of weather, then this would be a wonderful source. “Morning, so many degrees of frost, got up at such and such time.” Always! Plus or minus: “sunny, windy” - he always wrote it down.
His grandfather Emperor Alexander II kept similar diaries. The War Ministry published small memorial books: each sheet was divided into three days, and Alexander II managed to write down his entire day on such a small sheet of paper all day, from the moment he got up until he went to bed. Of course, this was a recording of only the formal side of life. Basically, Alexander II wrote down who he received, with whom he had lunch, with whom he had dinner, where he was, at a review or somewhere else, etc. Rarely, rarely does something emotional break through. In 1855, when his father, Emperor Nicholas I, was dying, he wrote down: “It’s such and such an hour. The last terrible torment." This is a different type of diary! And Nikolai’s emotional assessments are extremely rare. In general, he apparently was an introvert by nature.
- Today you can often see in the press a certain average image of Tsar Nicholas II: a man of noble aspirations, an exemplary family man, but a weak politician. How true is this image?
As for the fact that one image has become established, this is wrong. There are diametrically opposed points of view. For example, academician Yuri Sergeevich Pivovarov claims that Nicholas II was a major, successful statesman. Well, you yourself know that there are many monarchists who bow to Nicholas II.
I think that this is just the right image: he really was a very good person, a wonderful family man and, of course, a deeply religious man. But as a politician, I was absolutely out of place, I would say so.
Coronation of Nicholas II
When Nicholas II ascended the throne, he was 26 years old. Why, despite his brilliant education, was he not ready to be a king? And there is evidence that he did not want to ascend the throne and was burdened by it?
Behind me are the diaries of Nicholas II, which we published: if you read them, everything becomes clear. He was actually a very responsible person, he understood the whole burden of responsibility that fell on his shoulders. But, of course, he did not think that his father, Emperor Alexander III, would die at 49, he thought that he still had some time left. Nicholas was burdened by the ministers' reports. Although one can have different attitudes towards Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, I believe he was absolutely right when he wrote about the traits characteristic of Nicholas II. For example, he said that with Nikolai, the one who came to him last is right. Various issues are being discussed, and Nikolai takes the point of view of the one who came into his office last. Maybe this was not always the case, but this is a certain vector that Alexander Mikhailovich is talking about.
Another of his features is fatalism. Nikolai believed that since he was born on May 6, the day of Job the Long-Suffering, he was destined to suffer. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich told him: “Niki (that was Nikolai’s name in the family), you're just some kind of Muslim! We have the Orthodox faith, it gives free will, and your life depends on you, there is no such fatalistic destiny in our faith.” But Nikolai was sure that he was destined to suffer.
In one of your lectures you said that he really suffered a lot. Do you think that this was somehow connected with his mentality and attitude?
You see, every person makes his own destiny. If you think from the very beginning that you are made to suffer, in the end you will in life!
The main misfortune, of course, is that they had a terminally ill child. This cannot be discounted. And it turned out literally immediately after birth: the Tsarevich’s umbilical cord was bleeding... This, of course, frightened the family; they hid for a very long time that their child had hemophilia. For example, the sister of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Ksenia, found out about this almost 8 years after the heir was born!
Then, difficult situations in politics - Nicholas was not ready to rule the vast Russian Empire in such a difficult period of time.
About the birth of Tsarevich Alexei
The summer of 1904 was marked by a joyful event, the birth of the unfortunate Tsarevich. Russia had been waiting for an heir for so long, and how many times had this hope turned into disappointment that his birth was greeted with enthusiasm, but the joy did not last long. Even in our house there was despondency. The uncle and aunt undoubtedly knew that the child was born with hemophilia, a disease characterized by bleeding due to the inability of the blood to clot quickly. Of course, the parents quickly learned about the nature of their son’s illness. One can imagine what a terrible blow this was for them; from that moment on, the empress’s character began to change, and her health, both physical and mental, began to deteriorate from painful experiences and constant anxiety.
- But he was prepared for this from childhood, like any heir!
You see, whether you cook or not, you can’t discount a person’s personal qualities. If you read his correspondence with his bride, who later became Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, you will see that he writes to her about how he rode twenty miles and feels good, and she writes to him about how she was in church, how she prayed. Their correspondence shows everything, from the very beginning! Do you know what he called her? He called her “owl”, and she called him “calf”. Even this one detail gives a clear picture of their relationship.
Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna
Initially, the family was against his marriage to the Princess of Hesse. Can we say that Nicholas II showed character here, some strong-willed qualities, insisting on his own?
They weren't entirely against it. They wanted to marry him to a French princess - because of the turn in the foreign policy of the Russian Empire from an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary to an alliance with France that emerged in the early 90s of the 19th century. Alexander III wanted to strengthen family ties with the French, but Nicholas categorically refused. A little-known fact - Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna, when Alexander was still just the heir to the throne, became the successors of Alice of Hesse - the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna: they were the young godmother and father! So, there were still connections. And Nikolai wanted to get married at all costs.
- But he was still a follower?
Of course there was. You see, we must distinguish between stubbornness and will. Very often weak-willed people are stubborn. I think that in a certain sense Nikolai was like that. There are wonderful moments in their correspondence with Alexandra Fedorovna. Especially during the war, when she writes to him: “Be Peter the Great, be Ivan the Terrible!” and then adds: “I see how you smile.” She writes to him “be,” but she herself understands perfectly well that he cannot be, by character, the same as his father was.
For Nikolai, his father was always an example. He wanted, of course, to be like him, but he couldn’t.
Dependence on Rasputin led Russia to destruction
- How strong was Alexandra Feodorovna’s influence on the emperor?
Alexandra Fedorovna had a huge influence on him. And through Alexandra Feodorovna - Rasputin. And, by the way, relations with Rasputin became one of the rather strong catalysts for the revolutionary movement and general dissatisfaction with Nicholas. It was not so much the figure of Rasputin himself that caused discontent, but the image created by the press of a dissolute old man who influences political decision-making. Add to this the suspicion that Rasputin is a German agent, which was fueled by the fact that he was against the war with Germany. Rumors spread that Alexandra Fedorovna was a German spy. In general, everything rolled along a well-known road, which ultimately led to renunciation...
Caricature of Rasputin
Peter Stolypin
- What other political mistakes became fatal?
There were many of them. One of them is distrust of outstanding statesmen. Nikolai could not save them, he could not! The example of Stolypin is very indicative in this sense. Stolypin is truly an outstanding person. Outstanding not only and not so much because he uttered in the Duma those words that are now being repeated by everyone: “You need great upheavals, but we need a great Russia.”
That's not why! But because he understood: the main obstacle in a peasant country is the community. And he firmly pursued the policy of destroying the community, and this was contrary to the interests of a fairly wide range of people. After all, when Stolypin arrived in Kyiv as prime minister in 1911, he was already a “lame duck.” The issue of his resignation was resolved. He was killed, but the end of his political career came earlier.
In history, as you know, there is no subjunctive mood. But I really want to dream up. What if Stolypin had been at the head of the government longer, if he had not been killed, if the situation had turned out differently, what would have happened? If Russia had so recklessly entered into a war with Germany, would the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand be worth getting involved in this world war?..
1908 Tsarskoye Selo. Rasputin with the Empress, five children and governess
However, I really want to use the subjunctive mood. The events taking place in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century seem so spontaneous, irreversible - the absolute monarchy has outlived its usefulness, and sooner or later what happened would have happened; the personality of the tsar did not play a decisive role. This is wrong?
You know, this question, from my point of view, is useless, because the task of history is not to guess what would have happened if, but to explain why it happened this way and not otherwise. This has already happened. But why did it happen? After all, history has many paths, but for some reason it chooses one out of many, why?
Why did it happen that the previously very friendly, close-knit Romanov family (the ruling house of the Romanovs) turned out to be completely split by 1916? Nikolai and his wife were alone, but the whole family - I emphasize, the whole family - was against it! Yes, Rasputin played his role - the family split largely because of him. Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, tried to talk to her about Rasputin, to dissuade her - it was useless! Nicholas's mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, tried to speak - it was useless.
In the end, it came to a grand-ducal conspiracy. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, the beloved cousin of Nicholas II, took part in the murder of Rasputin. Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote to Maria Feodorovna: “The hypnotist has been killed, now it’s the hypnotized woman’s turn, she must disappear.”
They all saw that this indecisive policy, this dependence on Rasputin was leading Russia to destruction, but they could not do anything! They thought that they would kill Rasputin and things would somehow get better, but they didn’t get better - everything had gone too far. Nikolai believed that relations with Rasputin were a private matter of his family, in which no one had the right to interfere. He did not understand that the emperor could not have a private relationship with Rasputin, that the matter had taken a political turn. And he cruelly miscalculated, although as a person one can understand him. So personality definitely matters a lot!
About Rasputin and his murder
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
Everything that happened to Russia thanks to the direct or indirect influence of Rasputin can, in my opinion, be considered as a vengeful expression of the dark, terrible, all-consuming hatred that for centuries burned in the soul of the Russian peasant in relation to the upper classes, who did not try to understand him or attract him to your side. Rasputin loved both the empress and the emperor in his own way. He felt sorry for them, as one feels sorry for children who have made a mistake due to the fault of adults. They both liked his apparent sincerity and kindness. His speeches - they had never heard anything like it before - attracted them with its simple logic and novelty. The emperor himself sought closeness with his people. But Rasputin, who had no education and was not accustomed to such an environment, was spoiled by the boundless trust that his high patrons showed him.
Emperor Nicholas II and Supreme Commander-in-Chief led. Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich during the inspection of the fortifications of the Przemysl fortress
Is there evidence that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna directly influenced her husband’s specific political decisions?
Certainly! At one time there was a book by Kasvinov, “23 Steps Down,” about the murder of the royal family. So, one of the most serious political mistakes of Nicholas II was the decision to become the supreme commander in chief in 1915. This was, if you like, the first step to renunciation!
- And only Alexandra Fedorovna supported this decision?
She convinced him! Alexandra Feodorovna was a very strong-willed, very smart and very cunning woman. What was she fighting for? For the future of their son. She was afraid that Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in 1914-1915 - ed.), who was very popular in the army, will deprive Niki of the throne and become emperor himself. Let's leave aside the question of whether this really happened.
But, believing in Nikolai Nikolaevich’s desire to take the Russian throne, the empress began to engage in intrigue. “In this difficult time of testing, only you can lead the army, you must do it, this is your duty,” she persuaded her husband. And Nikolai succumbed to her persuasion, sent his uncle to command the Caucasian Front and took command of the Russian army. He did not listen to his mother, who begged him not to take a disastrous step - she just perfectly understood that if he became commander-in-chief, all failures at the front would be associated with his name; nor the eight ministers who wrote him a petition; nor the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko.
The emperor left the capital, lived for months at headquarters, and as a result was unable to return to the capital, where a revolution took place in his absence.
Emperor Nicholas II and front commanders at a meeting of Headquarters
Nicholas II at the front
Nicholas II with generals Alekseev and Pustovoitenko at Headquarters
What kind of person was the empress? You said - strong-willed, smart. But at the same time, she gives the impression of a sad, melancholy, cold, closed person...
I wouldn't say she was cold. Read their letters - after all, in letters a person opens up. She is a passionate, loving woman. A powerful woman who fights for what she considers necessary, fighting for the throne to be passed on to her son, despite his terminal illness. You can understand her, but, in my opinion, she lacked breadth of vision.
We will not talk about why Rasputin acquired such influence over her. I am deeply convinced that the matter is not only about the sick Tsarevich Alexei, whom he helped. The fact is, the empress herself needed a person who would support her in this hostile world. She arrived, shy, embarrassed, and in front of her was the rather strong Empress Maria Feodorovna, whom the court loved. Maria Feodorovna loves balls, but Alix doesn’t like balls. St. Petersburg society is accustomed to dancing, accustomed, accustomed to having fun, but the new empress is a completely different person.
Nicholas II with his mother Maria Fedorovna
Nicholas II with his wife
Nicholas II with Alexandra Feodorovna
Gradually, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gets worse and worse. And in the end it comes to a complete break. Maria Fedorovna, in her last diary before the revolution, in 1916, calls Alexandra Fedorovna only “fury.” “This fury” - she can’t even write her name...
Elements of the great crisis that led to abdication
- However, Nikolai and Alexandra were a wonderful family, right?
Of course, a wonderful family! They sit, read books to each other, their correspondence is wonderful and tender. They love each other, they are spiritually close, physically close, they have wonderful children. Children are different, some of them are more serious, some, like Anastasia, are more mischievous, some smoke secretly.
About the atmosphere in Nikolai’s family II and Alexandra Feodorovna
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
The Emperor and his wife were always affectionate in their relationships with each other and their children, and it was so pleasant to be in an atmosphere of love and family happiness.
At a costume ball. 1903
But after the murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (Governor General of Moscow, uncle of Nicholas II, husband of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - ed.) in 1905, the family locked themselves in Tsarskoye Selo, not a single big ball again, the last big ball took place in 1903, a costume ball, where Nikolai dressed as Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Alexandra dressed as the queen. And then they become more and more isolated.
Alexandra Fedorovna did not understand a lot of things, did not understand the situation in the country. For example, failures in the war... When they tell you that Russia almost won the First World War, do not believe it. A serious socio-economic crisis was growing in Russia. First of all, it manifested itself in the inability of the railways to cope with freight flows. It was impossible to simultaneously transport food to large cities and transport military supplies to the front. Despite the railway boom that began under Witte in the 1880s, Russia, compared to European countries, had a poorly developed railway network.
Groundbreaking ceremony for the Trans-Siberian Railway
- Despite the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was this not enough for such a large country?
Absolutely! This was not enough; the railways could not cope. Why am I talking about this? When food shortages began in Petrograd and Moscow, what does Alexandra Fedorovna write to her husband? "Our Friend advises (Friend – that’s what Alexandra Fedorovna called Rasputin in her correspondence. – ed.): order one or two wagons with food to be attached to each train that is sent to the front.” To write something like this means that you are completely unaware of what is happening. This is a search for simple solutions, solutions to a problem whose roots do not lie in this at all! What is one or two carriages for the multimillion-dollar Petrograd and Moscow?..
Yet it grew!
Prince Felix Yusupov, participant in the conspiracy against Rasputin
Two or three years ago we received the Yusupov archive - Viktor Fedorovich Vekselberg bought it and donated it to the State Archives. This archive contains letters from teacher Felix Yusupov in the Corps of Pages, who went with Yusupov to Rakitnoye, where he was exiled after participating in the murder of Rasputin. Two weeks before the revolution he returned to Petrograd. And he writes to Felix, who is still in Rakitnoye: “Can you imagine that in two weeks I have not seen or eaten a single piece of meat?” No meat! Bakeries are closed because there is no flour. And this is not the result of some malicious conspiracy, as is sometimes written about, which is complete nonsense and nonsense. And evidence of the crisis that has gripped the country.
The leader of the Kadet Party, Miliukov, speaks in the State Duma - he seems to be a wonderful historian, a wonderful person, but what does he say from the Duma rostrum? He throws accusation after accusation at the government, of course, addressing them to Nicholas II, and ends each passage with the words: “What is this? Stupidity or treason? The word “treason” has already been thrown around.
It's always easy to blame your failures on someone else. It’s not us who fight badly, it’s treason! Rumors begin to circulate that the Empress has a direct golden cable laid from Tsarskoe Selo to Wilhelm’s headquarters, that she is selling state secrets. When she arrives at headquarters, the officers are defiantly silent in her presence. It's like a snowball growing! The economy, the railway crisis, failures at the front, the political crisis, Rasputin, the family split - all these are elements of a great crisis, which ultimately led to the abdication of the emperor and the collapse of the monarchy.
By the way, I am sure that those people who thought about the abdication of Nicholas II, and he himself, did not at all imagine that this was the end of the monarchy. Why? Because they had no experience of political struggle, they did not understand that horses cannot be changed in midstream! Therefore, the commanders of the fronts, one and all, wrote to Nicholas that in order to save the Motherland and continue the war, he must abdicate the throne.
About the situation at the beginning of the war
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
At the beginning the war was successful. Every day a crowd of Muscovites staged patriotic demonstrations in the park opposite our house. People in the front rows held flags and portraits of the Emperor and Empress. With their heads uncovered, they sang the national anthem, shouted words of approval and greeting, and calmly dispersed. People perceived it as entertainment. Enthusiasm took on more and more violent forms, but the authorities did not want to interfere with this expression of loyal feelings, people refused to leave the square and disperse. The last gathering turned into rampant drinking and ended with bottles and rocks being thrown at our windows. The police were called and lined up along the sidewalk to block access to our house. Excited shouts and dull murmurs from the crowd could be heard from the street all night.
About the bomb in the temple and changing moods
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
On the eve of Easter, when we were in Tsarskoe Selo, a conspiracy was discovered. Two members of a terrorist organization, disguised as singers, tried to sneak into the choir, which sang at services in the palace church. Apparently, they planned to carry bombs under their clothes and detonate them in the church during the Easter service. The emperor, although he knew about the conspiracy, went with his family to church as usual. Many people were arrested that day. Nothing happened, but it was the saddest service I have ever attended.
Abdication of the throne by Emperor Nicholas II.
There are still myths about the abdication - that it had no legal force, or that the emperor was forced to abdicate...
This just surprises me! How can you say such nonsense? You see, the renunciation manifesto was published in all newspapers, in all of them! And in the year and a half that Nikolai lived after this, he never once said: “No, they forced me to do this, this is not my real renunciation!”
The attitude towards the emperor and empress in society is also “steps down”: from admiration and devotion to ridicule and aggression?
When Rasputin was killed, Nicholas II was at headquarters in Mogilev, and the Empress was in the capital. What is she doing? Alexandra Fedorovna calls the Petrograd Chief of Police and gives orders to arrest Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Yusupov, participants in the murder of Rasputin. This caused an explosion of indignation in the family. Who is she?! What right does she have to give orders to arrest someone? This proves 100% who rules us - not Nikolai, but Alexandra!
Then the family (mother, grand dukes and grand duchesses) turned to Nikolai with a request not to punish Dmitry Pavlovich. Nikolai put a resolution on the document: “I am surprised by your appeal to me. No one is allowed to kill! A decent answer? Of course yes! No one dictated this to him, he himself wrote it from the depths of his soul.
In general, Nicholas II as a person can be respected - he was an honest, decent person. But not too smart and without a strong will.
“I don’t feel sorry for myself, but I feel sorry for the people”
Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna
The famous phrase of Nicholas II after his abdication: “I don’t feel sorry for myself, but feel sorry for the people.” He really rooted for the people, for the country. How much did he know his people?
Let me give you an example from another area. When Maria Feodorovna married Alexander Alexandrovich and when they - then the Tsarevich and the Tsarevna - were traveling around Russia, she described such a situation in her diary. She, who grew up in a rather poor but democratic Danish royal court, could not understand why her beloved Sasha did not want to communicate with the people. He doesn’t want to leave the ship on which they were traveling to see the people, he doesn’t want to accept bread and salt, he’s absolutely not interested in all this.
But she arranged it so that he had to get off at one of the points on their route where they landed. He did everything flawlessly: he received the elders, bread and salt, and charmed everyone. He came back and... gave her a wild scandal: he stomped his feet and broke a lamp. She was terrified! Her sweet and beloved Sasha, who throws a kerosene lamp on the wooden floor, is about to set everything on fire! She couldn't understand why? Because the unity of the king and the people was like a theater where everyone played their roles.
Even chronicle footage of Nicholas II sailing away from Kostroma in 1913 has been preserved. People go chest-deep into the water, stretch out their hands to him, this is the Tsar-Father... and after 4 years these same people sing shameful ditties about both the Tsar and the Tsarina!
- The fact that, for example, his daughters were sisters of mercy, was that also theater?
No, I think it was sincere. They were, after all, deeply religious people, and, of course, Christianity and charity are practically synonymous. The girls really were sisters of mercy, Alexandra Fedorovna really assisted during operations. Some of the daughters liked it, some not so much, but they were no exception among the imperial family, among the House of Romanov. They gave up their palaces for hospitals - there was a hospital in the Winter Palace, and not only the emperor’s family, but also other grand duchesses. Men fought, and women did mercy. So mercy is not just ostentatious.
Princess Tatiana in the hospital
Alexandra Fedorovna - sister of mercy
Princesses with the wounded in the infirmary of Tsarskoe Selo, winter 1915-16
But in a sense, any court action, any court ceremony is a theater, with its own script, with its own characters, and so on.
Nikolay II and Alexandra Fedorovna in the hospital for the wounded
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
The Empress, who spoke Russian very well, walked around the wards and talked for a long time with each patient. I walked behind and not so much listened to the words - she told everyone the same thing - but watched the expressions on their faces. Despite the empress's sincere sympathy for the suffering of the wounded, something prevented her from expressing her true feelings and comforting those to whom she addressed. Although she spoke Russian correctly and almost without an accent, people did not understand her: her words did not find a response in their souls. They looked at her in fear when she approached and started a conversation. I visited hospitals with the emperor more than once. His visits looked different. The Emperor behaved simply and charmingly. With his appearance, a special atmosphere of joy arose. Despite his small stature, he always seemed taller than everyone present and moved from bed to bed with extraordinary dignity. After a short conversation with him, the expression of anxious expectation in the eyes of the patients was replaced by joyful animation.
1917 - This year marks the 100th anniversary of the revolution. How, in your opinion, should we talk about it, how should we approach discussing this topic? Ipatiev House
How was the decision made about their canonization? “Digged”, as you say, weighed. After all, the commission did not immediately declare him a martyr; there were quite big disputes on this matter. It was not for nothing that he was canonized as a passion-bearer, as one who gave his life for the Orthodox faith. Not because he was an emperor, not because he was an outstanding statesman, but because he did not abandon Orthodoxy. Until the very end of their martyrdom, the royal family constantly invited priests to serve mass, even in the Ipatiev House, not to mention Tobolsk. The family of Nicholas II was a deeply religious family.
- But even about canonization there are different opinions.
They were canonized as passion-bearers - what different opinions could there be?
Some insist that the canonization was hasty and politically motivated. What can I say to this?
From the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, pChairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints at the Bishops' Jubilee Council
... Behind the many sufferings endured by the Royal Family over the last 17 months of their lives, which ended with execution in the basement of the Ekaterinburg Ipatiev House on the night of July 17, 1918, we see people who sincerely sought to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom, the evil-conquering light of Christ's faith was revealed, just as it shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians who suffered persecution for Christ in the twentieth century. It is in understanding this feat of the Royal Family that the Commission, in complete unanimity and with the approval of the Holy Synod, finds it possible to glorify in the Council the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in the guise of the passion-bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.
- How do you generally assess the level of discussions about Nicholas II, about the imperial family, about 1917 today?
What is a discussion? How can you debate with the ignorant? In order to say something, a person must know at least something; if he does not know anything, it is useless to discuss with him. So much garbage has appeared about the royal family and the situation in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century in recent years. But what is encouraging is that there are also very serious works, for example, studies by Boris Nikolaevich Mironov, Mikhail Abramovich Davydov, who are engaged in economic history. So Boris Nikolaevich Mironov has a wonderful work, where he analyzed the metric data of people who were called up for military service. When a person was called up for service, his height, weight, and so on were measured. Mironov was able to establish that in the fifty years that passed after the liberation of the serfs, the height of conscripts increased by 6-7 centimeters!
- So you started eating better?
Certainly! Life has become better! But what did Soviet historiography talk about? “Aggravation, higher than usual, of the needs and misfortunes of the oppressed classes,” “relative impoverishment,” “absolute impoverishment,” and so on. In fact, as I understand it, if you believe the works I named - and I have no reason not to believe them - the revolution occurred not because people began to live worse, but because, paradoxical as it may sound, it was better began to live! But everyone wanted to live even better. The situation of the people even after the reform was extremely difficult, the situation was terrible: the working day was 11 hours, terrible working conditions, but in the village they began to eat better and dress better. There was a protest against the slow movement forward; I wanted to go faster.
Sergey Mironenko.
Photo: Alexander Bury / russkiymir.ru
They don’t seek good from good, in other words? Sounds threatening...
Why?
Because I can’t help but want to draw an analogy with our days: over the past 25 years, people have learned that they can live better...
They don’t seek good from goodness, yes. For example, the Narodnaya Volya revolutionaries who killed Alexander II, the Tsar-Liberator, were also unhappy. Although he is a king-liberator, he is indecisive! If he doesn’t want to go further with reforms, he needs to be pushed. If he doesn’t go, we need to kill him, we need to kill those who oppress the people... You can’t isolate yourself from this. We need to understand why this all happened. I don’t advise you to draw analogies with today, because analogies are usually wrong.
Usually today they repeat something else: the words of Klyuchevsky that history is an overseer who punishes for ignorance of its lessons; that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes...
Of course, you need to know history not only in order to avoid making previous mistakes. I think the main thing for which you need to know your history is in order to feel like a citizen of your country. Without knowing your own history, you cannot be a citizen, in the truest sense of the word.
The upbringing he received under the guidance of his father was strict, almost harsh. “I need normal, healthy Russian children” - this was the demand the emperor put forward to the educators of his children. Such an upbringing could only be Orthodox in spirit. Even as a small child, the Tsarevich showed special love for God and His Church. The heir received a very good education at home - he knew several languages, studied Russian and world history, had a deep understanding of military affairs, and was a widely erudite person. But the father’s plans to prepare his son to bear his royal duty were not destined to be fully realized.
The first meeting of the sixteen-year-old heir Nicholas Alexandrovich and the young princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt took place in the year when her elder sister, the future Martyr Elizabeth, married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Tsarevich's uncle. A strong friendship began between them, which then turned into deep and ever-increasing love. When, having reached adulthood, the heir turned to his parents with a request to bless him for marriage with Princess Alice, his father refused, citing his youth as the reason for the refusal. Then he resigned himself to his father’s will, but in the year, seeing the unshakable determination of his son, usually soft and even timid in communicating with his father, Emperor Alexander III gave his blessing for the marriage.
The joy of mutual love was overshadowed by a sharp deterioration in the health of Emperor Alexander III, who died on October 20 of the year. Despite the mourning, it was decided not to postpone the wedding, but it took place in the most modest atmosphere on November 14 of the year. The days of family happiness that followed soon gave way for the new emperor to the need to assume the entire burden of governing the Russian Empire, despite the fact that he was not yet fully introduced to the highest state affairs.
Reign
The character of Nikolai Alexandrovich, who was twenty-six years old at the time of his accession, and his worldview by this time were completely determined. Persons standing close to the court noted his lively mind - he always quickly grasped the essence of the questions presented to him, his excellent memory, especially for faces, and the nobility of his way of thinking. At the same time, Nikolai Alexandrovich, with his gentleness, tact in his address, and modest manners, gave many the impression of a man who did not inherit the strong will of his father.
The guidance for Emperor Nicholas II was his father’s political testament:
“I bequeath to you to love everything that serves the good, honor and dignity of Russia. Protect autocracy, bearing in mind that you are responsible for the fate of your subjects before the Throne of the Most High. Let faith in God and the holiness of your royal duty be the basis of your life. Be strong and courageous, never show weakness. Listen to everyone, there is nothing shameful in this, but listen to yourself and your conscience".
From the very beginning of his reign as a Russian power, Emperor Nicholas II treated the duties of a monarch as a sacred duty. The Emperor deeply believed that for the Russian people, royal power was and remains sacred. He always had the idea that the king and queen should be closer to the people, see them more often and trust them more. Having become the supreme ruler of a huge empire, Nikolai Alexandrovich took upon himself enormous historical and moral responsibility for everything that happened in the state entrusted to him. He considered one of his most important duties to be the preservation of the Orthodox faith.
Emperor Nicholas II paid great attention to the needs of the Orthodox Church throughout his reign. Like all Russian emperors, he donated generously for the construction of new churches, including outside Russia. During the years of his reign, the number of parish churches in the empire increased by more than 10 thousand, and more than 250 new monasteries were opened. He himself participated in the laying of new churches and other church celebrations. The personal piety of the Sovereign was also manifested in the fact that during the years of his reign more saints were canonized than in the two previous centuries, when only 5 saints were glorified - during his reign, St. Theodosius of Chernigov (), Rev. Seraphim of Sarov (city), Holy Princess Anna Kashinskaya (restoration of veneration in the city), Saint Joasaph of Belgorod (city), Saint Hermogen of Moscow (city), Saint Pitirim of Tambov (city), Saint John of Tobolsk (city) . At the same time, the emperor was forced to show special persistence, seeking the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Saints Joasaph of Belgorod and John of Tobolsk. Emperor Nicholas II highly revered the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt and after his blessed death he ordered a nationwide prayerful commemoration of him on the day of his repose.
During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the synodal system of governing the Church was preserved, but it was under him that the church hierarchy had the opportunity not only to widely discuss, but also to practically prepare for the convening of a Local Council.
The desire to introduce Christian religious and moral principles of his worldview into public life has always distinguished the foreign policy of Emperor Nicholas II. Back in the year, he approached the governments of Europe with a proposal to convene a conference to discuss issues of maintaining peace and reducing arms. The consequence of this was the peace conferences in The Hague throughout the years, whose decisions have not lost their significance to this day.
But, despite the sovereign’s sincere desire for peace, during his reign Russia had to participate in two bloody wars, which led to internal unrest. In the year without a declaration of war, Japan began military operations against Russia, and the result of this difficult war for Russia was the revolutionary turmoil of the year. The sovereign perceived the unrest taking place in the country as a great personal sorrow.
Few people communicated with the Emperor informally. And everyone who knew his family life first-hand noted the amazing simplicity, mutual love and agreement of all members of this closely knit family. The children's relationship with the sovereign was touching - he was for them at the same time a king, a father and a comrade; their feelings changed depending on the circumstances, moving from almost religious worship to complete trust and the most cordial friendship.
But the center of the family was Alexey Nikolaevich, on whom all affections and hopes were concentrated. His incurable illness cast a shadow over the family's life, but the nature of the illness remained a state secret, and his parents often had to hide their feelings. At the same time, the illness of the Tsarevich opened the doors to the palace to those people who were recommended to the royal family as healers and prayer books. Among them, the peasant Grigory Rasputin appears in the palace, whose healing abilities gave him great influence at court, which, together with the notoriety that spread about him, undermined the faith and loyalty of many to the imperial house.
At the beginning of the war, on a wave of patriotism in Russia, internal disagreements largely subsided, and even the most difficult issues became solvable. It was possible to implement the sovereign's long-planned ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages for the entire duration of the war - his conviction in the usefulness of this measure was stronger than all economic considerations.
The Emperor regularly traveled to Headquarters, visiting various sectors of his huge army, dressing stations, military hospitals, rear factories - everything that played a role in waging a grandiose war.
From the beginning of the war, the Emperor considered his tenure as Supreme Commander-in-Chief as the fulfillment of a moral and national duty to God and the people. However, the Emperor always provided leading military specialists with broad initiative in resolving all military-strategic and operational-tactical issues. On August 22 of the year, the sovereign left for Mogilev to take command of all the armed forces of Russia and from that day on he was constantly at Headquarters. Only about once a month did the Emperor come to Tsarskoe Selo for a few days. All important decisions were made by him, but at the same time he instructed the empress to maintain relations with the ministers and keep him informed of what was happening in the capital.
Imprisonment and execution
“If I am an obstacle to the happiness of Russia and all the social forces now at the head of it ask me to leave the throne and hand it over to my son and brother, then I am ready to do this, I am even ready to give not only my kingdom, but also my life for the Motherland. I think no one who knows me doubts this.".
“My renunciation is needed. The point is that in the name of saving Russia and keeping the army at the front calm, you need to decide to take this step. I agreed... At one o'clock in the morning I left Pskov with a heavy feeling of what I had experienced. There is treason and cowardice and deceit all around!”
For the last time, he addressed his troops, calling on them to be loyal to the Provisional Government, the very one that arrested him, to fulfill their duty to the Motherland until complete victory. The farewell order to the troops, which expressed the nobility of the Tsar’s soul, his love for the army, and faith in it, was hidden from the people by the Provisional Government, which banned its publication.
The Emperor accepted and endured all the trials sent down to him firmly, meekly and without a shadow of a murmur. On March 9, the emperor, who had been arrested the day before, was transported to Tsarskoe Selo, where the whole family was eagerly awaiting him. An almost five-month period of indefinite stay in Tsarskoe Selo began. The days passed in a measured manner - with regular services, shared meals, walks, reading and communication with family. However, at the same time, the life of the prisoners was subjected to petty restrictions - the sovereign was told by A.F. Kerensky that he should live separately and see the empress only at the table, and speak only in Russian, the guard soldiers made rude remarks to him, access to the palace Persons close to the royal family were prohibited. One day, soldiers even took away a toy gun from the heir under the pretext of a ban on carrying weapons. Father Afanasy Belyaev, who regularly performed divine services in the Alexander Palace during this period, left his testimonies about the spiritual life of Tsarskoye Selo prisoners. This is how the Good Friday Matins service took place in the palace on March 30 of the year:
“The service was reverent and touching... Their Majesties listened to the entire service while standing. Folding lecterns were placed in front of them, on which the Gospels lay, so that they could follow the reading. Everyone stood until the end of the service and left through the common hall to their rooms. You have to see for yourself and be so close to understand and see how the former royal family fervently, in the Orthodox manner, often on their knees, prays to God. With what humility, meekness, and humility, having completely surrendered themselves to the will of God, they stand behind the divine service.”.
In the palace Church or in the former royal chambers, Father Athanasius regularly celebrated the all-night vigil and Divine Liturgy, which were always attended by all members of the imperial family. After the Day of the Holy Trinity, alarming messages appeared more and more often in the diary of Father Afanasy - he noted the growing irritation of the guards, sometimes reaching the point of rudeness towards the royal family. The spiritual state of the members of the royal family does not go unnoticed by him - yes, they all suffered, he notes, but along with the suffering their patience and prayer increased.
Meanwhile, the Provisional Government appointed a commission to investigate the activities of the emperor, but, despite all efforts, they could not find anything discrediting the king. However, instead of releasing the royal family, a decision was made to remove them from Tsarskoe Selo - on the night of August 1, they were sent to Tobolsk, allegedly due to possible unrest, and arrived there on August 6. The first weeks of my stay in Tobolsk were perhaps the calmest during the entire period of imprisonment. On September 8, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the prisoners were allowed to go to church for the first time. Subsequently, this consolation extremely rarely fell to their lot.
“He made this decision [to renounce] only in the hope that those who wanted to remove him would still be able to continue the war with honor and would not ruin the cause of saving Russia. He was afraid then that his refusal to sign the renunciation would lead to civil war in the sight of the enemy. The Tsar did not want even a drop of Russian blood to be shed because of him... It was painful for the Emperor to now see the futility of his sacrifice and realize that, having in mind then only the good of his homeland, he had harmed it with his renunciation.”.
Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks had already come to power in Petrograd - a period had begun about which the Emperor wrote in his diary: “much worse and more shameful than the events of the Time of Troubles.” The soldiers guarding the governor's house warmed up to the royal family, and several months passed after the Bolshevik coup before the change in power began to affect the situation of the prisoners. In Tobolsk, a “soldiers’ committee” was formed, which, in every possible way striving for self-affirmation, demonstrated its power over the Sovereign - they either forced him to take off his shoulder straps, or destroyed the ice slide built for the royal children, and from March 1 of the year “Nikolai Romanov and his family were transferred to soldier's ration." The letters and diaries of members of the imperial family testify to the deep experience of the tragedy that unfolded before their eyes. But this tragedy did not deprive the royal prisoners of fortitude, firm faith and hope for God’s help. Consolation and meekness in enduring sorrows were provided by prayer, reading spiritual books, worship and Communion. In suffering and trials, spiritual knowledge, knowledge of oneself, one’s soul increased. Aspiration towards eternal life helped to endure suffering and gave great consolation:
“...Everything that I love suffers, there is no end to all the dirt and suffering, but the Lord does not allow despondency: He protects from despair, gives strength, confidence in a bright future even in this world.”.
In March it became known that a separate peace with Germany had been concluded in Brest, about which the sovereign wrote that it was “tantamount to suicide.” The first Bolshevik detachment arrived in Tobolsk on Tuesday, April 22. Commissioner Yakovlev inspected the house, met the prisoners, and a few days later announced that he had to take the Emperor away, assuring that nothing bad would happen to him. Assuming that they wanted to send him to Moscow to sign a separate peace with Germany, the sovereign said firmly: “I’d rather let my hand be cut off than sign this shameful treaty.” The heir was ill at that time, and it was impossible to transport him, but the Empress and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna followed the emperor and were transported to Yekaterinburg, for imprisonment in the Ipatiev house. When the Heir's health improved, the rest of the family from Tobolsk were imprisoned in the same house, but most of those close to them were not allowed.
There is much less evidence left about the Yekaterinburg period of imprisonment of the Royal Family - there are almost no letters; basically this period is known only from brief entries in the emperor’s diary and the testimony of witnesses. Particularly valuable is the testimony of Archpriest John Storozhev, who performed the last services in the Ipatiev House. Father John served mass there twice on Sundays; the first time it was on May 20 (June 2), when, according to his testimony, members of the royal family “Prayed very earnestly...”. Living conditions in the “special purpose house” were much more difficult than in Tobolsk. The guard consisted of 12 soldiers who lived in close proximity to the prisoners and ate with them at the same table. Commissar Avdeev, an inveterate drunkard, worked every day together with his subordinates to invent new humiliations for the prisoners. I had to put up with hardships, endure bullying and submit to the demands of rude people, including former criminals. The royal couple and princesses had to sleep on the floor, without beds. During lunch, a family of seven was given only five spoons; The guards sitting at the same table smoked, brazenly blew smoke into the faces of the prisoners, and rudely took food from them. A walk in the garden was allowed once a day, at first for 15-20 minutes, and then no more than five. The behavior of the guards was completely indecent.
Only Doctor Evgeny Botkin remained near the royal family, who surrounded the prisoners with care and acted as a mediator between them and the commissars, trying to protect them from the rudeness of the guards, and several tried and true servants.
The faith of the prisoners supported their courage and gave them strength and patience in suffering. They all understood the possibility of a quick end and expected it with nobility and clarity of spirit. One of Olga Nikolaevna’s letters contains the following lines:
“The father asks to tell all those who remained devoted to him, and those on whom they may have influence, that they do not avenge him, since he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and that they do not avenge themselves, and that they remember, that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger, but that it is not evil that will defeat evil, but only love.”.
Most of the evidence speaks of the prisoners of the Ipatiev House as suffering people, but deeply religious, undoubtedly submissive to the will of God. Despite the bullying and insults, they led a decent family life in Ipatiev’s house, trying to brighten up the depressing situation with mutual communication, prayer, reading and feasible activities. One of the witnesses to their life in captivity, the heir’s teacher Pierre Gilliard, wrote:
“The Tsar and Empress believed that they were dying as martyrs for their homeland... Their true greatness stemmed not from their royal dignity, but from that amazing moral height to which they gradually rose... And in their very humiliation they were an amazing manifestation of that amazing clarity of the soul, against which all violence and all rage are powerless and which triumphs in death itself.”.
Even the rude guards gradually softened in their interactions with the prisoners. They were surprised by their simplicity, they were captivated by their dignified spiritual clarity, and they soon felt the superiority of those whom they thought to keep in their power. Even Commissar Avdeev himself relented. This change did not escape the eyes of the Bolshevik authorities. Avdeev was replaced by Yurovsky, the guards were replaced by Austro-German prisoners and people chosen from among the executioners of the “Chreka.” The life of its inhabitants turned into continuous martyrdom. On July 1 (14), Father John Storozhev performed the last divine service in the Ipatiev House. Meanwhile, in the strictest secrecy from the prisoners, preparations were made for their execution.
Along with the imperial family, their servants who followed their masters into exile were also shot: Dr.