Архіерейскій Соборъ Русской Православной Церкви заграницей,
опредѣленіемъ своимъ отъ 9/22 октября 1956 года (протоколъ № 16) постановилъ:
«Установить день убіенія Царской Семьи 4/17 іюля,
уже объявленный ранѣе Днемъ Русской Скорби,
ДНЁМЪ ВСЕОБЩАГО ПОКАЯНІЯ И ПОСТА.
Послѣ панихиды по Царской Семьѣ въ этотъ день,
въ концѣ панихиды, передъ отпустомъ, читать особую молитву,
въ основу которой положить «Молитву трехъ отроковъ»,
о такомъ рѣшеніи Собора просить
Первоіерарха Русской Православной Церкви заграницей
заблаговременно оповѣстить паству особымъ посланіемъ».
In July 2023, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Nikolai, visited our Sunday school and museum.
Our school museum of the Royal Martyrs received more than 100 visitors in 2023, including Metropolitan Nicholas, Bishop of the Mid-American Diocese, His Eminence Archbishop Peter, Bishop John of Caracas and South America.
Our school museum of the Royal Martyrs received more than 100 visitors in 2023, including Metropolitan Nicholas, Bishop of the Mid-American Diocese, His Eminence Archbishop Peter, Bishop John of Caracas and South America.
МОЛИТВА ПОКАЯННАЯ,
читаемая въ день убіенія Царской Семьи 4/17 ію’ля.
Благослове́нъ еси́, Го́споди Бо́же оте́цъ на́шихъ, и хва́льно и просла́влено и́мя Твое́ во вѣ́ки, я́ко пра́веденъ еси́ о всѣ́хъ, я́же сотвори́лъ еси́ на́мъ, и вся́ дѣла́ Твоя́ и́стинна и пра́ви путіе́ Твои́, и вси́ суди́ Твои́ и́стинни: и судьбы́ и́стинны сотвори́лъ еси́ по всѣ́мъ, я́же наве́лъ еси́ на ны́. Яко согрѣши́хомъ и беззако́нновахомъ отступи́вше отъ Тебе́, и прегрѣши́хомъ во всѣ́хъ, и за́повѣдей Твои́хъ не послу́шахомъ, ниже́ соблюдо́хомъ, ниже́ сотвори́хомъ, я́коже заповѣ́далъ еси́ на́мъ, да бла́го на́мъ бу́детъ. И пре́далъ еси́ на́съ въ ру́ки враго́въ беззако́нныхъ, ме́рзкихъ отсту́пниковъ, и человѣ́комъ непра́веднымъ и лука́внѣйшимъ па́че всея́ земли́.
И ны́нѣ нѣ́сть на́мъ отве́рзти у́стъ: сту́дъ и поноше́ніе бы́хомъ рабо́мъ Твои́мъ и чту́щимъ Тя́. Не преда́ждь же на́съ до конца́ и́мене Твоего́ ра́ди, и не разори́ завѣ́та Твоего́, и не отста́ви ми́лости Твоея́ отъ на́съ. Яко, Влады́ко, ума́лихомся па́че всѣ́хъ язы́къ и есмы́ смире́ни по все́й земли́ дне́сь, грѣ́хъ ра́ди на́шихъ. И нѣ́сть во вре́мя сіе́ нача́льника, проро́ка и вожда́. И ны́нѣ, возслѣ́дуемъ всѣ́мъ се́рдцемъ и бои́мся Тебе́ и и́щемъ лица́ Твоего́. Не посрами́ на́съ, но сотвори́ съ на́ми по кро́тости Твое́й, и по мно́жеству ми́лости Твоея́, и моли́твъ ра́ди пречи́стыя Ма́тере Твоея́ и всѣ́хъ святы́хъ Твои́хъ изми́ на́съ по чудесе́мъ Твои́мъ, и да́ждь сла́ву и́мени Твоему́, Го́споди. И да посра́мятся вси́ явля́ющіи рабо́мъ Твои́мъ зла́я, и да постыдя́тся отъ вся́кія си́лы и крѣ́пость и́хъ да сокруши́тся. И да разумѣ́ютъ вси́, я́ко Ты́ еси́ Госпо́дь Бо́гъ на́шъ, еди́нъ и сла́венъ по все́й вселе́ннѣй. Ами́нь.
читаемая въ день убіенія Царской Семьи 4/17 ію’ля.
Благослове́нъ еси́, Го́споди Бо́же оте́цъ на́шихъ, и хва́льно и просла́влено и́мя Твое́ во вѣ́ки, я́ко пра́веденъ еси́ о всѣ́хъ, я́же сотвори́лъ еси́ на́мъ, и вся́ дѣла́ Твоя́ и́стинна и пра́ви путіе́ Твои́, и вси́ суди́ Твои́ и́стинни: и судьбы́ и́стинны сотвори́лъ еси́ по всѣ́мъ, я́же наве́лъ еси́ на ны́. Яко согрѣши́хомъ и беззако́нновахомъ отступи́вше отъ Тебе́, и прегрѣши́хомъ во всѣ́хъ, и за́повѣдей Твои́хъ не послу́шахомъ, ниже́ соблюдо́хомъ, ниже́ сотвори́хомъ, я́коже заповѣ́далъ еси́ на́мъ, да бла́го на́мъ бу́детъ. И пре́далъ еси́ на́съ въ ру́ки враго́въ беззако́нныхъ, ме́рзкихъ отсту́пниковъ, и человѣ́комъ непра́веднымъ и лука́внѣйшимъ па́че всея́ земли́.
И ны́нѣ нѣ́сть на́мъ отве́рзти у́стъ: сту́дъ и поноше́ніе бы́хомъ рабо́мъ Твои́мъ и чту́щимъ Тя́. Не преда́ждь же на́съ до конца́ и́мене Твоего́ ра́ди, и не разори́ завѣ́та Твоего́, и не отста́ви ми́лости Твоея́ отъ на́съ. Яко, Влады́ко, ума́лихомся па́че всѣ́хъ язы́къ и есмы́ смире́ни по все́й земли́ дне́сь, грѣ́хъ ра́ди на́шихъ. И нѣ́сть во вре́мя сіе́ нача́льника, проро́ка и вожда́. И ны́нѣ, возслѣ́дуемъ всѣ́мъ се́рдцемъ и бои́мся Тебе́ и и́щемъ лица́ Твоего́. Не посрами́ на́съ, но сотвори́ съ на́ми по кро́тости Твое́й, и по мно́жеству ми́лости Твоея́, и моли́твъ ра́ди пречи́стыя Ма́тере Твоея́ и всѣ́хъ святы́хъ Твои́хъ изми́ на́съ по чудесе́мъ Твои́мъ, и да́ждь сла́ву и́мени Твоему́, Го́споди. И да посра́мятся вси́ явля́ющіи рабо́мъ Твои́мъ зла́я, и да постыдя́тся отъ вся́кія си́лы и крѣ́пость и́хъ да сокруши́тся. И да разумѣ́ютъ вси́, я́ко Ты́ еси́ Госпо́дь Бо́гъ на́шъ, еди́нъ и сла́венъ по все́й вселе́ннѣй. Ами́нь.
В зале музея можно увидеть документы, фотографии отражающие развитие Российской Империи в годы правления Императора Николая II (например, историю создания подводного флота, железных дорог)
Артефакты дореволюционного времени- банкноты, марки, книги, молитвослов с именами членов Царской семьи.
Документы, фотографии и предметы, запечатлевшие трагическую судьбу Семьи последнего царствовавшего Российского Императора и Его верных слуг: Книгу дочери доктора Евгения Боткина, убитому в Екатеринбурге вместе с Царской Семьей).
Посетители могут ознакомиться и с вещами сестры Николая II и нынешних потомков династии.
Посещение музея в сопровождении экскурсовода или самостоятельно совершенно бесплатно. При желании можно оставить пожертвование в специальном ящике у входа в воскресную школу.
Артефакты дореволюционного времени- банкноты, марки, книги, молитвослов с именами членов Царской семьи.
Документы, фотографии и предметы, запечатлевшие трагическую судьбу Семьи последнего царствовавшего Российского Императора и Его верных слуг: Книгу дочери доктора Евгения Боткина, убитому в Екатеринбурге вместе с Царской Семьей).
Посетители могут ознакомиться и с вещами сестры Николая II и нынешних потомков династии.
Посещение музея в сопровождении экскурсовода или самостоятельно совершенно бесплатно. При желании можно оставить пожертвование в специальном ящике у входа в воскресную школу.
We are very grateful to receive an icon and photograph of the last Royal family from Margarita Menyailenko, the head of the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco. The icon was made in 1981, in the city of Sofrino, Russia and was presented to G. V. Kumansky, a Russian immigrant from Vilnius. Kumansky was the head of the Western American Department of the Russian Imperial Union-Order. The photograph given to the Museum was the last photograph of the Royal family which was taken during their visit to Germany in 1913.
Сердечно благодарим руководителя Музея Русской культуры в Сан Франциско Маргариту Меняйленко, за дар нашему Царскому музею иконы (выполнена в 1981 г. в г. Софрино (Российская Федерация) и была подарена Г.В. Куманскому, русскому эмигранту из Вильнюса.
Он являлся главой Западно-американского отдела Российского имперского Союза-ордена.)
Сердечно благодарим руководителя Музея Русской культуры в Сан Франциско Маргариту Меняйленко, за дар нашему Царскому музею иконы (выполнена в 1981 г. в г. Софрино (Российская Федерация) и была подарена Г.В. Куманскому, русскому эмигранту из Вильнюса.
Он являлся главой Западно-американского отдела Российского имперского Союза-ордена.)
В нашей школе произошло замечательное событие. Наш школьный музей ,посвященный Царской семье и до революционной эпохе, пополнился бесценными экспонатами.
Благотворительный Фонд “ Ея Императорского Высочества Великой Княгини Ольги Александровны” передал в дар нашему музею личные вещи, открытки и книги принадлежавшие Великой Княгини Ольги, младшей сестры Царя Мученика Николая II, также ее родственников.
A wonderful event happened in our school. Our school museum, dedicated to the Tsar's family and before the revolutionary era, has been replenished with priceless exhibits. The Charitable Foundation “Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna” donated to our museum personal belongings, postcards and books belonging to Grand Duchess Olga, the younger sister of Tsar Martyr Nicholas II, as well as her relatives.
Благотворительный Фонд “ Ея Императорского Высочества Великой Княгини Ольги Александровны” передал в дар нашему музею личные вещи, открытки и книги принадлежавшие Великой Княгини Ольги, младшей сестры Царя Мученика Николая II, также ее родственников.
A wonderful event happened in our school. Our school museum, dedicated to the Tsar's family and before the revolutionary era, has been replenished with priceless exhibits. The Charitable Foundation “Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna” donated to our museum personal belongings, postcards and books belonging to Grand Duchess Olga, the younger sister of Tsar Martyr Nicholas II, as well as her relatives.
Благодарим руководителя Музея Русской культуры в Сан Франциско Маргариту Меняйленко, за дар нашему Царскому музею:
Икона Царских мучеников с землей с места гибели царской семьи.
We are grateful to Margarita Meniailenko, PhD Executive Director and Chief Archivist of the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco for a gift to our Royal Museum:
The Icon of the Royal Martyrs with soil from the site of the martyrdom of the Holy Royal Family.
Икона Царских мучеников с землей с места гибели царской семьи.
We are grateful to Margarita Meniailenko, PhD Executive Director and Chief Archivist of the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco for a gift to our Royal Museum:
The Icon of the Royal Martyrs with soil from the site of the martyrdom of the Holy Royal Family.
Russian Empire postage stamps
Peter the Great enacted reforms making the postal system more uniform in its operations, and in 1714 the first general post office opened in Saint .
Наша музейная коллекция пополнилась почтовыми марками царской России.
RUSSIA IMPERIAL MEDALS
IMPERIAL RUSSIA.
medal for Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878. RUSSIA IMPERIAL NAVY MEDAL
RUSSIA-JAPANESE WAR 1904-1905
medal for Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878. RUSSIA IMPERIAL NAVY MEDAL
RUSSIA-JAPANESE WAR 1904-1905
Икона Св Царской Семьи
В “раскопках” нашего старого сарая, была обретена бумажная икона Св Царской Семьи, датированная 1976 года. Предположительно принадлежащая Владыке Серафиму, благоговейно почитавшего Царственных Мучеников.
July 17, 1918 - Day of Sorrow -
July 17, 1918 - Day of Sorrow - the day of execution of the royal family by atheists. By the 100th anniversary of this date, our school building was built in honor of the Royal Martyrs and by the 105th anniversary, our museum was opened, dedicated to the Royal Family, Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexei and the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. A section of the museum is dedicated to Vladimirovo, founded in 1960 by Bishop Seraphim, who deeply revered the Royal Family.
When Nicholas II was still heir to the throne, he, at the behest of his father, traveled through the countries of the Far East. While visiting Japan, one hermit predicted Nicholas’s future service to Russia;
“You will make a sacrifice for all your people, as a redeemer, for the folly of (the people). I see tongues of fire above your head - this is a dedication from the Holy Spirit. I see countless lights in the altars in front of you (candles in front of the icons of the Holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas II). This is the fulfillment (of prophecies). Here is the wisdom and mystery of the Creator. Death and Immortality. Moment and Eternity.”
The royal family was the ideal example of Christian life. No family has lived a better Christian life in comparison to the Royal Family. In fact, it is a very rare situation when the entire family, consisting of father, mother and five children, is canonized. They lived in a very difficult era, when there were so many struggles of being a Christian. Members of the Royal Family are not just aristocrats: they are a spiritual aristocracy. In the eyes of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers the sky is reflected - what they lived with, what was reflected in their image. The basis of their family happiness was laid in what is called in Orthodoxy by the usual word - chastity. Chastity is integrity, a wise attitude towards life, purity of soul and body, integrity of the mind, not polluted by passions. Thus, chastity is a holistic attitude towards life, when the pinnacle of everything is God, and everything proceeds based on spirituality. We see such chastity well in the example of the life of the Royal Family, in which there was a traditional way of life of a patriarchal family. What is patriarchy? When the husband is at the head of the family. He is in obedience to God and in fulfilling His commandments - through this grace flows to the head of the family. In Russia, chastity is at the center of the cultural core of the nation. The King and Queen were pious, deeply religious people. They lived according to God's plan, treating each other and others very delicately - as if each person was sacred. The King and Queen tried to cherish this feeling - love, and, in addition, they tried to cultivate it.
Tsarivna Alexandra Feodorovna, who became an Orthodox person with all her soul, wrote, “One must strive for salvation every day and hour.” The Emperor and Empress strove for salvation, and they succeeded, like all their children. Therefore, all of them are canonized as saints.
Here it is necessary to especially dwell on what kind of father and mother the King and Queen were. This is very important for one simple reason.
Nicholas II was a man who understood that for all his actions he would have to answer to God. In many of the memories that have reached us about the Tsar, we can read that he was an astonishing father. When he was not working, he used the time that he was allowed to be with his family so wisely that he can be called an example of a father to everyone. In his memoirs, the educator and mentor of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, notes that the Emperor was both a father, a sovereign, and a comrade for children. And this was explained by the fact that ministers, spiritual hierarchs, and their mother, who was in obedience to her husband, bowed their heads before the Tsar as Sovereign.
Regarding the role of the father-Emperor, it was said that he was a kind father, with an open heart that responded to the joys and misfortunes of his children. On infrequent family evenings together, the Tsar personally read works of Russian classics to the children in a well-trained voice. An especially important detail is that he didn’t select the first book he came across to read; he carefully selected the books he chose for the family to read. And this is also an indicator of a caring attitude towards your children, towards your family, and awareness of your responsibility for raising children. And we need to learn this today from the example of the Tsar. It was through the Tsar, through the father, that the children learned to do physical labor. It is known that the Tsar was physically a very developed person, accustomed to work from childhood and a lover of rowing. Therefore, in the Royal Family, sailors taught children rowing and swimming, they were engaged in establishing order and cleanliness in the house and on the territory.
Queen Alexandra was a very wise mother. The teacher of the Tsar’s children, Pierre Gilliard, wrote: “She was gifted with the most excellent moral qualities and was always guided by the noblest motives. She was honest with herself, with people and with God.”
She was an incredible mother; very kind, loving, and responsive to the needs of her children. In the Royal Family everything was surprisingly natural and harmonious; Alexandra Feodorovna was a wonderful wife and mother.
Their four girls, the four princesses often signed their messages with a single name, made up of the first letters of their own names - OTMA (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia).
There are memories of how the Queen instructed her son. She told him: “You shouldn’t be proud of your position - everyone is equal before God.” And this lesson that everyone is equal before God is very important in a young person’s upbringing.
When did the First World War begin,
Queen Alexandra went to work as a nurse in a hospital where there were soldiers and officers who did not spare their lives for God, the Tsar and the Fatherland. She acted like a loving mother, because, as she wrote immediately after her coronation, she felt that this was her wedding with Russia, that the Russian people had become her children. She worked in the operating room with the most complex operations. It is known that many soldiers and officers who were on the verge of death asked the Empress to just sit next to them, and were never refused.
The mother’s act became an example for the Grand Duchesses; they followed her example. The eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, having completed nursing courses, also went to work in the hospital. The Royal Family can serve as an ideal example for us, a Christian family.
Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, pray to God for us!
One of the sections of the museum is dedicated to the sister of Tsar Nicholas.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova was born in the city of St. Petersburg on June 14, 1882. She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexander III and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna, a Danish princess. Her birth was announced by a traditional 101-gun salute from the ramparts of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Like all children of the reigning dynasty, her childhood was filled with luxury, wealth, happiness and carelessness. From an early age, her family noticed her penchant for painting and immediately hired the best professors of this art to teach her the craft. It must be said that later this skill greatly helped her and her family, since her watercolors, which were in demand, sold very well and the proceeds from the fees helped feed Olga Alexandrovna’s family.
Little Olga loved horses very much. And they appear in large numbers in her first paintings.
Olga's closest friend was her sister Ksenia, who was a little older than her. The girls played together, dressed up, rode horses and studied science. As fate would have it, both sisters would leave this world in the same year, just a few weeks apart.
The end of the century was not easy for the Romanov family. The threat of terrorism haunted the royal family. Therefore, children were kept away from the palace. The girls, Ksenia and Olga, were raised outside the city, in the Gatchina Palace. It was called a palace very conventionally, because the girls, accustomed to pampering and abundance, had to sleep practically on hard camping cots and eat plain oatmeal. But in such a difficult time for the family, it was impossible to choose the conditions and the girls resignedly accepted the living conditions offered to them.
In 1903, love knocked on Olga’s heart. At the parade in the Pavlovsk Palace, the Grand Duchess met the captain of the Life Guards, Nikolai Kulikovsky. Olga's feelings turned out to be mutual and the young couple began to fight for their happiness.
Before long it was 1917, the terrible year of the Red Terror, the year that decided the fate of the Russian Empire. The year that signed the verdict of the entire royal dynasty.
Olga Alexandrovna gave birth to a son in August of that year, who was named Tikhon. The happiness of the young family was overshadowed by the terrible news of the death of the family of their brother-Sovereign in 1918. The Kulikovskys began to seriously think about leaving Russia, which was unsafe for them. A year and a half later, their second son, Guriy, was born.
Soon after the birth of their second son, Olga's family, bypassing Constantinople, Belgrade and Vienna, arrived in Denmark.
At first the family lived in the royal palace of Amalienborg in Copenhagen together with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Danish King Christian X, who was her nephew. Then they moved to a house bought for the empress, which was called Vidor Castle, on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
Many years later, after the Second World War, the Grand Duchess was accused of helping Russian prisoners of war and declared an enemy of the Soviet people.
Denmark did not want to extradite Olga to the Soviet Union, but at the same time did not want to spoil diplomatic relations. Therefore, using their connections, the Danish royal family transported the Kulikovsky family to Canada.
Thus, at 66 years old, the Grand Duchess began a new life again. Together with her family, she bought a 200-acre plot of land in the province of Ontario, as well as a small farm with cows and horses - Olga’s childhood treasures.
The neighbors simply called her Olga. And when one day a neighbor’s child asked her if it was true that she was a princess, Olga Alexandrovna replied: “No. I am not a princess. I am the Russian Grand Duchess."
Every Sunday, the Kulikovsky family attended the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Toronto. Periodically leaving the city, Olga Alexandrovna visited other churches in different cities of Canada. In particular, she repeatedly visited St. Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Living rather poorly, Olga Alexandrovna still sought funds to help her cathedral and painted icons for the iconostasis. A portrait of the Grand Duchess now hangs in the Cathedral Museum. Those few elderly parishioners who were lucky enough to know her remember Olga Alexandrovna with great warmth and tenderness. The Sunday church school now bears her name.
When the aging couple no longer had the strength to work on the farm, they decided to sell it. When it sold, they moved to the suburbs of Toronto, where Olga Alexandrovna fully demonstrated her talent as an artist. During her lifetime, Olga painted over 2,000 works of art. Exhibitions of her works were held many times.
Works belonging to the brush of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna are now in the gallery of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, in the collection of the Duke of Edinburgh, King Harald of Norway, in the Ballerup Museum, which is located in Denmark, as well as in private collections in the USA, Canada and Europe. Her paintings can also be seen in the residence of the Russian ambassador in Washington and in the New Tretyakov Gallery.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna ended her earthly journey in eastern Toronto, in the care of Russian emigrants, surrounded by former compatriots and a huge number of icons.
In 1958, she buried her husband, who was seriously ill and did not recover from his illness. And two years later, on the night of November 24-25, 1960, she herself went to the Lord, receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The princess was buried in the York Russian cemetery in Toronto, next to her husband, Nikolai Kulikovsky.
At the time of the interment of her body at the York Cemetery, before being lowered into the ground, her coffin was draped in the flag of Imperial Russia and sprinkled with a handful of Russian soil.
Despite the bloody murder of her family and the forced estrangement from her country, Olga never appeared dour or sullen. She joked often, and in her old age, her face was furrowed with deep wrinkles and laughter lines.
“I always laugh,” she said, “for if I ever start crying, I will never stop”.
The Grand Duchess was born to considerable privilege, but her daily disposition was that of a servant of others, in the manner of Christ Himself. Although she was born in the midst of great wealth, she lived very simply and without ostentation. She loved the people of the country her family governed, and she cared for people according to their needs. Her example is that of humility (self-forgetfulness because of love for the Lord and love for others). Her example is seen in others of high rank who came to live in Canada. The presence of this couple in Christ the Saviour Cathedral for 12 or so years left a significant memory amongst the parishioners, since even 40 years after her repose, she has been spoken of by them with great respect.
Miraculously, in our museum there were several things that belonged to Olga Alexandrovna and a member of her family. These were an umbrella, a towel, pens, a bookmark and a knitted sweater.
July 17, 1918 - Day of Sorrow - the day of execution of the royal family by atheists. By the 100th anniversary of this date, our school building was built in honor of the Royal Martyrs and by the 105th anniversary, our museum was opened, dedicated to the Royal Family, Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexei and the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. A section of the museum is dedicated to Vladimirovo, founded in 1960 by Bishop Seraphim, who deeply revered the Royal Family.
When Nicholas II was still heir to the throne, he, at the behest of his father, traveled through the countries of the Far East. While visiting Japan, one hermit predicted Nicholas’s future service to Russia;
“You will make a sacrifice for all your people, as a redeemer, for the folly of (the people). I see tongues of fire above your head - this is a dedication from the Holy Spirit. I see countless lights in the altars in front of you (candles in front of the icons of the Holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas II). This is the fulfillment (of prophecies). Here is the wisdom and mystery of the Creator. Death and Immortality. Moment and Eternity.”
The royal family was the ideal example of Christian life. No family has lived a better Christian life in comparison to the Royal Family. In fact, it is a very rare situation when the entire family, consisting of father, mother and five children, is canonized. They lived in a very difficult era, when there were so many struggles of being a Christian. Members of the Royal Family are not just aristocrats: they are a spiritual aristocracy. In the eyes of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers the sky is reflected - what they lived with, what was reflected in their image. The basis of their family happiness was laid in what is called in Orthodoxy by the usual word - chastity. Chastity is integrity, a wise attitude towards life, purity of soul and body, integrity of the mind, not polluted by passions. Thus, chastity is a holistic attitude towards life, when the pinnacle of everything is God, and everything proceeds based on spirituality. We see such chastity well in the example of the life of the Royal Family, in which there was a traditional way of life of a patriarchal family. What is patriarchy? When the husband is at the head of the family. He is in obedience to God and in fulfilling His commandments - through this grace flows to the head of the family. In Russia, chastity is at the center of the cultural core of the nation. The King and Queen were pious, deeply religious people. They lived according to God's plan, treating each other and others very delicately - as if each person was sacred. The King and Queen tried to cherish this feeling - love, and, in addition, they tried to cultivate it.
Tsarivna Alexandra Feodorovna, who became an Orthodox person with all her soul, wrote, “One must strive for salvation every day and hour.” The Emperor and Empress strove for salvation, and they succeeded, like all their children. Therefore, all of them are canonized as saints.
Here it is necessary to especially dwell on what kind of father and mother the King and Queen were. This is very important for one simple reason.
Nicholas II was a man who understood that for all his actions he would have to answer to God. In many of the memories that have reached us about the Tsar, we can read that he was an astonishing father. When he was not working, he used the time that he was allowed to be with his family so wisely that he can be called an example of a father to everyone. In his memoirs, the educator and mentor of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, notes that the Emperor was both a father, a sovereign, and a comrade for children. And this was explained by the fact that ministers, spiritual hierarchs, and their mother, who was in obedience to her husband, bowed their heads before the Tsar as Sovereign.
Regarding the role of the father-Emperor, it was said that he was a kind father, with an open heart that responded to the joys and misfortunes of his children. On infrequent family evenings together, the Tsar personally read works of Russian classics to the children in a well-trained voice. An especially important detail is that he didn’t select the first book he came across to read; he carefully selected the books he chose for the family to read. And this is also an indicator of a caring attitude towards your children, towards your family, and awareness of your responsibility for raising children. And we need to learn this today from the example of the Tsar. It was through the Tsar, through the father, that the children learned to do physical labor. It is known that the Tsar was physically a very developed person, accustomed to work from childhood and a lover of rowing. Therefore, in the Royal Family, sailors taught children rowing and swimming, they were engaged in establishing order and cleanliness in the house and on the territory.
Queen Alexandra was a very wise mother. The teacher of the Tsar’s children, Pierre Gilliard, wrote: “She was gifted with the most excellent moral qualities and was always guided by the noblest motives. She was honest with herself, with people and with God.”
She was an incredible mother; very kind, loving, and responsive to the needs of her children. In the Royal Family everything was surprisingly natural and harmonious; Alexandra Feodorovna was a wonderful wife and mother.
Their four girls, the four princesses often signed their messages with a single name, made up of the first letters of their own names - OTMA (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia).
There are memories of how the Queen instructed her son. She told him: “You shouldn’t be proud of your position - everyone is equal before God.” And this lesson that everyone is equal before God is very important in a young person’s upbringing.
When did the First World War begin,
Queen Alexandra went to work as a nurse in a hospital where there were soldiers and officers who did not spare their lives for God, the Tsar and the Fatherland. She acted like a loving mother, because, as she wrote immediately after her coronation, she felt that this was her wedding with Russia, that the Russian people had become her children. She worked in the operating room with the most complex operations. It is known that many soldiers and officers who were on the verge of death asked the Empress to just sit next to them, and were never refused.
The mother’s act became an example for the Grand Duchesses; they followed her example. The eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, having completed nursing courses, also went to work in the hospital. The Royal Family can serve as an ideal example for us, a Christian family.
Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, pray to God for us!
One of the sections of the museum is dedicated to the sister of Tsar Nicholas.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova was born in the city of St. Petersburg on June 14, 1882. She was the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexander III and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna, a Danish princess. Her birth was announced by a traditional 101-gun salute from the ramparts of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Like all children of the reigning dynasty, her childhood was filled with luxury, wealth, happiness and carelessness. From an early age, her family noticed her penchant for painting and immediately hired the best professors of this art to teach her the craft. It must be said that later this skill greatly helped her and her family, since her watercolors, which were in demand, sold very well and the proceeds from the fees helped feed Olga Alexandrovna’s family.
Little Olga loved horses very much. And they appear in large numbers in her first paintings.
Olga's closest friend was her sister Ksenia, who was a little older than her. The girls played together, dressed up, rode horses and studied science. As fate would have it, both sisters would leave this world in the same year, just a few weeks apart.
The end of the century was not easy for the Romanov family. The threat of terrorism haunted the royal family. Therefore, children were kept away from the palace. The girls, Ksenia and Olga, were raised outside the city, in the Gatchina Palace. It was called a palace very conventionally, because the girls, accustomed to pampering and abundance, had to sleep practically on hard camping cots and eat plain oatmeal. But in such a difficult time for the family, it was impossible to choose the conditions and the girls resignedly accepted the living conditions offered to them.
In 1903, love knocked on Olga’s heart. At the parade in the Pavlovsk Palace, the Grand Duchess met the captain of the Life Guards, Nikolai Kulikovsky. Olga's feelings turned out to be mutual and the young couple began to fight for their happiness.
Before long it was 1917, the terrible year of the Red Terror, the year that decided the fate of the Russian Empire. The year that signed the verdict of the entire royal dynasty.
Olga Alexandrovna gave birth to a son in August of that year, who was named Tikhon. The happiness of the young family was overshadowed by the terrible news of the death of the family of their brother-Sovereign in 1918. The Kulikovskys began to seriously think about leaving Russia, which was unsafe for them. A year and a half later, their second son, Guriy, was born.
Soon after the birth of their second son, Olga's family, bypassing Constantinople, Belgrade and Vienna, arrived in Denmark.
At first the family lived in the royal palace of Amalienborg in Copenhagen together with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Danish King Christian X, who was her nephew. Then they moved to a house bought for the empress, which was called Vidor Castle, on the outskirts of Copenhagen.
Many years later, after the Second World War, the Grand Duchess was accused of helping Russian prisoners of war and declared an enemy of the Soviet people.
Denmark did not want to extradite Olga to the Soviet Union, but at the same time did not want to spoil diplomatic relations. Therefore, using their connections, the Danish royal family transported the Kulikovsky family to Canada.
Thus, at 66 years old, the Grand Duchess began a new life again. Together with her family, she bought a 200-acre plot of land in the province of Ontario, as well as a small farm with cows and horses - Olga’s childhood treasures.
The neighbors simply called her Olga. And when one day a neighbor’s child asked her if it was true that she was a princess, Olga Alexandrovna replied: “No. I am not a princess. I am the Russian Grand Duchess."
Every Sunday, the Kulikovsky family attended the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Toronto. Periodically leaving the city, Olga Alexandrovna visited other churches in different cities of Canada. In particular, she repeatedly visited St. Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Living rather poorly, Olga Alexandrovna still sought funds to help her cathedral and painted icons for the iconostasis. A portrait of the Grand Duchess now hangs in the Cathedral Museum. Those few elderly parishioners who were lucky enough to know her remember Olga Alexandrovna with great warmth and tenderness. The Sunday church school now bears her name.
When the aging couple no longer had the strength to work on the farm, they decided to sell it. When it sold, they moved to the suburbs of Toronto, where Olga Alexandrovna fully demonstrated her talent as an artist. During her lifetime, Olga painted over 2,000 works of art. Exhibitions of her works were held many times.
Works belonging to the brush of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna are now in the gallery of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, in the collection of the Duke of Edinburgh, King Harald of Norway, in the Ballerup Museum, which is located in Denmark, as well as in private collections in the USA, Canada and Europe. Her paintings can also be seen in the residence of the Russian ambassador in Washington and in the New Tretyakov Gallery.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna ended her earthly journey in eastern Toronto, in the care of Russian emigrants, surrounded by former compatriots and a huge number of icons.
In 1958, she buried her husband, who was seriously ill and did not recover from his illness. And two years later, on the night of November 24-25, 1960, she herself went to the Lord, receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The princess was buried in the York Russian cemetery in Toronto, next to her husband, Nikolai Kulikovsky.
At the time of the interment of her body at the York Cemetery, before being lowered into the ground, her coffin was draped in the flag of Imperial Russia and sprinkled with a handful of Russian soil.
Despite the bloody murder of her family and the forced estrangement from her country, Olga never appeared dour or sullen. She joked often, and in her old age, her face was furrowed with deep wrinkles and laughter lines.
“I always laugh,” she said, “for if I ever start crying, I will never stop”.
The Grand Duchess was born to considerable privilege, but her daily disposition was that of a servant of others, in the manner of Christ Himself. Although she was born in the midst of great wealth, she lived very simply and without ostentation. She loved the people of the country her family governed, and she cared for people according to their needs. Her example is that of humility (self-forgetfulness because of love for the Lord and love for others). Her example is seen in others of high rank who came to live in Canada. The presence of this couple in Christ the Saviour Cathedral for 12 or so years left a significant memory amongst the parishioners, since even 40 years after her repose, she has been spoken of by them with great respect.
Miraculously, in our museum there were several things that belonged to Olga Alexandrovna and a member of her family. These were an umbrella, a towel, pens, a bookmark and a knitted sweater.
Книги/Books
Our Museum has a collection of books that was published in the times of the Russian Empire.
Russian emigrants took these books with them when they left Russia during the Civil War and later.
The collection of children's books of our Museum contains a rare book.
Russian emigrants took these books with them when they left Russia during the Civil War and later.
The collection of children's books of our Museum contains a rare book.
Наша коллекция книг пополнилась уникальным рукописным молитвословом.
Банкноты Российской империи
His Eminence NICHOLAI
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia visited our Sunday school and Museum
Первоиерарх Русской Православной Церкви Заграницей посетил нашу воскресную школу и музей
Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia visited our Sunday school and Museum
Первоиерарх Русской Православной Церкви Заграницей посетил нашу воскресную школу и музей
Отрывок из книги (которая находиться в нашем музее)......