Gorodovikovsk, Republic of Kalmykia, Russia, October 9, 2018
Photo: blagovest-elista.ru A new church in honor of the holy Royal Martyr Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra and heir to the Russian throne, was consecrated on Saturday in the city of Gorodovikovsk in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia.
Photo: blagovest-elista.ru The Rite of the Great Consecration was celebrated by His Eminence Archbishop Justinian of Elista and Kalmykia with the concelebration of a number of clergy. A piece of the relics of the Grand Duchess and New Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, Tsarevich Alexei’s aunt, were placed in the antimens of the new church, the website of the Diocese of Elista reports.
The Divine Liturgy was then celebrated in the newly-consecrated church by Bp. Justinian and His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Saratov and Volsky, who was on a visit to Kalmykia.
In the center of the church was installed the protectress of the House of Romanov—the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, delivered to Gorodovikovsk with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill specifically in honor of the church’s consecration.
Photo: blagovest-elista.ru Following the Liturgy, the faithful processed around the church with the Feodorovskaya Icon and an icon of St. Alexei.
Then, addressing the faithful, Abp. Justinian noted that the consecration of the church took place in the year of the 100th anniversary of the murder of the holy Royal Martyrs and the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Kalmyk people.
Photo: blagovest-elista.ru With his martyrdom, the archbishop noted, Tsarevich Alexei unites all his fellow countrymen who passed through sorrows in the years of the revolution, civil war, and mass repressions.
“I recall the events of 1914, when not long before the revolutionary upheavals, there was the consecration of the first church in Gorodovikovsk. The church was dedicated to the Tsarevich Alexei and consecrated in honor of Metropolitan Alexei of Moscow and All Russia. This event was connected with the 300th anniversary of the Royal House of Romanov… Today we are present at such a landmark historical event. Today we are the one family of our vast Motherland,” Abp. Justinian preached.
Photo: blagovest-elista.ru A sculpture of Tsarevich Alexei was donated to the newly-consecrated church by the House of Romanov, and a message from the head of the Russian Imperial House, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna was read out, in which she noted that Russia’s strength is in its Orthodox faith.
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