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From the appeal by
the head of the Russian Imperial House,
Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna
addressed to the Russian President, B.N.Yeltsin,
the most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Aleksei II
and to the whole Russian nation
on the subject of the forthcoming burial of the Emperor Nicholas II and his family.
Dear Mr. President,
Your Holiness,
Dear Countrymen
The year !998 marks the 80 years since that tragic day when the Emperor of All Russia
Nikolai II, his family and servants, who remained faithful to their master up to the very
end, were executed in the basement of the Ipatev house in Ekatarinburg. The work of
identifying the remains of the Tsarist martyrs, discovered a couple of years ago, has now
been concluded in time for the tragic anniversary and the time approaches when they will
be buried according to the rules of our Holy Orthodox Church.
This has an extremely important spiritual and historical meaning for all of Russia. The
burial of the Tsar family should be a clear symbol of confession and national
reconciliation and should not allow this event to be tinted by political disagreement and
any such interests, not related to the religious essence of the ceremony.
The Peter Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg has been the home of eternal rest for the
Romanov family ever since the time of Peter the Great. Every Emperor and member of the
dynasty has wished after death to be put to eternal rest together with their tsarist
forefathers. While discussing the remains of the Tsar family we mustn't avoid the
attention and fate of the ashes of the murdered and those close to them . Their separation
really goes against divine and human laws. The existing Russian tradition, sanctified by
the Church, genuinely helps to solve this problem.
When it was decided to award a faithful servant a posthumous honour then he was buried
next to his protector. This did not manifest itself as a humiliation of the deceased but
on the contrary glorified his Christian meekness.
It is with grief that I see that there are those even amongst the relatives of the
dynasty, who completely betray the meaning of the spiritual and moral side of the
question, and strive to use the funeral of the Tsar family for the satisfaction of their
own petty, political and vain passsion. It is unforgivable to give such a conception of
the Imperial family or what is still worse as a step on the path to the acquisition of
dubious benefits or cheap authority.
The Russian Imperial House firmly considers that the burial of the remains of the Tsarist
martyrs, not be a family affair but a matter of national interest and should be the result
of a joint decision by the authorities, The Orthodox Church, the people and the Dynasty.
The observance of the will of the Tsar family, who served Russia, with their love of their
country, with sufferings and with a martyr's feat.
I am convinced that you, Mr. President and you Your Holiness share my thoughts and
together with all countrymen will support that which is dear to the past and not
indifferent future of the motherland.
Let the burial of the Tsarist martyrs be both sorrowful and penitential and at the same
time a light and glorifying celebration, and let it not darken its worldly pride.
Signed on the original by the hand of her Imperial Highness
Maria
Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna
Madrid, 6/19 November 1997