On the night of July 16 to 17, the traditional “Royal Days” cross procession took place in Ekaterinburg, beginning at the Memorial Church On-the-Blood, to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion Bearers at Ganina Yama.
The procession was proceeded by a night Liturgy on the cathedral square, led by twelve hierarchs of the Orthodox Church.
The many-thousand-strong procession was headed by Metropolitan Evgeny of Ekaterinburg and Verkhotourie, Metroplitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tartarstan, and other archpastors.
With the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!” tens of thousands of people—clergy and laity from all over the Russian Federation and beyond—covered twenty-one kilometers, part of which was in the rain. The column was accompanied by ten mobile groups from the Orthodox Charity Service and Royal Days volunteers.
Upon arrival at the monastery at Ganina Yama, a moleben was served at the “heart” of the monastery—the mineshaft where the Royal remains were thrown after the entire family and servants were brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks.
His Eminence Evgeny thanked all those who participated:
“I wish that you would tell your close one about this, so that in future years even more of you would come, and thus testify to our love for the Royal family and our desire to receive their blessing upon our world, upon our unity, upon the sanctity of family life, and for peace and prosperity in our Russian land.”
