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Church on the Blood Consecrated
The Associated Press | Thursday, Jul. 17, 2003

Posted on 07/17/2003 7:17:32 AM PDT by RussianConservative

YEKATERINBURG, Ural Mountains -- Surrounded by crowds of Russian Orthodox faithful, clerics on Wednesday consecrated a golden-domed memorial church on the spot where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were shot to death by the Bolsheviks 85 years ago.


Crowds gathering Wednesday for the consecration of Yekaterinburg's Church on the Blood, built where Nicholas II was killed.

Russian Orthodox priests wearing gilt-edged red robes chanted and carried crosses under lowering skies in Yekaterinburg, where the last tsar, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were executed in a cellar on July 17, 1918.

The Church on the Blood, a white-walled structure topped by several shining gold-colored onion domes at different levels, was built on the murder site at a cost of 328 million rubles (about $1 million)Actually that $10 million, much of it donated by large companies, Itar-Tass reported.

"I am delighted that I am here on this historic day. This place is known to everyone as the Russian Calvary," a descendant of the Romanovs, Olga Kulikovskaya-Romanova said at the ceremony.

Other family members and well-known people, including Mstislav Rostropovich, joined about 1,000 pilgrims who arrived for the consecration.

Some traveled hundreds of kilometers on foot and stayed at a tent camp set up in a nearby field, NTV television reported.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has been ill lately and was advised by his doctors not to travel to Yekaterinburg, Itar-Tass reported.

In a message, Alexy said the consecration suggests "a possible historic turn" for Russia and called for unity between the Russian Orthodox Church, the state and the Russian people. In imperial Russia, church and state were extremely close and the tsar was considered to have the divine right to rule. All Euro monarchs claim same, called Divine Rule

At the main entrance to the church stands a sculpture depicting the last minutes of the Romanov's lives -- surrounded by members of his family, Nicholas clutches his son, Alexis, to his chest.

Nicholas, who abdicated in March 1917 as revolutionary fervor swept Russia, was canonized by the church in 2000, along with his family, after years of debate on the issue following the collapse of the Soviet regime.

Nicholas and his family were detained and in April 1918 they were sent to Yekaterinburg. Three months later, a firing squad lined them up in the basement of a merchant's house and shot them. The building was demolished in 1977 on orders from Boris Yeltsin, who was the top regional official at the time.

The remains of the royal family were unearthed from a mining pit near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and were buried in St. Petersburg in 1998.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: christianity; martyr; orthodox; russia; russian
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1 posted on 07/17/2003 7:17:33 AM PDT by RussianConservative
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To: MarMema; FormerLib; Destro; RusIvan
bump
2 posted on 07/17/2003 7:18:32 AM PDT by RussianConservative (Hristos: the Light of the World)
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To: All

Let's keep the Dem's on the run!
Click the Pic!

3 posted on 07/17/2003 7:21:03 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: RussianConservative
Thank you for the post. They endured to the end.
4 posted on 07/17/2003 7:28:24 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
bump
5 posted on 07/17/2003 7:39:13 AM PDT by RussianConservative (Hristos: the Light of the World)
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To: Aliska; MarMema; RussianConservative; FormerLib; TexConfederate1861
A few years ago, a nice part of the Hermitage collection of the Tsar's treasures was touring four sites in the country. As luck would have it, Mobile was on the list, and the exhibit coincided with our vacation at Gulf Shores.

It was an incredibly moving experience, because in addition to things like the Faberge Coronation Coach egg, the coach itself, artwork and jewels, there were items like Nicholas' hair from when he was 3, love letters between him and Alexandra, art by the children along with schoolbooks, etc. I couldn't make it through many sections without crying, and didn't see many dry eyes in the place - it was a great experience for all of us, especially the kids.

These were nice people, slaughtered by animals.

6 posted on 07/17/2003 7:51:29 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Do you remember when Nicholas was coronated (or maybe it was their wedding) they issued a "limited edition" of souvenir mugs? Anyway in the field several people were trampled to death trying to get to the mugs. Alexandra saw that as a bad omen.

They were such a lovely family and so devoted to one another, children included.

Thanks for sharing about the exhibit, especially the little personal mementos. The rest of it, jewels, all that, are nice, I suppose, but that's part of what led to the problem in the first place; i.e., so much for the few, so little for the many.

7 posted on 07/17/2003 8:03:18 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: Aliska
They had a few of those mugs on display, along with the commemorative napkin that wrapped the treats inside. They were on the simple side, and the napkins were just linen with an imprint of the Tsar's face, along with a commemorative message I forget. Simple they may have been, but I can see how they would be greatly prized by the average peasant.

One light note - my middle daughter is named Alexandra, and if I remember right, she wasn't quite 6 at the time. She scooted loose from us in the middle of the exhibit, charging onto the next room. They had one of the throne chairs in there, and all the talk about "Tsarina Alexandra" in the recording over her headset was going to her head. I managed to snag her just as she was headed under the rope to sit on the throne.

8 posted on 07/17/2003 8:15:11 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Aliska
... several people were trampled to death ...

It was considerably worse. In that stampede, the day after the coronation, "hundreds were dead and thousands wounded." (Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra).

9 posted on 07/17/2003 8:15:43 AM PDT by dighton (NLC™)
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To: dighton
The curse of illiteracy and poverty when combined with greed can lead to some awful behavior.
10 posted on 07/17/2003 8:18:30 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: RussianConservative
Beautiful church.

May God bless the souls of the Family Romanov, murdered by atheist thugs. May Russia someday have her Czar again.
11 posted on 07/17/2003 8:18:37 AM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
she was headed under the rope to sit on the throne.

That's cute!

12 posted on 07/17/2003 8:23:15 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: dighton
Thanks for the correction; it's been awhile as with most everything else.

An eerie parallel was that in another book (can't remember which) I read that - here we go again - several? - people were trampled to death after Stalin's funeral.

13 posted on 07/17/2003 8:26:17 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: B-Chan
May Russia someday have her Czar again.

Would that necessarily be a good thing for Russia?

14 posted on 07/17/2003 8:27:37 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: Chancellor Palpatine; Aliska; dighton
If I recall correctly -- oh screw the modesty -- As I remember correctly one of the surviving killers-in-the- cellar was still attending Young Communist summer camps as late as the Gorbachev era regaling the youngsters with his role in killing "the monster" tsar and his family -- and his servants.

Also recalling correctly the princesses, having sewn the family jewels into their gowns, didn't die from the bullets. The Marxists ran out of ammo and stabbed the young girls to death.

15 posted on 07/17/2003 8:38:20 AM PDT by aculeus
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To: aculeus
That is outrageous.

I saw a picture of a statue of that Yurovsky or whatever his name was in or near Ekaterinburg. I wonder if it is still there.

The details of the slaughter are so horrible.

Let us pray that they find and identify the other two bodies so they can all rest together.

16 posted on 07/17/2003 9:36:43 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: aculeus; All
Another thread on this here
17 posted on 07/17/2003 9:44:23 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
May God Bless the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia!
18 posted on 07/17/2003 1:54:53 PM PDT by TexConfederate1861 ("Look Away Dixie Land!")
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To: Aliska; B-Chan
B-Chan is absolutely right. Russia desperately needs to reconnect with her pre-Communist past and repudiate Marxism once and for all; restoring the monarchy would accomplish this firmly and decisively. (How can anyone still rejoice in the alleged "fall of Communism" when a KGB hack is currently leading the Russian government?) What Russia needs is a head of state not tainted by any connection to the Soviet Union; who better than HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, 49, or her son HIH Grand Duke Georgiy, 22, who were born in exile?

That said, I'm not optimistic; we monarchists are still a small minority. But one can always hope. God Save the Tsar!

19 posted on 07/17/2003 5:36:47 PM PDT by royalcello
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To: RussianConservative; Aliska; Chancellor Palpatine; B-Chan; TexConfederate1861
Here are some good Orthodox links on the Romanovs.
(I'm not Orthodox, but I am a monarchist with a special affection for the Russian Imperial Family.)

http://www.fr-d-serfes.org/royal/index.htm
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/nicholas_ii_e.htm
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/duchess.htm
20 posted on 07/17/2003 5:42:50 PM PDT by royalcello
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