The Murder of the Royal Family
The first illustration is by itself a symbol of the Russian Revolution, which at first seemed to be a civil and political act that began "bloodlessly" with a deceitful plot to force the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, and logically brought about the bloody murder of the Royal Family with their faithful servants in Ekaterinburg on July 4(17), 1918, to be followed by the martyrdom of millions of Orthodox Christians.
Later investigation by the White authorities revealed the course of events that night: "The prisoners were all in a deep sleep when they were awakened and ordered to dress in order to leave the city... The Imperial Family descended to the basement where the Sovereign sat down, with his ill son, on a chair in the middle of the room. The Duchesses, the doctor, and three dedicated servants were seated around him. Every one was waiting for the signal to depart... At the executioners announcement (which stunned all the prisoners) of the impending execution, the Empress succeeded in crossing herself. She was killed instantly, together with the Sovereign. God spared them from hearing the groans of the Tsarevitch and the cries of the wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia. The first bullets did not bring death to the youngest ones and they were savagely killed with blows of bayonets and gun-butts and with shots at point-blank range".
At the right is the photo of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg (ominously renamed Sverdlovsk after Iakov Sverdlov, one of the murderers of the Royal Family) in Summer of 1918, at the time when the Royal prisoners were still kept there. The occult signs left by the killers on the blood-stained walls in the basement of the Ipatiev House are shown on the icon above the bodies of the Tsar and his family.
In the words of Fr. Dimitry Dudko, one of the first of that wave of modern confessors to speak out against the betrayal of the Church in Russia: "The Tsar is a saint and, moreover, one of the greatest saints... O great saint of Russia, Great-Martyr Nicholas pray to God for us!"
