Lovech, Bulgaria, November 7, 2017
Metropolitan Gabriel (Dinev) of Lovech, a Bulgarian hierarch who was acquainted with many ascetics and outstanding figures of the Russian Orthodox Church, recently released a message about the many years of malicious vilification of the name of the holy Tsar Nicholas II, reports pravoslavie.ru.
His Eminence’s message reads in full:
“On the occasion of the centenary of the biased malicious vilification of the name of the holy Tsar Nicholas II
By the great mercy of God, I have had in my life the chance to speak with several ascetics of piety of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the blessed-reposed Schema-Abbess Maria, Schema-Metropolitan Pitirim, Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), Bishop Basil (Rodzianko), Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom), Fr. Nikolai Guryanov, and so on. None of them ever expressed doubts about the high moral image of the royal family of martyrs. On the contrary, they considered them martyrs long before they were canonized, and spoke of their deep Orthodox faith, their devotion to their Motherland, their high morality and self-sacrifice. These elders lived in Russia during the time of the Tsar-Martyr, and some soon after. The Lord gave them clairvoyance so they could see the hidden mysteries of the human soul. Considering the holy life of the ascetics and their spiritual wisdom and historical proximity to the events, there is no doubt that what they thought and said about the royal family is entirely true, and that there is no other truth.
+ Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech”
