The Feast of the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia

  • Thread starter Thread starter George720
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

George720

Guest
Today is the Feast of the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia in the Eastern Church…

Tsar Nicholas and his wife and 5 children and servants…

Gunned down in a room by a Communist assassination team…

Brought there solely for that purpose…

(Their own guards were unwilling to kill them.)

The Holy Head of the Government of Holy Russia assassinated…

By the atheists…

On the Old Calendar date of July 17th…

Which in New Calendar Time is July 4th…

The date of the Birth of the United States of America…

“They’re comming to America!..”

Glorious is God in His Saints!

geo
 
Last edited:
The millions upon millions of peasant deaths came under Stalin…

He was Christian, and would not kill his enemies - He knew it would cost him his life and his childrens’ lives…

The story that staggered me long ago was that when he received the report from his top security man, who said that they had the names of 250 rebel leaders that they could arrest overnight, eliminate, and the whole revolution would collapse… He refused… His great punishment was exiling them to Siberia…

So you are right, he was a terribly incompetent worldly Czar… His Family’s Feast Day is July 4th, the birth date of the United States of America… Under the Old Calendar, that day is July 17th… They were murdered on the day of our birth as a nation… Some of us hear the soft voice of God in that Providence…

geo
 
The millions that died don’t quibble… Do you know the death numbers under Stalin?

Have you read Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler? Or the Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn?

Which is why they were so ruthless in their idealism…

Stalin was practical…

geo
 
Just random atomic chance, yes?

That is not the God I know…

Things happen as they do for reasons…

Or as a pilot friend of mine wrote: “Nothing by Chance”…

Regicide in a Christian country is a big deal…

geo
 
hmm just a side thought but the ROC’s increasing alignment towards nationalism (like beatifying it’s royal family) and it’s fight for supremeacy in the region worries me (like not reconginizing the UOC or being upset over the establishments of the UGCC and Russian Catholic church) worries me
 
The Russian Orthodox Church has a specific category of Saints called Passion-Bearers that are different from Martyrs in that they do not die specifically for the Orthodox Faith, but they die a Christ-like death as faithful members of the Orthodox Church.

See: Passion-bearer - OrthodoxWiki
Elvis_George said:
ROC’s increasing alignment towards nationalism (like beatifying it’s royal family) and it’s fight for supremeacy in the region worries me (like not reconginizing the UOC or being upset over the establishments of the UGCC and Russian Catholic church) worries me
Click to expand...
The nationalistic tendencies of most of the Orthodox Churches is worrisome, in that many faithful are easily caught up in the heresy of ethnophyletism, which is essentially ecclesiastical racism.

The beautification of the Royal Family could be seen less of a nationalistic move, and more of an act of spiritual reparation for the sin of regicide.

The UOC problem is its own mess, which is too complicated to get into here. The ROC has had a strong anti-Catholic/Uniate bias that the Russian philosopher Soloviev lamented in his Russia and the Universal Church. (Which you can read for free here: http://www.strobertbellarmine.net/books/Solovyev--Russia_Universal_Church.pdf).

Interesting, Soloviev argued for the papacy, and the Western, Roman Catholic Church as the only Church free of Caesaropapism. He also foresaw the schism between Constantinople and Moscow. Worth the read.
 
EmilyAlexandra said:
Sorry, who are coming to America?
Click to expand...
Saints, my dear…

Saints…

The deposit of the Faith in Russia established Russia as an Orthodox Christian Country, and the elimination of the Royal Family on July 4th, to my old eyes, sees the passing of the Spiritual baton to the US…

I mean, we had BETTER succeed, because if the forces of darkness take over the US, this world will go down quickly… We are just too powerful… The same was true of Rome when Christianity was just starting out… And then of Constantinople of a thousand years… Then to Russia, and now to us, if we can hold it… It’s coming…

I remember Elder Ephraim of Arizona talking about asking God for Gifts, and then when they come, the person cries out: “But WAIT!!! I’m not READY!!!” And he laughed - It doubtless happened to him… The specifically American Saints are a different breed, growing up in freedom and security, rather under despotic regimes… Less ascetic, for one thing…

geo
 
PilgrimMichelangelo said:
The beautification of the Royal Family could be seen less of a nationalistic move, and more of an act of spiritual reparation for the sin of regicide.
Click to expand...
Thank-you - That is what I was thumble-flumbing about and trying to say… It is a big and national “I’m sorry…” from the country that killed her pious Tsar and his family…

geo
 
Oh well, if your wife said so, obviously that’s the end of the discussion.
 
Serfdom was abolished in Russia in 1861, seven years before Nicholas II was born.
 
Last edited:
The life story of the last Romanovs has always intrigued me.

Tsar Nicholas II bore a huge responsibility and probably didn’t know how to face the challenges of his reign. He wasn’t prepared for that. He didn’t want his son to be in the same situation, so he tried to give him the best possible education (considering his illness), and even made him come to meetings with the ministers (and probably get bored to death!).

The Romanovs were one of the most powerful families in the world. They had everything they could want, and lived fairly disconnected from reality. They probably were superficial in many ways, and had every single servant flattering them day and night. I’m sure they believed in God, but they didn’t know Him. God brought both great happiness and some suffering to that family through the Tsarievich. He was a bright boy, but he was sick. And instead of really coming back to God, his mother Alexandra got completely tricked by the strange Rasputin.

But things got really ugly for them in very little time. They went from being flattered to be prosecuted and kidnapped. From having everything from power to material goods… to have nothing but worry and fear. And I’m sure that in that awful situation, they all became closer to God. Their murder (and specially the assassination of children) was just despicable.

Now, this is all my personal speculation.

Do I think that their Orthodox canonization was political? Yes.

Do I think that they are saints? Only God knows, but thanks to their fall in disgrace, I think they all got a great chance of becoming closer to God. And I’m almost completely sure that young Alexei didn’t bore many sins over his soul, due to his young age.

This family shows us how can we have everything and be left with nothing. And how bad circumstances can draw us closer to God.
 
Last edited:
Elvis_George said:
I came across of something known as the “Fool for Christ.” What is this? Do the Orthodox have types of saints?
Click to expand...
One form of the ascetic Christian life is called foolishness for the sake of Christ. The fool-for-Christ set for himself the task of battling within himself the root of all sin, pride. In order to accomplish this he took on an unusual style of life, appearing as someone bereft of his mental faculties, thus bringing upon himself the ridicule of others. In addition he exposed the evil in the world through metaphorical and symbolic words and actions. He took this ascetic endeavor upon himself in order to humble himself and to also more effectively influence others, since most people respond to the usual ordinary sermon with indifference. The spiritual feat of foolishness for Christ was especially widespread in Russia. --(Excerpted from The Law of God , Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY: 1993)

Foolishness for Christ’s sake usually manifests after the Lord gives great spiritual gifts to someone, and in order to maintain humility they pretend insanity.

I have heard St. Francis of Assisi and St. Benedict Labre referred to as a “Fools-for-Christ” in the Roman tradition, but I am not very familiar with Catholic saints, so there are doubtless many more Fools-for-Christ in the Roman Church.

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Fool-for-Christ

The Orthodox Church does have types of saints, “ancestors, fathers, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Preachers, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, [Teachers], Ascetics, and for every righteous soul made perfect in faith.”–Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom/[St. Basil the Great]

Here is a near-complete list of saint types:

 
kikiki32 said:
I’m sure they (the Romanovs) believed in God, but they didn’t know Him
Click to expand...
This certainty of yours very much feels facile and superficial…

I mean, how can you presume such knowledge?

Do you know the quality of their day to day life?

Was the boy’s illness Providential?

Did God know he would never become Tsar?

Hence the Gift of affliction?

At any rate, they died at the hands of the atheists by an assassination team, because their guards could not be trusted with the job, because they were loved…

geo
 
They died on July 4th… It is not a matter of God being on the side of the USA… The center of Christianity followed political power into Rome, then into Constantinople, then into Russia, and not the USA is the world’s most formidable power period, and the Christian Faith needs to be here now, and it is coming here… Fleeing Christians, and conquering ones, are not the ones to missionize the Americas…Kyrill and Methodios brought the Faith to Russia, and a small group of monks from Valaam Monastery brought it from Russia into Alaska, and it is now moving into America…

The fact that the Royal Family was martyred on July 4th does not prove anything, but is seen as a consequence of events that are not discerned with the eyes… eg They are a consequence, not a proof…

geo
 
Yes, I agree with you. I didn’t know them nor the quality of their spiritual life. But that’s a thing that only God knows and that can be said of anyone, except oneself. As I said that’s all a personal opinion that can perfectly be superficial. I just read somewhere long time ago that their letters or diaries when they faced the last months of their lives were profoundly religious in comparison to their previous letters. Maybe that’s why I thought that way about them.
 
kikiki32 said:
I didn’t know them nor the quality of their spiritual life.
Click to expand...
Well, who can? Those with prophetic gifts can, but that kind of access is not common, and for the rest of us schlubs, we find ourselves guessing even on who is a prophet…

But you CAN know them in their works, and those works were alms-giving, every day, in hospitals and other places of need… Croquet and tennis (anyone?) and bridge and afternoon teas were not a part of their daily regimen… They were committed also to daily morning and evening prayers and regular Church Services… That was the manner of the life of the Royal Family…
kikiki32 said:
I just read somewhere long time ago that their letters or diaries when they faced the last months of their lives were profoundly religious in comparison to their previous letters.
Click to expand...
Prophetic gifts often come, for people living pious and holy lives, in times of great stress… They could see what was coming, and turned inward to meet it… Martyrs universally where there is time… Indeed, martyrdom can be understood as happening only when there is time… eg It is a voluntary action bearing witness to (eg Glorifying) God…

'nuff!

geo
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top