Romanovs and Faith/Orthodox Religion

[Joanna Mayer]

I was just curious about the religious feeling of the members of this site. I've noticed some bible quotations and I wondered if any members here are Russian Orthodox?  Please dont feel that I'm prying...I'm not going to ridicule anyone-- I am simply interested...

Joanna Mayer

[LisaDavidson]

There are Orthodox Christians that post here. My husband and I are Episcopalian & Lutheran. We also have some Jewish posters. Many others here - I have no idea what their religion is or if they are irreligious. My guess is - we are a mixed bag.

[Joanna Mayer]

 JM
Thanks.
I am actually looking for some information regarding Russian Orthodoxy. Any ideas about easy to understand info on the web?

[bookworm8571]

I think understanding the Russian Orthodox Church is probably a good way to understand what truly motivated the Tsarina. I don't see why a question about that would be off limits at all.

I'm new here and probably not representative, but I was raised Roman Catholic. Now I'm probably best described as a cafeteria-style Catholic. I see a lot of similarities between Catholicism and Orthodoxy when I read about Imperial Russia.

[Anastasia]

Hi Joanna,
I'm an Orthodox Christian. If you are interested in finding out more about the church try this website: http://www.orthdoxinfo.com or if you wanted to read a book I would recommend The Orthodox Church by Timothy [Kallistos] Ware. That covers the basic history and doctrine of the Church [if you're that interested]. Are you looking for answers for specific questions? I'd be happy to help in any way.
-Anastasia  

[Kiriaki]

Hello all - this is my first post
Perhaps you might want to check out www.goarch.org
go to the online chapel
then look at the first column and look at today's saints
look for the complete list
then click on Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia

today, July 4th, is their "Saint's Day" in the Greek Orthodox Church

Kyriaki

[elisa_1872]

Hello Kyriaki

Thanks very much for the link, and for sharing that in the Orthodox Church, July 4th is the saints day of the Romanovs.
May God Bless them - remembering+

[Pravoslavnaya]

May God bless our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters!  

In churches that follow the Julian calendar the feast day of the Holy Royal Martyrs falls on the date in history on which they were slain, July 17th -- which is July 4th on the Old Calendar.  I wonder why the New Calendar puts their feast day on July 4th and not July 17th?

[masha]

Welcome, Kyriaki!

www.goarch is a very good site & a very active one too, with lots of information that's well organized and up-to date.

Here are a few more authoratative Orthodox sites to look at.

http://www.pravoslavie.ru

http:// http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/index.html

http://www.mospat.ru/e_startpage

http://aggreen.net/orth_links/orthlink.html

bye for now - Masha

[Sunny]

Rskkiya, While I am not Russian Orthodox, I enjoy the books of  Frederica Mathewes-Green. If you haven't already read her book "At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in Ancient Christian Orthodoxy",  I think you will find it helpful. She is warm, funny, and real.

Frederica is also an occasional commentator for National Public Radio, and this is her site: www.frederica.com

Sunny

[Reed]

According to the Father Serfes site, that has a link on the main page here, they are called the Holy Royal Martyrs.  However, I have read them as the passion bearers as well.  Officially I believe they are classified as martyrs.  

[Coldstream]

I am presently attending a Russian Rite (Byzantine) church which uses the Russian Orthodox liturgy and musical forms, although in union with the Holy See in Rome.  Therefore, I cannot say that I am an expert on the Russian Orthodox Church.  However, I may be able to clear up the matter of who is a "passion bearer," according to the Orthodox usage.

A "passion bearer" is one who allows himself or herself to be killed without offering any resistance in order that a higher good may come out of one's self-sacrifice.  Saints Boris and Gleb are an example of this type of saint.  On the other hand, a "regular" saint is one who has spent at least part of their life in conformance with the will of Almighty God in all things.  St. Elizabeth Feodrovna (Romanov) is an example of the latter type.  The Russian Church had no problems with her, but had reservations about Nicholas II because of some of his actions while emperor.  They had to admit that he was personally pious and a good family man, and that the family did accept their fate in a Christian manner thus earning the designation as "passion bearers" and worthy of veneration.  I hope this clears up some questions regarding the designations.  As I said before, I am not an expert and I am sure there are those who can clarify the matter even more.

Coldstream (AKA Bill McCaughey)

[Kiriaki]

try this to answer the question of how the Orthodox Church regards the IF and Elizavata & Varvara

[url]
http://goarch/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=108

http://goarch/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=2343

name day for IF July 4
name day for Eliz. and Var. is July 5

the website gives the reason for their ranks as martyrs in the Orthodox Church; the church also recognizes martyrdom for
GD Serge, the Princes John, Constantine, Igor and brethren and Prince V. Paley and Theodore Remez.
prayers are offered in their names on July 5th.

You can refer to a previous reply of mine on this thread as well as the links provided by another kind poster.  I tried to look on the ROCOR sites for saint links but could not find any.  The above links for goarch are the Gr. Orthodox Church's.

I am so new to this so forgive me if the links don't work as I have typed them.  I tried to figure out the directions on this forum, but I am confused!

btw - who is Theodore Remez?

thank you

Kyriaki

[AnBhanfhaidh]

PLEASE lets stay on topic...


Could someone orthodox help us understand the current position of the O Church towards the IF...Are they martyres, passion bearers, saints? Is there a difference?

thanks
R.  

Part of the confusion comes from the "flavors" of Orthodoxy. The Russian Church in Exile (sometimes, also referred to as the Synodal Church, although I think I heard they had a split recently()) canonized the Imperial Family and other Romanovs as martyrs of the Revolution sometime in the 1980s I think. The OCA (my flavor) and the Patriarchal Church (one aligned with the Patriarchate of Moscow) (this is from the American point of view, by the way) canonized the Imperial Family in 2000 as Passion Bearers.
So, you WILL see them referred to differently on different websites. And some members of the Romanov family are considered saints by one flavor, but not by another. Although, now, all the members of the immediate family (N II et al) are considered saints by all branches of Russ. Orth. The only difference is in degree.

[Guest]

Fyodor Remez was the secretary of Grand Duke Sergey Mikhailovich. He chose to stay with the Grand Duke in Alapaevsk and was murdered with him, GD Elizaveta, Sister Varvara and Princes Ioann, Konstantin, Igor and Vladimir.