Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra,
and their five children will be made
saints at a Council of Bishops in
August, but the four servants executed
with them in 1918 have been passed
over for canonisation. The Orthodox
Church's commission on canonisation
will grant the Romanovs the status of
"passion-bearers", saints who suffer
death with Christian humility, but do not
die for their faith as martyrs.
Archpriest Georgy, a member of the commission, told a religious weekly: "No
one demanded that they renounce their faith. Moreover, if we imagine the
somewhat impious scene of them renouncing it, that would not have altered
their fate. The commission now has no grounds to assume that the imperial
family's canonisation will not take place."
The Tsar and Tsarina and their children - Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia
and Alexei - were executed by firing squad on Lenin's orders in a cellar in
Yekaterinburg in July 1918, with their doctor, a lady-in-waiting, a valet and a
cook by their sides. Efforts to help them to escape to Britain had been
thwarted by the reluctance of King George V, the Tsar's cousin, to offer them
sanctuary and risk enraging Left-wing opinion at home.
Buried in marshes outside Yekaterinburg, the victims' bodies were recovered
after the collapse of communism. They were reburied, royal family and
servants together in one vault, in a St Petersburg cathedral two years ago.
The Orthodox Church could not canonise the servants because they were
merely doing their duty by staying with the Romanovs until their death, said
Archpriest Georgy, but a suitable way of honouring them was being
considered.
~*~
Stars at Prince's anti-drugs dinner(UK Times)
BY MICHAEL HARVEY
THE Prince of Wales played host to a star-studded dinner
last night at Highgrove in Gloucestershire in aid of an
anti-drugs charity.
Those who were invited to the private reception and meal
included Madonna, Michael Parkinson, Mark Knopfler of
Dire Straits and the record producer Sir George Martin.
The dinner is aimed at promoting the work of the Life
Education Centres charity, which helps children to avoid
drug abuse through the use of mobile classrooms. The
Prince helped to introduce the charity to Britain in 1986
after meeting its founder, Ted Noffs, in Australia 14 years
ago. A prime mover has been John Illsley, bass player
with Dire Straits, who worked to get some of the guests
to the dinner.
The charity has 56 mobile classrooms working with more
than 600,000 children aged three to 15 a year. It aims to
provide them with an awareness of the human body, in
particular teaching them how drugs can upset the balance.
~*~
Queen Greets President Of Italy(Yahoo: PA)
The Queen has entertained the President of Italy to lunch ahead of her state visit to Rome later this
year.
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi flew to Britain for a whistle-stop visit to Buckingham Palace and was
flying home just hours later.
"It was purely a visit to meet the Queen in preparation for the October state visit," said a Foreign Office
spokeswoman.
Accompanied by his wife, President Ciampi was guest of honour at the Palace lunch held in the stately 1844 Room.
Also present were Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and his Italian opposite number Lamberto Dini.
The Duke of Edinburgh was at the Queen's side and escorted President Ciampi as he reviewed a guard of honour, from the
Scots Guards, in the quadrangle of the Palace.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are due to pay a state visit to Italy from October 16 to 19, and will also visit Pope John
Paul II at the Vatican on October 17.
~*~
Tension over flag flying (Yahoo: BBC)
Northern Ireland's political parties will monitor public buildings to see if the Union Flag is being flown
on Friday to mark the 47th anniversary of the Queen's coronation.
The flying of flags has become an emotive and divisive issue between republicans and unionists and is
set to test the unity of pro-agreement parties within the Stormont assembly.
Sinn Fein say the flag of the Irish Republic, the tricolour, should be flown alongside the Union Jack
outside public buildings.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson will have to make a final ruling on the issue if local ministers are unable to resolve
their differences.
Education and health ministers Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Fein banned the Union Flag from the public
buildings they were in charge of during the last short-lived devolved administration.
That angered unionists, who regarded the move as an attack on their Britishness and on Northern Ireland's place within the UK.
Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey believes the Union Flag should be flown.
"Our problem of course, is firstly, the flying of the Union Flag is a legitimate expression of the consent principle.
"The Union Flag is a constitutional symbol, it flies by custom and practice on, I think, 13 days per annum.
"The denial by Sinn Fein ministers of that principle and, in effect, refusing to allow the Union Flag to fly over their departments,
is in our view, a denial of the consent principle - the basic building block of the agreement."
However, Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy said the Good Friday Agreement allowed for parity of esteem.
"The two Sinn Fein ministers did not refuse to fly (the flag), they said the Union Flag should not be flown alone from any
department buildings under their jurisdiction," he said.
He claimed the agreement provided for such a scenario in that it created "new institutions to ensure that symbols and emblems
are used in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than division".
A tense debate on the issue at Thursday's executive committee meeting failed to agree a common strategy, with a decision left
up to individual ministers.
Ulster Unionist Party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble said: "There is no doubt about the very strong
feelings that exist on this".
"It would be a good thing if we could resolve the issue ourselves.
"If ministers proceed to act in a way which gives rise to hurt and concern in the community, it's going to make it more difficult."
The first full meeting of the assembly since devolution was restored is due to take place on Monday.