Sermons & Homilies
I remember the first time I saw a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II in a church. As a recent American convert to Orthodoxy, it seemed strange to me, and something within me bristled. Not surprisingly, most Americans are uneasy with the concept of monarchy. Our nation was born in casting off the rule of a monarch and the founding a democratic republic.
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Today we celebrate the memory of just such a saint — the holy Equal to the Apostles and Enlightener of All Russia, Saint Vladimir the Grand Prince of Kiev. And although, as we have just heard, many among the saints once lived very sinful lives, I might dare to say that few ever lived such lives of exceeding filth and depravity as did St. Vladimir before his conversion to Christianity.
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So what can we learn from the Royal Martyrs to inspire us on our path to preserve the Faith in these difficult days? Let’s look at one aspect or virtue of each member or group of the family and see how it protected them from the hatred of the world, the world that hates Christ and therefore hates those who are His.
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Nearly one hundred years ago, a single day saw the collapse of the greatness and glory of the Russian State, a bulwark of peace throughout the whole world. The signature of the Sovereign, the Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, on the act of abdication from the Throne, is a historical boundary separating Russia’s great and glorious past from the dark and cruel circumstances that followed.