COMMUNIQUE

COMMUNIQUE
FROM THE PERSONAL CHANCELLERY
OF THE HEAD OF THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF RUSSIA

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In connection with recent statements made by certain public figures end reported in the mass media regarding a change in the position of the Imperial House of Russia in relation to the burial of the Imperial Family, a change which supposedly occurred during to visit to Moscow from the 5th to the 10th May 1998 of H.I.H. the Dowager Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna of Russia, the Personal Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia declares that these rumours have no basis in fact.
The Head of the Imperial House of Russia H.I.H. the Lady Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, Her Mother H.I.H. the Dowager Lady Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna and H.I.H. the Lord Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Georgi Michailovich are firmly convinced that the Funeral of the Imperial Family should be seen as a symbol of national repentance and reconciliation. In this connection, the opinion of their Imperial Highnesses has already been expressed in a series of Addresses and Declarations, as well as in official letters to the State Commission, that four principal conditions must be observed in the course of preparation and execution of this ceremony:

Firstly, it is impermissible to conduct the burial of the Imperial Family in at atmosphere of enmity, disagreement or event of pointed disputation as to the authenticity of the Remains. For this reason the State Commission must not only declare its findings on the identification of the Remains, but must argue its case in appropriate manner and resolve the remaining questions. It is particularly important to assuage the doubts expressed by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II and the Synod of our Holy Orthodox Church which is preparing to canonize the Imperial Martyrs at its forthcoming Council.

Secondly, the burial of the Imperial Family must be carried out in accordance with the ceremony of the Imperial Funeral Rite. The fact of the forced abdication of the Emperor Nicholas II on 2 March 1917 cannot abrogate either his legal rights, the Sacrament of Imperial Anointment which hi received, or his 23-year reign in Russia. Therefore, once authenticity of the Remains has been established incontrovertibly, the ceremony should be held at the highest state level.

Thirdly, no doubts must be cast on the of the site of the burial, which had been made by the martyrs themselves. The Imperial Family must be interred only in the Family Crypt of the Romanov Dynasty the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. Those who suffered and deed together with the Imperial Family should, in accordance with ancient Russian Orthodox tradition, be buried in the direct vicinity of the Imperial Crypt. The burial of all those killed in the Ipatiev House in a common grave would be a flagrant contravention of the 300-year-old tradition of the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral and the will of the Imperial Family and those who shared their sufferings and death.

Fourthly, it is essential to ensure that the funeral is attended, if possible, by all relatives of the Imperial Family, whether they are members of Royal of Sovereign Houses, or descended from the morganatic marriages of Members of the House of Romanov. It is impermissible, however, that certain persons from amongst the morganatic descendants who are related to the Imperial House of Russia, but are not Members of it according to the Dynastic Lows, should use this sacred rite of burial of the Imperial Family to further their petty political aspirations, or to create an illusion of authenticity for their false titles and imagined dynastic rights. If we consider the strictness which the Emperor Nicholas II himself applied to questions relating to membership of the Dynasty, such a situation would be a particular affront to his memory. In order to avoid this, the protocol of the ceremony must be worked out in accordance with the rules which existed in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Their Imperial Highnesses call upon all Their compatriots to comprehend the profound spiritual significance of an act such as the Burial of the Imperial Family. This an event unique in our history, one which has never before taken place and shall not take place again. It is for this very reason that in the preparations for the funeral there must be to haste, no negligence and no reservations. With regard to the Remains themselves, they must in any case be put in caskets and placed in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, where they would be accessible for the faithful. Through their prayers, the spiritual confirmation of the authenticity of the Remains will perhaps manifest itself, a confirmation which is so important in the Orthodox understanding.

The Persona Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia asks that the present Declaration be distributed as widely as possible.

A. Zakatov
Private Secretary to the Imperial Family

28 May 1998