Ekaterinburg, July 20, 2026
Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru
More than 44,000 pilgrims took part in the main services of the Royal Days festival in Ekaterinburg on July 16-17, marking the 108th anniversary of the martyrdom of the holy Royal Family and their faithful servants, including a nighttime Divine Liturgy at the Church on the Blood and a cross procession to Ganina Yama.
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by 20 archpastors, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, with bishops from throughout Russia, and the representatives of the Antiochian and Serbian Patriarchates in Moscow, reports Patriarchia.ru.
The hierarchs were assisted by local and visiting clergy, including representatives of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and the Orthodox Church in America.
Prayers were offered in multiple languages, including Slavonic, Georgian, English, Arabic, Greek, and Serbian, with pilgrims present from Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Australia, New Zealand, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Ukraine, among other countries.
The Holy Gifts were distributed from more than 100 chalices.
Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru
During the service, Metropolitan Vikentiy conveyed a congratulatory message from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ to Metropolitan Evgeniy on his name day. Metropolitan Niphon likewise conveyed greetings on behalf of the Antiochian, Serbian, and American Churches, recalling the historical ties between Emperor Nicholas II and the Church of Antioch.
Following the Liturgy, the Royal Cross Procession began on the night of July 17, led by Met. Vikenty and other hierarchs. Thousands of participants covered the 13-mile route to the Ganina Yama Monastery, built on the site where the bodies of the Royal Martyrs were discarded, in four hours.
The procession concluded with a service at shaft No. 7, the specific site of the Royal Martyrs’ final resting place.
Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru
Met. Vikenty thanked participants for their spiritual effort and also offered congratulations to the local hierarch His Eminence Metropolitan Evgeny of Ekaterinburg on his name day, the commemoration of the physician-martyr Evgeny Botkin. In his remarks, Met. Evgeny noted that portraits of the Royal Family and St. Evgeny had been decorated with white and red flowers by the monastery brethren, symbolizing purity and the shedding of blood in preserving that purity.
A moleben with the reading of the Akathist to the Holy Royal Martyrs was held throughout the day at the monastery’s memorial cross.
The commemorations marked the anniversary of the deaths of Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and their children—Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia—along with loyal servants Aloisy Trupp, Anna Demidova, Evgeny Botkin, and Ivan Kharitonov, who were killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, where the Church on the Blood now stands.
Photo: ekaterinburg-eparhia.ru
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