OCTOBER 18 IS THE NAME DAY OF THE HEIR CERESARVICH AND GRAND DUKE ALEXIY. HAPPY HOLIDAY, YOUR IMPERIAL HIGHNESS!
“When I am King, there will be no poor and unhappy people. I want everyone to be happy.” - Heir to the Russian throne Tsarevich Alexy Nikolaevich Romanov
The resolution of the Holy Synod of August 25, 1904 established the following order of church celebration on the name day of the Sovereign Heir: “In order to preserve the anciently established celebration on October 5 of the four Moscow saints. Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip [St. Hermogenes will be glorified in 1913], to send for the future the all-night vigil scheduled for this day to the indicated four saints; a prayer service, on the occasion of the name day of His Imperial Highness the Heir Tsarevich Alexy Nikolaevich, should be performed on this day to one Saint Alexy” (Church Gazette 1904. No. 37).
In October 1904, in the Chudov Monastery, near the relics of St. Alexy was consecrated with an icon depicting St. Alexy the Metropolitan and Saint John the Warrior. The image was taken to the famous Kutuzov hut and placed there to commemorate the birth of the Tsarevich. On October 5, on the day of the Heir’s namesake, the foundation stone of the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov at the school named after the Tsarevich was founded on the farmstead of the Moscow Nikitsky Monastery near the Lobnya station.
The birth of the Heir was also the reason for the emergence of a new brotherhood of St. in Moscow. Alexia. In November 1904, a school was consecrated in the building of the Savvinsky Metochion on Tverskaya. The goals of the Alekseevsky Brotherhood were the most noble: “charity and education of homeless and morally abandoned children.” Bishop Seraphim (Golubyatnikov) of Mozhaisk became the chairman of the brotherhood.
In one of the letters to the Heir Tsarevich from the Active Army on January 05, 1915 we read: “The portrait of Your Highness, after many changes from hand to hand, from comrade to comrade, fortunately, came to me. I was very happy and thanked my fellow soldiers for respecting me, I sent this beloved gift to my little sons Kolya and Zhenya in the village with in the following words: “Young future warriors! Take care of the future God's Anointed, your future Emperor, whom you will soon serve, defending the faith, the Royal Family and our Fatherland” [...] I hope that they too will be very happy to receive an invaluable portrait and get acquainted with their Guide. God bless you for the good of the people - Tsarevich.”
IN last time The Royal Martyrs celebrated the name day of the Tsarevich in Tobolsk in 1917 “On Alexei’s name day,” we read in the Tsar’s diary, “we didn’t get to church because of the stubbornness of Mr. Pankratov [temporary commissioner. government], and at 11 o'clock. We had a prayer service."
It was a begged-for child: for ten years, all of Orthodox Russia, and first of all the Royal Family itself, prayed and waited for the birth of the heir to the throne. The youngest of the children in the Emperor's family, Tsarevich Alexy was born after long prayers of the Tsar and Queen.
It is important that physical pain did not touch his soul in any way and spiritually he was completely healthy child. He had a clear mind, strong will and concentration. According to the recollections of people who knew the Heir closely, he did not boast of his position, but at the same time, from his childhood, he was perfectly aware of the mission prepared for him.
And he had all the necessary qualities for this. He had excellent knowledge of Russia and spoke several languages fluently.
He had a strong will, which was not just an inherited quality, but developed and strengthened due to frequent physical suffering. He was used to being disciplined and did not like court etiquette. He could not stand lies and would not have tolerated them around him if he had to be the Russian Tsar. He harmoniously combined the features of his august father and mother. From his father he inherited his simplicity. Hardness comes from the mother.
At just 14 years old, he understood a lot in life and understood a lot about people. He was unusually patient, very careful, disciplined and demanding of himself and others.
The Tsarevich was a bright warrior of Holy Rus'. According to tradition, grand dukes became chiefs or officers of guard regiments on their birthday. Alexey became the chief of the 12th East Siberian rifle regiment, and later others military units and ataman of all Cossack troops. The Emperor introduced him to Russian military history, the structure of the army and the peculiarities of its life, he organized a detachment of the sons of lower ranks under the leadership of the “uncle” Tsarevich Derevenko and managed to instill in the heir a love of military affairs. Alexey was often present at the reception of deputations and at parades of troops, and during the First World War he visited the active army with his father, awarded distinguished soldiers, and was himself awarded a silver medal. St. George medal 4th degree.
The Tsarevich spent almost the entire 1916 with his father at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev. The prince loved to wear protective military uniform, high Russian boots, was proud that he looked like a real soldier. After visiting Headquarters, the Tsarevich’s favorite food became “cabbage soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat,” as he always said. The smile, look, gait of the young heir, his habit of waving his left hand - all this was reminiscent of the manners of the Sovereign.
Childhood suffering gave birth to deep faith and trust in God. All his relatives noted his religiosity. Letters from the Tsarevich have been preserved, in which he congratulates his relatives on the holidays, and his poem “Christ is Risen!”, sent by him to his grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
We believe that by the providence of God, Alexei Nikolaevich was destined for a special bright reign, a great feat and service to Russia. This could have been one of the brightest eras in Russian history. Let us not be embarrassed by ill-wishers of his illness - that, they say, he would still not be able to rule the country for a long time. It was not the hemophilia from which Alexey Nikolaevich suffered that became the cause of his death. It is known that you can live with this diagnosis for quite a long time.
Alexey Nikolaevich embodies exactly that future Russia that we lost...
Despite his childhood, the Tsarevich endured all the suffering that befell the Royal Family - imprisonment, betrayal by those around him, humiliation, bullying.
In Ipatiev’s house, Tsarevich Alexy was constantly ill and could only move in a special wheelchair. The emperor carried the heir in his arms to the basement of the house.
Here, together with the entire Royal Family, he was RITUALLY KILLED at 1:15 a.m. from July 16 to July 17, 1918.
For the Youth - for the Dove - for the Son,
For Tsarevich Young Alexy
Pray, church Russia!
Wipe the eyes of the angels,
Remember how you fell on the slabs
Uglitsky pigeon - Dimitri.
You are affectionate, Russia, mother!
Oh, don't you have enough?
On him - loving grace?
Do not punish a father's sin on his son.
Save, peasant Russia,
Tsarskoye Selo lamb - Alexia!
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To the 400th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty
In 2013, Russia celebrates a great historical date - the 400th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty. Our newsletter has already published a message dedicated to this date. The series of articles continues the story about the Tsarevich Alexei, son of Nikolai II , the last tsar of the Romanov family.
"I want everyone to be happy"
August 1904, the only son of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, heir to the throne, was born in Peterhof Russian Empire Tsarevich Alexei. He was the fifth and very long-awaited child of the royal couple, for whom they prayed a lot and fervently. In honor of the birth of the heir to the Russian throne, 300 cannon salvoes thundered in Peterhof. They were echoed by the guns of Kronstadt, followed by the batteries of the Peter and Paul Fortress. All over Russia they fired cannons, rang bells, and hung flags. Tsarevich Alexey Nikolaevich Romanov was the first to XVII century heir to the throne, born to the reigning emperor. According to tradition, in connection with the birth of an heir, charitable organizations were established.Since Russia was at war with Japan at that time, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna organized a military ambulance train in October 1904name of the heir – Ts Tsarevich Alexei, and in 1905 the Alekseevsky Committee was established to provide assistance to children who lost their fathers in the Russian-Japanese War.
The parents' joy at the birth of the heir to the throne and the entire childhood of the Tsarevich himself were overshadowed by a serious illness - hemophilia (incoagulability), which he inherited on his mother's side from his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of England. The disease caused the child a lot of suffering: from any blow, bruise, or abrasion, a blue tumor appeared from internal hemorrhage, causing severe pain. The boy required constant supervision and vigilance, and special care. Two sailors from the imperial yacht “Standart” were assigned to him: the boatswain Derevenko and his assistant Nagorny.
Teacher of the royal childrenPierre Gilliard in my memories wrote that Alexei was the center of the closely knit Royal family, all affections and hopes were focused on him. “His sisters adored him and he was the joy of his parents. When he was healthy, the whole palace seemed to be transformed; it was a ray of sunshine that illuminated both things and those around us.” “He thoroughly enjoyed life when he could, like a playful and cheerful boy. His tastes were very modest. He was not at all proud of the fact that he was the heir to the throne; this was the last thing he thought about. His greatest happiness was playing with the two sons of the sailor Derevenko, who were both somewhat younger than him. He had great quickness of mind and judgment and a lot of thoughtfulness. He sometimes amazed me with questions above his age, which testified to a delicate and sensitive soul.”
One day, his older sister Olga saw him lying on the ground and looking at the sky. She asked what he was doing. “I like to think and reflect,” Alexey answered. Olga asked what he liked to think about. “Oh, a lot of things,” the boy answered, “I enjoy the sun and the beauty of summer while I can. Who knows, maybe one of these days I won’t be able to do this anymore.”
Everyone who knew Tsarevich Alexei noted that he had a soft and kind heart, could not harm anyone, and was not arrogant or harsh with others. He inherited simplicity from his father. There was no complacency or arrogance in him at all. Alexei especially quickly became attached to ordinary people. He loved his “uncle” Derevenko tenderly and touchingly, and took an ardent part if the servants had any misfortune. With interest and deep attention, he peered into the lives of ordinary people and often said: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy! I want everyone to be happy."
In Peterhof parkAlexandria The crown prince had his own field, onwhich planted rye and at the end of summer he squeezed it with a sickle,to better feel the work of ordinary people. Alexey loved everything Russian. Alexey's favorite musical instrument was the balalaika, and he played it very well.
Boy He was very careful, demanding of himself and others, and disciplined, but, like his parents, he did not like court etiquette. He could not stand lies and did not tolerate them around him. His patience and strong will developed and strengthened even more due to frequent physical suffering.
The prince loved his family very much. His father was an idol for Alexei, the boy tried to imitate him in everything. Sincerely respecting all elders, Alexey did not submit to outside influence and obeyed only his father. Tsar Nicholas II once said about his son to the minister: “Yes, it will not be as easy for you to cope with him as with me.”
All of Alexei’s relatives noted his religiosity. Together with his entire family, he attended services in the temple. His parents taught him to pray. Letters from the Tsarevich have been preserved, in which he congratulates his relatives on church holidays, and his poem “Christ is Risen!”, sent by him to his grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. His letters to his mother, when they were apart, always ended with the words: “Lord God bless you and your sisters!” In 1910, Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem, knowing about the piety of the heir, gave him for Easter an icon of the “Resurrection of Christ” with particles of stones from the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha.
At about seven years old, Alexey began to study. Like everyone else immediate family, he was educated at home. The classes were led by the Empress herself, who also chose the teachers. Alexey began to study the Law of God, the Russian language, and arithmetic. A little later geography, French and English languages. Parents deliberately delayed their son's education foreign languages so that he first of all develops a pure Russian accent.
The Tsarevich's classroom was furnished modestly, without luxury. On The cabinets stretching along the walls contained teaching aids, abacus, a map of the growth of Russia under the Romanovs, an educational collection of Ural minerals and rocks, and a microscope. Books of educational and military content were stored in the cabinets. There were especially many books on the history of the Romanov dynasty, published for the 300th anniversary of the dynasty. In addition, a collection of transparencies on the history of Russia, reproductions of artists, albums and various gifts were kept there. On the door is the lesson schedule and Suvorov’s testament.
As teachers noted, the heir was very smart and, like his sister Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, he grasped everything on the fly. Protopresviter Georgy Shavelsky wrote about the Tsarevich: “The Lord endowed the unfortunate boy with wonderful natural qualities: strong and quick mind, resourcefulness, kind and compassionate heart, charming simplicity among kings; spiritual beauty corresponded to physical beauty" .
Tsarevich Alexei with teachers (from left to right): P. Gilliard,
Palace Commandant V. Voeikov, S. Gibbs, P. Petrov
The life of Alexei Romanov from birth itselfwas subordinated to one thing - the future reign. According to tradition, all royal children - Grand Dukes - became chiefs or officers of guard regiments on their birthday. Tsarevich Alexei became the chief of the 12th East Siberian Rifle Regiment and ataman of all Cossack troops. He was included in the lists of twelve guards military units, because in accordance with tradition Russian Emperor must have been a military man. By the time he came of age, the heir must have already had a fairly high military rank and be listed as the commander of one of the battalions of a guards regiment.
Emperor Nicholas II He himself introduced his son to Russian military history, the structure of the army and the peculiarities of its life. To train the crown prince, he organized a detachment of sons of lower ranks under the leadership of “uncle” Derevenko. The father managed to instill in the heir not only a love of military affairs, but also veneration and respect for Russian soldiers, which he passed on from all the sovereign ancestors, who always taught to love the common soldier.
From the early childhood Alexey, together with his father, was often present at the reception of deputations and at the reviews of troops. Commander of the Cossack hundred P.N. Krasnov in his memoirs described an incident that occurred in January 1907. Nicholas II decided to show his heir to the Cossacks of the Life Guards Ataman Regiment. The Cossacks loved their young ataman and future emperor very much and were deeply devoted to him. When the Emperor and the Tsarevich walked past the Cossacks, Krasnov noted with annoyance that the Cossacks from his hundred had their sabers swaying. Krasnov followed the sovereign, and saw how the standard bent down, and tears flowed down the face of the stern sergeant.“And as the Tsar walked with the heir along the front, the Cossacks cried and sabers swayed in their rough, calloused hands. I couldn’t and didn’t want to stop this swing,” Krasnov recalled.
Alexei also loved his soldiers and was aware of his responsibilities to them, even when he was still a very small child. According to the memoirs of Yulia Den, maid of honor and friend of the Empress, he once played enthusiastically with his sisters. And then they reported that the Cossacks had come and asked permission to see the crown prince. The six-year-old child immediately stopped all games and important look declared: “Girls, go away, the heir will have a reception.”
In 1914, the First World War began. In August 1915, Nicholas II assumed duties Supreme Commander and moved from Tsarskoye Selo to Headquarters - the city of Mogilev. After some time, Tsarevich Alexei also moved to Headquarters with his father. Teachers and educators went after him. Alexey was then 12 years old, and his curriculum was adapted to the 4th–5th grade of a classical gymnasium. Classes lasted six days a week, 4 lessons a day. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of languages. The Sovereign Father believed that being at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief gave more life experience heir Russian Throne than all the classroom lessons combined. Corporal
Alexey Romanov proudly wore a regular soldier's uniform and high Russian boots. His favorite food was “cabbage soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat,” as he always said. Every day they brought him sampler of cabbage soup and porridge from the soldiers’ kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment. According to the recollections of those around him, the Tsarevich ate everything and still licked the spoon, beaming with pleasure and saying: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.”
Tsarevich Alexei spent almost the entire 1916 with his father, accompanied him on all trips to the active army, and awarded soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle. P. Gilliard recalls: “After the review, the Emperor approached the soldiers and entered into a simple conversation with some of them, asking them about the fierce battles in which they had participated. Alexey Nikolaevich followed his father step by step, listening with passionate interest to the stories of these people who had seen the proximity of death so many times. His usually expressive and moving face was full of tension from the effort he made not to miss a single word of what they were saying.” During the war, Tsarevich Alexei was awarded the silver St. George medal of the 4th degree. According to A.A. Mordvinov, the aide-de-camp of Nicholas II, the heir “promised to be not only a good, but also an outstanding monarch.”
Early March 1917 Emperor Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the throne not only for himself, but also for his son: “not wanting to part with our beloved son...” P. Gilliard described how he told this news to Tsarevich Alexei: “I explained to him then that the Sovereign had abdicated the throne in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich , who, in turn, dodged.
– But then who will be the Emperor?
– I don’t know, no one yet!..
Not a word about himself, not a hint of his rights as an heir. He blushed deeply and was excited. After several minutes of silence he said:
– If there is no longer a Tsar, who will rule Russia?
I explained to him that a Provisional Government had been formed, which would deal State affairs until the convening of the Constituent Assembly, and that then, perhaps, his uncle Michael would ascend to the throne. I was once again struck by the modesty of this child.”
Immediately after the abdication, the Royal Family was taken into custody in Tsarskoe Selo, and in August they were sent into exile in Tobolsk. There, Alexey fell down the stairs and received injuries, after which he could not walk for a long time. After moving to Yekaterinburg in the spring of 1918, his illness worsened. The life of the Royal Family in Yekaterinburg in the house of engineer Ipatiev was subject to a strict prison regime: isolation from outside world, meager food rations, an hour-long walk, searches, humiliation, hostility from the guards. But despite this, before last day Throughout his life, Alexey continued to study. The Emperor himself, his mother Alexandra Feodorovna, and physician Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin were involved in training his son. According to many testimonies, the Royal Family was not burdened by the forced isolation of life. They loved each other so much, they felt so good and interested in each other that the only thing that upset them was their concern for Russia and the manifestation of human rudeness and cruelty. In a tragic time, the family was united by common prayer, faith, hope and patience. Being surrounded by enemies, the prisoners turned to spiritual literature and strengthened themselves with the examples of the Savior and the holy martyrs.Alexey was always present at the service, sitting in a chair. At the head of his bed hung many icons on a gold chain.
Tsarevich Alexei did not live to see his fourteenth birthday for several weeks. On the night of July 17, 1918, he was shot along with his parents and sisters in the basement of the Ipatiev House.
In 2000, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church, the Royal Family was considered Russian Orthodox Church to the Face of the Saints.
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It’s hard to imagine what Russia would be like now if it hadn’t happened October Revolution 1917, which overthrew the Russian autocracy; if Tsarevich Alexei became the next Russian Tsar. Perhaps he would have been able to “turn Russia onto the spiritual path in a bloodless, evolutionary way,” as Teacher Lanello (Tsarevich Alexei in one of his previous incarnations) reports in his Message of December 27, 2010.
In his Message, Beloved Lanello reveals the relationship between those tragic events and the current state of Russia. He says that the new generation that has come into incarnation is karmically forced to work out the actions they committed in the past. But God always gives the opportunity to the souls of those people who at one time allowed rebellion against Him and His Laws to show the qualities of humility and faith and correct their mistakes, thereby opening new way for themselves and for Russia.
Olga Ivanova, Elena Ilyina
The relationship between the events of the beginning of the last century and this century in Russia
Beloved Lanello (Mark Prophet) ,
I AM Lanello, who has come to you again.
Today we will talk about something very important. We will talk about the current situation. AND for the most part we will talk about Russia. Not because our envoy is from Russia, but because some hopes of the Ascended Host are connected with this country.
You know that before my incarnation in America, I was incarnated in Russia. And by my birth, I had to lead Russia after the death of my father. For those who are not aware, I will say that I was Tsarevich Alexei. And this incarnation of mine was supposed to bring enlightened rule to Russia and those changes that would allow this country to begin fulfilling its main mission - to show a different path for the development of civilization. Namely, the spiritual path.
However, you know that there was a bloody coup and subsequent reprisals against the nation’s elite.
I will not go into all the political aspects of what happened now. I will only talk about the spiritual side of the processes that took place.
You remember Jesus. And do you remember King Herod, who ordered the slaughter of all male babies, because there was a prediction that he would come new king Jewish.
It has always been this way. There are forces that do not want changes, are afraid of them and are ready to deal with anyone who is a bearer of a new consciousness. And there are those who are ready to sacrifice themselves in order for new energies to triumph.
Before my incarnation as Tsarevich Alexei, I underwent serious training in the etheric abodes. I took exams for the right to be the one who can turn Russia onto the spiritual path in a bloodless, evolutionary way. However, as in the time of Jesus, there were forces that did not want Divine changes. And there was a riot.
The entire subsequent history of Russia in subsequent decades is a consequence of this rebellion. And to this day, Russia and those countries that were part of Russia are reaping the fruits of this rebellion.
It may seem strange that I turn your gaze to the past, and not to the best moments of this past, instead of directing your consciousness upward.
However, you must understand the processes taking place in order to be able to consciously act in the current conditions. About a hundred years have passed since the events that took place at the beginning of the last - twentieth - century. And now those individuals have come into embodiment who in past incarnations were those Red Guards and sailors who overthrew the autocracy. Rebellion, aggression and dissatisfaction with life, the desire to possess values to which they are not entitled Law of Karma, - these are the characteristic features that this new generation has. Among him distinctive features also – the absence of any moral ideals and spiritual aspirations.
And this generation is now entering adulthood.
But among young people there are also those who defended the foundations of faith. Who fought on the opposite side.
And no matter how strange it may seem to you, both among those and among others there were those who worked out a large layer of karma and received great merit. Yes, rebellion and lack of ideals are bad. Fighting against God and his servants is even worse. But the motive with which a person took action is important. And if he did this not out of internal aggression and a desire to seize power, but for the sake of a happy, bright future and his ideals, then his aspirations will be assessed by the Lords of Karma by completely different standards.
So how does this past relate to today? Very simple. The new generation, which is entering its working age now, is karmically forced to work out those actions or actions that they committed in the past.
You may not encounter obvious opposition at physically, as it was at the beginning of the last century, although this is not excluded. But the desire to undeservedly possess values, power, or who knows what else, and for the sake of this, the willingness to commit any crimes, not disdain any illegal actions, including murder and blasphemy - this desire must exhaust itself. And God gives the opportunity to the souls of those people who at one time allowed rebellion against God and His Laws to demonstrate the qualities of humility and faith.
There were crimes and selfless acts, even self-sacrifice, on both fighting sides. And now, along with aggression seeking a way out, we see examples of decent behavior on the part of many young people.
So, we are again faced with the need to work off karmic debts. In the last century, I was still a teenager and could not participate in those events. This time I am in an ascended state and can only give instructions through short Messages.
In any case, when a person understands what is happening, he can take conscious steps, primarily aimed at changing himself.
And in your time, as in that time, there are enough temptations that young people want to possess. I would even say that the temptations have become much greater. Well, this is how Divine Law works. If you once violated the Divine Law, then in the future you are obliged to prove your adherence to the Law under much more difficult conditions.
Dropping energies through this Message into physical world, I really hope that this Message of mine will find a response in the souls of even those who will never read it. Because everything is connected in your world. And on a subtle level, every person who reads the Message and agrees with it is a kind of radio transmitter that broadcasts to the entire globe, forcing all humanity, which is tuned to the same Divine wave, to listen.
This is how we operate. And prevention is the best weapon.
Marina Nekhlin not long ago opened a Jewish dating club “People meet, people fall in love.” In 1985, having received economic Education, she worked in different companies and, not seeing the significance of her results, changed areas of activity every few years, until 20 years ago she “came to Judaism”, began visiting Jewish organizations and synagogues, participating in projects and studying traditions.
New name - new life
At the beginning of 2000, even before the opening of the MEOC, there was a youth project in the old synagogue in Maryina Roshcha, in which students delivered books to elderly people. Jewish themes and surveyed them about how we could help them. I coordinated one of these groups. The boys and girls took heavy books into backpacks and transported them to different areas, putting a lot of physical and physical effort into such work. mental strength. We were even given a seminar in the Moscow region for education and training. As I remember now, the rabbi’s wife helped me choose a Jewish name, patiently told me about the history of different names, and spent a lot of time with me. On Shabbat, February 19, 2000, Rabbi Mordechai Weisberg said a prayer for us. Since then, my Jewish name has been Michal-Keyla.
Jewish - the last argument in disputes
I first learned that I was Jewish and that it was bad at the age of 3, when I was sent to spend the summer with a kindergarten in the Moscow region. The teacher laughed at my last name and, having learned that I was Jewish, reacted somehow unpleasantly to this.
In the courtyard of our house there were about 40 children who went out every day to walk and play - girls in their games, boys in theirs. My friend called me a Jew, I ran to complain to her dad, who answered me: so what, that’s your nationality. While playing ball with a boy, we quarreled, and he said to me: “Jewish,” and I told him: “And you are a Jew.” He began to cry and ran to complain to his mother, who was not too lazy, came to the playground to talk to me and explained that a Jew and a Jew are the same thing, and that I should no longer call her son a Jew. At school, because of my “bad” character, I was also not allowed to forget that I was Jewish. This was the last argument in the debate.
Shadchanite is a calling
I am well known in Jewish world, wherever I appear, there is always a person who approaches me with a question about shidduch. It all started one day when I realized that I wanted to introduce people and knew exactly how to do it with maximum delicacy and efficiency. The problem of loneliness and the search for a suitable couple has no age, and in such a situation it is better to decide to come to the community for the shadchan than to be sad and worry alone.
Just in case, I’ll explain: the introduction of Jews in accordance with tradition is shidduch; a man who engages in such acquaintances is a shadchan; if it is a woman, he is a shadchanite. In any case, Shadchanit gives an opportunity, instills hope in a person that he will find his destiny and everything will be fine. Ideally, shidduch - Jewish matchmaking is done so that the couple makes a chuppah - a wedding ceremony in the synagogue.
The basic principles of shidduch, traditionally supported by Jews for many centuries, are quite simple and clear: the first date lasts an hour or two, takes place in a quiet place where you can talk - for example, in a cafe over a cup of tea. The topics of conversation should be specific - since we’ve come to start a family, we don’t talk about the weather, travel, films, illnesses, politics, science or work - all these topics are inappropriate when meeting, they lead away from the main thing. No matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it may be when meeting someone, you will have to talk about yourself and your vision of your future family, your desires and financial situation, show a pleasant character, smile, unobtrusively ask questions of interest and answer the questions of your interlocutor.
Not so long ago, after a 10-year break, I resumed the project of creating Jewish families “People meet, people fall in love.” The beginning of any project is the most difficult period, when I corresponded and went to meetings with the leaders of various Jewish organizations. While no one has yet recognized you, it is almost impossible to inspire trust and reach you. There are two people in the Moscow area to whom I am grateful, who supported me at the very beginning - Rav Meir Manevich and Rav Shlomo Polonsky.
How to express in just a few words the main mission of the future Father of the Nation, a truly national leader? Politicians will very soon waste tons of paper and be full of words, but will not say more than what has already been said by the holy Tsarevich Alexei: “When I am Tsar, there will be no poor and unhappy. I want everyone to be happy."
Today, when the city of Happiness is more often bombed than glorified, it is not customary to talk about happiness, simple human happiness. We are urged from everywhere to love the suffering imposed by politics, and, often, to love those who make good money from this very suffering and strengthen their own vertical.
We are constantly mobilized for sorrow and death for the sake of someone else's good, someone else's interests, someone else's profit. We are told that to endure is the meaning of our entire life. And in this eternal expectation of a “bright future,” we simply must “feel happy.”
As evidenced by the latest opinion polls, in April 2017, the share of Russians who feel happy reached a historical maximum for the entire period of sociological research.
Paradoxically, in our country pensions, child benefits and salaries are not indexed; officially more than 20 million fellow citizens are below the poverty line, but Russia supposedly has the highest happiness index.
The Prime Minister comments on the situation in the state while visiting a slaughterhouse on a pig farm. Moreover, he does this immediately after the bloody massacre in the St. Petersburg metro...
And sad associations involuntarily creep in. After all, everyone knows that a herd taken to slaughter must be hungry and happy so that the quality of the final product does not suffer.
This herd has its own “provocateur goats” who lead the way, there are “stars and showmen” who entertain and distract, there are “missionaries” who reassuringly preach a better life in new cellophane packaging. All of them seem to be very successful in providing the highest happiness index at rapid fall quality of life.
As terrible as it is, we have to admit that in the era of consumption, on the way from “groin to dust”, man made himself a commodity. We took an intoxicating drug instead of real happiness. We were convinced that happiness is not Peace, but a truce. Not Love, but mating. Not the Word, but a number. Not Art, but Technology. Not Music, but sounds and pauses.
We believed that we could be happy only in between crises, between volleys, between sips and on the very edge of despair.
But this is a lie. It is absolutely obvious that the people of the richest and largest country in the world, like no other, deserve happiness. We have everything for this. Everything except the Truth. Let us remember another testament of the Tsarevich-martyr Alexei: “Only now am I beginning to understand the meaning of the word “truth.” If one day I became a king, no one would dare to lie to me. I would restore order in this country." And his father, the Tsar-Father, the holy Emperor Nicholas II bequeathed to us to remember “that the evil that is now in the world will be even stronger. But it is not evil that will win, but only Love.”
So, Happiness, Love, Truth, Order - these are the main values that the future Orthodox Tsar inherited from his holy ancestors.
The slanderers will undoubtedly immediately doubt them. They will try to slander and ridicule as usual. After all, in their opinion, these values are worthless, they are an empty phrase for them in the world of the dominance of criminal-commodity-monetary relations. Yes, in countries of imitative democracy, where the power of the oligarchs is legitimized by the controlled expression of the will of the indoctrinated electorate, this is truly impossible. Monarchy is a different matter.
Nowadays it has somehow become unfashionable to remember that in those countries of the modern world where tsarist (royal) power is still preserved, the happiness of the people is the basis of state policy. The most striking example of this is Bhutan, a country where there is virtually no corruption. Here everyone strives for happiness, this policy is implemented by the country's leadership, officially declaring that progress is measured not by the Gross Domestic Product, but by the Gross National Happiness. This is the only state in the world in which there is a Ministry of Happiness, happiness is constitutionally placed at the forefront national policy. While traditional models of civilizational development make the economic growth his ultimate goal, the concept of Gross National Happiness says that the true development of human society occurs only when the material and spiritual components go hand in hand, complementing and strengthening each other. According to the King of Bhutan, with whom it is difficult to disagree, the rich do not always consider themselves happy, but the happy always consider themselves rich.
It is clear that none of the social models can simply be copied and transferred to another soil. It is important that there is an alternative to the current consumer society, and the world is by no means as unipolar as those who have concentrated the majority of resources under their control would like. For those who would like to forget forever that the good of the people has been the highest universal value. “Salus populi suprema lex esto” (the good of the people is the highest law) is precisely this principle that the great thinker of antiquity Cicero commanded to modern political leaders.
However, perhaps the time for the triumph of the ideas of national Happiness, sacrificial Love, true Truth and fair Order simply has not yet arrived. I would like to believe that these principles will have to be implemented by the coming Orthodox Tsar. After all, this is exactly how our great elders and prayer books saw the future of Holy Rus'.
In the meantime, while this future has not yet arrived, let us, right here and now, with our own efforts, make our loved ones happier, generously give them our kindness and support. Hurry up to love a person while he is alive...
Love, no matter how whispered it is expressed, speaks clearly enough to your heart; the language of love is the voice of heavenly light; love is deep, joyful, patient and strong. Death cannot destroy love. The peace of love is beautiful and often sweeter than words. What love unites, nothing can separate.
Princess Alice's Diary Entry
Nikolai's future husband
On November 14, 1894, in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace, Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and the blessed princess Alexandra Feodorovna, who on that day became the Empress of Russia, were married.
They lived in peace and harmony for almost a quarter of a century, and this union was never marred by a single quarrel or serious disagreement. And years after the wedding, they loved each other like newlyweds.
No matter what happened around them, no matter what crashes and disappointments they experienced, Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna were always absolutely sure of one thing: the indissolubility of their own feelings and their own lives, “until death do them part.” They could not even imagine how one of them could survive the other. And the Lord rewarded them with a bitter but desired fate: they left the earthly boundaries together, at the same moment.
"Sun"
Who is she, the love of my life last Emperor Russia Nicholas II?
Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt (Alix in the German version) was born in 1872 in the capital of the Duchy of Hesse in southwestern Germany. She was the sixth child in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV and English princess Alice is Queen Victoria's second daughter.
Alix, Princess of Hesse
Alice was a very bright and sincere child, responsive and affectionate. Her family called her Sunny. Emperor Nicholas II would later call his beloved wife the same way.
Alix's mother was raised on strict principles of morality and purity. She loved England very much and tried to give her children a real English education in the spirit of simplicity and mercy: modest food and clothing, simple soldier's beds, cold baths in the morning, strict adherence to the daily routine. The mother often took children to hospitals and shelters, where she provided assistance, teaching children from early childhood to fill life with meaning and good deeds and to bring joy to other people.
When Alix was six years old, her mother died from a diphtheria epidemic. Mental wound the loss of her mother lasted her entire life. Alice would later say that “it was a cloudless, happy childhood, constant sunlight, and then - a huge cloud."
Further, governesses and mentors were involved in raising orphaned children. Queen Victoria oversaw the education of her beloved grandchildren. Reports were constantly sent to England, and mentors received advice and orders from the queen. Children often lived for long periods at the English court. The grandmother doted on her youngest granddaughter.
Thus, a German by birth, the Hessian princess became an Englishwoman in her upbringing, education, formation of consciousness and morality, in tastes and character, in the manner of deporting herself.
Princess Alix received an excellent education. She had an excellent knowledge of history, geography, English and German literature, as well as German, English, French, and was a brilliant pianist.
Engagement
For the first time, the future Russian Emperor Nicholas II and the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna met in 1884 at the wedding of their relatives. Alice's elder sister Ella, the future Princess Elizaveta Feodorovna, married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich - the brother of Alexander III, the father of Tsarevich Nicholas.
Then the young people's names were Nicky and Alice, and he was 16 and she was 12 years old. In his diary, Tsarevich Nicholas wrote that he was sitting at dinner next to little Alix, whom he “liked terribly.” 32 years will pass, and in 1916, in a letter to her husband, Alexandra Fedorovna, remembering the past, writes: “My childhood heart was already striving for You with deep love.”
Their tender feeling, which arose at the first meeting, became even stronger when Alix, five years later, as a 17-year-old girl, came to Russia to visit her sister Ella, Princess Elizaveta Feodorovna. The sister and her husband were the keepers of the lovers' secret for many years and sought to help them, preparing the ground among relatives for the possibility of this marriage. But such an alliance was opposed by relatives of both sides: both Queen Victoria of England and the Russian monarchs.
When Tsarevich Nicholas turned 21 and turned to his parents with a request to bless him for his marriage to Princess Alice, Emperor Alexander III’s answer was brief: “You are very young, there is still time for marriage, and, in addition, remember this: you are the heir Russian throne, you are engaged to Russia, and we will still have time to find a wife.”
Dynastic marriages have always been given political significance, and therefore Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna were looking for a party for their son that would strengthen the position of the Russian state. At first, the parents wanted to marry the Tsarevich to Princess Helen of France, the daughter of the Count of Paris, a contender for the French throne. Then, having received a refusal from Elena, the tsar decided to marry his son to Princess Margaret of Prussia. Nicholas objected to these parties.
In 1890, a year and a half after his first conversation with his father about marrying Alix, he wrote in his diary:
“December 21, 1890... A year and a half has already passed since I talked about this with my dad in Peterhof, and nothing has changed, either bad or bad. in a good way. 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 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in winter. 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 obstacle there is no other, I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual. Everything is in the will of God, trusting in his mercy, I calmly and humbly look into the future.”
After the engagement. Grand Duke Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich with his bride Alice of Hesse. Coburg, 1894
Gradually, the parents, feeling the power of love and wishing happiness for their son, began to change their minds regarding Nicholas’s marriage to the Hessian princess. And when Nicholas asked his parents to let him explain himself to Alix, they agreed to their meeting and allowed the crown prince to propose to the princess. The opportunity presented itself in the spring of 1894, when the wedding of Duke Ernst, Alix’s older brother, was to take place in the city of Coburg.
For Nicholas, the most important and most difficult thing was to overcome the religious beliefs of the chosen one, since the Empress of Russia could only have Orthodox faith. Raised Protestant, the princess treated a change of religion as a betrayal of her most sacred feelings. But she loved Nikolai and therefore was tormented by doubts, not knowing what to decide. Her heart was breaking before the upcoming choice; it seemed to her that she had to choose between God and her loved one. In a letter to her beloved, she wrote: “Dear Nicky, you, whose faith is so deep, must understand me; I believe that big sin change your faith. And I would be unhappy all my life, knowing that I did wrong... Whether I act rightly or wrong, the deepest religious conviction and a clear conscience towards God are higher than all earthly desires... Alix, forever loving You.”
In Coburg, a meeting and explanation between Alice and Nikolai took place. Alice cried, confessed her love and asked for forgiveness, but she never gave consent.
Queen Victoria sincerely felt sorry for her granddaughter and persuaded Alice to give her consent, expressing the idea, bold at that time, that Orthodoxy and Protestantism were fundamentally “little different from each other.”
Everything was decided on April 8: on this day Alice agreed to become Nikolai’s wife and change religion.
On the same day, in a letter to his mother, Nikolai said: “...she agreed... I cried like a child, and so did she, but her expression immediately changed: she brightened up, and calm appeared on her face... For me, the whole world turned upside down , everything, nature, people, places - everything seems sweet, kind, joyful. I couldn’t write at all, my hands were shaking... She became completely different: cheerful and funny, talkative, and tender. I don’t know how to thank God for such a blessing.” At that moment, the groom was almost 26 years old, and the bride was 22 years old.
The wedding was supposedly planned for the spring of next year. The bride had to thoroughly prepare to become the wife of the Emperor of Russia. Protopresbyter Father John Yanyshev was sent to Darmstadt to teach Alix the basics of Orthodoxy and a teacher of the Russian language.
The priest and theologian Father Yanyshev noted the princess’s unusually sharp mind. He said Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, that the princess asked him such difficult, deep questions on theology that he had never heard from the theologians themselves, and he, in his opinion in my own words, “often felt backed into a corner” and “just scratched like a cat” without finding an answer.
After the engagement, Alice began writing in her groom's diary. These entries, most often in English, were very short at first: “I kiss you many times,” “God bless you, my angel.” Then they were replaced by poems and prayers: “I dreamed that I was loved and, when I woke up, I was convinced of this in reality and thanked the Lord on my knees. True love“The gift of God is stronger, deeper, fuller and purer every day.”
Soon events began to take a dramatic turn.
Emperor Alexander III became seriously ill back in January 1894. His health was deteriorating, and therefore it was decided to hurry up with the wedding of Tsarevich Nicholas. At the beginning of October they sent a telegram calling Alice to Russia.
Alexander III managed to bless his heir and the future Russian Empress for the marriage.
On October 20, 1894, Emperor Alexander III died. On the same day, the priest performed the rite of oath to the new Emperor Nicholas II, which was attended by members of the royal family, courtiers, and officials. An era has begun last reign, which lasted more than 22 years.
The next day, Alice converted to Orthodoxy, and they named her Alexandra Fedorovna.
On this occasion, the new emperor issued his first manifesto, which said: “Today Holy Confirmation was performed on our betrothed bride. Taking the name Alexandra, she became a Daughter of our Orthodox Church, to the great consolation of us and all of Russia.”
A week after the funeral of Alexander III, the wedding took place.
On the eve of the wedding, Nikolai Alexandrovich wrote in his diary: “It still seems to me that this is about someone else’s wedding - it’s strange under such circumstances to think about my own marriage!” But now there was the Sun in his life - Alix, before the wedding he sent her a note: “My precious Sun, I woke up with your sweet name on my lips and prayed so deeply and fervently for your well-being, health and happiness. My little one, My only one, it is impossible to express in words how much I love you - I am full of my love, and only it illuminates these dark days. God bless you, my Alix. Nicky."
While still in mourning, they did not hold wedding receptions or celebrations. There was no honeymoon. Subsequently, Alexandra Fedorovna wrote: “Our wedding was like a continuation of these funeral services, they just dressed me in a white dress.”
But along with deep sadness came a big joy. Alexandra wrote in her husband’s diary: “At last we are united, bound by bonds for life, and when this life ends, we will meet again in another world and will remain together forever. Your your". “I never thought that there could be such happiness in the world, such a feeling of unity between two earthly beings. I love you in these in three words all my life".
On the last day of the year they wrote an entry in his diary.
He: “Together with such irreparable grief, the Lord rewarded me with happiness that I could not even dream of, giving me Alix.”
She: “The last day of the old year. What a joy it is to spend it together. My love has grown so deep, strong and pure - it knows no bounds. May the Lord bless and keep you."
Having ascended the throne in 1894, Nicholas II Alexandrovich Romanov postponed his coronation for a year and a half due to twelve months of mourning. Only in May 1896, at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, the coronation of the last Imperial couple from the unbroken Romanov Dynasty took place.
The ceremony consisted of the Divine Liturgy and the rite of anointing for the Kingdom. The service lasted five hours. After the Emperor took the oath taken at the coronation, he took the crown from the hands of the archbishop and first placed it on his own head, and then, taking it off, placed it on the head of the Empress, which meant her co-rule. Then Alexandra Fedorovna took off the crown and put it on her husband’s head, and a smaller crown was placed on her.
Subsequently, the queen wrote to her sister that for her this ceremony was like a sacrament that betrothed her to Russia, that this was their second wedding - a wedding with Russia.
Alexandra Feodorovna's diary entries reflect the depth of her understanding of the sacrament of love and marriage. Reading books, she wrote out from them the most consonant with her ideas about marital happiness and duty, about importance homely atmosphere. She also supplemented the extracts with her own thoughts.
From Alexandra Fedorovna’s diary:
“Marriage is a divine rite. He was part of God's plan when He created man. This is the closest and most sacred connection on earth."
“The divine design is for marriage to bring happiness, to make the lives of husband and wife more complete, so that neither loses and both win.”
“You should always remember your wedding day and highlight it especially among other important dates in life. This is a day whose light will illuminate all other days for the rest of your life.”
"Another secret of happiness in family life- this is attention to each other. Husband and wife should constantly show each other signs of the most tender attention and love. The happiness of life is made up of individual minutes, of small pleasures - from a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment and countless small but kind thoughts and sincere feelings. Love also needs its daily bread.
Another important element in family life is unity of interests. Nothing a wife cares about should seem too small even for the gigantic intellect of the greatest of husbands. On the other hand, every wise and faithful wife will willingly take an interest in the affairs of her husband. She will want to know about his every new project, plan, difficulty, doubt. She will want to know which of his endeavors have succeeded and which have not, and be aware of all his daily activities. Let both hearts share both joy and suffering. Let them share the burden of worries in half. Let everything in their life be common. They should go to church together, pray side by side, together bring to the feet of God the burden of caring for their children and everything dear to them. Why don't they talk to each other about their temptations, doubts, secret desires and help each other with sympathy and words of encouragement? So they will live one life, not two. Everyone, in their plans and hopes, must necessarily think about the other. There should be no secrets from each other. They should only have common friends.
Thus, two lives will merge into one life, and such a marriage will share each other’s thoughts, desires, feelings, joy, grief, pleasure and pain.”
“Every faithful wife is imbued with the interests of her husband. When it’s hard for him, she tries to cheer him up with her sympathy and manifestations of her love. She enthusiastically supports all his plans. She is not a burden on his shoulders, but a strength in his heart that helps him become better.
The duty in the family is selfless love. Everyone must forget his own “I”, devoting himself to another.
Marriage is the joining of two halves into a single whole. Two lives are bound together in such a close union that they are no longer two lives, but one. Everyone, until the end of his life, bears the sacred responsibility for happiness and greater good another."
"For every wife main responsibility– this is the arrangement and management of her home. She must be generous and kind-hearted... Real woman shares with her husband the burden of his worries. Whatever happens to the husband during the day, when he enters his home, he should enter into an atmosphere of love. Other friends may cheat on him, but his wife's devotion must remain constant. When darkness sets in and adversity surrounds the husband, the devoted eyes of the wife look at her husband like stars of hope shining in the darkness. When he's broken, her smile helps him find strength again, like Sunbeam straightens the drooping flower."
“Every home has its trials, but in a true home there is peace that cannot be disturbed by earthly storms. Home is a place of warmth and tenderness. You should only speak in the house with love.
In such a house only beauty and gentleness of character can be cultivated. One of the misfortunes of our time is that quiet family evenings are being replaced by business, entertainment, and social activities.”
“The main center of any person’s life should be his home. This is a place where children grow - grow physically, strengthen their health and absorb everything that will make them true and noble men and women. In a home where children grow up, everything around them and everything that happens affects them, and even the smallest detail can have a wonderful or harmful effect. Even the nature around them shapes future character. Everything beautiful that children's eyes see is imprinted on their sensitive hearts. Wherever a child is raised, his character is influenced by the impressions of the place where he grew up. We must make the rooms in which our children will sleep, play, and live as beautiful as our means allow. Children love paintings, and if the paintings in the house are clean and good, they have a wonderful effect on them, making them more refined. But the house itself, clean, tastefully decorated, with simple decorations and a pleasant surrounding view, has an invaluable influence on the upbringing of children.”
Small house and big house: family and Russia
In the family. 1904
In 1895, the royal couple had their first daughter, Olga. Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to her sister, Princess Victoria: “A radiant, happy mother is writing to you. You can imagine our endless happiness now that we have our precious baby and can care for her.”
Olga was followed by three more daughters and a son: Tatiana - in 1897, Maria - in 1899, Anastasia - in 1901 and Alexey - in 1904. Alexandra Fedorovna breastfed them herself. For the monarchs of that time, this was a departure from conventions; then it was customary to hire a wet nurse. The children grew up, and the mother was involved in their upbringing and education.
In her family life, Alexandra Feodorovna was an example of many virtues: an impeccable, passionately loving wife, an exemplary mother, closely monitoring the upbringing of her children and making every effort to their comprehensive development and strengthening their high qualities. moral principles; a homely, practical and even prudent housewife - this is how her associates describe Alexandra Fedorovna.
Nicholas II’s sister Olga Alexandrovna says in her memoirs about the empress: “She was simply perfect in her attitude towards Niki, especially in those first days when so many state affairs fell on him. Her courage undoubtedly saved him. No wonder he called her “Sunny,” her childhood nickname. And she remained the only sunshine in his far from cloudless life. We often drank tea together. I remember when he came in - tired, sometimes irritated after a day full of audiences. And Alix never did or said anything inappropriate. I liked her calm movements."
Despite the many worries associated with giving birth and raising children, the Empress, in addition to narrow circle family and friends devoted herself to charitable activities with her characteristic dedication. For her, family traditions, people, and language were new. But Alexandra Fedorovna was overwhelmed by a sincere desire to be useful country and her people.
Here is what her close friend Anna Vyrubova wrote about this: “The Empress, who came... from a small German principality, where everyone at least tried to do some useful work, did not like the idle and indifferent atmosphere of the Russian high society. In the very first days of her power, she enthusiastically began to make attempts to change something for the better. One of her first projects was the organization of a society of needlewomen, consisting of court ladies and circles, each of whose members had to sew three dresses a year with their own hands for the poor. This circle, unfortunately, did not flourish for long. The idea was too alien for our soil. However, the Empress insisted on creating throughout Russia labor houses, workshops where unemployed men and women could find work, especially those unfortunate women who, due to their moral decline, have lost their position in society.”
On her own initiative, Alexandra Feodorovna established workhouses in Russia, schools for nurses and orthopedic clinics for sick children. Another concern of Alexandra Feodorovna was school folk art. Wanting to revive and develop old dying peasant crafts, the empress organized a school where young peasant women and nuns underwent a two-year course in folk needlework and fine arts. In turn, these women then taught the revived craft to others - in the workshops of villages and monasteries.
The Empress's personal income was small, and she had to cut her expenses in order to allocate money for charity. During the famine of 1898, she donated 50,000 rubles from her private fund for the famine-stricken in the village, which was an eighth of the annual family income, and this was in addition to her usual charitable spending. In October 1915, she had to inform petitioners to wait until the beginning of the year because she had spent her year's income on widows, wounded and orphans.
The First World War, which began in July 1914, changed the face of Russia and the way of life of people and families, including the imperial one. Everything now had to work for victory.
The wounded from the fronts constantly arrived in the capital, and the queen took care of their accommodation and medical care. There have been many wars, blood and suffering in the history of the country, but which of the rulers’ wives worked as a nurse, personally assisting in surgical operations and caring for the wounded?
Nicholas II's attention was directed to military problems. From the first year of the war, the tsar visited Headquarters (in Mogilev) and the fronts, as well as other regions of the country. And after taking command of the army in August 1915, he completely moved to Headquarters. The royal couple found themselves in a long separation, which was softened by almost daily letters and rare visits of the queen and her daughters to Headquarters to see her husband.
From Alexandra Fedorovna’s letter to her husband: “Oh, how terrible is the loneliness after your departure! Although our children remain with me, a part of my life is leaving with you - you and I are one.”
Nikolai Alexandrovich’s answer: “My beloved Sunshine, my dear little wife! My love, you are terribly missed, which is impossible to express!”
Letter from Alexandra Fedorovna: “I’m crying like a big child. I see in front of me your sad eyes, full of affection. I send you my warmest wishes for tomorrow. For the first time in 21 years we are celebrating this day [wedding day – approx. author-comp.] not together, but how vividly I remember everything! ...what happiness and what love you have given me over all these years.”
Letter from Nikolai Alexandrovich: “The warmest thanks for all your love. If only you knew how much this supports me. Really, I don’t know how I could have withstood all this if God had not been pleased to give me you as a wife and friend. I say this seriously, sometimes it’s hard for me to utter this truth, it’s easier for me to put it all on paper - out of stupid shyness.”
These lines were written by people who had been married for 21 years...
The Empress was extremely worried about her husband’s worries and his difficult responsibilities. If earlier she only provided her husband with sympathy and moral support, then during the war she decided to help him in state affairs. The queen was eager to share the burden of her loved one and worried about the country: “You endure everything alone, with such courage! Let me help you, my treasure! There are probably things in which a woman wants to be useful. I really want to make everything easier for you.”
The emperor replied: “Yes, indeed, you should be my eyes and ears there, in the capital, while I have to sit here. It is your responsibility to maintain harmony and unity among the ministers - by doing this you bring great benefit to me and our country! I'm so happy that you finally found the right business for you! Now, of course, I will be calm and will not worry, at least about internal affairs.”
Even before the war, being involved in charity work and managing numerous committees, the empress proved herself to be a wonderful organizer. All persons who had business relations with her unanimously asserted that it was impossible to report any matter to her without first studying it. She posed to her speakers many specific and very practical questions concerning the very essence of the subject, and went into all the details, and in conclusion gave precise instructions. All organizational talents were useful to the empress in wartime.
Nicholas II was grateful to his wife for her participation in state affairs. Alexandra Fedorovna began to receive reports from some ministers, give orders on current issues, and took part in the appointment of officials; and always reported everything to her husband.
In cases where the queen felt insecure and apologized for her “insolence,” the king reassured her: “You have nothing to blame yourself for; on the contrary, I should be grateful to you for the fact that thanks to you, such success has been achieved in this serious matter.”
Not everyone accepted with enthusiasm the fact that the empress took part in state affairs, although this was natural: during the absence of her husband, the wife took on the responsibilities of internal government of the country. “Some are angry that I interfere in business,” Alexandra Feodorovna wrote to her husband in September 1915, “but my duty is to help you. Even in this, some ministers and society condemn me: they criticize everything, but they themselves are busy with matters that do not concern them at all. Such a stupid world!”
As shown further events, many of the empress’s fears, her assessments and conclusions regarding the “high society” turned out to be prophetic. When the throne was in danger in 1917, the dignitaries, treated with power and honors, representatives of the numerous noble elite, with the exception of the few who remained loyal to the royal family, fled in all directions.
“One word covers everything - the word “love” - this was the entry made in her diary by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Tsar Nicholas II, the mother of five children. In the photograph where Alexandra Feodorovna sits surrounded by her daughters, in her appearance one can feel the deep wisdom of a woman-mother and the strong will of a person whose lot it fell to become the Empress.
Marrying the Russian Tsar, German princess she understood that she was not only creating her own family, but also becoming part of a new large family - the Russian people. She was well aware of the responsibility that falls on the shoulders of the wife of a crowned husband. Duty and love happily united in the life of the queen. She devoted all her efforts to filling the life of her family (both small and large) with the most important thing - love.
“...I feel like the mother of the country and I suffer as for my child, and I love my homeland,” Alexandra Fedorovna wrote many years later in a letter to A. Vyrubova from Tobolsk, shortly before her death.
“What an example, if only they knew about it, this so worthy family life, full of such tenderness, set! But how few people suspected it!” – Pierre Gilliard, the teacher of the royal children, wrote in his memoirs, before whose eyes the life of the royal family passed.
From Alexandra Feodorovna’s diary: “Great art is living together, loving each other tenderly. It has to start with the parents themselves.”
“Parents should be what they want their children to be – not in words, but in deeds. They must teach their children by the example of their lives.”
“...an important element of family life is a loving relationship with each other; not just love, but cherished love in Everyday life family, expression of love in words and deeds. Courtesy in the house is not formal, but sincere and natural. Children need joy and happiness no less than plants need air and sunlight.”
Kindness, modesty, simplicity, deep Faith in God, directness, discipline, fortitude, the ability to sacrifice oneself, an unshakable sense of duty and all-encompassing love for the Motherland - Russia - this is an incomplete list of spiritual qualities that the royal children received from their parents.
The upbringing of daughters in the royal family was strict, since Alexandra Fedorovna herself was raised this way, and Tsar Nicholas was not spoiled by his father in childhood, Emperor Alexander III, who was distinguished by Spartan habits. In the palace, the girls lived two to a room: the eldest Olga and Tatyana, as they were called, “big”, and the younger Maria and Anastasia – “little”. The princesses slept on hard camp beds, lightly covered, and took a cold bath every morning. Alexandra Feodorovna, who grew up in a small courtyard, instilled in her daughters frugality and moderation from early childhood. Dresses and shoes were passed from older sisters to younger ones. The Empress, herself very modest in her clothes and choice of hairstyles, did not allow her daughters to dress up a lot. Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna fully accepted this attitude to luxury and dressed very modestly, constantly pulling other sisters in this regard.
From Alexandra Feodorovna’s diary: “Children must learn self-denial. They won't be able to have everything they want. They must learn to give up their own desires for the sake of other people. They should also learn to be caring...Children should learn to be useful to their parents and to each other.”
“The duty of parents towards their children is to prepare them for life, for any trials that God sends them.”
The Empress’s friend Julia Den, who was valued in the royal family for her intelligence, prudence, and calm poise, described in her book the life of the princesses: “Their Highnesses loved their maids and often helped them clean the rooms and make the beds...
Their Highnesses never boasted of their origins. With their characteristic courtesy, they invariably let me go ahead when leaving some room. There was no ceremony or fuss; they were nice, sweet girls, and I loved them all. Their Highnesses rose early and soon began their lessons. After morning lessons they walked with His Majesty. During the break between lunch and tea, they went for a walk with their father again. They spoke Russian, English, and a little French. They never spoke German. Although they danced well, they were rarely given the opportunity to do so.”
Alexandra Feodorovna did not allow the princesses to sit idle for even a minute. Wanting to see real helpers in her daughters, she taught them the basics of housekeeping and taught them handicrafts herself. Wonderful works and embroideries came out from under their graceful hands. Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna was better at handicrafts than others. She sewed blouses for herself and her older sisters, embroidered, knitted.
The Empress organized charity bazaars, where she and her daughters sold what they had made with their own hands. Considerable amounts of proceeds went to support charities.
The princesses received a wonderful home education, played the piano, danced well, and drew. They were brought up in deep religiosity and attended divine services with their parents. Alexandra Fedorovna constantly read the Bible and the interpretations of the Holy Fathers of the Church in order to more accurately and clearly know the path along which to follow Christ. She also instilled in her children a love of reading holy scripture.
“The Grand Duchesses were charming with their freshness and health. It would be difficult to find four sisters so different in character and at the same time so closely united by friendship. The latter did not interfere with their personal independence and, despite the difference in temperaments, united them with a living connection. From the initial letters of their names they formed a common name: “Otma.” Under this common signature, they sometimes made gifts or sent letters written by one of them on behalf of all four,” Pierre Gilliard wrote about the princesses.
From Alexandra Feodorovna’s diary: “Purity of thoughts and purity of soul - this is what truly ennobles. Without purity it is impossible to imagine true femininity. Even in the midst of this world, mired in sins and vices, it is possible to preserve this holy purity. “I saw a lily floating in black swamp water. Everything around was rotten, but the lily remained pure, like angelic robes. A ripple appeared in the dark pond, it shook the lily, but not a speck appeared on it.” So even in our immoral world, a young woman can keep her soul unsullied by radiating holy, selfless love.”
WITH great love Eyewitnesses close to the royal court spoke about the princesses and described their lives.
“It’s hard to imagine more charming, pure and intelligent girls.”
From the memoirs of S.K. Buxhoeveden, ladies-in-waiting of the Empress.
“Children, as A.A. called the Grand Duchesses. Taneyev and Yu.A. (Lily) Den (the closest friends of the Empress and the Tsar’s Children) completely shared the views of the August parents, who did not like anything ostentatious or flashy, and tried to stay away from the “jubilant, idly chattering people.” They enjoyed the most simple joys- communication with nature, with each other, with the common people, who, in their way of life, are closest to the earth, to the village perception of the world...
Grand Duchesses Tatiana (left) and Olga (center) with family friend Anna Taneyeva (Vyrubova)
All the Grand Duchesses were simple-minded, innocent creatures. Nothing unclean or bad was allowed into their lives. Her Majesty was very strict about the choice of books they read. Mostly it was books English authors. Their Highnesses had not the slightest idea about the ugly sides of life, although - alas! “They were destined to see the most disgusting thing that exists in her, and to face the most base traits of human nature.”
“The princesses filled their outwardly monotonous lives with the joy of their cheerful and lively characters. They knew how to find happiness and joy in little things. They were young not only in their years, but they were young in their very in a deep sense this word; Everything made them happy: the sun, the flowers, every minute spent with their father, every short walk during which they could look at the crowd; they rejoiced at every smile of strangers passing by; they beamed at everyone with affection and the bright colors of blooming Russian faces.
Everywhere they appeared, their cheerful ringing laughter sounded. No one ever felt constrained with them; their simplicity made everyone as simple and at ease as they were.”
From the memoirs of Tsarskoe Selo resident S.Ya. Ofrosimova in the book “The Royal Family”.
“When the Grand Duchesses visited orphanages, they behaved with orphans as if they were relatives, kissing and caressing them without disgust. Their arrival at the orphanage brought with it so much affection and greetings that the children, in raptures of joy, rushed to hug them, kissing their hands, crowding around them. The children, with their sensitive hearts, felt in them pure, sincere, tender love for them.
A child’s heart does not deceive.”From the book of Abbot Seraphim (Kuznetsov)
"Orthodox Tsar-Martyr".
“...the difficult to define charm of these four sisters consisted in their great simplicity, naturalness, freshness and innate kindness.” “Circumstances early taught all four to be content with themselves and their natural cheerfulness. How few young girls would be content with such a way of life, devoid of any external entertainment, without a murmur! His only consolation was the charm of close family life, which causes such disdain these days.”
Pierre Gilliard. "From the memories of Emperor Nicholas II and his family."
In the sacred circle of family
The attitude of children towards their parents evokes great respect, in which eyewitnesses noted true reverence and boundless love.
“The driving force in the lives of these charming creatures was the love of family. They didn’t think about anything else but a home.
The objects of their affection were their parents, brother and a few friends. Their Majesties came first.
The first thing the children, as we called them, invariably asked was: “Will dad like this?”; “Do you think mom will approve?”
Parents were addressed simply as “Mom” and “Dad”.
From the memoirs of Yu.A. Den. "A true queen."
“The mother they adored was, in their eyes, as if infallible... They were full of charming consideration towards her. With common consent and on their own initiative, they arranged another duty with their mother. When the Empress was unwell, the one who performed this filial duty that day remained with her hopelessly.
Their relationship with the Emperor was delightful. He was for them at the same time a King, a father and a comrade.
The feelings they felt for him varied depending on the circumstances. They were never mistaken about how to treat the father in each individual case and what expression this case appropriate. Their feeling passed from religious worship to complete trust and the most cordial friendship. After all, for them he was the one before whom the ministers, the highest church hierarchs, the Grand Dukes and their mother herself reverently bowed; then a father, whose heart opened with such kindness to meet their worries or sorrows; then, finally, to those who, far from immodest eyes, knew how, on occasion, to so cheerfully join in their youthful amusements.”
P. Gilliard. "From the memories of Emperor Nicholas II and his family."
The Empress paid a lot of attention to the relationships between her children. The royal family was very friendly, everyone showed attention and sincere care to each other. It was strong friendship and unity that helped the family survive in difficult times.
From Alexandra Fedorovna’s diary: “There should be a strong and tender friendship between brothers and sisters. In our hearts and our lives we must protect and nurture everything that is beautiful, true, and holy. Friendships in our own home, in order for them to be deep, sincere and heartfelt, should be formed by parents, helping to bring souls closer together. There is no friendship in the world purer, richer and more fruitful than in a family, if only you direct the development of this friendship. A young man should be more polite to his sister than to any other young woman in the world, and a young woman, until she has a husband, should consider her brother the closest person in the world to her. In this world they must protect each other from dangers and deceitful and disastrous ways.”
“Every devoted sister can provide such strong influence on his brother, which will lead him, like the finger of the Lord, along the right path of life. In your own home, by your own example, show them all the sublime beauty of true noble femininity. Striving for everything tender, pure, holy in the divine ideal of woman, be the embodiment of virtue and make virtue so attractive to everyone that vice will always cause them only disgust. May they see in you such purity of soul, such nobility of spirit, such divine holiness, that your radiance will always protect them wherever they go, as protective shell or like an angel hovering above their heads in eternal blessing. Let every woman, with God’s help, strive for perfection... And brothers, in turn, should protect their sisters.”
In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, the life of the Royal Family changed completely. Personal expenses have become even more modest, including for food. The Empress declared that she would not sew a single new dress for herself or the Grand Duchesses. Both the Empress herself and her eldest daughters wore sisters of mercy dresses, often in mended ones, and old shoes, so as not to waste money. Personal funds went to charitable purposes. In all the palaces, the Empress opened warehouses that supplied the army with linen and dressings.
The Empress devoted all her time and energy to helping the wounded. Alexandra Fedorovna created medical stations, stations for the production of dressings and medical bags, and organized courses for nurses and nurses. Royal palaces adapted for hospitals. Additions were made to them to house the wives and mothers of wounded soldiers. By the end of the year, there were 85 military hospitals and 10 ambulance trains under the Empress’s care.
Anna Taneyeva (Vyrubova), maid of honor and closest friend of the Empress, recalled: “In order to better manage the activities of the infirmaries, the Empress decided to personally take a wartime course of sisters of mercy with the two senior Grand Duchesses and me. The Empress chose Princess Gedroits, a surgeon in charge of the Palace Hospital, as her teacher. We studied with her for two hours a day and, for practice, entered the first equipped infirmary at the Palace Hospital as ordinary surgical nurses, so that they would not think that this activity was a game.
Sisters of Mercy - Alexandra Feodorovna with her eldest daughters Olga and Tatyana and Anna Vyrubova
I will describe one such morning. At 9 1/2 o'clock we arrived at the hospital and immediately began to work - bandaging, often seriously wounded; The Empress and Grand Duchesses were present during all operations. Standing behind the surgeon, the Empress, like every operating nurse, handed over sterilized instruments, cotton wool and bandages, carried away amputated legs and arms, bandaged gangrenous wounds, not disdaining anything and steadfastly enduring the smells and terrible pictures of a military hospital during the war. I explain to myself that she was a born sister of mercy...
Having passed the exam, the Empress and the children, along with other sisters who completed the course, received red crosses and certificates for the title of wartime sisters of mercy...
A terribly difficult and tiring time began. From early morning until late at night The feverish activity did not stop. We got up early, sometimes went to bed at two in the morning. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Empress went to the Church of the Sign every day, to the miraculous image, and from there we went to work at the infirmary. Having quickly had breakfast, the Empress devoted the entire day to inspecting other hospitals.
When the ambulance trains arrived, the Empress and the Grand Duchesses did dressings without sitting down for a minute, from 9 o'clock sometimes until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. During difficult operations, the wounded begged the Empress to be around. I see her comforting and encouraging them, putting her hand on their head and sometimes praying with them. They idolized the Empress, awaited her arrival, trying to touch her gray hospital dress; the dying asked her to sit near the bed, to support their hand or head, and she, despite her fatigue, calmed them down for hours.”
With her two older daughters, who helped her mother in everything, Alexandra Fedorovna visited hospitals in Western and central cities Russia, went to see her husband Nicholas II at the Commander-in-Chief Headquarters. Everywhere where the Empress appeared in her sister’s dress, she was enthusiastically greeted, and there was nothing official in these meetings: “the people crowded around her, and no one restrained their delight.” Truly, this was their caring and loving mother.
At the same time, according to the testimony of contemporaries, many of the higher and “educated” strata of society did not understand and condemned the activities of the Empress. “The Empress knew about the campaign that was waged against her,” recalls Pierre Gilliard, “and suffered from this as from deep injustice, for she accepted her fatherland just like a new religion, with all the passion of her heart; she was Russian in feelings, just as she was Orthodox in conviction.”
By the beginning of the First World War, the princesses were: Olga - 19, Tatiana - 17, Maria - 15, Anastasia - 13 years old.
The elder princesses Olga and Tatiana worked as nurses along with their mother from morning to night, only protecting them from the most complex and difficult operations. The duties of the younger sisters Maria and Anastasia included visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals. They read aloud to the wounded, wrote letters home under their dictation, entertained them by playing checkers with them, and organizing impromptu concerts.
“The two youngest: Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna - worked for the wounded, sewing linen for soldiers and their families, preparing bandages and lint (dressing material - author's note); They were very sad that, being too young, they could not become real sisters of mercy, like the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatyana Nikolaevna,” testified S. Ya. Ofrosimova.
Grand Duchess Anastasia wrote in one of her letters in 1916: “Today I sat next to our soldier and taught him to read, he really likes it. He began to learn to read and write here in the hospital. Two unfortunate people died, and just yesterday we were sitting next to them.”
General A.A. Mosolov recalled: “It was noticeable among all four that from early childhood they were instilled with a sense of duty. Everything They did was imbued with thoroughness in execution. This was especially expressed by the two Elders. They not only carried in in every sense the words were the duties of ordinary nurses, but they also assisted during operations with great skill. This was much commented on in society and the Empress was blamed. I find that given the crystal purity of the Tsar’s Daughters, this certainly could not have a bad influence on them, and was a consistent step of the Empress as an educator.”
Sergei Yesenin, already a famous poet by that time, worked as an orderly in one of the infirmaries. In the summer of 1916, at a concert for the wounded, Yesenin read a greeting to the Grand Duchesses, and after that a poem entitled “To the Princesses.” The poet compared the princesses to white birch trees, meek and affectionate, against the backdrop of a crimson sunset. The final lines of the poem turned out to be truly prophetic:
Pulling them closer and closer with an irresistible hand
There, where grief puts its stamp on the forehead.
Oh, pray, Saint Magdalene,
For Their destiny.
Last months of life
After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II from the throne, the royal family was kept in custody in Tsarskoe Selo. The guards were ruthless and rude. But there were also bright episodes. Baroness Buxhoeveden recalled that often “after talking with the Emperor or the children, the soldiers’ hostility disappeared. They saw that these were not the ferocious monsters they had been taught to believe.”
By mid-August 1917 royal family transported to Tobolsk. Alexandra Fedorovna taught children, read, and embroidered. She and her daughters knitted warm woolen clothes for Christmas and gave them to each member of the household. On Sunday evenings there were small theatrical performances.
From Alexandra Feodorovna’s diary: “In the life of every home, sooner or later, a bitter experience comes - the experience of suffering. There may be years of cloudless happiness, but there will probably also be sorrows...
Hard work, difficulties, worries, self-sacrifice and even grief lose their sharpness, gloom and severity when they are softened by tender love.”
During Lent, recalled English teacher Gibbs, “The Empress made everyone a copy of the Canon [of St. Andrew of Crete] in Russian.” “To make a copy” meant to copy 25 pages of the Canon by hand.
Among the guards in Tobolsk there were both kind and hostile to the Royal Family. From a modest entry in Alexandra Feodorovna’s diary, we learn that on Christmas Eve she personally decorated the tree and prepared a treat for the guards, and, entering them, gave each of the twenty a Gospel and a bookmark made with her own hands.
After Christmas 1917, all the guards were replaced, and there were no sympathizers left. Extremely hostile, the new guards of soldiers began to restrict the prisoners in everything.
By May 1918, the entire royal family was transported to Yekaterinburg and detained in the house of engineer Ipatiev.
From the book of the nun Nektaria (Mc Liz) it is known that “on July 2 (15), without any explanation, they brought a local priest to perform the Liturgy. The entire Family and household members confessed and took communion. When they got to the funeral prayers, the whole Family suddenly knelt down, and one of the Grand Duchesses began to sob. Whether they knew about their fate will never be known.
They were woken up around midnight and taken to the basement of the house, where they were told to wait... They brought in three chairs. Alexandra Feodorovna sat on one, Nikolai Alexandrovich sat on the other, he took Alexei Nikolaevich on his lap (the Tsarevich was ill - author’s note)...
After some time, the commandant and guards entered the room. Commandant Yankel Yurovsky quickly said: “We must shoot you.” Nikolai Alexandrovich, rising to shield Alexandra Feodorovna and Alexei Nikolaevich, only had time to say: “What?” - when the bullet hit him in the head, he was killed on the spot. The first shot was the signal for the guards to open fire, and a minute later everyone was dead, except for 16-year-old Anastasia, who fainted, and the maid Anna Demidova - both were bayoneted and beaten to death. Alexandra Feodorovna died making the sign of the cross.
Thus ended the life and reign of the last Empress of Russia.” This is how the lives of her children, the eldest of whom was 23 years old, were cut short. youngest daughter– 17, my son is about 14 years old...
"I want everyone to be happy"
On August 12, 1904, the only son of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, heir to the throne of the Russian Empire, Tsarevich Alexei, was born in Peterhof. He was the fifth and very long-awaited child of the royal couple, for whom they prayed a lot and fervently. In honor of the birth of the heir to the Russian throne, 300 cannon salvoes thundered in Peterhof. They were echoed by the guns of Kronstadt, followed by the batteries of the Peter and Paul Fortress. All over Russia they fired cannons, rang bells, and hung flags. Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov was the first heir to the throne since the 17th century to be born to the reigning emperor. According to tradition, in connection with the birth of an heir, charitable organizations were established. Since Russia was at war with Japan at that time, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna organized a military hospital train named after her heir, Tsarevich Alexei, in October 1904, and in 1905 the Alekseevsky Committee was established to provide assistance to children who lost their fathers in the Russo-Japanese War.
The parents' joy at the birth of the heir to the throne and the entire childhood of the Tsarevich himself were overshadowed by a serious illness - hemophilia (incoagulability), which he inherited on his mother's side from his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of England. The disease caused the child a lot of suffering: from any blow, bruise, or abrasion, a blue tumor appeared from internal hemorrhage, causing severe pain. The boy required constant supervision and vigilance, and special care. Two sailors from the imperial yacht “Standart” were assigned to him: the boatswain Derevenko and his assistant Nagorny.
The teacher of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, wrote in his memoirs that Alexei was the center of the closely knit royal family, all affections and hopes were focused on him. “His sisters adored him and he was the joy of his parents. When he was healthy, the whole palace seemed to be transformed; it was a ray of sunshine that illuminated both things and those around us.” “He thoroughly enjoyed life when he could, like a playful and cheerful boy. His tastes were very modest. He was not at all proud of the fact that he was the heir to the throne; this was the last thing he thought about. His greatest happiness was playing with the two sons of the sailor Derevenko, who were both somewhat younger than him. He had great quickness of mind and judgment and a lot of thoughtfulness. He sometimes amazed me with questions above his age, which testified to a delicate and sensitive soul.”
One day, his older sister Olga saw him lying on the ground and looking at the sky. She asked what he was doing. “I like to think and reflect,” Alexey answered. Olga asked what he liked to think about. “Oh, a lot of things,” the boy answered, “I enjoy the sun and the beauty of summer while I can. Who knows, maybe one of these days I won’t be able to do this anymore.”
Everyone who knew Tsarevich Alexei noted that he had a soft and kind heart, could not harm anyone, and was not arrogant or harsh with others. He inherited simplicity from his father. There was no complacency or arrogance in him at all. Alexei especially quickly became attached to ordinary people. He loved his “uncle” Derevenko tenderly and touchingly, and took an ardent part if the servants had any misfortune. With interest and deep attention, he peered into the lives of ordinary people and often said: “When I am king, there will be no poor and unhappy! I want everyone to be happy."
In the Peterhof park, Alexandria, the Tsarevich had his own field, where he planted rye and at the end of summer he squeezed it with a sickle in order to better feel the work of ordinary people. Alexey loved everything Russian. Alexey's favorite musical instrument was the balalaika, and he played it very well.
The boy was very careful, demanding of himself and others, and disciplined, but, like his parents, he did not like court etiquette. He could not stand lies and did not tolerate them around him. His patience and strong will were further developed and strengthened due to frequent physical suffering.
The prince loved his family very much. His father was an idol for Alexei, the boy tried to imitate him in everything. Sincerely respecting all elders, Alexey did not submit to outside influence and obeyed only his father. Tsar Nicholas II once said about his son to the minister: “Yes, it will not be as easy for you to cope with him as with me.”
All of Alexei’s relatives noted his religiosity. Together with his entire family, he attended services in the temple. His parents taught him to pray. Letters from the Tsarevich have been preserved, in which he congratulates his relatives on church holidays, and his poem “Christ is Risen!”, sent by him to his grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. His letters to his mother, when they were apart, always ended with the words: “Lord God bless you and your sisters!” In 1910, Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem, knowing about the piety of the heir, gave him for Easter an icon of the “Resurrection of Christ” with particles of stones from the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha.
At about seven years old, Alexey began to study. Like all his immediate relatives, he was educated at home. The classes were led by the Empress herself, who also chose the teachers. Alexey began to study the Law of God, the Russian language, and arithmetic. A little later, geography, French and English were added. The parents deliberately delayed teaching their son foreign languages so that he would first develop a pure Russian accent.
The Tsarevich's classroom was furnished modestly, without luxury. On the cabinets stretching along the walls were textbooks, abacus, a map of the growth of Russia under the Romanovs, an educational collection of Ural minerals and rocks, and a microscope. Books of educational and military content were stored in the cabinets. There were especially many books on the history of the Romanov dynasty, published for the 300th anniversary of the dynasty. In addition, a collection of transparencies on the history of Russia, reproductions of artists, albums and various gifts were kept there. On the door is the lesson schedule and Suvorov’s testament.
As teachers noted, the heir was very smart and, like his sister Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, he grasped everything on the fly. Protopresbyter George Shavelsky wrote about the Tsarevich: “The Lord endowed the unfortunate boy with wonderful natural qualities: a strong and quick mind, resourcefulness, a kind and compassionate heart, a simplicity charming among kings; The physical beauty also corresponded to spiritual beauty.”
Tsarevich Alexei with teachers (from left to right): P. Gilliard,
Palace Commandant V. Voeikov, S. Gibbs, P. Petrov
From birth, the life of Alexei Romanov was subordinated to one thing - the future reign. According to tradition, all royal children - Grand Dukes - became chiefs or officers of guard regiments on their birthday. Tsarevich Alexei became the chief of the 12th East Siberian Rifle Regiment and ataman of all Cossack troops. He was included in the lists of twelve guards military units, since, in accordance with tradition, the Russian Emperor had to be a military man. By the time he came of age, the heir should have already had a fairly high military rank and be listed as the commander of one of the battalions of a guards regiment.
Emperor Nicholas II himself introduced his son to Russian military history, the structure of the army and the peculiarities of its life. To train the crown prince, he organized a detachment of sons of lower ranks under the leadership of “uncle” Derevenko. The father managed to instill in the heir not only a love of military affairs, but also veneration and respect for Russian soldiers, which he passed on from all the sovereign ancestors, who always taught to love the common soldier.
From early childhood, Alexey and his father were often present at receptions of deputations and troop reviews. Commander of the Cossack hundred P.N. Krasnov in his memoirs described an incident that occurred in January 1907. Nicholas II decided to show his heir to the Cossacks of the Life Guards Ataman Regiment. The Cossacks loved their young ataman and future emperor very much and were deeply devoted to him. When the Emperor and the Tsarevich walked past the Cossacks, Krasnov noted with annoyance that the Cossacks from his hundred had their sabers swaying. Krasnov followed the sovereign, and saw how the standard bent down, and tears flowed down the face of the stern sergeant. “And as the Tsar walked with the heir along the front, the Cossacks cried and sabers swayed in their rough, calloused hands. I couldn’t and didn’t want to stop this swing,” Krasnov recalled.
Alexei also loved his soldiers and was aware of his responsibilities to them, even when he was still a very small child. According to the memoirs of Yulia Den, maid of honor and friend of the Empress, he once played enthusiastically with his sisters. And then they reported that the Cossacks had come and asked permission to see the crown prince. The six-year-old child immediately stopped all the games and said with an important look: “Girls, go away, the heir will have a reception.”
In 1914, the First World War began. In August 1915, Nicholas II assumed the duties of Supreme Commander-in-Chief and moved from Tsarskoye Selo to Headquarters - the city of Mogilev. After some time, Tsarevich Alexei also moved to Headquarters with his father. Teachers and educators went after him. Alexey was then 12 years old, and his curriculum was adapted to the 4th–5th grade of a classical gymnasium. Classes lasted six days a week, 4 lessons a day. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of languages. The Sovereign Father believed that being at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief gave more life experience to the heir to the Russian Throne than all the desk lessons combined. Corporal Alexei Romanov proudly wore an ordinary soldier's uniform and high Russian boots. His favorite food was “cabbage soup and porridge and black bread, which all my soldiers eat,” as he always said. Every day they brought him sampler of cabbage soup and porridge from the soldiers’ kitchen of the Consolidated Regiment. According to the recollections of those around him, the Tsarevich ate everything and still licked the spoon, beaming with pleasure and saying: “This is delicious - not like our lunch.”
Tsarevich Alexei spent almost the entire 1916 with his father, accompanied him on all trips to the active army, and awarded soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle. P. Gilliard recalls: “After the review, the Emperor approached the soldiers and entered into a simple conversation with some of them, asking them about the fierce battles in which they had participated. Alexey Nikolaevich followed his father step by step, listening with passionate interest to the stories of these people who had seen the proximity of death so many times. His usually expressive and moving face was full of tension from the effort he made not to miss a single word of what they were saying.” During the war, Tsarevich Alexei was awarded the silver St. George medal of the 4th degree. According to A.A. Mordvinov, the aide-de-camp of Nicholas II, the heir “promised to be not only a good, but also an outstanding monarch.”
At the beginning of March 1917, Emperor Nicholas II was forced to abdicate not only for himself, but also for his son: “not wanting to part with our beloved son...” P. Gilliard described how he told this news to Tsarevich Alexei: “I explained to him then, that the Sovereign abdicated the throne in favor of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who, in turn, declined.
– But then who will be the Emperor?
– I don’t know, no one yet!..
Not a word about himself, not a hint of his rights as an heir. He blushed deeply and was excited. After several minutes of silence he said:
– If there is no longer a Tsar, who will rule Russia?
I explained to him that a Provisional Government had been formed, which would deal with State affairs until the convening of the Constituent Assembly, and that then, perhaps, his uncle Mikhail would ascend to the throne. I was once again struck by the modesty of this child.”
Immediately after the abdication, the Royal Family was taken into custody in Tsarskoe Selo, and in August they were sent into exile in Tobolsk. There, Alexey fell down the stairs and received injuries, after which he could not walk for a long time. After moving to Yekaterinburg in the spring of 1918, his illness worsened. The life of the Royal Family in Yekaterinburg in the house of engineer Ipatiev was subject to a strict prison regime: isolation from the outside world, meager food rations, an hour-long walk, searches, humiliation, hostility from the guards. But, despite this, until the last day of his life, Alexey continued to study. The Emperor himself, his mother Alexandra Feodorovna, and physician Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin were involved in training his son. According to many testimonies, the Royal Family was not burdened by the forced isolation of life. They loved each other so much, they felt so good and interested in each other that the only thing that upset them was their concern for Russia and the manifestation of human rudeness and cruelty. In a tragic time, the family was united by common prayer, faith, hope and patience. Being surrounded by enemies, the prisoners turned to spiritual literature and strengthened themselves with the examples of the Savior and the holy martyrs. Alexey was always present at the service, sitting in a chair. At the head of his bed hung many icons on a gold chain.
Orthodox conversation [Electronic resource] / Gilliard P. Emperor Nicholas II and his family. - Electron. Dan. – Access mode: http://-pravoslavie.-domainbg.-com/rus/-11/carstvennye-_mucheniki/-zhiljar.htm, free. - Cap. from the screen. Further, the memoirs of P. Gilliard are quoted from this book.
Library of Yakov Krotov [Electronic resource] / Shavelsky G. Memoirs of the last protopresbyter of the Russian army and navy. - Electron. Dan. – Access mode: http://-www.-krotov.info/-history/-20/1910/-shavelsk_1-_4.htm#18, free. - Cap. from the screen.