On the Sunday closest to January 25th, the Church remembers a period in history that shows how the light of Christ conquers all the darkness that the demons of this world can muster. We remember today the greatest persecution and martyrdom of Christians in the Soviet Era in Russia. The number of Christian Martyrs during the 69 years of communist atheistic rule numbered in the millions…and exceeds that of all the martyrs who died for Christ during the first three centuries of Christianity.
Countless Orthodox Christians, monks, nuns, priests, bishops were sent to their deaths…their only crime was their unshakable faith in God. While the world lost these beacons of light, the Church here on earth gained millions of heavenly intercessors. Among the very first of them to give their lives for Christ were none other than members of the Royal Family, in particular that of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the last Tzar of Russia: Tzar Nicholas II.
While I absolutely love talking about the Tzar and His Family, I’m going to leave that for another time. That being said, a great read about the family is a book called: “What Silence Could not Conceal”. Rather than the absolute garbage and misrepresentation offered on Netflix about these Saints, this book puts you in the minds of the tzar and his family by showing you their personal diaries, and how they responded and reacted with humility as their country and world came crashing down around them.
I will point out one small thing about this family, however. When the tzar and his family were under house arrest, the government would make it a point to send the most hateful and harshest of guards to keep watch on the family. Despite the vitriol that was spilled out against them; the tzar, his wife and children, always responded with meekness, kindness, and humility. After some time, those virtues would eventually win over the guards, and many became sympathetic and friendly to the plight of the royals.
Perhaps a reminder to us of how one should respond to slander and personal attacks…
The Tzar’s sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, is perhaps an even greater example of how to respond when the world comes crashing down around us. She was born in the latter half of the 19th century in the midst of luxury. Despite being surrounded by the riches of the world, after her conversion to Orthodoxy, she began to see the light of Christ in every human being that was placed in front of her. She spent her days organizing women’s groups to help the sick and needy in the streets of Moscow.
One cold February day, she was shaken with an indescribable sorrow, as she watched her beloved husband killed by an assassin’s bomb in the middle of the street. While most, especially in high society, would seek revenge for what had been done, Elizabeth fulfilled what our Lord said was the second greatest commandment in the Gospel lesson for today…”to love her neighbor as herself”.
Elizabeth went and sought out her husband’s killer in prison, not seeking revenge out of anger, but rather to try and help the soul of this lost human being, whom she knew that God loved. She brought to him a beautiful icon for his cell and spent her visits urging him to seek repentance for the evil that he had done in his life. This is a Grace that goes beyond human logic…an impossible thing to do for us as fallen human beings…but with God, even the impossible is made possible. After meeting with her husband’s killer, she left the palace life and entered into the Convent of St. Martha and Mary. She sold all her nice clothes and jewelry and distributed them to the poor. She gave up her multiple palace rooms for a simple monastic cell and began to live her life as a nun.
Years later, Elizabeth received the news that her brother in law, Tzar Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate the throne and was put under house arrest in Ekaterinburg. She ignored the calls of her friends to leave the country, putting her trust completely in God and not worrying about the kingdoms of men.
On July 17th of 1918, Tzar Nicholas was marched down into a cellar in the middle of the night with his family, where several untrained gunman entered into the room and pronounced that the soviet government had sentenced them to death. They were brutally slaughtered on that warm summer night, and unceremoniously thrown into unmarked graves.
The next day, in order that the entire Royal Family be snuffed out of Russia, Soviet Soldiers took Elizabeth and the nun Barbara into a place in the woods, and threw them down a deep mineshaft, before throwing a grenade into the entrance of the mine. A few hours later, local villagers heard the explosions and rushed to the mineshaft, only to hear down below the beautiful voices of Elizabeth and Barbara, who despite being fatally wounded and in tremendous amounts of pain, were spending their last waking moments singing hymns to the Mother of God and to the Holy Trinity. Even in the face of death, with great difficulty, they offered praise to the God of Love who was about to deliver them from their torments.
We can learn a lot from the lives of Sts. Elizabeth, Nicholas, and the Royal Family. They went from tremendous respect and the highest points of society to the depths of terrible suffering, ridicule, and torment. Despite all the trials that were placed before them, they showed meekness, goodness, and forgiveness of their enemies.
Through the prayers of the Royal Family, and of all of the Saints who gave their lives for Christ, O Lord have mercy on us and save us!