Metropolitan Vikenty Concelebrates with Patriarch Kirill at the Consecration of the Feodorovskaya Icon Church in Alapaevsk

On 15 July 2018, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the permanent members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in the town of Alapaevsk, Sverdlovsk Region, where, as part of the Royal Days held in the Metropolis of Yekaterinburg, commemorative events were organized to mark the centenary of the martyrdom of Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, Nun Varvara and the princes of the imperial blood who suffered with them.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the Monastery of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church (Diocese of Kamensk), built next to the Nizhnyaya Selimskaya mine shaft, into which, on the night of 18 July 1918, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova, Nun Varvara (Yakovleva), Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, the princes of the imperial blood Ioann, Konstantin and Igor Konstantinovich, Prince Vladimir Paley and Feodor Remez were thrown alive.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed the rite of the great consecration of the church dedicated to the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God on the grounds of the monastery and led the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church. The church was built over ten years, beginning in 2008, and is being completed in the centenary year of the martyrdom of the Venerable Martyrs Elisabeth and Varvara. Behind the altar of the church lies the mine shaft where Venerable Martyr Elisabeth, Nun Varvara and the Alapaevsk martyrs met their martyric end.

In the church was a reliquary containing a particle of the relics of Venerable Martyr Elisabeth, brought from the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary in Moscow, founded by St. Elisabeth.

Concelebrating with His Holiness were: Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev and All Ukraine; Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and All Moldova; Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, head of the Metropolitan District in the Republic of Kazakhstan; Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District; Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye; Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Methodius of Kamensk and Alapaevsk; Bishop Evgeny of Nizhny Tagil and Nevyansk; Bishop Alexy of Serov and Krasnoturyinsk; Hieromonk Kirill (Korytko), secretary of the diocesan administration of the Diocese of Yekaterinburg; Hegumen Moisey (Pilats), superior of the Monastery of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church; ordained brethren of the Monastery of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church; and clergy of the Metropolis of Yekaterinburg.

Present at the service were: N.N. Tsukanov, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Ural Federal District; A.V. Orlov, First Deputy Governor of Sverdlovsk Region; E.E. Rossel, member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; A.V. Gromova, chair of the board of trustees of the Elisabeth and Sergius Educational Society; and the leadership of Sverdlovsk Region and of the municipality of Alapaevsk.

Among those praying were representatives of the House of Romanov: O.N. Kulikovskaya-Romanova, P.E. Kulikovsky-Romanov and L.A. Kulikovskaya-Romanova.

The liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers at Ganina Yama (precentor A.Yu. Lebedev).

The Soyuz TV channel broadcast the Patriarchal service live. The faithful who could not get into the overcrowded church followed the broadcast on a large screen set up at the western gates of the church.

After the Augmented Litany, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church offered a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

The following petition was included in the Litany for the Departed: "Again we pray for the repose of the souls of the departed servants of God slain in this place, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, the princes of the imperial blood Igor, Ioann and Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Vladimir, the servant of God Feodor, and all who were slain by the godless in the time of fierce persecution, who died of wounds, sickness and hunger in camps, in prisons and in bonds, who were tormented in bitter labors, and all who labored in the struggle of confession, and that they may be forgiven every transgression, both voluntary and involuntary."

The sermon before Communion was preached by Hegumen Ieronim (Mironov), vicar of the St. Nicholas Monastery of Verkhoturye.

After the service, a procession carried the relics of Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elisabeth to the former Nizhnyaya Selimskaya mine, into which, on the night of 18 July 1918, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova, Nun Varvara (Yakovleva) and the princes of the Romanov dynasty were thrown alive. The reliquary was placed by the mine shaft.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated a litiya for the departed.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sang the glorification and read the prayer to the Venerable Martyrs Elisabeth and Varvara.

His Holiness then laid a bouquet of white roses at the cross erected at the place of execution. Flowers were also laid by the permanent members of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the hierarchs and the guests of honor.

Bishop Methodius of Kamensk greeted His Holiness the Patriarch and presented him with a copy of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, an icon of Venerable Martyr Elisabeth Feodorovna and the painting "In the Holy Elisabeth Convent. Alapaevsk" by the artist A.V. Efremov.

The Primate of the Russian Church addressed those gathered with his Primatial Word.

His Holiness presented icons of Christ the Savior as a gift to the newly consecrated church.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Bishop Methodius of Kamensk with pectoral crosses made to commemorate the centenary of the restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church and the election of St. Tikhon to the Patriarchal throne.

The Primate presented 15 altar Gospels as a gift to the Diocese of Kamensk.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow then greeted Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev and All Ukraine:

"I would like to warmly greet His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. You know of the sorrows that Orthodox people in Ukraine are experiencing today. The Church of the holy city of Kiev is going through a difficult time. But we believe that the Lord will not forsake His people, who call upon His name with such fervent faith, and that the unity of our Church, which has its source in the baptismal font of Kiev, will be preserved unshaken.

To you, Your Beatitude, to the whole episcopate and to the faithful people I convey my most heartfelt greetings on this day and on the forthcoming 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of the people of Kiev, with the wish that you keep the Orthodox faith and remain faithful to the canonical tradition of the Holy Orthodox Church. I congratulate you with all my heart!"

His Holiness also greeted the archpastors, the superior of the monastery Hegumen Moisey with the brethren, and the clergy of the Metropolis of Yekaterinburg.

In recognition of his assistance to the Metropolis of Yekaterinburg and in connection with the centenary of the martyrdom of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill awarded E.E. Rossel, member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Patriarchal Church Builder's badge.

All participants in the service received small icons of Venerable Martyr Elisabeth Feodorovna with the Patriarchal blessing.

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The Monastery of the New Martyrs of Russia was founded on the site where, on the night of 18 July 1918, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova, Nun Varvara, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, the princes of the imperial blood Ioann, Konstantin and Igor Konstantinovich, Prince Vladimir Paley and Feodor Remez were thrown alive into a mine shaft.

At the end of the 1980s, the location of the mine shaft where the Venerable Martyrs Elisabeth and Nun Varvara and members of the House of Romanov met their martyric end was established. A memorial cross was erected on this site in 1991.

In 1992, the year the holy martyrs Elisabeth and Varvara were glorified in Russia, a chapel of St. Elisabeth the Venerable Martyr was built next to the mine shaft. On 18 July 1992, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in it, led by Archbishop Melchizedek of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan.

On 22 February 1995, the Holy Synod decided to open a monastery dedicated to the New Martyrs of Russia. Hieromonk (now Hegumen) Moisey (Pilats) was appointed to build the monastery.

Hegumen Moisey petitioned the district authorities for a plot of land for the monastery's farmland. 32 hectares were allotted; the first monks, novices and volunteer workers settled there, and the land began to be cultivated. On 6 July 1996, the foundation stone of the monastery church was officially laid. The blessing of the foundation was performed with the participation of Bishop Nikon of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye. The first Divine Liturgy in the still unfinished church was celebrated on 6 July 1998, and on 4 November 2000, the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first Liturgy was celebrated in the completed church. On 18 July 2001, the church was consecrated in memory of all the New Martyrs of Russia by Archbishop Vikenty of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye.

Today the monastery complex includes: a memorial cross over the mine shaft; a four-story brick building (with a church whose altar is consecrated in honor of the New Martyrs of Russia, combined with the brethren's quarters); the chapel of Venerable Martyr Elisabeth; the entrance gates; and farm buildings. The monastery carries out missionary work in Alapaevsk and the surrounding districts. In many villages and settlements parishes have been revived or newly established. The brethren of the monastery run a farm, providing food for themselves and, as far as possible, helping people in need.

The monastery church houses particles of the relics of the holy Venerable Martyrs Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna and Nun Varvara, brought from Jerusalem.