Free Republic

Hunter Biden is comparable to children in Japanese internment camps, to undocumented immigrants, to the murdered descendants of the Tsar. At least that’s what he argues in a new court filing in his federal gun case, which presents Hunter as one of the most tragic figures since the fall of Troy. Literally. In a brief that borders on delusional, Biden’s lawyers say the son of the president who burned through millions from influence peddling is comparable to all those unfortunate and destitute souls. While the media has endlessly covered how Donald Trump arguments are over-the-top in issues such as immunity,...

That the end of the Russian Empire brought about by Russian Revolution also resulted in the former Emperor’s execution now feels like an inevitability. However, though his monarchy was overthrown, Nicholas and his family were related to many other royal families, thanks to Queen Victoria’s habit of arranging marriages for her offspring across Europe. In the 15 months from his abdication to his death, royal relations still in power debated if and how they should grant the family asylum, with many of the Romanov descendants believing King George V of England, the czar’s cousin and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II,...

SEATTLE—Edmina Romanov fasted all day so she wouldn’t have to worry about calories at her friend’s Communist-themed party, but it was all for naught because no food was offered at the authentic commie get-together. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got egg on my face,” said Romanov. “I mean not really. I wish I did. I’m so hungry.” “But think of the weight you will lose, comrade!” joked the party’s host, Larry Bolshevik. “Come! Let us play ‘Arrest the Lienz Cossack.’” Another guest of the party, Natasha Summers, didn’t understand why Romanov was so upset. “There’s plenty of food if you know where...

Moscow, October 7, Interfax - The participation of the guard of honor in the wedding ceremony in St. Petersburg of the heir to the head of the Russian Imperial House, George Romanov, and Italian citizen Victoria Bettarini, was agreed through official channels and did not violate any laws, Director of the Chancellery of the House of Romanov Alexander Zakatov told Interfax. "Preparations for the wedding, all official correspondence lasted for several months. The commander of the Western Military District issued a relevant instruction regarding the participation of the guard of honor. The presence of the guard of honor did not...

Russia's former Imperial capital, St Petersburg, hosts the country's first royal wedding since the 1917 revolution as Grand Duke George Romanov marries his fiancée Victoria Romanovna Bettarini. .....

MOSCOW, Sept 30 – Russia’s former Imperial capital is set to play host to the wedding of a descendant of the Russian royal family in the first such event in more than a century. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov will tie the knot with Italian fiancée Victoria Romanovna Bettarini at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg on Friday in an elaborate religious ceremony with hundreds of foreign guests in attendance. Russia’s last tsar Nicholas II, his wife and five children were killed by a revolutionary firing squad in July 1918 in the cellar of a merchant’s house in Yekaterinburg, a...

Holy Transfiguration Cathedral at Moscow’s Novospassky Monastery is set to be restored by 2023. The church is the second largest in Moscow after the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin, and is well-known for serving as the Romanov family vault for several centuries. The monastery itself long enjoyed the favor of the representatives of the Romanov Dynasty. A competition has been announced for the restoration of the cathedral, which is designated an object of cultural heritage. The winner of the competition will have 380 days to carry out the necessary restoration work in the church and fix up the entrance to...

In the course of its work and its battery of genetic examinations initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2015, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has confirmed the veracity of the remains said to belong to Royal Martyr Nicholas II and his martyred family, though research and examinations continue in order to remove even the slightest doubt, senior investigator Marina Molodtsova said in an interview with Izvestia published on Thursday, the feast of the Royal Martyrs. “Since case was resumed in 2015, 37 new forensic examinations have been carried out, including forensic (anthropological), molecular genetic, trace evidence, and...

Russian state deputies have again raised the issue of renaming Sverdlovsk Province, which is currently named in honor of Yakov Sverdlov, who played an important role in planning the October Revolution and is widely believed to have participated in the slaying of the Royal Martyrs on July 17, 1918. The proposal came during a closed meeting of provincial Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev with the federal parliamentary deputies from the region on the preparations for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Ekaterinburg, reports URA.RU. “In his speech, Pavel Vladimirovich [Krasheninnikov],” the head of the Committee for State Construction and Legislation, “among...

Your Beatitude! Your Excellence and Your Eminence! Dear fathers, brothers, and sisters! I congratulate you all on the Lord’s Day! By historical circumstances, we had the opportunity to celebrate a Divine Liturgy here and consecrate the church in honor of the Theodore Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos which is associated with the Romanov dynasty: this church was built next to the site of the death of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, Nun Barbara, and other representatives of the royal family. Looking at this place, this nearly buried mine, it is hard to imagine that fear and terror that engulfed...

Lead by Patriarch Kyril more than 100,000 marched in a procession from the Church on the Blood in Yekaterinburg to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers about 20km outside the city. There followed a moleben in honor of the Royal Passion Bearers and a hierarchical liturgy (mass) later that night. (Link to the video of the full liturgy is in the comments.)

In the night of July 16-17, on the anniversary of the killing of the holy Royal Martyrs, the penitential Royal Procession was held in Ekaterinburg from the place of their killing to the place where their remains were hidden, where today stands a monastery in honor of the holy Royal Martyrs, reports the site of the Ekaterinburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The cross procession began immediately after the Divine Liturgy which was celebrated by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, along with Metropolitans Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan and Kirill of Verkhoturye and Ekaterinburg, and Bishops Benjamin of...

Russia should reinstate the monarchy and appoint Vladimir Putin as royal emperor, says an influential Moscow churchman. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said another option would be to bring back the Romanov dynasty, which was overthrown exactly a century ago in 1917. “We are a country with monarchic mentality,” he said, at the launch of his new book. “It doesn’t matter that we don’t now have formal monarchy; I think we can remake it with Putin on top. Or else with somebody from the Romanov house, or with an elected person as head.” …

Moscow, Fabruary 2, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has said the inquiry into the killing of the family of Nicholas II will be completed once the truth is found. "I have received highest-level reassurances that there will be no hurry and no tying down of the end of the inquiry to any particular date. The inquiry will last as long as is necessary in order establish the truth," the patriarch said at the current Bishops' Council in Moscow on Tuesday. Unlike the situation in the 1990s, the state has given representatives of the Church - archbishops,...

Moscow, September 24, Interfax - The Russian Investigative Committee does not doubt the authenticity of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and additional examinations will be conducted following a request from the Russian Orthodox Church, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin has said. "The recent resumption of the criminal inquiry is not an attempt to revise the earlier received evidence and the established facts. Rather, it is an exclusive need to additionally examine the newly uncovered facts, which has been requested by the Russian Orthodox Church," he said. Russian investigators "have never doubted that all of the found remains...

If the end result of a war is an exchange of territory, the outcome of a revolution is ultimately the exchange of real estate. The house at 716 Gerrard Street East is an apt illustration of the downward mobility of the politically displaced. Listed last week on MLS, the modest two-story Riverdale semidetached was the final residence of the Tsar Nicholas II’s last surviving sibling, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandranova. The highest ranking member of the Russian imperial family to emigrate to North America, Olga convalesced in the care of Russian friends who ran the beauty shop on the main floor....

St. Petersburg, July 12, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presided over a religious service marking the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on Friday. Hundreds of worshippers gathered at the cathedral and in the square in front of it for the service, an Interfax correspondent reported. The event was also broadcast live on TV screens installed across St. Petersburg. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia arrived from Madrid to attend the religious service. After the service, Patriarch Kirill said that it was dedicated to the 400th...

The story of the missing Russian crown jewels begins, as so many great adventures do, in a library. In this case, it was the U.S. Geological Survey Library in Reston, Va. Richard Huffine, the director, was looking through the library's rare-book collection when he came upon an oversized volume. "And there's no markings on the outside, there's no spine label or anything like that," he says. "This one caught our eye, and we pulled it aside to take a further look at it." Researcher Jenna Nolt was one of those who took a look. "The title page is completely hand...

Nicholas Romanov, the deposed czar of Russia, and his family were awakened in the middle of the night on July 16-17, 1918, and told to get dressed. They were being moved to a safe location, their Bolshevik captors said, away from the White army that was closing in on Yekaterinburg, in the southern Ural Mountains. The soldiers shepherded the family and four servants—a cook, valet, doctor and maid—into the basement of the house where they were being held. Nicholas carried his ailing son, Alexei, in his arms. Once all were assembled, a death sentence was read aloud, twice, and the...

Romanoff Cracks: Secret White House Jobsgate E-Mail Revealed By Jeffrey Lord on 6.3.10 And…bang! Can you say James McCord? In a revelation that will send shock waves through the American political landscape, the Denver Post last night revealed that Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff has now reluctantly admitted he discussed "three possible jobs with the deputy chief of staff of the Obama administration -- all contingent upon a decision by Romanoff not to challenge U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet." The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is Jim Messina, a Denver-born Obama aide who served as the chief of staff of...