Nicholas II of Russia - Sainthood

Sainthood

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II of Russia Royal Passion-Bearer Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Born	(1868-05-18)18 May 1868 Tsarskoye Selo, Russia
Died	17 July 1918(1918-07-17) (aged 50) Yekaterinburg, Russia
Honored in	Russian Orthodox Church
Canonized	1981 and 2000, Russia by Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Church on Blood, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Feast	17 July

In 1981, Nicholas and his immediate family were recognised as martyred saints by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. On 14 August 2000, they were recognised by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. This time they were not named as martyrs, since their deaths did not result immediately from their Christian faith; instead, they were canonized as passion bearers. According to a statement by the Moscow synod, they were glorified as saints for the following reasons:

In the last Orthodox Russian monarch and members of his family we see people who sincerely strove to incarnate in their lives the commands of the Gospel. In the suffering borne by the Royal Family in prison with humility, patience, and meekness, and in their martyrs deaths in Yekaterinburg in the night of 17 July 1918 was revealed the light of the faith of Christ that conquers evil.

However, Nicholas's canonization was controversial. The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was split on the issue back in 1981, some members suggesting that the emperor was a weak ruler and had failed to thwart the rise of the Bolsheviks. It was pointed out by one priest that martyrdom in the Russian Orthodox Church has nothing to do with the martyr's personal actions but is instead related to why he or she was killed.

The Russian Orthodox Church inside Russia rejected the family's classification as martyrs because they were not killed on account of their religious faith. Religious leaders in both churches also had objections to canonizing the Tsar's family because they perceived him as a weak emperor whose incompetence led to the revolution and the suffering of his people and made him partially responsible for his own murder and those of his wife, children and servants. For these opponents, the fact that the Tsar was, in private life, a kind man and a good husband and father or a leader who showed genuine concern for the peasantry did not override his poor governance of Russia.

Despite the original opposition, the Russian Orthodox Church inside Russia ultimately recognised the family as "passion bearers," or people who met their deaths with Christian humility. The Church does not, however, recognize the remains interred at Peter and Paul Cathedral as being those of the Imperial Family.