With "extreme severity and secrecy." Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: tyrant or martyr

On February 4, 1905, in the Kremlin, near the Nikolsky Gate, the terrorist Kalyaev killed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich with a bomb. Many random people were hurt.

Not long before, the Grand Duke, being the Governor-General of Moscow and taking measures against revolutionary Jewry (the so-called “first revolution” began), evicted thousands of Jews from the city in accordance with the law on the Pale of Settlement and closed the synagogue. In this regard, the Jewish historian Dubnov wrote that Kalyaev is “an instrument of the historical Nemesis, who punished the Moscow Haman for desecrating Jewry.”

For this reason, Sergei Alexandrovich became one of the most hated figures for Jews, on whom it was customary to pour all kinds of slander in the press, to attribute all sorts of vices to him, including later even in “respectable” historical works. We will try to restore and preserve in our memory his bright appearance.

The fourth son of Tsar-Liberator Alexander II was killed just like his august parent - by a bomb thrown by a member of a terrorist organization whose goal was to overthrow the autocracy at any cost. This murder was committed on February 17 A.D. Art. 1905 in the very heart of Moscow - in the Kremlin, among the great Russian shrines. The sacred place, which Alexander III called the altar of Russia, was stained with the martyr's royal blood. Immediately after the explosion, the wife of the Grand Duke, the future Martyr Elizabeth, ran out of the palace. She still had the strength, with great self-control, to piece together her husband’s body, which had been torn to pieces. The pectoral cross and icons have survived. It was a symbol of Russia, which its enemies would soon try to tear into pieces. It is no coincidence that the remains of the Grand Duke were laid in the Alekseevskaya Church of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, near the relics of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, one of his favorite saints, who worked hard to unite fragmented Rus'. A monument-cross was erected at the site of the death of the Grand Duke. It is symbolic that the words of the Savior were engraved on the cross: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Grand Duchess Elizabeth also shared the grace of these words, “forgiving her husband’s murderer in the gospel.” With these same words she will pray for her murderers, having been thrown into the Alapaevsk mine by them. It is also symbolic that after the revolution this cross will be thrown from the pedestal by Lenin with his own hand.

One of the articles published shortly after this crime was headed: “Why was he killed?” It gave a precise answer to this question. “To deprive Russia, not only at the present time, but also in the future period of its revival, of strong and convinced defenders - this is the vile goal of our underground and “legal” revolutionaries. That is why they attacked Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich with fierce anger, sensing in him a man not only of the past, but also of the future.” The destroyers of Russia rightly considered the Grand Duke to be the head of the “resistance party,” although by that time, disagreeing with the government’s indecisive measures against the threat of a coup, he resigned from the post of Governor General of Moscow and remained only the commander of the Moscow Military District. This crime was not political, but spiritual. It precedes the beginning of persecutions unprecedented in history.
Since the mid-nineteenth century, the enemies of Orthodox Russia have become more active. Nests of terrorists have emerged. They were directed against the Russian Empire. Their goal was, first of all, those close to the house of the Romanovs and the sovereign himself - “restraining,” in the words of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, the unhindered spread of evil. The killings started with the best. Russia shuddered from the assassination of Alexander II. He was the first to take the blow directed against faith and the Fatherland. This open terrorism came from the grassroots, mainly from foreigners and marginalized propaganda compatriots. Their task was to destroy Russia. To weaken and intimidate by killing the best - those who restrained lawlessness and did not allow it to rampant. And in this struggle, the family of the Romanov dynasty suffered the greatest sacrifices.

The martyrdom of Grand Duke Sergius opens the age of holy martyrs. The funeral service for the Grand Duke was conducted by the future martyr Metropolitan Vladimir (Epiphany). Father Mitrofan of Srebryansky (the future Reverend Confessor Sergius) called the Grand Duke “a new martyr of the reigning house, a martyr for truth,” and the future Hieromartyr John Vostorgov - “a martyr of duty.” Many future new martyrs testified these days that Grand Duke Sergius knew about the death that threatened him, but never wanted to give in to the enemies of Orthodoxy and Russia.

After the murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Archimandrite Anastasy (Gribanovsky) said that the villains wanted to stain the Kremlin with royal blood, but only “created a new supporting stone for love of the Fatherland” and gave “Moscow and all of Russia a new prayer book.”

Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, the fourth son of Emperor Alexander II, was born on April 29, 1857 in Tsarskoe Selo. In childhood, the Grand Duke’s teacher was Anna Feodorovna Tyutcheva, when she was married to Aksakov, and in 1864 Lieutenant Commander Dmitry Sergeevich Arsenyev was appointed teacher - both extraordinary people who instilled in the Grand Duke a love of his homeland from an early age. His acquaintance in his youth with Archbishop Leonid of Yaroslavl and Rostov had a great influence on the soul of Sergei Alexandrovich and his subsequent life.

In a pious and pious environment, through the efforts of his mother, the Grand Duke received an excellent education. The encyclopedia of law was read to him by Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, whom Sergei Aleksandrovich knew and loved since childhood, state law was entrusted to Nikolai Stepanovich Tagantsov, political economy - to Vladimir Pavlovich Bezobrazov. In the winter of 1876, history was taught to the Grand Duke by Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, and Russian literature was taught by Professor Orest Feodorovich Miller. He was also taught a course in military sciences, but his favorite science was history. Together with professor of history Konstantin Nikolaevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the Grand Duke already in his early years toured the north of Russia and devoted most of his time to the study of historical monuments and shrines.

In 1877, classes began to prepare Sergei Alexandrovich for the oath. These classes were taught by a true patriot, a deeply religious man - Prince Sergei Nikolaevich Urusov. On April 29, 1877, the Grand Duke took the oath of allegiance to the Tsar and the Fatherland and soon went into the active army in the Balkans, where the Russian-Turkish war was going on at that time. For his courage during military operations, the Grand Duke was awarded the Order of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, IV degree.

In 1882, Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed commander of the 1st battalion of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. He was an example of performance of official duties, a real father-commander, who was loved and respected by both soldiers and officers. Until the end of his life, the Grand Duke did not lose touch with his Transfiguration people. To improve the life of the “weak lower ranks,” Sergei Alexandrovich donated capital of 10,000 rubles to the regiment.

On March 1, 1881, Sergei Alexandrovich’s father, Emperor Alexander II, was killed by a terrorist bomb. On May 21, Grand Dukes Sergei Alexandrovich, Pavel Alexandrovich and Konstantin Konstantinovich made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, wishing, after suffering severe moral upheavals, to find solace in prayer at the Life-Giving Sepulcher of the Lord. After a conversation with them, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, wrote in his diary: “The pure, good and holy souls of the princes captivated me.” He also wrote about the Grand Dukes to V.N. Khitrovo: “Regardless of their royal family and position, these are the best people I have ever seen in the world... They charmed me with their purity, sincerity, friendliness and deep piety in the spirit of the Orthodox Church.”

On June 3, 1884, Sergei Alexandrovich married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse Ludwig IV, who became Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna. By mutual desire, the spouses maintained purity, since even before the wedding, the pious bride and groom decided to live as brother and sister. This union was surprisingly happy, since the spouses had a deep spiritual relationship.

February 26, 1891 By the highest order, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed Moscow Governor-General. During his governorship-general, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich did a lot for Moscow. Special mention should be made of the establishment of general educational readings for workers. The Grand Duke warmly took their interests to heart, encouraging the dissemination of historical knowledge in the working environment with the participation of the clergy. In two years, the Commission for the Organization of Readings produced about 50 publications, including books on theology, history, literature, geography, biology, and art. The Chairman of the Commission, Rector of the Moscow Theological Seminary, Archimandrite Anastasy (Gribanovsky), in his speech to the audience of the regular readings held on February 6, 1905, said:

“The Grand Duke especially revered Moscow as the tablet of our national history... The significance of Moscow’s shrines, historical monuments, the very way of life of Moscow under the Grand Duke, which had fallen in former times, under the influence of influences alien to us, rose, became exalted and became more visible in all parts of Russia, themselves The sovereigns began to visit Moscow more often. Tsar Alexander III, during the reign of Moscow as the Grand Duke, in one of his stays here, said memorable words: “Moscow is the temple of Russia, and the Kremlin is its altar.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new wave of terrorism arose in Russia. Sergei Alexandrovich was irreconcilable with rebels and revolutionaries, and believed that it was necessary to take tougher measures against terrorists. The government did not support the Grand Duke, and on January 1, 1905, Sergei Alexandrovich voluntarily resigned from the post of governor general, not wanting to continue his political activities. The Grand Duke wished to retain only his military rank. However, he felt that he was condemned to death. “When they served a memorial service for Minister Plehve, who was torn to pieces by a bomb, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, bowing in prayer and completely surrendering to God and His will, already knew for sure that his fate was decided,” wrote Archpriest John Vostorgov (later a hieromartyr).

On February 4, 1905, at 2 hours 50 minutes in the afternoon, Sergei Alexandrovich, as usual, left the Nicholas Palace in a carriage with one coachman, without security - recently he traveled even without an adjutant, not wanting to endanger anyone. When no more than 15 fathoms remained to the Nikolsky Gate, a monstrous explosion thundered. It was so strong that the windows of the Judicial Institutions building and the Arsenal building were blown out. When the smoke cleared, a terrible picture appeared: the remains lay in a shapeless heap in a pool of blood. People rushed to the scene of the tragedy from all sides.

But suddenly the crowd parted... Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna arrived, who was informed about the atrocity of which her August husband had fallen victim. She approached the remains of the Grand Duke and bowed to them with tears. It was an amazing moment... The remains of the Grand Duke were transferred to the Alekseevskaya Church of the Cathedral Chudov Monastery. All the time the remains were in the temple, a long line of worshipers stretched into the Kremlin from the Spassky Gate. Many stood waiting for 5-6 hours.

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt sent the following telegram to the Emperor: “Your sorrow is indescribable. The Savior’s sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane for the sins of the world was immeasurable; add your sorrow to His sorrow: you will find consolation in it.” In his speech at the memorial service for the murdered Grand Duke on February 5, 1905, Archpriest John Vostorgov said:

“Shot after shot, explosion after explosion, blood after blood and murder after murder on Russian Land. And so blood was shed, the noble blood of the closest relative of the Sovereign. Not in a fair fight, not in the face of an openly armed enemy, but from a villain who was waiting for a victim from around the corner... The state is in danger, people are dying in the war and within the country, a despicable and vile murder has come out of the dark corners and is brazenly shown on the streets, and the sons of the people, revered by their thinking part, as if nothing had happened, repeat and repeat about their dreamy and overseas ideals, with their writings they breed and breed discontent in the country instead of calm, they bring division, discord instead of peace and harmony... Russian people! Let's come to our senses! The court is at the door. The Lord is near. Bloody victims are before us. Remembering with prayer this new and terrible victim - the murdered Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, we will weep for him, we will weep for the torn heart of the Tsar, for the unfortunate tormented Russia, we will weep for ourselves!”

On February 10, the day of the funeral service of the Grand Duke, all of Moscow said goodbye to him, and with it all of Russia. “You were faithful to your duty until your death and sealed with your blood your fidelity to the holy primordial covenants of the Russian Land, leaving us a high example of unshakable faith in God, devotion to the Holy Church and the Throne and service to your neighbors, without sparing yourself... Eternal memory to you in Holy Rus', our dear, beloved Grand Duke! Do not forget us in your sincere prayers before the Throne of the Almighty, may the Lord send peace and silence to our Land, about which you were so heartbroken and sad while living among us,” wrote Moskovskie Vedomosti that day.

At the end of the funeral service, the oak coffin with silver state emblems on the sides was transferred to the church in the name of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called in the Chudov Monastery, and on July 4, 1906, it was buried in the crypt of a specially built temple-tomb in honor of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the Heavenly Patron of the Grand Duke.

Elisaveta Feodorovna visited the murderer of her husband in prison, gave him the icon and said: “I forgive you, God will be the Judge between the Prince and you, and I will intercede to save your life.”

At the site of the martyrdom of Sergei Alexandrovich, the 5th Grenadier Regiment erected a white cross. People began to put money at the foot of the cross, and Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, appointed chief of the regiment after the death of the Grand Duke, expressed a desire that a new cross-monument be built with these funds. On April 2, 1908, after the liturgy, the consecration of the cross, made according to the design of V.M., took place in the tomb church. Vasnetsova. At the foot of the cross was inscribed: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing,” and along the entire cross there was an inscription: “If we live, we live by the Lord; if we die, we die by the Lord; if we live, if we die, we are the Lord.” Eternal memory to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, killed on February 4, 1905. Remember us, Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom.”

Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, who always devoted herself to works of mercy and charity, after the death of the Grand Duke devoted her entire life to serving God and her neighbors. She left court life, sold her palace and with this money set up a hospital, an orphanage for children, founded the Marfo-Mary Convent, in which, having become a monk, she became abbess. During the Divine Liturgy on April 10, 1910, in the church of the Martha and Mary Convent of Sisters of Mercy, founded by Elisaveta Feodorovna, the abbess's cross was laid on the Grand Duchess. Grand Duchess Elizabeth, German by birth, like her sister Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, having converted to Orthodoxy in her marriage, became very Russian in spirit. She was killed in 1918 in Alapaevsk along with other members of the Imperial Family. Her relics were taken by the White Army to Beijing, then Jerusalem. Canonized by the Russian Church Abroad in 1981.

On May 1, 1918, the cross at the site of the assassination of the Grand Duke was demolished with the personal participation of Lenin, who threw a rope over the cross at the level of the neck of Jesus Christ depicted on the cross. In 1929, the Chudov Monastery was also destroyed...

In 1986, during renovation work in the Kremlin, a preserved crypt with the burial of the Grand Duke was discovered. In 1995, his remains were solemnly transferred from the Kremlin with a large crowd of people to the Moscow Novospassky Monastery, which houses the tomb of the Romanov boyars - the ancestors of the royal House. On the territory of the Novospassky Monastery, the cross was restored in its original form.

Under Sergei Alexandrovich, the grand opening and consecration of the Duma building on Voskresenskaya Square (Revolution Square) took place, and at the end of the same year elections of councilors were held under the new “City Regulations”. To create normal living conditions for students coming to Moscow, Sergei Aleksandrovich raised the issue of organizing dormitories at Moscow University. The first building of the hostel is open in , the second - in . The construction of a new stage of the Mytishchi water pipeline was completed. Trams have been added to the city transport fleet. The Museum of Moscow Municipal Economy has been opened, and the Public Art Theater (MAT) has been opened. On the initiative of Sergei Alexandrovich, the creation of a portrait gallery of former Moscow governors-general began. A gloomy episode of the reign of Sergei Alexandrovich was the Khodynka tragedy (1896).

According to his official status, Sergei Alexandrovich was the president, chairman and member of many scientific societies and charitable organizations: the Moscow Architectural Society, the Ladies' Trust for the Poor in Moscow, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the Committee for the Organization of the Emperor's Museum of Fine Arts at the Moscow University Alexander III, the Moscow Archaeological Society, etc. S headed the management of the Historical Museum. He was the initiator of the creation of the Imperial Palestine Society ().

He supported government trade unions (Zubatovism) and monarchist organizations, and was an opponent of the revolutionary movement. On January 1, he left the post of Moscow Governor-General, but remained at the head of the district troops, becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Moscow Military District.

Murder and burial

The carriage destroyed by the explosion, in which Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was located

It is known that Grand Duchess Elizabeth visited her husband’s killer, terrorist Kalyaev, in prison and forgave him on behalf of her husband. V. F. Dzhunkovsky, who collaborated with Prince Sergius for many years, wrote about this: “She, by her forgiving nature, felt the need to say a word of consolation to Kalyaev, who so inhumanly took her husband and friend away from her.” Having learned that Kalyaev was a believer, she gave him the Gospel and a small icon, calling him to repentance. She asked the Emperor to pardon the killer.

The murder of Grand Duke Sergei shocked conservative-monarchist circles of society. He was condemned by the leader of the Irish terrorists, Michael Dewilt, who met with the Grand Duke in Moscow shortly before the tragedy. He told the press that the late Governor-General was "a humane man and had a constant interest in improving the lives of the working people."

Representatives of the liberal intelligentsia, on the contrary, greeted the news of the prince's murder with glee. Thus, shortly after the death of Sergei Alexandrovich, a popular joke was made in Moscow: “Finally, the Grand Duke had to think about it!” .

The remains of Sergei Alexandrovich were buried in a temple-tomb built under the Alekseevsky Cathedral of the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, which was demolished in the 1930s; in the city were discovered during excavations in the Kremlin and transferred to the Novospassky Monastery.

Personal life

Sergei Alexandrovich with his wife

On the other hand, sociologist, psychologist and sexologist Igor Kon, relying on the testimony of contemporaries (for example, the memoirs of Gilyarovsky or the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Vladimir Lamsdorf), indicates that Sergei Alexandrovich led an openly homosexual lifestyle. As other domestic historians note: “ Their family life did not work out, although Elizaveta Fedorovna carefully hid it, not even admitting it to her Darmstadt relatives. The reason for this, in particular, was Sergei Alexandrovich’s addiction to persons of the opposite sex" This is indicated by many memoirs, for example, by general A. V. Bogdanovich. She wrote in her diary that " Sergei Alexandrovich lives with his adjutant Martynov”, and more than once suggested that his wife choose her husband from the people around her. It was even published in one foreign newspaper that “ came to Paris le grand duc Serge avec sa maitresse m-r un tel [Grand Duke Sergei with his mistress Mr. So-and-so]. Just think, what scandals».

According to some authors, the Grand Duke was also prone to sadism. His contemporary cadet Obninsky wrote about him: “ This dry, unpleasant man... bore on his face sharp signs of the vice that consumed him, which made the family life of his wife, Elizaveta Feodorovna, unbearable" The head of the palace chancellery Mosolov A.A. writes: “ The officers adored him. His personal life was the subject of gossip throughout the city, which made his wife Elizaveta Fedorovna very unhappy».

This information is vehemently rejected by some believers, and among monarchists there is even a movement for the canonization of the prince and his “icons” are being painted.

In literature

• Introduced in Akunin's novel "Coronation" under the name of Simeon Alexandrovich.

Notes

Links

• V. Sekachev. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: tyrant or martyr? .

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich” is in other dictionaries:

- (in monasticism hieromonk Anikita) b. in 1785 in the village of Dernov, Smolensk province. His family was distinguished by piety, and his parents taught him from childhood to take part in church services, thanks to which he early became acquainted with the Slavic language and... Large biographical encyclopedia

Ro... Wikipedia

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (April 29, 1857, Tsarskoe Selo February 4, 1905, Moscow) fifth son of Alexander II, Moscow governor general, under whom the Khodynka tragedy occurred, husband of the Grand Duchess St. ... ... Wikipedia

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Sergei Alexandrovich (1857, Tsarskoe Selo 1905, Moscow), Grand Duke. Emperor's son. Participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 78. Since 1887, commander of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1891 appointed to Moscow,... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Grand Duke Sergei is the name of two members of the House of Romanov, cousins: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, son of Mikhail Nikolaevich ... Wikipedia

I Grand Duke, fourth son of the Emperor. Alexander II, b. April 29, 1857, since June 3, 1884, married to the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse Ludwig IV, Elizabeth Feodorovna (born October 20, 1864). In 1881 he led. book WITH.… … Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov (September 25, 1869, Borzhom estate, Caucasus July 18, 1918, Alapaevsk), Grand Duke, His Imperial Highness, youngest (fifth) son of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich and Olga Fedorovna, grandson of Nicholas I, inspector general ... Wikipedia

Grand Duke, son of Emperor Alexander II. Reactionary. Participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 78; Moscow governor general in 1891 1905, killed by I. P. Kalyaev ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duke (1857 1905). Son of Emperor Alexander II. Moscow Governor General (since 1891), commander of the Moscow Military District (since 1896). Reactionary, anti-Semite. Killed by the Socialist-Revolutionary N.P. Kalyaev in Moscow ... 1000 biographies

- (1857 1905), Grand Duke, Lieutenant General. Son of Emperor Alexander II. Husband of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Participant in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 78. Initiator of the creation (1882) and first chairman of the Orthodox Palestine Society. In... ...Russian history

The explosion was so strong that the prince's body was torn into pieces. Within a few minutes, his wife, the future Martyr Elizabeth, whose relics had recently been greeted by all of Russia, bent over him, running out at the sound of the explosion. The feat of the entire Romanov family, and especially of Grand Duke Sergius, whose memory was especially slandered by his contemporaries - not only revolutionaries, but also other representatives of high society - still requires comprehension. It seems that justice - both historical and heavenly - should soon be restored. With this publication we want to pay tribute to the memory of the Grand Duke and his life’s feat.

The history of Russia in recent centuries is incomprehensibly connected with the mysterious apostolic word about “he who now restrains”: “For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, only it will not be completed until he who now restrains is taken out of the way” (2 Thess. ch. 2, art. 7). Hasn’t universal human experience clearly shown against whom, sometimes contrary to all logic, world lawlessness rebelled? Who was hit by wave after wave of world and other wars? — It was Russia, it was the Orthodox Russian people. But it was also his great Orthodox Autocrats who were the first to take the blow directed against the Faith and the Fatherland. They held it. It became more and more difficult to contain lawlessness and prevent it from rampant in the world. Only Russia, with its Orthodox way of life, with its material power and geopolitical position, alone was able to “hold.” And then, as in our cruel century, when lawlessness is no longer hidden under a mask, the blow began to be directed against specific individuals. An exhausting struggle began between the hidden and largely impersonal “knights” of cloak and dagger, on the one hand, and personal, but responsible before God, volitional aspirations, on the other. They encroached on health, peace, and freedom of action. For life itself.

The last two centuries before the revolution, the Russian Autocracy, in the person of the Romanov family chosen by God, was fully aware and felt how closely the “lawlessness” prophesied by the Apostle Paul was, how bloodthirsty and assertive it was. This family made the greatest sacrifices.

Firstly, these were the Autocrats who tried to preserve Orthodoxy and the independence of Russia. Emperor Pavel Petrovich was the first to fall from the treacherous hand of an invisible enemy. He was killed in his own Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg and declared almost crazy. He was considered as such for almost two centuries.

The second victim was Emperor Nicholas I, who died a far from old, unexpected death just at the moment when all the forces of Russia were straining in the Crimean War.

Finally, together with his entire family, the last Emperor, Nicholas II, is sacrificed for Orthodox Russia.

God only knew what it cost our Russian Tsars to “keep the secret of lawlessness,” what intensity and tension the unequal struggle reached. But besides the Emperors themselves, how many Romanovs gave their lives in this fight! Many of them have already become saints: Empress Alexandra, Grand Duchesses Anastasia, Maria, Olga, Tatiana, Heir to the Throne Alexy, Grand Duchess Elizabeth. The Russian Church Abroad has glorified the sons of the famous Orthodox poet Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov - Konstantin and John. Finally, can we forget another wonderful name - Grand Duke Sergius Romanov? His life, personality and feat are yet to be comprehended by us.

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. 1896

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna

The most important thing in his life is connected, of course, with the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth, his wife. For many years, Prince Sergius patiently - no, did not lead her to Orthodoxy from a foreign faith. He himself, his love and his personal example of a holy life moved the sensitive soul of Elizabeth Feodorovna to accept a new faith, in which she was destined to become glorified by God, for which she gave her life. The role that the Lord assigned to Prince Sergius in performing this miracle - the transformation of a native of Protestant Germany into a holy martyr for Orthodoxy in Russia - has not yet been truly comprehended.

Another great cause of his life was the Russian Palestine Society, which he led for many years. Both life tasks of the Grand Duke are mysteriously connected. It was in Jerusalem, next to the Holy Sepulcher, that the Protestant Elizabeth, his wife, wanted to be buried during her lifetime. The Great Russian Princess, the Venerable Martyr Elisaveta Romanova, rested there.

Finally, perhaps the most important thing: revolutionary circles, not without reason, considered the Moscow Governor-General, Grand Duke Sergius, to be the head of the “resistance party.” Yes, we dare to think, the Grand Duke was not only the beautifier of Moscow, under whom again, as in ancient times under Holy Rus', the ancient capital shone with piety - he was the head of resistance to - what? — global lawlessness, which set up a global experiment in Russia. For this he accepted martyrdom a hundred years ago - at the hands of the terrorist Kalyaev.

Today we know offensively little about the Grand Duke. In the Novospassky Monastery, where his ashes now rest, only a thin brochure about his life has been published. And although recently works have begun to appear that examine his personality, a mass of documents that should shed light on many aspects of his activities and build the logic of his life have not yet been picked up and are gathering dust in domestic archives. But it is believed that they will not lie untouched for long: the extraordinary personality of the Grand Duke, and his role in the history of Orthodoxy in Russia, the complete unusualness, and the chosen character of his life are too obvious.

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in childhood

Grand Duke Sergius was the fourth son of Emperor Alexander II. He was born on April 29, 1857. The baptism took place on the Day of the Holy Trinity, May 29. In the diary of Empress Maria Alexandrovna’s maid of honor, Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva (and she would be destined to raise the baby prince), an entry appeared: “The Emperor went to church, accompanied by the Grand Dukes... The heir (Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich - V.M.) was the recipient of baptism his little brother and fulfilled the role of godfather with great dignity and skill. The successor was Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna" (Tyutcheva A. F. At the court of two emperors. Memoirs. Diary. Tula, 1990, pp. 261-262).

UPBRINGING

The main role in the Christian upbringing of Prince Sergius was played by his mother, Maria Alexandrovna. When in 1881 Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin), who labored in Jerusalem and knew well the secret pious deeds of the Empress and her donations in the Holy Land, saw the Grand Dukes Sergius and Pavel Alexandrovich in Jerusalem and became convinced of the depth and purity of their Christian faith, he wrote in his diary: “The pure, good and holy souls of the Princes captivated me. It is, undoubtedly, She, the high Lover of God and the humble Christian, who raised them up and preserved them as such for the delight and praise of all who are zealous for the spirit, heaven, and God. Peace to Her spirit." After the departure of the Grand Dukes from Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin writes to Vasily Nikolaevich Khitrovo: “Everyone here is delighted with the distinguished guests of May. Regardless of their royal family and position, these are the best people I have ever seen in the world. May the grace of God be with them and in them forever! They charmed me with their purity, sincerity, friendliness and deep piety in the spirit of the Orthodox Church. We stayed here for 10 days, from May 21 to May 31, and spent half the nights of this period at the Holy Sepulcher in prayer. From their generosity, I also received a significant contribution to my buildings. Give grace according to the word of the Gospel.”

Prince Sergius was lucky with his teacher. Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva was the wife of the Slavophile Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov and the daughter of the poet Fyodor Tyutchev. This probably laid a healthy foundation for the Grand Duke’s worldview. During his governorship general in Moscow (1891 - 1904), many would accuse him of inflexibility and conservatism. But to whom and what should the Grand Duke have to bend during the period of preparation for the all-pervasive “Shvonderism”? Not agreeing with more and more concessions, which only whet the appetite of the revolutionary pack, he will be forced to resign on January 1, 1905, so as not to compromise his principles. And these principles were laid down in childhood. The roots of his healthy conservatism went deep into the Russian soil, to which A.F. Tyutcheva greatly contributed. “Deeply convinced, widely enlightened, possessed of a fiery word, she early taught to love her homeland, the Russian land, the Orthodox faith and the Church, the autocratic historical truth that created the All-Russian Empire. According to her, she did not hide from the Royal children that they were not free from the thorns of life, from sorrows and grief, the inevitable companions of human destiny, and must prepare for their courageous meeting. She enlightened his worldview, strengthened his character and directed his heart to the love of his native history. The Grand Duke subsequently visited his teacher more than once and thanked him unspeakably for the good, saving seeds that she sowed in his soul in his young childhood years" (Avchinnikov A.G. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Illustrated biographical sketch, Ekaterinoslavl, 1915, p. 2 ). Thus, from childhood, he not superficially, but with the whole strength of his nature, adopted the Orthodox way of thinking. His teacher, Captain-Lieutenant D.S. Arsenyev, had already seen the fruits of Tyutcheva’s upbringing: “The first days of my life under Sergius Alexandrovich were very gratifying to me, he prayed out loud in front of me even at that time and always prayed very diligently and attentively.”

The Law of God was taught to the Grand Duke by Archpriest John Vasilyevich Rozhdestvensky. He was a priest distinguished by high spiritual qualities, which were further strengthened by the trials sent to him by Divine Providence: before accepting the priesthood, he lost his wife and all his children. Of course, it is no coincidence that it was precisely such a priest, who understood Job’s spiritual path so clearly, who was supposed to raise the future martyr and husband of the martyr. Father John himself compiled a special book for Prince Sergius for studying the Law of God. The Grand Duke kept this book until his death. In the life of the Grand Duke, his sincere love for God and the Church, for the ritual side of Orthodoxy, was manifested many times. His favorite saints from childhood were St. Sergius of Radonezh and his disciple, St. Savva. The Monk Sergius was the namesake saint of the Grand Duke. Is this why, having been born in St. Petersburg, the prince constantly gravitated towards Moscow, towards its shrines, gave his strength to Moscow - and ended his days there? Back in 1865, when he was only eight years old, Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva brought him to the ancient Russian capital. Here he visited the monasteries: Chudov, Nikolo-Ugreshsky, Savvo-Storozhevsky and others. Here he comprehended the beauty and holiness of ancient Russian monasteries. In these monasteries his heart was tuned into the Russian mood. Here he heard many historical legends.

The meeting with the Chudov Monastery was significant: it was here that the ashes of the Grand Duke would rest in 1905. But before that there was still a whole unlived life. In the Miracle Monastery rested the relics of St. Alexis, a tireless worker for the good of the Moscow Kingdom, the spiritual friend of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In the Chudov Monastery, after the bishop's service, a significant meeting took place for the Grand Duke. He meets the vicar Bishop Leonid (Krasnopevkin). Their friendly relations would last until Vladyka’s death in 1876. The Bishop’s memories of visiting the royal palace in 1873 give an idea of ​​how the spiritual life of Prince Sergius developed: “Four of us had lunch: both Grand Dukes and I with the teacher... During lunch, the conversation continued, the subject of which was monasticism... Therefore, a lot was said about Ugresh, where, as a child, Grand Duke Sergius was with A.F. Tyutcheva... The teacher said: “Sergei Alexandrovich, show your Eminence your prayer room.” The Grand Dukes led me into a spacious, high room with two or three windows... Then I saw the image of St. Savva, 6 or 8 vershoks, about which the Grand Duke said that he was always with him, as well as the fold, also given by me, with the image of the Mother of God with the Child of God, Sergius and Savva. For a long time now, Sergei Alexandrovich told me that he prays to St. Savva every day” (Avchinnikov A.G. Op. cit., p. 10).

When the Grand Duke grew up, serious sciences began to be taught to him. God wished that among the other professors who taught Prince Sergius there should be Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev. “Sergei Aleksandrovich knew him well since childhood, fell in love with him, and always enjoyed his intelligent conversations” (Avchinnikov A.G. Op. cit., p. 13). This meeting, as subsequent events would show, turned out to be no coincidence.

PALESTINIAN SOCIETY

The year 1881 became very important in the life of the Grand Duke. This year he visited the Holy Land for the first time, with which, according to God's Providence, his whole life was subsequently connected. As contemporaries testify, the stay of Sergei Alexandrovich and Pavel Alexandrovich in Jerusalem “was spent in continuous prayers at the Holy Sepulcher and on Golgotha ​​and in visiting the sights of Jerusalem and its environs and made a deep impression both on the August travelers and on everyone who had the good fortune to see them" (Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and its activities over the past quarter of a century. Historical note. Compiled by Prof. A. A. Dmitrievsky. St. Petersburg, 1907, p. 176).

During the trip, he “personally saw the bleak state of Orthodoxy in Palestine, became convinced of the difficult and helpless situation of Russian pilgrims, especially the common people” (Archbishop Dimitry Sambikin. Dying thoughts and thoughts about the merits of the Orthodox Palestine Society. St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 8) . For a long time, the initiator of the founding of the Palestinian Society was Vasily Nikolaevich Khitrovo. For a number of reasons, the establishment of the Society was in question. Gradually, people close to Grand Duke Sergius became supporters of V.N. Khitrovo: his former teacher of the Law of God, Archpriest John Rozhdestvensky, and a little later the former teacher of the Grand Dukes, Adjutant General Dmitry Sergeevich Arsenyev. In addition, K.P. Pobedonostsev and Count E.V. played a major role. Putyatin

The chairmanship of this Society by Grand Duke Sergius, despite many obstacles, immediately resolved the issue of its official opening. Prince Sergius did not immediately agree to become the head of the Palestinian society, weighing his opportunities to bring real benefit to the cause. But after his trip to the Holy Land, it became a matter of personal faith for him. It is also important that the parents of the Grand Duke, Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna, also gravitated towards the Holy Land.

Even before the start of the activities of the Palestine Society, Russians began to settle in the Holy Land. Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) is known for his activities, relying, apparently, on the funds that the Empress allocated to him. In 1868, he bought the famous Mamre Oak, and then “began intensively buying up plots of land that were in some way important for the worshipers (pilgrims - ed.) and set up shelters for them (Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society and its activities...) . On August 5, 1886, all plots of land in Bet Jala were brought by Archimandrite Antonin as a gift to Prince Sergius.

Prince Sergius becomes the head of the Orthodox Palestine Society, of which he was chairman for 23 years, until the end of his life. Palestine entered the heart of Prince Sergius and became the holy cover of his soul. His activities in the Orthodox Palestinian Society revealed all his ardent love for God. There is evidence that his father, Emperor Alexander II, once said to the first chairman, State Secretary of the Palestine Committee, Prince Obolensky: “This is a matter of the heart for me...”. “The issue of the heart” was the Holy Land and the Russian presence on it for Prince Sergius. The subsequent life of the Grand Duke showed that there was nothing accidental here.

August pilgrims Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) and other pilgrims

at the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane. 1888
Photo from the album of Hieromonk Timon

In 1888, Nicholas II instructed Prince Sergei to represent the Imperial Family at the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane, which was built by the Romanovs in memory of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who did so much during her lifetime for the worthy presence of the Russian Church in the Holy Land. The temple is located right next to the Mount of Olives. The beauty and grandeur of the Holy Land shocked Grand Duchess Elizabeth. “How I would like to be buried here,” said the princess. She donated the Gospel, a chalice and air to the temple. A visit to the Holy Land strengthened the princess in her decision to convert to Orthodoxy. Moreover, the Lord fulfilled her prayer wish: the relics of the holy Martyr Elizabeth were buried here.

As Chairman of the Society, Prince Sergius put a lot of effort into radically changing the situation with Russian pilgrims in the Holy Land. In order to understand how the education and activities of the Palestinian Society affected the ordinary pilgrim, it is enough to refer, for example, to the memoirs of Archpriest Kl. Fomenko.

“At the time when I made my first journey to the Holy Land, the Palestine Society did not yet exist. The journey to the East was associated with great difficulties and hardships. I and my companions experienced all this when Fr. Vasoy transported us from the Panteleimonovsky compound on the Austrian Lloyd's steamer for our further journey to the Holy Land. We found ourselves in the position of destitute orphans. We did not stock up on provisions for the journey. And we had to sail for ten days. Would you believe it, on the Lloyd's ship they didn't even sell us clean boiled water for tea, but for 5 kopecks. They gave me some kind of slop after boiled noodles! The sailors pushed us around on deck like draft animals. For what?! - I was perplexed. Our pilgrims turned to me for protection (I was the only Orthodox priest on deck). But I was insulted even more offensively than my compatriots... Having devoted myself to worshiping the holy places of Palestine, I cared little about the needs of the day. I can only say one thing: it was not without poverty... All this happened before the opening of the Palestine Society.

I made my second trip to the Holy Land under the auspices and guidance of the Palestine Society. The situation turned out to be completely different. Firstly, the Society has significantly reduced the cost of traveling around St. places of the East, releasing at reduced prices “Pilgrimage Books” for travelers of I, II and III classes. These books are a real blessing for pilgrims. Books are issued back and forth for a year. Price? — From Kyiv, for example.<имер>, 3rd grade 38 rub. 50 kopecks roundtrip. Secondly, the Society established extensive hospices in St. Grad. These are the so-called “Palestinian buildings”, which have: tea rooms, dining rooms, reading rooms, laundry rooms and even Russian baths. What more! Thirdly, already at the shore of Jaffa our inexperienced pilgrim is waiting for the kawass of the Palestinian Society. These Kavass are predominantly Montenegrins who speak both Turkish and Russian. These Kawass are an example of helpfulness, decency and vigilance in their service. They are definitely guys for our pilgrims in the East...

The Palestine Society took advantage, at the end of the last war with Turkey, of the abolition of that clause of the Paris Treaty, concluded after the Crimean War, by virtue of which our ships could only reach the waters of the Golden Horn in Constantinople. The Sea of ​​Marmara, the Dardanelles Strait, the Archipelago and the Mediterranean Sea were closed to our ships and even merchant ships. That is why in Constantinople we had to transfer to Austrian ships. Now our trading ships freely pass through all the waters listed above. The Palestinian Society entered into an agreement with the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade to lower prices for pilgrims. Boarding a ship in Odessa or Sevastopol, our pilgrim now boards his own ship cheaply all the way to Jaffa. Here he is at home. The captains of the ships were given instructions not to hinder our pilgrims on the ships in performing their liturgical rites. Now, on a Russian steamship, throughout the day you hear either the reading of akathists by pilgrims, or the singing of sacred chants. And this is especially noticeable in the mornings and evenings. This is the Christian merit of the Palestine Society. During my second trip, on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Trinity, I could freely perform Vespers and Matins in a first-class cabin and read the kneeling prayers of the Day of the Holy Trinity. And on Lloyd's ship they didn't even allow us to pray in secret. Thank you to the Palestine Society!" (Prot. Kl. Fomenko. Personal memories. Kyiv Diocesan Gazette. 1907. No. 21).

But the most touching remark of Archpriest Fomenko is about what the Palestinian Society in the Holy Land did for the Christian education of the local population: “Once, on the way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, I went to a school in the village of Bet Jala. I was told that there would be a final exam. Patriarch Gerasim (who has already died) also came to this exam. A large retinue of Greek clergy came with him. The exam was conducted in Russian. Girls' school in Bet Jala. I can positively say that this wonderful exam reminded me of the exams in our diocesan girls' schools. The Russian accent of the Arab women was impeccable. Patriarch examined the Catechism and St. stories in Arabic. I also attended the Palestinian Society school in Beirut. I was amazed by the mass of children. It was simply a flower garden of little ones, cheerful and friendly. The Society founded many such schools in semi-wild Palestine and Syria.”

Grand Duke Sergius went even further; he not only opened schools in which the local population was taught the Russian language. He wanted the Russian language to be heard in Jerusalem and at the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. In December 1885, he turned to Patriarch Nicodemus of Jerusalem with a request: “There is one circumstance that cannot but be recognized as essential for the spiritual needs of our pilgrims in St.<ятом>Grade. Having achieved their aspirations, it is understandable that they want to pray to their heart’s content, listening to the prayer words in their native, familiar language, but they almost never succeed. They, of course, can listen to the service in Russian in the Trinity Cathedral on Russian buildings, but the Trinity Cathedral for our fans is not the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, not the Bethlehem Den, not the burial cave of the Mother of God, meanwhile, on these particular shrines, it seems to them, their prayer is more likely will reach the Throne of the Most High." Such requests, Prince Sergius knew this, should have irritated the Jerusalem hierarchy, but he still, stubbornly and consistently, as was generally characteristic of him, defended the interests of the Russian people in the Holy Land.

Thanks to the Society, trips to the Holy Land have become significantly cheaper for pilgrims. According to Archbishop Dimitri (Sambikin), “first of all, the Palestine Society was concerned with improving and reducing the cost of travel for Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land... For this purpose, it entered into relations with railway and steamship societies and achieved that our pilgrims, for an extremely cheap fee, with the comforts possible for them, they go to the Holy Land: there they are greeted with cordiality, given a comfortable room, an extremely cheap and good table” (Archbishop Dimitry Sambikin. Dying thoughts and thoughts about the merits of the Orthodox Palestine Society. St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 8). In the modern biography of the Monk Kuksha Novy (Odessa), there is a phrase expressing surprise at the saint’s journey in 1894 (by the way, on the same ship with the Empress): “As can be seen from the stories of Fr. Kukshi, at that time his fellow countrymen, the peasants, often had the opportunity and means to travel to the Holy Land.” The point, of course, is not so much the material capabilities of the peasants as the results of the activities of the Palestinian society.

THE GRAND DUKE'S CHOSEN

Portrait of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Hood. Karl Rudolf Sohn, 1885

Prince Sergius connected his life with the future saint, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt, in 1884. The princess made a strong impression on everyone who saw her in Russia. A friend of her groom, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (the famous poet K.R.) wrote in his diary: “... the bride’s train soon arrived. She appeared next to the Empress, and it was as if we were all blinded by the sun. I haven't seen such beauty for a long time. She walked modestly, shyly, like a dream, like a dream...” His impression of the chosen one of Grand Duke Sergius was expressed even more vividly in his poems:

I look at you, admiring you every hour:

You are so inexpressibly beautiful!

Oh, that's right, underneath such a beautiful exterior

Such a beautiful soul!

Some kind of meekness and innermost sadness

There is depth in your eyes;

Like an angel you are quiet, pure and perfect;

Like a woman, shy and tender.

May there be nothing on earth

Among the evils and much sorrow

Your purity will not be tarnished.

And everyone who sees you will glorify God,

Who created such beauty!

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich with his wife Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna

The married young couple aroused everyone's admiration. The marriage was clearly blessed by God - this was shown by the entire subsequent life of Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna until their very hour of death. The grand ducal couple lived in marriage as brother and sister - and this is the lot of God's chosen few! Anna Fedorovna Tyutcheva blessed the young couple with the image of the “Mother of God of the Three Joys.” She wrote to the Grand Duke: “I would like your bride to accept this image as a blessing coming from your mother and from the saint who has been the patron saint of Russia for so many centuries and who is at the same time your patron.” The fact is that this image was once given by her to the mother of Prince Sergius, Empress Maria Alexandrovna - at the shrine of St. Sergius of Radonezh. On this day, Prince Sergius was blessed in one more way. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote in his diary: “I was with him when he was getting dressed for the wedding, and blessed him with a icon with the inscription “Without Me you cannot do anything.”

Did the Grand Duke, when choosing a bride after his heart, think that his choice would give the Russian Orthodox Church a new saint? Of course, his thoughts were then about something else. But it was through his efforts that Grand Duchess Elizabeth converted to Orthodoxy, strengthening herself in faith and truth. He, a man ardent in his faith, had to endure a lot and show extreme and long-term delicacy. In a letter dated January 11/23, 1891 to her brother Ernest, the Grand Duchess admitted: “Do not think that only earthly love led me to this decision, although I felt how Sergei desired this moment, and I knew many times that he suffered from this. He was a real angel of kindness. How often could he, by touching my heart, lead me to a change of religion to make it happy; and never, never did he complain; and only now I learned through Pavel’s wife that he had moments when he fell into despair. How terrible and painful it is to realize that I made many suffer: first of all, my dear, my beloved husband.” In a letter dated April 18, 1909 to Emperor Nicholas II, Princess Elizabeth lifted the veil over this secret spiritual life of Grand Duke Sergius: “You write about the spirit of delusion, which, alas, one can fall into and about which Sergei and I often talked. When I was a Protestant, Sergei, with his big heart and tact, never imposed his religion on me; The fact that I did not share his faith was a great grief for him, but he found the strength to endure it steadfastly - thanks to Father John, who said: “Leave her alone, don’t talk about our faith, it will come to her on its own.” Thank God, everything happened exactly like that. Sergei, who knew his faith and lived by it as truly as a true Orthodox Christian can, raised me (so) and, thank God, warned me against this “spirit of delusion” that you are talking about” (Materials for Life... p. 25). Prince Sergius truly “increased” the holiness of his wife for the Orthodox Church, which would have been completely impossible without his personal example, which is what the Grand Duchess writes about. This is a true testimony of the holiness of the life of Grand Duke Sergius. It was through the personal example of her husband that the future Martyr Elizabeth learned the beauty and truth of the Orthodox faith. In a letter to her father from St. Petersburg on March 8/20, she wrote: “I have always had earthly happiness - when I was a child in my old country, and as a wife - in my new country. But when I saw how deeply religious Sergius was, I felt behind him, and the more I got to know his Church, the more I felt that it was bringing me closer to God. It's hard to describe this feeling." In another letter to her father, she again speaks of Orthodoxy precisely as “the faith of her husband”: the truths of Orthodoxy and the personal example of the pious Christian life of Prince Sergius were so closely fused for her: “It would be a sin to remain as I am now - to belong to to one church in form and for the outside world, but inside myself to pray and believe the same way as my husband. You cannot imagine how kind he was: he never tried to force me by any means, leaving all this entirely to my conscience. He knows what a serious step this is, and that he had to be absolutely sure before deciding to take it. I would have done this even before, but it tormented me that by doing this I was causing you pain.” And in the same letter again the same motive: “I so strongly wish to partake of the Holy Mysteries at Easter together with my husband.”

But what complete joy Prince Sergius finally had when his wife decided to convert to Orthodoxy! He was moved to tears: “The Grand Duchess, by her own inner impulse, decided to join the Orthodox Church. When she informed her husband of her intention, he, according to one of the former courtiers, “tears involuntarily flowed from his eyes”…” (Archbishop Anastasy Gribanovsky. In blessed memory of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. M., 1995, p. 71).

On April 12/25, on Lazarus Saturday, the Sacrament of Confirmation of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was performed, leaving her former name, but in honor of the holy righteous Elizabeth - the mother of St. John the Baptist. Nothing happens by chance in life. Having accepted the holy name of the mother of St. John the Baptist, Elisaveta Feodorovna was honored in 1911 with a visit to the St. John the Baptist monastery in Optina Monastery, where women are never allowed. There she received from the hands of the rector of the monastery, Hieromonk Theodosius, an icon of St. John the Baptist with the blessing: “Receive, Your Imperial Highness, the image of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of this monastery. May he be your patron too and may he protect you on all the paths of your life.” After Confirmation, Emperor Alexander III blessed his daughter-in-law with the precious icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, with which Elizaveta Fedorovna never parted throughout her life and with it on her chest she accepted a martyr’s death in Alapaevsk. Now she could tell her husband in the words of the Bible: “Your people have become my people, your God my God” (Ruth 1:16).

In 1891, the Grand Duke was appointed Governor-General of Moscow. He has 14 years left to live. These were the best and most fruitful years of his life; in Moscow he emerged not only as a statesman, but also as a spiritual person. In an era of general debauchery, on the eve of the arrival of the “great boor,” the prince not only took a conservative position in relation to everything that was happening. In his activities, he followed the spiritual path of “holding.” It should be remembered how closely the defense of the Monarchy and the defense of Orthodoxy were intertwined at that moment. The destruction was, as always, based on spiritual reasons. It is not without reason that soon after the murder of Prince Sergius, in 1906, during the days of Holy Week, who knew him well and met with him many times, the future martyr Metropolitan Vladimir (Epiphany) in his sermon in the church of the Moscow Diocesan House spoke about this time: “It is no secret to anyone.” “that we live in a time of not only political, but also religious struggle.” Contemporaries testified: he “tried to elevate our ancient capital in various respects, especially in the sense of storing in it, as the original Russian center, its national historical traditions. And the significance of its shrines, historical sights, the very way of life in Moscow, which had fallen in former times, under the influence of influences alien to us, rose under him, became more exalted and became more visible in all parts of Russia” (Invaluable memory of the Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich, who died a martyr’s death. M. , 1905). Liberalization and lack of spirituality began to overwhelm Russia. Under these conditions, the Grand Duke did not consider himself entitled to make endless concessions that would only whet the appetite of the crowd. Revolutionary circles considered him the head of the “resistance party.” Historian S.S. Oldenburg in the book “The Reign of Emperor Nicholas II” (St. Petersburg, 1991) wrote: “Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich, who held the post of Moscow Governor-General for many years, was indeed a man of strong conservative views, capable at the same time of a bold initiative” (p. 271).

In 1899, when the revolution was still far away, only a few saw its terrible danger. Among these few who tried to prevent the threatening course of events with real actions were people such as K.P. Pobedonostsev and Grand Duke Sergius. The decay was so universal that sometimes even close people did not understand the prince. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich writes on March 30, 1899 in his diary: “The other camp consists of 3 people: Pobedonostsev, Goremykin... and Bogolepov. They managed to “influence” Sergei, who is always inclined to exaggerate the political unreliability of teachers and students, and writes “incendiary” letters from Moscow every now and then...” (K.R. Diaries. Memoirs. Poems. Letters. M., 1998, p. 256). However, subsequent events confirmed the correctness of Prince Sergius, who paid for his commitment to Orthodoxy and the Monarchy with martyrdom. After his death, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich would write something completely different in his diary: “The Duma order is good! Robberies and murders throughout Russia continue, robbers and murderers for the most part are safely hiding...” (Ibid., p. 306). Moreover, Konstantin Konstantinovich himself will pay for the general lack of will and complacency with the martyrdom of his two sons, already canonized by the Russian Church Abroad, at the hands of the Bolsheviks. John and Constantine were thrown into a mine in the city of Alapaevsk in 1918, together with the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth. Countess A.A. Olsufieva wrote about the murder of the Grand Duke: “Like his father, Alexander II, he became a victim of revolutionaries, with the only difference that in 1881 they killed the Emperor, who was supposed to sign the most liberal constitution the next day; while Grand Duke Sergius never hid his opinion regarding the gift of freedom to young people, which should be limited to avoid its abuse. Now we see that his fears were justified...” (Kuchmaeva I.K. Life and feat of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, p. 122).

Governor General of Moscow Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (right),

next to him is Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich

Among the accusations brought against Prince Sergius as Governor-General of Moscow, the main one is the tragedy on the Khodynka Field, which occurred during the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II in 1896. Indeed, a lot of people died on the Khodynskoye field due to the stampede. It is believed that the Moscow authorities should have deployed much more police than they had during the days of the coronation. Perhaps the Governor-General made some mistake, although we must remember the proverb: “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.” But something else should be taken into account. People - both the common people and those close to the Emperor - felt that Khodynka was not just a disaster, but only a mystical overture to a real epoch-making catastrophe that would happen during the reign of Nicholas II. His cousin Konstantin Konstantinovich, who accused Grand Duke Sergius of being “relatively related”, writes not after the revolution of 1917 or at least 1905, but on May 26, 1896 in his diary that the events on Khodynka “were influenced by the will of God.” People understood that it was not for nothing that God allowed such sacrifices during the coronation. The same idea can be seen in the well-known descriptions of the Khodynka drama. The fact is that in unofficial descriptions of the coronation of 1896, evidence involuntarily emerges that the masses of the people by this time were already largely rude and depraved, breathing pre-revolutionary sentiments, and behaving in a non-Christian manner. The behavior of the people on the Khodynskoe field awakens the darkest thoughts about what the crowd of people was by the end of the 19th century. Several times more people came to Moscow (“for folk festivals”) than expected - according to some sources, about half a million, and according to others, more than a million peasants from all over the Moscow region and the European part of Russia. Many of them did not come at all to pray together for the new Tsar (and prayer for the Tsar is the main point of the meeting of the Russian Land at the coronation!) or just to “look at the Tsar.” They came for free gifts, free honey and beer, barrels of which were displayed on Khodynka. Even the enemies of the Russian Tsar could not hide their contempt for the mass of people, distraught over the opportunity to receive “free gifts,” who were slowly crushing themselves on a huge field under the unusual May sun. The descriptions given in the book of the “chief accuser” of the tsarist authorities regarding Khodynka by Vasily Krasnov “Khodynka. Notes from someone trampled to death” (M. - L., 1926) are terrifying. Stepping over the corpses, people were eager for free wine, scooping it up with their caps and palms. There were many people who drowned in barrels. Krasnov writes that Khodynka was, first of all, “a reflection of the stupidity, darkness and brutality” of the crowd, which “could not cope with itself, having gathered for the first time in such a multitude, gathered by unprecedented lures.”

Holding back the hand of the destroyers of faith and state, Prince Sergius, as Governor-General of Moscow, tirelessly created. Despite his busy schedule, he participated in the activities of many educational and charitable organizations: the Moscow Society for Charity, Education and Training of Blind Children; Committee to provide benefits to widows and orphans affected by the war; Moscow Society for the Protection of Homeless Children and Minors Released from Places of Confinement; Moscow Council of Orphanages, Iveron Community of Sisters of Mercy. For many years he took care of the formation of the Moscow Historical Museum. Through his efforts, new exhibits and museum collections were acquired. The Grand Duke paid attention to everything that reflected the restoration of spiritual and national traditions. In 1904, he issued an order “on the collection and presentation of the most accurate information about private spiritual singing choirs existing in Moscow” (Kuchmaeva I.K.). His faithful assistant in this case was his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, who was also inclined to direct, honest, and therefore active manifestation of faith. Even before the organization of the Martha and Mary Convent, she strived for an active Christian life.

This desire of the spouses to live for God and do charity every day was also manifested in their Ilyinskoye estate near Moscow. In Ilyinskoye, Grand Duke Sergius built a maternity hospital for peasant women. Baptisms of newborn children were often performed in this hospital. The foster children of countless peasant babies were Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna. On holidays (St. Sergius of Radonezh, Holy Prophet Elijah, Holy Rightist Elizabeth), people from all over the area flocked to Ilinskoye. A contemporary says: “The peasants here owe them (the grand ducal couple - V.M.) everything: schools..., hospitals, and generous help in cases of fire, loss of livestock and any other misfortune and need... It was necessary to see the August landowners in in the village of Ilyinsky on the day of the patronal feast, on Ilyin’s Day, among the peasants after mass at the fair. Almost everything they bring is bought by them and immediately given away to peasants and peasant women, young and old. The peasants of the villages of Ilyinskoye, Usova and others, like children, became heartily related to Their Highnesses.” (Invaluable memory of the Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich who died a martyr's death. M., 1905).

Not far from Ilyinsky is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Prince Sergius was here for the first time when he was 4 years old. From time immemorial the monastery enjoyed the favorable attention of Russian sovereigns. Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his wife Anastasia Romanovna came to venerate the relics of St. Savva, and later Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. When under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich the monastery became a royal country residence, the royal chambers and the palace of the Empress were erected here. Here Prince Sergius breathed the air of Russian indigenous history. Isn’t that why he loved Ilyinskoye so much?

REVEREND SERAPHIM

We know little about Prince Sergius’s veneration of Russian saints. We only know about his personal piety. However, the exception is St. Seraphim of Sarov, in whose glorification the Grand Duke took an active part. Presence at the celebrations during the glorification of the Reverend in July 1903 became a great event in the life of Grand Duke Sergius and Vel. book Elizabeth. Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich noted in his diary: “On July 15, we set off on a pilgrimage to the Sarov Hermitage... On July 16... in the morning in Moscow, Uncle Sergei and Ella boarded the train with us...”

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her sister Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
visit the source of St. Seraphim during the Sarov celebrations. July 17-19, 1903

The stay of Prince Sergius and Princess Elizabeth in Sarov is evidenced by the memoirs of Archimandrite Sergius of Stragorodsky, the future Patriarch: “A troika flew out from around the corner: the governor, who had met him at the border of the province, arrived. Soon after him the foursome appeared from there, and in the open landau the Tsar and the Tsarina appeared. Directly behind them was another four, in which the Queen Mother arrived. Next - carriages with the Grand Dukes and Duchesses... When the Emperor approached the gates, the ringing stopped for a minute, the Metropolitan said a brief greeting, the royal persons venerated the cross, received sprinkling of holy water, greeted the Bishop and in front of the previous spiritual procession, while the bells were ringing, while singing “Save, Lord, your people...” they headed to the Assumption Cathedral. From the gate to the cathedral to the right stood the clergy, banner bearers, Diveyevo nuns, and people; to the left are Sarov monks, clergy and people. The moment was extremely solemn... At the request of the Sovereign, he was led from the cathedral to the church of Zosima and Savvaty... And the Sovereign with the entire royal family bowed before the saint of God for the first time... Vladyka Metropolitan made the sign of the cross over everyone, one of the Sarov monks, in a mantle, presented it to the Sovereign at the entrance to the palace, bread and salt (black bread on a wooden dish)... And from that moment on, the monastery received the most august guests into its walls... Grand Dukes Sergius Alexandrovich and his wife Elisaveta Feodorovna also arrived at the celebrations in Sarov...”

Archimandrite Sergius recalls how early in the morning the clergy carried the coffin, in which the relics of the Saint were located, to the chapel. “Father Nikon and I brought the lid a little earlier than the coffin, two or three minutes. There were several monks and priests in the chapel... Officers from the guard came... Suddenly military generals, ladies, young ladies came in... I stood at the lid and didn’t pay much attention at first... But I take a closer look... So what? This is Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich with Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna with Prince Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg. They touched us all to the depths of our souls... When they were told that they had brought the coffin in which the Reverend lay in the ground, they bowed before the lid of the coffin (and the coffin was lowered into the grave) and kissed it. In the coffin, due to its dilapidation, there is something like ashes, dust... They took this dust, wrapped it in pieces of paper and took it with them... And Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich even helped lower the coffin into the grave...” The coffin with the holy relics of the Venerable was transferred to Assumption Cathedral from the Church of Saints Zosima and Savvatiya Procession of the Cross. Together with Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich, Grand Duke Sergius carried the coffin. The Grand Duke was a man of ardent faith. Like others who believed in the intercession of God’s saint Seraphim, he took with him a piece of the Saint’s coffin. In addition, he was presented with a great shrine - the mantle of St. Seraphim, which, upon his return from Diveyevo, was exhibited for public veneration in the Great Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. At that time, many Muscovites, having venerated it, received healing from illnesses. Subsequently, the mantle was transported to the church of St. the prophet of God Elijah, who was located on the estate of the Grand Duke - the village of Ilyinsky (Kuchmaeva I.K., p. 69). The mantle of St. Seraphim overshadowed Prince Sergius even after his martyrdom: it was placed in the temple-tomb of the Grand Duke.

On July 19, 1903, Archimandrite Sergius writes in his diary: “V.K.S. sometimes passes along the crowd. (Grand Duke Sergius - V.M.) and distributes books and leaflets to the people...”

Prince Sergius and Princess Elizabeth witnessed many miraculous healings that took place at the relics of St. Seraphim. For example, the day after the glorification in the Assumption Cathedral, the mother of a mute girl wiped the coffin with the relics of the Reverend with her handkerchief, and then the face of her daughter, and she immediately spoke. In a letter from Sarov, Princess Elizabeth wrote: “...What weakness, what illnesses we saw, but also what faith! It seemed that we were living during the time of the Savior’s earthly life. And how they prayed, how they cried - these poor mothers with sick children - and, thank God, many were healed. The Lord vouchsafed us to see how the mute girl spoke, but how her mother prayed for her!”

MARTYRTY DEATH

The destroyers of Russian statehood rightly considered the Grand Duke the head of the “resistance party,” and they inevitably had to make him one of their first bloody victims. And although he, not agreeing with the government’s indecisive measures against the serious threat of a coup d’etat, resigned from the post of Governor General of Moscow on January 1, 1905 and remained only as commander of the Moscow Military District, the revolutionaries did not leave him alone.

The carriage destroyed by the explosion, in which Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was located.

The photograph was taken by a photographer of the Criminal Division of the Ministry of Justice on February 5, 1905.
Below is the inscription: “Photo No. 3 of the destroyed carriage. To the inspection report (case sheet 28). Forensic investigator. Signature"

On February 5/18, 1905, the Grand Duke left the Nicholas Palace for the governor's house. At 2 hours 47 minutes, a native of Warsaw, Ivan Kalyaev, threw a bomb at the Prince’s carriage. The body of the murdered Prince Sergius was torn and terribly mutilated. Grand Duke Gabriel, who loved “Uncle Sergei” and remembered him from childhood, writes in his memoirs: “They said that Uncle Sergei’s heart was found on the roof of some building. Even during the funeral, they brought parts of his body, which were found in different places in the Kremlin, and placed them wrapped in a coffin" (Grand Duke Gabriel Konstantinovich. In the Marble Palace. From the chronicle of our family. St. Petersburg - Dusseldorf. 1993, p. 41) . Together with the Grand Duke, his coachman Andrei Alekseevich Rudinkin suffered martyrdom from a terrorist bomb. Immediately after the explosion, the Grand Duchess ran out of the palace; she still had the strength to collect her husband’s scattered body with great self-control. The pectoral cross and icons have survived. The remains of Grand Duke Sergius were covered with a soldier's overcoat, carried on a stretcher to the Chudov Monastery and placed near the shrine of St. Alexis, the Heavenly Patron of Moscow and spiritual friend of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Then the overcoat with which the body of Prince Sergius was covered, and the stretcher were placed in the temple-tomb, like many other things with which the spiritual life and martyrdom of the prince were connected. The funeral service for the Grand Duke was held on February 10 by the future martyr Metropolitan Vladimir (Epiphany) with all the suffragan bishops and clergy of the capital.

The fact that the terrorists committed their crime a month after the resignation of the Grand Duke indicates one thing: the crime was not so much political as spiritual. The martyrdom of his death was immediately felt by his contemporaries. Thus, Archpriest Mitrofan Srebryansky wrote: “February 7. Now we were serving a memorial service for the new martyr of the Royal House, Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich. Kingdom of Heaven to the martyr for truth!” (O. Mitrofan Srebryansky. Diary of a regimental priest serving in the Far East. M., 1996, p. 250). It was exactly how Grand Duchess Elizabeth perceived the death of her husband as martyrdom. In a telegram dated February 8, 1905, she wrote to representatives of the Moscow City Duma: “I sincerely thank the Duma for the prayers and for the sympathy expressed to Me. A great consolation in My heavy grief is the knowledge that the deceased Grand Duke is in the monastery of St. Alexis, whose memory He so revered, and within the walls of Moscow, which He deeply loved and in whose Holy Kremlin He died as a martyr.”

Three years later, in 1907, Archpriest Hieromartyr John Vostorgov, on the day of remembrance of St. Sergius of Radonezh said: “Today is the name day of our Rev. Father Sergius, the memory of the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus; the great Radonezh ascetic and wonderworker of all Russia was named in honor of one of them. Do we not involuntarily remember the noble Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich, who involuntarily died the death of a martyr, the same name as St. Sergius and who had him as his heavenly patron, the royal knight and ascetic for the Russian land, the blessed Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich... At this hour of funeral prayer for him, continuing in his beloved Moscow the work he loved, we call his bright spirit, and, introducing him to the joy of feat in the name of the Church and Russia, we trust in his invisible help to us with the spirit of his love, his beyond the grave boldness in prayer to God" (Prot. John Vostorgov. Complete Works. St. Petersburg, 1995 , pp. 350-353). And Archimandrite Anastasy, in memory of the Grand Duke, said that the villains wanted to stain the Kremlin with royal blood, but only “created a new supporting stone for love of the Fatherland” and gave “Moscow and all of Russia a new prayer book.”

It is known that Grand Duchess Elizabeth visited her husband’s killer, terrorist Kalyaev, in prison and forgave him on behalf of her husband. V. F. Dzhunkovsky, who collaborated with Prince Sergius for many years, wrote about this: “She, by her forgiving nature, felt the need to say a word of consolation to Kalyaev, who so inhumanly took her husband and friend from her.” Having learned that Kalyaev was a baptized person, she gave him the Gospel and a small icon, calling him to repentance. She asked the Emperor to pardon the killer. But Kalyaev showed no remorse and refused to ask for pardon. He even boldly wrote to the Grand Duchess that he only “sympathized” with her grief, that’s why he spoke to her, but he did not regret the atrocity he had committed...

Memorial service for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich at the monument-cross at the site of his murder on the territory of the Kremlin near the Nikolsky Gate

Monument-cross, built at the site of the murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in the Kremlin.

On April 2, 1908, at the site of the death of Grand Duke Sergius, a cross monument was erected, built with voluntary donations from the fifth Grenadier Regiment, of which the deceased was chief during his lifetime. The cross was made according to the design of the artist V. Vasnetsov; the Gospel verse was imprinted on the cross: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing.” After the revolution, the cross was destroyed, and on May 1, 1918, Lenin personally threw it off the pedestal with a rope. Now a copy of this cross is installed in the Novospassky Monastery, where in 1995 the remains of Grand Duke Sergius were solemnly transferred. He is worshiped by everyone who goes to the temples of the Novospassky Monastery. The tombstone of Prince Sergius is located in the lower church - in the name of St. Roman Sladkopevets. The temple is the ancestral tomb of the Romanovs.

The grave of Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich in the Novospassky Monastery.

The wreath was laid during the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the IOPS.
Photo by P. V. Platonov

Cross-monument to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in the Novospassky Monastery.

Recreated and installed in 1998.

Grand Duke Sergius was buried in the Chudov Monastery, which was destroyed in the early 30s. At the same time, the temple-tomb was also destroyed. But still, according to God’s Providence, the time has come to collect the scattered stones. In the 90s, when renovation work was carried out in the Kremlin, the burial place of the murdered Prince Sergius was discovered. On September 17, 1995, his remains were transferred to the Novospassky Monastery. Services are held in the Church of Roman the Sweet Singer, and Prince Sergius is worshiped by believers as a holy martyr. In front of his tombstone you can always see people praying on their knees. It is known that the monastery has already begun to record cases of healings associated with the relics of Prince Sergius. For example, a woman who suffered from eczema on her hands for 15 years testified that she received healing when she sorted out the personal belongings of the Grand Duke, found at his burial site.

During the life of the Grand Duke, the Venerable Martyr Elisaveta Feodorovna testified that it was the personal example of the truly Christian life of Prince Sergei Alexandrovich that brought her to the Orthodox Church. The martyrdom with which he was awarded not only confirmed her words, but also showed more that she could not say during his life: his life was truly a personal feat of the “restrainer.” Isn’t this where the vicious slander comes from, to which, as a rule, the purest, most patriotic individuals who have done a lot for the Fatherland have been subjected in our history? V.V. Vyatkin in his book “The Church of Christ is a fragrant color. The biography of the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna” (M., 2001) writes: “He was slandered not only by revolutionaries, enemies of the great national Russia, but also by many representatives of “high” society. He was tirelessly criticized abroad, for which the German Emperor Wilhelm II became especially famous. But he, remembering the words of the Savior, “you will be in a world of sorrow” (John 16:33), holding high the name of the Orthodox Christian, did not repay them with evil for their iniquities. Mother Church abundantly gave him her consolations, and he enjoyed Her shrine. However, the godless world continued to cruelly persecute him, and finally he was brutally killed” (p. 47). Not long ago, the relics of his faithful wife, the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth, traveled throughout vast Russia. It seems that the day is not too far off when we will be able to restore historical justice, pay tribute to the holy soul and holy life feat of the Grand Duke.

I took revenge for the blood and tears of the people.
All my life I carried it without a trace.
I killed the evil serpent with thunder, -
The fight ended in victory 8.

Assassination

On February 4, 1905, at 2:45 p.m., a carriage drove off from the Nikolaev Kremlin Palace. At that moment, when she was driving along Senate Square, there was an explosion of such force that one might think that an earthquake had started in Moscow. The blast wave broke the glass in all the windows of the nearby four-story Judicial Institutions Building (Senate).

The people who came running saw a carriage torn apart by the explosion along with the passenger sitting in it, horses rushing about in fear and a mortally wounded coachman. The confusion of the first minutes gave way to the realization that Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the former Governor-General of the Mother See, was riding in the carriage 1, and what happened was nothing more than a planned terrorist act.

The perpetrator of the murder, socialist-revolutionary I.P. Kalyaev was captured at the crime scene. The remains of the Grand Duke were transferred to the Nicholas Palace, then to the Alekseevsky Church of the Chudov Monastery. At the same time, the public began to be escorted out of the Kremlin, although crowds of curious people stood for a long time at the Spassky and Nikolsky Gates, on Red Square, near the building of the Historical Museum and the Upper Trading Rows. Mourning flags were raised at the Governor General's house.

“A terrible crime happened in Moscow,” Emperor Nicholas II wrote in his diary, “at the Nikolsky Gate, Uncle Sergei, riding in a carriage, was killed by a thrown bomb, and the coachman was mortally wounded. Unhappy Ella [Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, wife of the murdered man], bless and help her, Lord!" 2

Monarchist newspapers wrote about the villainous murder; about the shame to which Moscow has lived; about the shock of all of Russia. "Moskovskie Vedomosti" 3 complained about the connivance of the authorities, who turned a blind eye to the murders of officials 4 and ultimately achieved that they reached the royal relatives. "New Time" 5 asked the question: why could not the murder be prevented? “Everywhere one could hear sincere indignation against all the sowers of trouble and seditionists who had forgotten Divine and human laws” 6 .

Residents of Moscow gathered in groups and talked among themselves, but in these conversations there was not only condemnation. Over the long years of being General Governor, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich managed to prove himself in different ways - the general public heard outrageous episodes, to which revolutionary propaganda tried in every possible way to draw attention. The Grand Duke was reminded of the Khodynka disaster, tough measures to combat dissent and other “lawlessness” committed by him. In clandestinely distributed pamphlets and proclamations, murder was called sacred. They also stated that it happened with the general rejoicing of the people. Bombist I.P. Kalyaev, or the Poet, as his comrades called him, was proud of his perfect deed and repeatedly repeated that if he had not one, but a thousand lives, he would give them all for a just cause 7:

Many knew that Moscow public opinion, being influenced by revolutionary ideas, was irrevocably changing. Including the Grand Duke. Six months before his death, he wrote to his nephew Emperor Nicholas II: “Things have worsened even more, and the situation in Moscow worries me extremely in a political and social sense... We are going through terribly difficult times, and internal enemies are a thousand times more dangerous than external enemies. Fermentation of minds, for example, things are bad in Moscow, I’ve heard things from all sides that I’ve never heard before” 9 . And if at the beginning of 1904, enthusiastic and patriotic demonstrations took place at the Governor General's house on Tverskaya about the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, then already at the end of 1904, during student riots, stones were thrown at the windows of the same house.

The Grand Duke, being in a desperate situation and seeing no prospects for further service, submitted his resignation. In January 1905 it was partially satisfied. Sergei Alexandrovich was no longer Governor-General of Moscow, but retained the post of commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District. However, an attempt to retire did not give the desired results. The Grand Duke did not find inner peace, as evidenced by correspondence and diary entries. In addition, he still remained an odious figure, a symbol of the conservative monarchy.

Parting

The murder was committed in a deliberately daring manner: in broad daylight, in the very center of Moscow. It was both intimidation, demonstration, and challenge 10. The imperial family was in turmoil. At least that's what it looked like from the outside. Of all the Romanovs, only Sergei Alexandrovich’s close friend and cousin, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich 11, came to say goodbye to the deceased.

Konstantin Konstantinovich's diary entries reflected disappointment with the behavior of his relatives. He reasoned that, due to the fear of new assassination attempts, it was impossible to stay locked up all the time, and cited the example of St. Petersburg Governor-General D.F. Trepov 12, on whom more than one attempt had been made on his life, but who nevertheless came to pay tribute to the memory of the deceased. However, according to V.F. Dzhunkovsky 13, namely D.F. Trepov, who knew well the difficult state of affairs in the secret police, persuaded the emperor not to go himself and not to let the grand dukes in. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was very afraid for the life of the imperial couple and the heir to the throne, also asked them not to come 14.

For five days after the murder, while the remains of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich were in the Alekseevsky Church of the Chudov Monastery, those wishing to say goodbye were allowed into the Kremlin through the Spassky Gate. A line of people stretched from the Spassky Gate to the monastery, many stood in line for 5-6 hours. Servants of military units, students of military educational institutions, women's institutes and gymnasiums were allowed out of line during specially designated hours. At two o'clock in the afternoon and at eight o'clock in the evening official funeral services were held daily, which were attended by representatives of the city authorities and various deputations.

From the diary of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich: “Under the arches of the temple, separated by arches from the church where the relics of St. Alexis rest, an open coffin stood on a small elevation in the middle. Only the chest of the uniform of the Kiev regiment with gold epaulettes and aiguillettes was visible; cotton wool was placed in place of the head ", covered with a transparent veil, and it seemed that the head was there, but only covered. The arms folded crosswise below the chest, as well as the legs, were covered with a silver brocade cover; the coffin was oak, with gilded eagles" 15.

A funeral service was scheduled for February 10. At 10 o'clock in the morning the sad ringing of the Kremlin bells echoed throughout the city. The top officials of Moscow, representatives of societies, the wife and adopted children of the deceased 16 went to the Chudov Monastery to participate in the funeral ceremony. Her sister Princess Victoria of Battenberg and her brother Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and his wife, as well as the Duchess of Edinburgh, the sister of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, came from England to support Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The Kremlin gates remained closed. A crowd gathered on Red Square. On the same day and at the same time, a funeral service took place in the church of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace (a suburb of St. Petersburg) in the presence of Nicholas II and members of the imperial family.

The sealed coffin with the remains of the Grand Duke was moved to St. Andrew's Church of the Chudov Monastery. It was probably assumed that it would be transported to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg - the burial place of emperors and grand dukes, starting from the time of Peter the Great. However, the funeral of the Grand Duke became an exception to the existing tradition 17.

Secret burial

For the burial of the Grand Duke in that part of the Chudov Monastery, which was directly adjacent to the Nicholas Palace, in a year according to the design of the artist P.V. Zhukovsky, a temple-tomb was built in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh 18. In this tomb on July 4, 1906, on the eve of the day of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, a solemn burial took place. It differed from the traditional grand-ducal funeral in that it was not public, but “closed” or even secret, and was held not during the day, but at night. The “conspiracy” was explained by the unstable socio-political situation in the country (the revolutionary wave that swept the empire in 1905 was stopped only in mid-1907).

The funeral ceremony began at nine o'clock in the evening. It was attended by the wife and adopted children of the Grand Duke, members of the retinue, senior ranks of the Governor-General's Department, as well as Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and his wife Elizaveta Mavrikievna, Grand Dukes Alexei Alexandrovich (Sergei Alexandrovich's elder brother) and Boris Vladimirovich, who specially came to the funeral. Queen of the Hellenes Olga Konstantinovna (cousin of Sergei Alexandrovich) and her son Prince Christopher the Greek.

After the all-night vigil in St. Andrew's Church, the coffin with the remains of the Grand Duke was transferred to the Alekseevsky Church, where a lithium was served. The remains were then moved to the tomb. A sad procession with a coffin and lighted candles crossed Tsarskaya (Ivanovo) Square several times, where the ranks of the 5th Kyiv Grenadier Regiment, whose chief was Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, stood in trellises. A memorial service was held in the tomb temple, the coffin was lowered into a pre-prepared crypt, and the highest officials sprinkled sand on top. As the Historical Bulletin reported a few months later, “the funeral was arranged with extreme severity and secrecy. Not only the population, but even the newspapers were not aware of the burial of the remains of the Grand Duke scheduled for that day” 19 .

The fate of the memorial

Two years later, on April 2, 1908, at the site of the death of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, instead of a temporary cast-iron cross, a massive eight-pointed bronze monument-cross in the Old Russian style by the artist V.M. was installed. Vasnetsova. On the cross one could see relief images of the crucified Savior, the grieving Mother of God and cherubs. The inscription at the bottom of the cross read: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing.” Nearby, an unquenchable lamp burned in an original Old Russian style lantern.

The consecration of the monument took place solemnly. At noon, to the sound of Kremlin bells, a religious procession led by Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Vladimir (Epiphany) emerged from the Alekseevsky Church. The troops of the Moscow district were lined up on the square. After the prayer service and sprinkling of the monument with holy water, flowers were laid at its foot. The ceremony was attended by the wife and adopted children of the deceased, his elder brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and Moscow officials 20.

After ten years, in the spring of 1918, the cross monument came under the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On the removal of monuments erected in honor of the kings and their servants..." and was demolished before the May Day demonstration. In 1929, the Chudov Monastery itself was destroyed, along with all the buildings located on its territory.

More than half a century has passed. And in the summer of 1985, during excavation work on the site of the former Chudov Monastery, the surviving tomb of the Grand Duke was inexplicably discovered! The relics found in it were transferred to the funds of the Moscow Kremlin museums, and the coffin with the remains of the Grand Duke in the fall of 1995 was moved to the Novospassky Monastery. In 1998, here, based on the sketches of V.M. Vasnetsov, the monument-cross was restored. Thus, Sergei Alexandrovich became the only Grand Duke of the late imperial period buried in Moscow along with the ancestors of the royal house of Romanov.

Notes

1. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857-1905) - fifth son of Emperor Alexander II; from February 26, 1891 to January 1, 1905 - Moscow Governor-General; from May 1896 until his death - commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District with the rank of lieutenant general. He was married to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, née Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
2. Diaries of Emperor Nicholas II (1894-1918). M., 2013. T. 2. Part 1. P. 19.
3. Moscow Gazette. 1905. N 36. P. 2-3.
4. In March 1901, the Minister of Public Education N.P. was killed. Bogolepov, in April 1902 - Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin, in May 1903 - Ufa governor N.M. Bogdanovich, in July 1904 - Minister of Internal Affairs V.K. Plehve.
5. New time. 1905. N 10388. P. 3.
6. Chronicle of the Historical and Genealogical Society. 1905. Issue. 1. P. 14.
7. After the trial, Kalyaev was hanged in the Shlisselburg fortress. He categorically refused to submit a petition for pardon.
8. Murder c. K. Sergei Alexandrovich, socialist-revolutionary I. Kalyaev. M., b/g; Kolosov A. Death of Plehve and V.K. Sergei Alexandrovich. Berlin, 1905.
9. “We are going through terribly difficult times.” Letters from Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to Nicholas II. 1904-1905 // Historical archive. 2006. N 5. P. 105.
10. During the Soviet period, this murder was regarded as a feat, and the moment of the murder served as the subject of several paintings: 1924 - “The assassination attempt of I.P. Kalyaev on Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich on February 4 (17), 1905.” (artist N. I. Strunnikov); 1926 - “I.P. Kalyaev throws a bomb at the carriage of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in Moscow in 1905” (artist V.S. Svarog).
11. His younger brother Pavel Alexandrovich also came to say goodbye to Sergei Alexandrovich, who did not have the right to return to the Russian Empire, but received permission to attend his brother’s funeral as an exception. Accordingly, he attended the ceremony not as a representative of the imperial house, but as a private citizen.
12. D.F. Trepov was the closest assistant to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich from 1896 to 1905, holding the position of Moscow Chief of Police.
13. At that time V.F. Dzhunkovsky was the adjutant of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
14. Miller L.P. Holy martyr Russian Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. M., 1994. P. 102; Vostryshev M.I. The most august family. Russia through the eyes of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. M., 2001. P. 283; Grishin D.B. The tragic fate of the Grand Duke. M., 2008. P. 263.
15. Quote. by: Grishin D.B. The tragic fate of the Grand Duke. P. 265.
16. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna did not have their own children; they were the official guardians of the children of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger) and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich.
17. For more details, see: Serova S.A. (Limanova S.A.) Black obelisks: Funeral ceremonies of the emperor, grand dukes and princesses at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries // Rodina. 2012. N 2. P. 85-88.
18. Stepanov M.P. Temple-tomb of Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Chudov Monastery in Moscow, M., 1909.
19. Historical bulletin. 1906. N 8. P. 657.
20. Historical Bulletin. 1908. N 5. P. 765-767.

Hello dears!
Let us continue the topic we started yesterday here:
Remember this piece of text from the book:
"Then the Don people followed in a not very slender square, and behind them, without any formation at all, rode a deputation of Asian subjects of the empire - in multi-colored robes, on thin-legged horses decorated with carpets. I recognized the Emir of Bukhara and the Khan of Khiva, both with stars and golden general epaulettes, which looked strange on oriental robes".
I was wondering who exactly was meant by the eastern rulers. It didn't take long to search :-)
In 1868, the Bukhara Emirate became a vassal of the Russian Empire and received the status of its protectorate. In our particular case, we are talking about the ninth emir from the Mangyt dynasty named Seyid Abdul-Ahad Khan. He was an enlightened man - he traveled a lot, loved horses and poetry. He himself did not shy away from literary activity under the pseudonym Odzhiz.

Seyid Abdul-Ahad Khan

He was a general in Russian service, chief of the 5th Orenburg Cossack Regiment. He was awarded many awards of the Russian Empire, including in 1906 he became the last foreign holder of the highest order of Russia - St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle.

Kokand, Khiva and Bukhara.

He died early - in 1910 in his beloved city of Kermina (he didn’t really like Bukhara itself for some reason) at the age of 51 from kidney disease.
In our city, the memory of Seyid Abdul-Ahad Khan will forever remain, for it was with his money that the Great Cathedral Mosque, which adorns the Petrograd side, was largely erected.


Great Cathedral Mosque of St. Petersburg

One of the main opponents of Bukhara in Turkestan was Khiva (Khorezm). During the Khiva campaign of 1873, the khan's independence fell and Khiva was also declared a Russian protectorate. By the way, for the first time it was in this campaign that the famous commander Mikhail Skobelev, listed in Akunin’s books under the name Sobolev, showed himself.
The 11th Khan from the Kungrat dynasty in Khiva during these years was Muhammad Rahim Khan II. He was a fan of the arts, he wrote poetry well under the pseudonym Firuz, and played music.

Khiva banner

He was a Russian lieutenant general (later an infantry general), so wearing epaulettes and shoulder straps is also quite understandable. Another question is what’s on the robe....:-)
He died in 1910 at the age of 66.

Muhammad Rahim Khan II

Let's move on :-)
As I already said, some of the real historical figures are quite easily visible in the characters of the books, although they are called by slightly different names.
Well, for example, the formidable Grand Duke Kirill Alexandrovich, teaching his nephew Nicholas II. As it is in the book: “And the eldest, Grand Duke Kirill Alexandrovich, commander of the imperial guard, is not as handsome as his brothers, but truly majestic and formidable, for he inherited the famous look of a basilisk from his crowned grandfather. It happened that some officers who were guilty of service lost consciousness from this look ".
This is clearly Vladimir Alexandrovich - the younger brother of the late Emperor Alexander III. He really had a cool character, and, as in the book, he led the guards and troops of the St. Petersburg Military District.

Vladimir Alexandrovich

Here's what contemporaries write about him: « Handsome, well-built, although slightly shorter than his brothers, with a voice that carried to the most remote rooms of the clubs he visited, a great lover of hunting, an exceptional connoisseur of food (he owned rare collections of menus with handwritten notes written immediately after a meal), Vladimir Alexandrovich had undeniable authority.<…>Tsar Nicholas II experienced a feeling of exceptional timidity in front of Vladimir Alexandrovich, bordering on fear. The Grand Duke, probably noticing the impression he made on the emperor, began to stay away from state issues».
It was he who gave the order to open fire on the troops on Bloody Sunday.
Died in 1909.

Ceremonial portrait

The character of Simeon Alexandrovich is also easily recognized. Based on the book: " Simeon Alexandrovich, the tallest and slender of the late sovereign’s brothers, with his regular face, as if carved out of ice, looks like a medieval Spanish grandee.”.
The Moscow governor-general in those years was Nicholas II's uncle Sergei Alexandrovich. And his unconventional sexual orientation was no secret to anyone. He was surrounded by cute young officers like the Prince Glinsky depicted in the book (by the way, there is some irony of the author here - the princely family of the Glinskys, from which the mother of Ivan IV the Terrible was, died out back in the 16th century). A historical anecdote has been preserved in the memoirs of former Foreign Minister V. Lamzdorf: “Two new jokes are circulating around the city: “Moscow has stood on seven hills until now, but now it must stand on one hillock” (French Bougr "e - homosexual). This is said, hinting at Grand Duke Sergei».

Sergey Aleksandrovich

However, everything was not so simple. Despite all his weaknesses and shortcomings, Sergei Alexandrovich also had several serious advantages. He helped a lot of people without advertising it. His family raised nephews - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her brother, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, whose mother died in premature birth. Again, his wife was a real angel. Elizaveta Feodorovna at birth Elizaveta Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt subsequently organized the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy by selling all her jewelry. And this was not a monastery, but rather a monastery - in which they provided not only spiritual and educational, but also medical and educational assistance to those in need, who were often not just given food and clothing, but helped in finding employment and placed in hospitals.

Elizaveta Fedorovna during her husband’s lifetime.

Often the sisters persuaded families who could not give their children a normal upbringing to send their children to an orphanage, where they were given an education, good care and a profession. Elizaveta Fedorovna herself worked tirelessly at the monastery. She was brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks in Alpayevsk in 1918, and in 1992 she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In later years.

Sergei Alexandrovich himself died in 1905, torn to pieces by a bomb from the Socialist Revolutionary terrorist and unsuccessful poet Ivan Kalyaev. It is interesting that Elizaveta Fedorovna tried to forgive her husband’s murderer, arguing not only by Christian morality, but also by the fact that Kalyaev had the opportunity to throw a bomb earlier, when she and her nephew and niece were in an open carriage, but the Socialist Revolutionary did not do this.
That's how things are...
To be continued...