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The canonization of the Romanovs (also called "glorification" in the Russian Orthodox Church) was the elevation to
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
hood of the last
Imperial Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pap ...
of
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
, his wife Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children Olga,
Tatiana Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Variations * be, Тацця́на, Tatsiana * bg, Татяна, Tatyana * germa ...
,
Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...
,
Anastasia Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the mos ...
, and Alexei – by the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
. The family was killed by the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
on 17 July 1918 at the
Ipatiev House Ipatiev House (russian: Дом Ипатьева) was a merchant's house in Yekaterinburg (later renamed Sverdlovsk in 1924, renamed back to Yekaterinburg in 1991) where the former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918, reigned 1894–1917), h ...
in
Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administrat ...
. The house was later demolished. The Church on Blood was built on this site, and the altar stands over the execution site.


Canonization

On 1 November 1981,
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович, r=Mikhail Aleksandrovich; 13 June 1918) was the youngest son and fifth child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and youngest brother of Nicholas I ...
(the younger brother of Nicholas II) and his secretary, Nicholas Johnson, were canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
.Canonization of the New Martyrs by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 1981-How It Happened"
Archpriest Serafim Gan. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Retrieved 14 July, 2021
The two men were both murdered at Perm on 13 June 1918. On 15 August 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church announced the canonization of Nicholas II and his immediate family for their "'humbleness, patience and meekness'" during their imprisonment and execution by the Bolsheviks. On 3 February 2016, the
Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church The Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (russian: Архиерейский собор Русской Православной Церкви) is a local Council, which involves only the bishops, is a formal gathering or council of bishops ...
canonized Nicholas II's personal physician,
Eugene Botkin Yevgeny Sergeyevich Botkin (russian: Евгений Сергеевич Боткин; 27 March 1865 – 17 July 1918), commonly known as Eugene Botkin, was the court physician since 1908 for Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. He sometimes ...
, as a righteous passion bearer.


Controversy

The canonizations were controversial for both branches of the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
. In 1981, opponents noted Nicholas II's perceived weaknesses as a ruler and said that his actions had led to the Bolshevik Revolution, which caused so much damage for Russia and its people. One priest of the
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
noted that martyrdom in the Russian Orthodox Church has nothing to do with the martyr's personal actions but was instead related to why he or she was killed.Massie, Robert K., ''The Romanovs: The Final Chapter'', Random House, , 1995, pp. 134-135 Other critics noted that the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad appeared to be blaming
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
revolutionaries for the deaths and equating the political assassination with a
ritual murder Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...
. Others rejected the family's being classified as new martyrs because they were not killed because of their religious faith. There was no proof that the execution was a ritual murder. Religious leaders in both churches also had objections to canonizing the Tsar's family because they perceived him to have been a weak emperor whose incompetence led to the revolution, and the suffering of his people. They said he was at least partially responsible for his own murder and the murders of his wife and children. For these opponents, the fact that the Tsar was, in private life, a kind man and a good husband and father did not override his poor governance of Russia. Despite their official designation as " passion-bearers" by the August 2000 Council, the family are referred to as "martyrs" in Church publications, icons, and in popular veneration by the people. Since the late 20th century, believers have attributed healing from illnesses or conversion to the Orthodox Church to their prayers to Maria and Alexei, as well as to the rest of the family.


Discovery of bodies

The bodies of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and three of their daughters were discovered in 1979. Remains of two of the children, believed to be Maria and Alexei, were missing from the unmarked grave. The discovery of the Romanov remains was not acknowledged by the government until 1989 during the ''
glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
'' period. Following confirmation of identities through forensic and DNA analysis, the Imperial Family was interred in a state funeral at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 17 July 1998, eighty years after they were murdered. It was not until 2007 that the remains of Alexei and one of his sisters were found at a second unmarked gravesite, about 70 meters from the first. On 23 August 2007, a Russian archaeologist announced the discovery of two burned, partial skeletons at a bonfire site at
Ganina Yama Ganina Yama (Russian: Га́нина Я́ма, "Ganya’s Pit") was a deep pit in the Four Brothers mine near the village of Koptyaki, 15 km (10 miles) north from Yekaterinburg. In the pre-dawn hours of 17 July 1918, after the execution o ...
near Yekaterinburg that appeared to match the site described in assassin
Yakov Yurovsky Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (; Unless otherwise noted, all dates used in this article are of the Gregorian Calendar, as opposed to the Julian Calendar which was used in Russia prior to . – 2 August 1938) was a Russian Old Bolshevik, revo ...
's memoirs. The archaeologists said the bones are from a boy who was roughly between the ages of ten and thirteen years at the time of his death and of a young woman who was roughly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three years old. Anastasia was seventeen years, one month old at the time of the assassination, while her sister Maria was nineteen years, one month old; and her brother Alexei was two weeks shy of his fourteenth birthday. Anastasia's elder sisters Olga and Tatiana were twenty-two and twenty-one years old at the time of the assassination. Along with the remains of the two bodies, archaeologists found "shards of a container of sulfuric acid, nails, metal strips from a wooden box, and bullets of various caliber."Hammer, Joshua. "Resurrecting the Czar", ''Smithsonian Magazine'', November 2010
/ref> Preliminary testing indicated a "high degree of probability" that the remains belong to the Tsarevich Alexei and to one of his sisters, Russian forensic scientists announced on 22 January 2008. The Yekaterinburg region's chief forensic expert Nikolai Nevolin indicated the results would be compared against those obtained by foreign experts. On April 30, 2008, Russian forensic scientists announced that DNA testing proves that the remains belong to the Tsarevich Alexei and to one of his sisters.


Gallery

Image:Yekaterinburg cathedral on the blood 2007.jpg,
Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administrat ...
's " Church on the Blood," built on the spot where Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918 Image:%D0%93%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D1%8F%D0%BC%D0%B0_1.jpg, Church of St. Nicholas at the Romanov Monastery near the site where the Romanovs' remains were found at
Ganina Yama Ganina Yama (Russian: Га́нина Я́ма, "Ganya’s Pit") was a deep pit in the Four Brothers mine near the village of Koptyaki, 15 km (10 miles) north from Yekaterinburg. In the pre-dawn hours of 17 July 1918, after the execution o ...


See also

* Tsarebozhiye


References


External links


In Memory of the Royal Martyrs, by St. John of Shanghai and San FranciscoThe Royal Martyrs of Russia (Fr. Netarios Serfes)Video of the canonization of 1 November 1981 by the Russian Church AbroadVideo of the canonization of 20 August 2000 by the Moscow Patriarchate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanovs, Canonization of the 20th-century Christian saints Russian Orthodox child saints
Canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
Canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
Passion bearers Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastacia of Russia, Anastasi ...
Eastern Orthodox royal saints House of Romanov
Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastacia of Russia, Anastasi ...
Blood libel