Royal Russia - Tsar's Days in Ekaterinburg 16/17 July 2017

Divine Liturgy and procession in Ekaterinburg 16/17 July 2017
Language: Russian. Duration: 3 minutes, 27 seconds.

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This article was researched from Russian media sources and written
by Paul Gilbert, Founder of Royal Russia © 2017

Tens of thousands of pilgrims walked more than 20 kilometres in an overnight procession in the Urals to honour the memory of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family who were murdered on the night of 16/17 July, 1918.

The church-led procession (which takes 4-5 hours), began at the Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land in Ekaterinburg and ended at the Monastery of the Holy Royal Martyrs at Ganina Yama in the Sverdlovsk Region, the location where the bodies of the seven Romanovs and their four servants were originally deposited. The procession was part of an international festival of the Orthodox culture "Tsar Days," Bishop Yevgeny of the Yekaterinburg eparchy told reporters.

Some of the participants wore old-style clothing that resembled the uniforms Nicholas II wore during his time in exile. Delegations from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, New Zealand took part in the procession, as well as MP of the lower house, the State Duma, and former prosecutor of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya, great-grandson of the Imperial cook Ivan Kharitonov Pyotr Multatuli, and Mrs Olga Kulikovskaya (widow of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna's son Tikhon Kulikovsky).

A large and growing group of Orthodox believers whose ranks reportedly include Poklonskaya, Nicholas II sacrificed himself to redeem Russians' sins, in an analogy of the self-sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. "This is a duty and great honour for me to be here tonight. Each year the number of people (participants of the procession) grows by some tens of thousands. This is a river of people, this is love that cannot be portrayed by actors, and impossible to falsify…this is love that lives in the souls and hearts for our saint monarch, for our motherland," Poklonskaya explained.

Officials estimate that more than 100,000 people from across Russia, and other countries are expected to attend the events marking the 100th anniversary of the tragic deaths of Nicholas II and his family in July 2018. Click here for more information.

Click here to read more articles about the Holy Royal Martyrs.