ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

Orthodox Church represented 55% of the Russian people. References to “Holy Russia” illustrated a direct link to God, perception of His blessing on Russia. The Orthodox faith was “the bedrock on which everything else was founded. This was the Holy Russia of the tsars…” (Peter Kurth) Church lost independence under the Peter the Great; czars appointed lay (non- ordained) officials to ensure cooperation with government policies. Vast wealth of Church commandeered by Catherine the Great.

Church supported ruling monarch unconditionally, stayed out of politics; urged total cooperation to government. Charged with early education. Strong focus on rituals. Conversion to other religions were outlawed. Subsidized (supported with money) by the government. Ruling family must be Orthodox Church members.

By law, any non-Orthodox member of the royal family converted prior to marriage (Alexandra was raised Lutheran but converted to marry Nicholas II). “Alexandra became passionate and devout in Orthodox practice; she prayed and went to church daily, venerated saints and their relics, and nurtured a strong faith in the healing power of icons.” (Steinberg and Khrustalev).

Church teaching: Czar ordained by God, represented a source of divine wisdom. “The Tsar is not God, but neither is he man. The Tsar is something between God and man…” (Kurth)

Article of the law read: “To the Emperor of All the Russians belongs the supreme and unlimited power…Not only fear, but also conscience commanded by God himself, is the basis of obedience to this power.”

Titles shared by Czar and Czarinas: Scared Most Holy All Powerful

Nicholas II’s fatalistic viewpoint- everything that happened or will happen was God’s will. Alexandra’s daily focus on Orthodoxy and the veneration of icons bordered on, then became an obsession. She visited holy places and holy men; she sought help from specific icons for specific purposes. Orthodoxy had an emotional, mystical aspect and it became Alexandra’s focus.

Icon called “Our Lady of the Sign”: guardian of the House of Romanov. Romanov children encountered measles on March 1917, Our Lady of the Sign was taken to each sickbed. Each daughter, and there were 4, displayed icons in a corner of her room. Czaritsa and her daughters spent a significant portion of everyday in religious activities and practices. Most, or all, peasants kept a corner of their hut (“beautiful corner”) for the display of one or more icons and prayed there daily