Nicholas II abdicated the throne. Abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne

It was a landmark event for Russian history. The overthrow of the monarch could not happen in a vacuum; it was prepared. Many internal and external factors contributed to it.

Revolutions, regime changes, and overthrows of rulers do not happen instantly. This is always a labor-intensive, expensive operation, which involves both direct performers and the passive, but no less important for the result, corps de ballet. The overthrow of Nicholas II was planned long before the spring of 1917, when the historic abdication of the last Russian emperor from the throne took place. What paths led to the fact that the centuries-old monarchy was defeated, and Russia was drawn into revolution and a fratricidal Civil War?

Public opinion

The revolution occurs primarily in the heads; a change of the ruling regime is impossible without a lot of work on the minds of the ruling elite, as well as the population of the state. Today this technique of influence is called the “path of soft power.” IN pre-war years and during the First World War foreign countries, primarily England, began to show unusual sympathy towards Russia.

British Ambassador to Russia Buchanan, together with British Foreign Secretary Gray, organized two trips of delegations from Russia to Foggy Albion. First, Russian liberal writers and journalists (Nabokov, Egorov, Bashmakov, Tolstoy, etc.) went to warm up to Britain, followed by politicians (Miliukov, Radkevich, Oznobishin, etc.).

Meetings of Russian guests were arranged in England with all the chic: banquets, meetings with the king, visits to the House of Lords, universities. Upon their return, the returning writers began to write excitedly about how good it is in England, how strong its army is, how good parliamentarism is...

But the returning “Duma members” actually stood in the vanguard of the revolution in February 1917 and entered the Provisional Government. Well-established ties between the British establishment and the Russian opposition led to the fact that during the allied conference held in Petrograd in January 1917, the head of the British delegation, Milner, sent a memorandum to Nicholas II, in which he almost demanded that the people needed for Britain be included in the government. The king ignored this request, but “ the right people"were already in the government.

Popular propaganda

How massive the propaganda and “people's mail” were in anticipation of the overthrow of Nicholas II can be judged by one interesting document - the diary of the peasant Zamaraev, which is kept today in the museum of the city of Totma, Vologda region. The peasant kept a diary for 15 years.

After the king's abdication he did next entry: “Romanov Nikolai and his family have been deposed, are all under arrest and receive all food on a par with others on ration cards. Indeed, they did not care at all about the welfare of their people, and the people’s patience ran out. They brought their state to hunger and darkness. What was going on in their palace. This is horror and shame! It was not Nicholas II who ruled the state, but the drunkard Rasputin. All the princes were replaced and dismissed from their positions, including the commander-in-chief Nikolai Nikolaevich. Everywhere in all cities there is a new department, the old police are gone.”

Military factor

Father of Nicholas II Emperor Alexander III liked to repeat: “In the whole world we have only two faithful allies, our army and navy. “Everyone else, at the first opportunity, will take up arms against us.” The peacemaker king knew what he was talking about. How the “Russian card” was played in the First world war, clearly showed that he was right; the Entente allies turned out to be unreliable “Western partners.”

The very creation of this bloc was beneficial, first of all, to France and England. The role of Russia was assessed by the “allies” in a rather pragmatic manner. The French Ambassador to Russia, Maurice Paleologue, wrote: “In terms of cultural development, the French and Russians are not on the same level. Russia is one of the most backward countries in the world. Compare our army with this ignorant, unconscious mass: all our soldiers are educated; in the forefront are young forces who have proven themselves in art and science, talented and sophisticated people; this is the cream of humanity... From this point of view, our losses will be more sensitive than Russian losses.”

The same Paleologus on August 4, 1914 tearfully asked Nicholas II: “I beg Your Majesty to order your troops to go on an immediate offensive, otherwise the French army risks being crushed...”.

The Tsar ordered the troops who had not completed mobilization to advance. For the Russian army, the haste turned into a disaster, but France was saved. Now it’s surprising to read about this, considering that by the time the war began, the standard of living in Russia (in large cities) was no lower than the standard of living in France. Involving Russia in the Entente is only a move in a game played against Russia. The Russian army seemed to the Anglo-French allies as an inexhaustible reservoir of human resources, and its onslaught was associated with a steam roller, hence one of Russia’s leading places in the Entente, in fact the most important link in the “triumvirate” of France, Russia and Great Britain.

For Nicholas II, the bet on the Entente was a losing one. The significant losses that Russia suffered in the war, desertion, and unpopular decisions that the emperor was forced to make - all this weakened his position and led to inevitable abdication.

Renunciation

The document on the abdication of Nicholas II is today considered very controversial, but the very fact of the abdication is reflected, among other things, in the emperor’s diary:

“In the morning Ruzsky came and read his long conversation on the phone with Rodzianko. According to him, the situation in Petrograd is such that now the ministry from the Duma seems to be powerless to do anything, since social workers are fighting it. -dem. the party represented by the working committee. My renunciation is needed. Ruzsky conveyed this conversation to headquarters, and Alekseev to all commanders in chief. By 2½ o'clock answers came from everyone. The point is that in the name of saving Russia and keeping the army at the front calm, you need to decide to take this step. I agreed. A draft manifesto was sent from Headquarters. In the evening, Guchkov and Shulgin arrived from Petrograd, with whom I talked and gave them the signed and revised manifesto. At one o'clock in the morning I left Pskov with a heavy feeling of what I had experienced. There is treason, cowardice, and deceit all around!”

What about the church?

Surprisingly official Church she reacted calmly to the renunciation of God’s Anointed. The official synod issued an appeal to the children of the Orthodox Church, recognizing the new government.

Almost immediately, prayerful commemoration of the royal family ceased; words mentioning the Tsar and the Royal House were removed from the prayers. Letters from believers were sent to the Synod asking whether the Church's support of the new government was not a crime of perjury, since Nicholas II did not abdicate voluntarily, but was actually overthrown. But in the revolutionary turmoil, no one received an answer to this question.

To be fair, it should be said that the newly elected Patriarch Tikhon subsequently decided to hold memorial services everywhere commemorating Nicholas II as Emperor.

Shuffle of authorities

After the abdication of Nicholas II, the Provisional Government became the official body of power in Russia. However, in reality it turned out to be a puppet and non-viable structure. Its creation was initiated, its collapse also became natural. The Tsar had already been overthrown, the Entente needed to delegitimize power in Russia in any way so that our country could not participate in the post-war reconstruction of borders.

Doing this through the Civil War and the Bolsheviks coming to power was an elegant and win-win solution. The Provisional Government “surrendered” very consistently: it did not interfere with Leninist propaganda in the army, it turned a blind eye to the creation of illegal armed forces represented by the Red Guard, in every possible way persecuted those generals and officers of the Russian army who warned about the danger of Bolshevism.

Newspapers write

It is indicative how the world's tabloids reacted to the February revolution and the news of the abdication of Nicholas II. The French press presented a version that the tsarist regime fell in Russia as a result of three days of a hunger riot. French journalists resorted to an analogy: the February Revolution is a reflection of the revolution of 1789. Nicholas II, like Louis XVI, was presented as a “weak monarch” who was “harmfully influenced by his wife,” the “German” Alexandra, comparing this with the influence of the “Austrian” Marie Antoinette on the king of France. The image of the “German Helen” came in very handy, so that in once again show the harmful influence of Germany.

The German press gave a different vision: “The end of the Romanov dynasty! Nicholas II signed the abdication of the throne for himself and his minor son,” shouted the Tägliches Cincinnatier Volksblatt.

The news talked about the liberal course of the new cabinet of the Provisional Government and expressed hope for the Russian Empire to exit the war, which was the main task of the German government. The February Revolution expanded Germany's prospects for achieving a separate peace, and they stepped up their offensive on a variety of fronts. “The Russian Revolution put us in a completely new position,” wrote Austria-Hungary Foreign Minister Chernin. “Peace with Russia,” wrote the Austrian Emperor Charles I to Kaiser Wilhelm II, “is the key to the situation. After its conclusion, the war will quickly come to a favorable end for us.”

The abdication of Emperor Nicholas II is a key event of the February Revolution.

Date of Nicholas' abdication

Manifesto of renunciation

In the dead of night on May 2, Guchkov and Shulgin came to Emperor Nicholas, who was captured in the carriage, with a ready-made project for the emperor’s abdication of the throne. But Nikolai himself refused to sign this document. The reason for this is that the document obligated him to abandon his son, which he could not do. Then the emperor himself wrote a manifesto of abdication, in which he testified that he was abdicating the throne for himself and for his sick son. At the same time, he transfers power to his brother Mikhail.

In the text of the manifesto, he did not address his subjects. But this is what is customary to do if you abdicate the throne, he only turned to the chief of staff. Perhaps the king wanted to show everyone that he was forced to do this and tell the people that this was temporary and he would soon return power.

Reasons for the abdication of Nicholas II

The main reasons for abdication were:
- a very acute political situation in the country, military defeats of the army on the fronts of the First World War - this led to mass protests, anti-monarchist trends appeared, and prestige royal power fell every day;
– poor awareness of the emperor about the events of the February Revolution (Petrograd, February 23, 1917). Nikolai was unable to reasonably assess the full extent of the risk in the current political situation;
– units loyal to the emperor were unable to act properly in the current situation;
– the emperor’s trust in the commanders of his troops (he always relied on their opinion; when once again he asked their advice, they said that abdication of the imperial throne was the only possible ways save the country from civil war).
Many believed that the empire's participation in the First World War was a mistake, that fighting V urgently needs to be stopped, but Emperor Nicholas was not going to recall his troops because of his brother George V (King of Great Britain).

Abdication of Nicholas II briefly

Before his departure to Headquarters on February 21, 1917, Nikolai asks an internal affairs officer about the situation in the capital, he says that the matter is under control and there is no danger to the authorities. On February 22, the emperor leaves Tsarskoye Selo.
The emperor learns that unrest has broken out in the capital from his wife, who claimed that she did not learn about this from official sources. And already on February 25, an official letter arrived at Headquarters, which spoke of the beginning of the revolution. Immediately after this, the emperor orders it to stop through the use of military force.

The army begins to use firearms, as a result, many Protestants were killed or wounded. On February 26, the Senate announces its dissolution; in a telegram to Nicholas they write that the collapse of Russia is inevitable, and the Romanov dynasty will fall along with it. For some reason, the emperor himself does not respond to these telegrams.

On February 27, units of the Volyn Life Guards Regiment in the amount of 600 soldiers joined the revolution. On the same day, the Lithuanian and Preobrazhensky regiments also rebelled. If in the morning of this day there were no more than 10 thousand rebel fighters, then by the evening their number increased to 70 thousand. The Duma was captured by decree of Nicholas II.

The emperor is expected to give clear decrees on the current situation in the capital. He orders troops totaling 50 thousand people to be sent to Petrograd, but there were much more rebels, about 150 thousand. The Emperor hoped that the presence of units loyal to him would raise faith in the emperor among the rebel units and resolve the situation. Thus, bloodshed could have been avoided.

On the night of February 27-28, Nikolai goes to Tsarskoye Selo to his family. But the emperor failed to reach the end point; he had to turn around and go to the city of Pskov, where he reached only on March 1. By the time the emperor reached Pskov, the rebels had already won.

The emperor was begged to carry out reforms in favor of the rebels in order to retain power in the country and stop the revolution.
On March 1, the emperor received a message that Moscow had already been engulfed by the rebels, and the troops previously loyal to the emperor were going over to their side.
On May 2, the text of the abdication manifesto came to the emperor, then he turned to his generals, who advised one thing - abdication in favor of his brother Mikhail, who should become regent under the young heir Nicholas.

He announced that the emperor had abdicated the throne in two telegrams. The imperial retinue said that such a decision was too hasty, that there was still time to change everything, they begged him to postpone the sending of telegrams and cancel the signing of the manifesto.

Telegrams about the manifesto of Emperor Nicholas II were sent to all armies on all fronts, but Rodzianko tried to delay these messages in order to prevent panic among the troops.

It is still impossible to say for sure what really happened on that train and what were the reasons for Nikolai signing the abdication manifesto. It is known that Nicholas II had to make a decision in a hasty environment and the constantly changing critical situation in the country.

The emperor tried to save the Romanov dynasty on the throne of the empire; he intended to make reforms on the night of March 1-2, which could resolve the situation through concessions in favor of the rebels. The Emperor wanted to transfer part of the power to the Duma, thereby limiting his power. However, perhaps even then such a step could not save the country from continued unrest and revolution. But already on the night of signing the document, strong pressure was exerted on him from his generals.

The emperor himself and all members of his family were killed on July 17, 1918 in one of the basements of the Ipatiev mansion, Yekaterinburg. Cold steel and firearms were used, as a result all members of the Romanov dynasty were killed in cold blood.

I wanted to write this article after another program about the last Nikolai Romanov Russian Emperor, when he was again accused of softness due to his abdication. Is it really still not clear what kind of action he committed? Only a human can do this strong-willed. Yes, now everything has turned upside down, and the actions of rulers and elected representatives of the people look much more natural - to stay in power at any cost, and no moral principles have any force. There are many examples, take today’s Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein, or our State Emergency Committee, or the governments of the USA, France, Great Britain, who at any cost want to implement their plans, without any hesitation, by bombing Yugoslavia and the Middle East. It’s a pity that they didn’t watch our film “White Sun of the Desert,” where Comrade Sukhov said the famous phrase: “The East is a delicate matter.” And they so rudely impose their interests on these countries, living according to the million-year-old principles - “an eye for an eye.” The rulers of these countries will never forgive such interference, even to the point of using nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad promised to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, and the same could happen to Europe. All these heroes are certainly not soft-hearted.

And Nicholas II made this decision precisely to prevent bloodshed and the outbreak of a civil war. There are always people dissatisfied with the authorities and blame them for any problems. There is always an opposition that uses this dissatisfaction to its advantage. And there are always those who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sovereign. Of course, at one time the provocation was known as “ Bloody Sunday» January 9, 1905 was a success for the opposition and undermined the power of the sovereign. Later it became clear that priest Gapon, an absolutely immoral person, had long been planning a social action that could shake the foundations and cause unrest in the country.

The Russian people loved their tsar, and therefore the idea of ​​going to him and asking him for “truth and protection” was quite natural, and already in December 1904 it was widely discussed at meetings. At the beginning of January 1905, a strike broke out at the largest enterprise in St. Petersburg, the Putilov plant, caused by the dismissal of several workers. The strike quickly began to spread, and workers from other enterprises began to join it. This event accelerated the course of affairs, and the workers almost unanimously decided to go to the Tsar with a petition. Nose full list The workers for the most part were not familiar with the requirements themselves; it was compiled by a small “group of commissioners” chaired by Gapon. The workers only knew that they were going to the tsar to ask for “help for the working people.” Meanwhile, along with economic points, the petition contained a number of political demands, some of which touched upon the fundamentals government structure and were openly provocative in nature.

Gapon lied to the authorities, posing as a law-abiding citizen, lied to people, assuring them that their interests and aspirations were closest to him in the world, lied to God, talking about peace and love, but in his soul worshiping terror and violence. He was a master at acting. The military and police authorities showed their helplessness and, instead of isolating a dozen organizers, relied on the “word of Gapon,” who assured them that the procession would not take place. The Emperor knew nothing about the impending action and was at that moment in Tsarskoye Selo, and the idea of ​​​​presenting him with a petition in the Winter Palace was obviously impossible. And he was informed about these events at the last moment. Officials finally realized that Gapon was playing a double game and on January 8 decided to send large contingents of troops into the capital and blockade the city center; in the end, thousands of people finally broke through to the Winter Palace. Shooting was opened in different places of the city, and there were numerous casualties. Two days later, signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs P.N. Durnov and the Minister of Finance V.N. Kokotsov, a government message was published stating that during the events of January 9, 96 people were killed and 333 were injured. The enemies of the throne and the Dynasty overestimated the number of victims many times over and spoke (and still write) about “thousands of those killed.”

Bloody Sunday happened. There were many to blame and many victims. The Tsar, who was in Tsarskoye Selo, learned about what had happened and was bitterly worried. He fired the chief of the St. Petersburg police and the minister of internal affairs. But this satisfied few people. The negative psychological impact of the January 9 event was enormous. Those who dreamed of destruction were the winners. Radicals of all stripes in their merciless political game received such a “trump card” that they could not even dream of.

On the other hand, during the period of abdication, there were many devoted subjects, and Guards Regiment stood ready, as soon as the command was given. At that time they tried to make him extreme. The Emperor was upset. “What a shame! During the war, when Russia strains all its strength to achieve victory over the damned Teutons, there are people who betray their duty. And what has it come to: soldiers of HIS army are taking part in outrageous anti-government protests, an army preparing for a decisive offensive against the enemy! Of course, it’s difficult for many people right now. This is understandable. But the successful end of the war is the sacred duty of every truly Russian. The blessing of the Lord is on our side, and victory is near! And suddenly these outrageous riots. They please only external and internal enemies!”

There was another option. Lieutenant General Ruzsky urged him to accept the following formula: the sovereign reigns, and the government governs. But Nikolai Alexandrovich objected that this formula was incomprehensible to him, that he had to get a different upbringing and be reborn, that he “does not hold on to power, but only cannot make a decision against his conscience and, having abdicated responsibility for the course of affairs before people, cannot abdicate responsibility before God”.

And yet, in order to avoid bloodshed, he took this step. And most importantly, the emperor was guided with your conscience, which is almost absent among the current ones. And certainly none of the real rulers and officials is guided by it. After all, if a person is guided by his conscience, then he has only one choice, but when people are guided by their carnal mind, any action and even a crime can be justified.

And after his renunciation, he showed the highest restraint, self-sacrifice and humility. "Which hard time we are worried! How inexpressibly bitter it is to realize the abnormal situation in which we all find ourselves. He always protected not just autocratic power, but Russia, and where is the confidence that a change of government will give peace and happiness to the people? But God was pleased to send this new test, and we must humbly submit to His holy will! In the name of peace and prosperity, we must agree to the Duma’s demand. There are so few faithful, reliable people you can rely on, and no one to ask for advice."

But self-sacrifice is the highest love for humanity. And today, the highest love is manifested by the shameless use of the most advanced technical achievements to destroy all living things.

All situations that people find themselves in are necessary to learn important lessons. And the most important lesson is to learn to make decisions, guided by the voice of your heart, where a particle of God lives, and not by the carnal evil mind, which, alas, is used by all the politicians of our world. After all, a person in whose heart God resides will never allow himself to harm another person.

So who did Nicholas II become when he knew about the death that lay ahead for him and his children? After all, he could have saved his life and fled abroad. Is he dead? No, he did not become a dead man, he became an Ascended Master. “I consciously took upon myself this cross, this crucifixion. The hardest thing was to overcome the resistance of the part of me that tried to save the children at any cost. But I sacrificed my children. Just like Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son. Until the last moment I hoped that the Lord would take away the hand of fate, if not from me, then from my children. But, no. Something terrible happened.

The holy innocents were martyred. And this moment served as a signal for the most evil forces of darkness to crawl out of the corners and rush to power. All the darkness came out. Everything that used to try to maintain decency and hide in the corners came out. It was an orgy of evil spirits. And this bacchanalia continues to this day. I could resist. I could save my family, and we could all stay alive. But what is the point of my life without Russia? I chose the path of giving up the fight. Non-violence. I chose the path of Christ and allowed myself and my entire family to be crucified. I became an Ascended Master, I achieved my ascension. And if my life were to repeat itself again, I would again choose the crucifixion for myself and for my family. You know that Jesus is yours martyrdom took upon himself the karma of humanity. He suffered for the sins of people. All saints at all times took upon themselves the sins of humanity, part of the planetary karma, in order to lighten the load, and so that humanity could straighten up and look at Heaven.”

Who are today's “living” people? Those in whose hands all power is concentrated in almost all countries, both financial and political, but who do not have God in their hearts. They died long ago, their Higher Self does not work, the connection with it is interrupted. And after the death of the physical body, there will be nothing more to evolve, they will become larvae. So is it worth relying on these living dead flickering on TV screens, who use the limitations of human consciousness to assert their power through the introduction of laws, rules and religious dogmas that are inconvenient for people?

“Stop looking to the West. Stop taking samples that are not only not useful, but also harmful. Very soon the peoples of all globe will listen with surprise and look closely at the changes that are taking place in Russia. Changes in this country will not come from the authorities, not from politicians and economists, changes in this country will come from the hearts of the people, and these changes will be impossible not to notice.” Mother Maria.

And if you see hope in someone, if you see that they have not yet completely dried up, if you still hope for them, then learn not to have any negative feelings against them. They are dead and do not know love. Send them, the president of the country, your love. Pray that their hearts will open so that they will be able to receive Divine wisdom into their hearts.

When writing the article, materials from the book “Nicholas II” by Alexander Bokhanov from the ZhZL series (1997) were used.

Remember that even if you suffer a visible defeat on the physical plane, you win gigantic victories on the subtle plane. You are immortal. And, sacrificing his physical body, you only affirm Life. You affirm the principles of Good and Light on this planet.

Abdication of the Sovereign Emperor from the Throne of the Russian State. What can we Christians know about him?

1. Is authentic

“We didn’t believe it, just as we didn’t believe any bad news from the first hearing, but the next day a manifesto of renunciation appeared in the newspapers, set out in those simple and great words that only one Sovereign knew how to speak” (Tatyana Melnik (born Botkin). Memories of To the Royal Family and her life before and after the revolution. Belgrade, 1921. P.30).

2. Eat legally. Accepted by virtue of the King's fulfillment of His personal duty

The Tsar was not obliged to defend his power over Russia. It was the duty of every single military man and civil officials who swore an oath to serve him personally to the last extreme, that is, to death. This point - to protect his power and not leave the throne - was not part of his duties as a Tsar. He had the right to abdicate in favor of his brother for the good of the Motherland. Lawless deception regarding the situation in the country, perpetrated by those people whose reports the Tsar believed, does not make the Tsar a participant in the deception.

The king recorded his decision on paper and marked this paper with the time of the decision: 15 hours 5 minutes on March 2. But even if this paper - the Act of Renunciation - is illegitimate before the letter of the laws Russian Empire, even if the Renunciation itself is not provided for by any legal norms, it is still legal before God, as committed by His Anointed One for legal reasons, which formed the subject of His promise to God - the good of the people: preventing internal bloodshed, protecting subjects from a sinful fall into rebellion and fratricide before the face of an external adversary.

The confidence that His departure was a good thing finally matured in the Emperor after receiving telegrams from the commanders of the fronts.

“Ultimately, the deciding factor in the king’s decision was the advice of his generals. For Nicholas, each of these telegrams was more significant than a dozen messages from Rodzianko. They were his comrades in arms, his friends, his brave warriors. Nicholas loved the army and also sincerely loved his country. He cared more about winning the war than his crown. Starting a civil war, with Russians killing Russians while the hated Germans watched, was the negation of everything he deeply believed. If this was the opinion of his generals, then the highest act of patriotism that he could perform was abdication.” (Robert Massey. Nicholas and Alexandra. Moscow, Interprax, 1990, p. 355).

Deep confidence in the impeccable correctness of what was done breathes in the entry in the Emperor's Diary the next day after the Abdication.

I slept long and soundly. I woke up far beyond Dvinsk. The day was sunny and frosty. I talked to my people about yesterday. I read a lot about Julius Caesar. At 8.20 arrived in Mogilev. All the ranks of the headquarters were on the platform. I received Alekseev in the carriage. At 9 1/2 he moved into the house. Alekseev came with the latest news from Rodzianko. It turns out that Misha renounced. His manifesto ends with a quadrant for elections in 6 months Constituent Assembly. God knows who convinced him to sign such disgusting stuff! In Petrograd, the unrest stopped - as long as it continues like this."

The Tsar, as we see, does not regret his action and wants only one thing: so that there is no continuation of the unrest.

The same confidence that the power he gave not to the enemies of Russia, but to patriots who love the Motherland, although opposed to him, will serve for the good and will bring the country to victory, comes through in another precise observation of Gilliard:

“At seven o’clock in the evening there is a service upstairs in the children’s rooms. There are only fifteen of us. I notice that the Sovereign devoutly crosses himself when the priest commemorates the Provisional Government" (P. Gilliard. Emperor Nicholas II and His Family. "Rus". Vienna, 1921, p. 172).

3. Accepted individually

“The Emperor said: “I have made up my mind. I renounce the throne,” and crossed himself. The generals crossed themselves” (Gen. S.S. Savvich. Nicholas II’s decision to abdicate. Abdication, p. 198).

"Today I see you in last time. This is the will of God and the consequence of my decision” (Gen. N.M. Tikhmenev. The last visit of Nicholas II to Mogilev. Abdication, p. 211).

“...I couldn’t believe that the sovereign, the most generous and honest of the entire Romanov family, would be condemned to become innocent victim their relatives and subjects. But the tsar, with a completely calm expression in his eyes, confirmed all this, adding that “if all of Russia on its knees asked him to return to the throne, he would never return (A. Taneeva (Vyrubova). Pages of my life. M., 2016, p. 124).

“And it seemed to me, I was even convinced then that the decision had come to the sovereign earlier, even before receiving telegrams from the commanders-in-chief and Ruzsky’s insistence. It probably flashed through his thoughts for the first time, back on Tuesday, February 28, late in the evening, when they dared not let him into Tsarskoye, but demanded that he be escorted to Petrograd, and began to strengthen on the painful night of March 1 to 2, when in the morning I was so struck by his exhausted appearance . This Decision was made by him, as always, individually, in a struggle with himself, and to initiate others, even close ones, into his spiritual Drama, due to the nature of his shy, proudly noble nature, he probably not only did not want, but also did not could” (Col. A. A. Mordvinov. The Last Days of the Emperor. Abdication, p. 121).

4. Accepted in good faith and therefore legally

Abstracted from the practice and experience of life, a plumb line motionless in its vertical - conscience - or the internal Law of God - is the basis of law.

“WE considered it a duty of conscience,” the King explained to His people the reason for His renunciation.

“His Majesty calmly and firmly said that he is doing what his conscience tells him, and he is renouncing the throne for himself and for his son, with whom, due to his ill condition, he cannot part.” (Dubensky, Renunciation, p. 71).

The Tsar abdicated, yielding not to the revolution, but to the voice of His conscience, which said that he must renounce in favor of the next Tsar, and leave the kingdom himself for the sake of pacifying his subjects - patriots and monarchists. For the sake of victory for your country in the war. Of the 11 phrases of the Act of Abdication, eight are dedicated to the war, the front and victory over the external enemy, whom the Tsar calls “cruel” and “seeking to enslave our Motherland for three years.” The Emperor did not see any internal enemy at that hour, since neither Rodzianko, nor Ruzsky, nor Alekseev were enemies in his mind. The units in Petrograd that disobeyed were not enemies either.

5. Was the result of deception

Yes, the Emperor was deceived.

Yes, he was betrayed by his own service people.

Yes, he believed them, they convinced him. Apparently, it did not occur to the Emperor to arrest the main traitor Ruzsky, in whom he saw a loyal subject to the end.

This occurred to Flag Admiral Nilov and other members of the Retinue who sincerely loved the Emperor.

“Adjutant General K.D. Nilov was especially excited and when I entered his compartment, he said breathlessly that this traitor Ruzsky must be arrested and killed, that the Emperor and all of Russia would perish.” (Dubensky, Renunciation, p. 61).

But they did not decide to do this without the will of the Tsar. The Tsar, upon his arrival in Pskov late in the evening of March 1, deliberately summoned Ruzsky, had a frank conversation with him, argued and objected, trusting him to talk with the Chairman of the Duma Rodzianka over a direct wire and not suspecting either him or other generals betrayal.

The true - vile - character of the Russian Judas - Adjutant General A.V. Ruzsky was revealed to the Emperor only late in the evening of the second of March. “At the door He turned to me with the words: “And Guchkov was completely decent in his demeanor; I was preparing to see something completely different from him... Did you notice Ruzsky’s behavior? “The expression on the Sovereign’s face showed me better than words what impression His Adjutant General made on Him” (With the Tsar and without the Tsar. Memoirs of the last Palace Commandant of the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II B . N. Voeykova. M., 1994, p.

At the same time, the correctness decision taken did not raise doubts in the Tsar.

6. Does not contain any other meaning or motivation than that revealed by the Sovereign Himself in the public document signed by Him at 3 p.m. on March 2, 1917

The motives for the Emperor’s abdication of the throne come down to a succinct phrase from the arrested Empress, said to Pierre Gilliard in the Alexander Palace after Kerensky’s arrival with a demand to separate Their Majesties during the investigation:

“A little later, the very excited Empress came up to me and said:

To do this to the Sovereign, to do this nasty thing to him after he sacrificed himself and renounced in order to avoid civil war - how low, how petty! The Emperor did not want the blood of even one Russian to be shed for him. He was always ready to give up everything if he was sure that it was for the good of Russia.” (Gilliard, p. 171).

7. It was a political mistake - that is, a mistake that means nothing before God

The abdication was politically erroneous: it did not achieve any of the earthly goals proclaimed by its initiators and led to the fall of the thousand-year-old Russian Empire, which those who persuaded the Tsar to abdicate did not want.

The king was deceived by people whom he trusted infinitely.

“Tears sounded in his voice when he spoke about his friends and family, whom he trusted most and who turned out to be accomplices in overthrowing him from the throne. He showed me telegrams from Brusilov, Alekseev and other generals, members of his family, including Nikolai Nikolaevich: everyone asked His Majesty on his knees, to save Russia, to abdicate the throne.” (A. Taneeva (Vyrubova). Pages of my life. M., 2016, p. 124).

8. Sinless before God

Renunciation is sinless: accepted in conscience and in resonance with the feeling of the Tsar’s duty to God, which was the subject of the Tsar’s oath at the Holy Confirmation and Coronation in 1896.

“I was not protecting autocratic power, but Russia,” the Emperor said to General Ivanov on the night of February 28. (Dubensky, p.53).

“There is no sacrifice that I would not make in the name of the real good and for the salvation of my dear Mother Russia. Therefore, I am ready to abdicate the throne in favor of my son so that he remains with me until he comes of age under the regency of my brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. Nikolai." (telegram from the Sovereign to Rodzianka on March 2 in the afternoon).

“By 2 1/2 replies came from all (commanders in chief). The point is that in the name of saving Russia and keeping the army at the front calm, you need to decide to take this step. I agreed” (Diary, March 2).

“We considered it a duty of conscience to facilitate close unity and rallying of all the people’s forces for our people to achieve victory as quickly as possible” (Act of Renunciation).

“To His Imperial Majesty Michael. Events last days forced Me to decide irrevocably to take this extreme step. Forgive Me if I upset you and did not have time to warn you. I remain forever a faithful and devoted Brother. I am returning to Headquarters and from there in a few days I hope to come to Tsarskoe Selo. I fervently pray to God to help You and Your Motherland. Nicky." (Telegram from the Sovereign to Brother Mikhail after the Abdication).

In essence, this is the motivation of the Holy Princes Boris and Gleb in their refusal of supreme power so as not to shed fraternal blood for their own sake.

For citizens of the earthly City, such motivation is madness.

For the citizens of the Heavenly City, it is a memorable example of an unmistakable decision in personal presence before God.

Archpriest Vladimir Pereslegin

The “mystery of iniquity” is revealed not only in our personal sins, our personal rejection of God. There is an organized, state resistance to God, which is revealed in history. All Old Testament tells about the struggle of pagan peoples against God's chosen people, and New Testament in the Revelation of John the Theologian speaks of the same thing, only at an even greater depth.

The recently glorified Serbian saint, St. Justin (P O Povich), wrote: “In our time there are few people with a living sense of history. Usually events are assessed in fragments, outside of their historical integrity. Egoistic blindness, whether of an individual, national or class character, imprisons the human spirit in hopeless holes where it suffers in its own hell. There is no way out from there, because there is no love for humanity. A person cannot get out of his hellish solipsism if, through the feat of selfless love, he does not transfer his soul to other people, serving them with evangelical devotion and sincerity. I am always pleased when among intellectuals I meet a human being who has a healthy sense of history.”

The murder of Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich is the central event in the history of the 20th century. In assessing this event, what is striking is not even a distortion, but simply the absence of any Christian historiosophy, demonstrated by some theologians. In every possible way opposing the canonization of the Tsar, they stubbornly viewed his martyrdom as the death of one of the ordinary members of the Church during the most severe persecution in history. As for the fact that he was a king, they said, this is “politics” from which the Church should stay away.

It seems that theology professors have never heard the teachings of the Holy Fathers about the importance of legitimate state power as “restraining” the coming of the Antichrist. And they are unfamiliar with the statements of many Russian saints about the exceptional significance Orthodox Russia for the fate of the world, so that in the destruction of the Russian Orthodox monarchy the plan of the enemy of the human race is clearly visible to destroy Orthodoxy and Russia, and to accelerate the death of the world.

Let us recall what is well known once again. In 1871, the great elder of Optina, Venerable Ambrose, gave his interpretation of one significant eschatological dream. The essence of this dream, or revelation, was expressed in the words of the already deceased Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow: “Rome, Troy, Egypt, Russia, the Bible.” The main meaning of the interpretation of these words comes down to the fact that it shows short history world from the point of view of the true Church of Christ: Rome with the supreme apostles Peter and Paul; Troy, that is, Asia Minor, with the seven Asia Minor Churches of St. John the Theologian and Constantinople of St. Andrew the First-Called; Egypt with the Desert Fathers. Four countries: Rome, Troy, Egypt and Russia symbolize this Church. After the flourishing of life in Christ and the fall of the first three, Russia is shown; after Russia there will be no other country. And the Monk Ambrose writes: “If in Russia, for the sake of contempt for the commandments of God and for the sake of weakening the rules and regulations Orthodox Church, and for other reasons piety becomes impoverished, then the final fulfillment of what is said at the end of the Bible, that is, in the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, must inevitably follow.”

The presence of the “mystery of lawlessness” is visible even in the external circumstances of the Yekaterinburg crime. As General Diterichs noted, the Romanov dynasty began in the Ipatiev Monastery in the Kostroma province and ended in the Ipatiev House in the city of Yekaterinburg. By the servants of Beelzebub, who will soon build public toilets on the site of altars and blown-up churches, both the place and the day of the crime were deliberately chosen, coinciding with the day of remembrance of Saint Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky - that prince who, if not by name, then in essence, was the first Russian Tsar.

The enemies understood perfectly well that the destruction of “the entire great litany,” as Lenin put it, would be a desecration of the oath of allegiance before the Cross and the Gospel, which the Russian people swore at the Council of 1613, to build life in all its spheres, including state and political, on Christian principles.

As you know, today’s detractors of the sovereign, both on the left and on the right, constantly blame him for his abdication. Unfortunately, for many, despite any explanations, in the matter of canonization this still remains a stumbling block and temptation, while this was the greatest manifestation of his holiness.

When speaking about the holiness of Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, we usually mean his martyrdom, connected, of course, with his entire pious life. But we should take a closer look at the feat of his renunciation - the feat of confession.

We have said more than once that here his feat of humble acceptance of the will of God was revealed. But it is also of exceptional importance that this is a feat of preserving the purity of church teaching about the Orthodox monarchy. To understand this more clearly, let us remember who sought the abdication of the sovereign. First of all, those who sought a turn in Russian history towards European democracy, or at least towards constitutional monarchy. The Socialists and Bolsheviks were already a consequence and extreme manifestation of the materialist understanding of history.

It is known that many of the then destroyers of Russia acted in the name of its creation. Among them there were many who were honest in their own way, wise people, who were already looking for “how to organize Russia.” But it was, as Scripture says, “earthly, spiritual, demonic wisdom.” The stone that the builders then rejected was Christ and Christ's anointing.

The anointing of God means that the earthly power of the sovereign has a Divine source. The renunciation of the Orthodox monarchy was a renunciation of divine authority. From power on earth, which is called upon to direct the general course of life to spiritual and moral goals - to the creation of conditions most favorable for the salvation of many, power that is “not of this world,” but serves the world precisely in this highest sense. Of course, “all things work together for good to those who love God,” and the Church of Christ accomplishes salvation in any external conditions. But a totalitarian regime and, in particular, democracy create an atmosphere in which, as we see, the average person cannot survive.

And the preference for a different kind of power, which ensures, first of all, earthly greatness, life according to one’s own, and not according to God’s, will, according to one’s own lusts (which is called “freedom”) cannot but lead to a rebellion against the God-established authority, against God’s anointed one. A revolution took place - a revolution in the divine and moral order, and at what depth this revolution is being revealed today does not need to be explained to anyone.

Most of the participants in the revolution acted as if unconsciously, but this was a conscious rejection by God of this order life and God-established authority in the person of the king, God’s anointed, how conscious was the rejection of Christ the King by the spiritual leaders of Israel, as described in the Gospel parable of the evil vinedressers. They killed Him not because they did not know that He was the Messiah, the Christ, but precisely because they knew it. Not because they thought that this was a false messiah who should be eliminated, but precisely because they saw that this was the true Messiah: “Come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance will be ours.” The same secret Sanhedrin, inspired by the devil, directs humanity to have a life free from God and His commandments - so that nothing prevents them from living as they want.

This is the meaning of “treason, cowardice and deception” that surrounded the sovereign. For this reason Saint John (Maxim ó Vich) compares the suffering of the sovereign in Pskov during his abdication with the suffering of Christ Himself in Gethsemane. In the same way, the devil himself was present here, tempting the king and all the people with him, (and all humanity, according to P. Gilliard), as he once tempted Christ Himself in the desert, with the kingdom of this world.

For centuries, Russia has been approaching the Ekaterinburg Golgotha. And so, here the ancient temptation was revealed in full. Just as the devil sought to catch Christ through the Sadducees and Pharisees, setting Him nets unbreakable by any human tricks, so through the socialists and cadets the devil puts Tsar Nicholas before a hopeless choice: either apostasy or death. They needed to show that all power belongs to them, regardless of any God, and the grace and truth of God’s anointed one are needed only to decorate what belongs to them. This would mean that any lawlessness that this government commits will be committed as if by the direct blessing of God. It was Satan’s plan to desecrate grace, to mix truth with lies, to make the anointing of Christ meaningless and decorative. That “outward appearance” would be created in which, according to the words of St. Theophan the Recluse, the “mystery of lawlessness” is revealed. If God becomes external, then the Orthodox monarchy, in the end, becomes only an adornment of the “new world order”, passing into the kingdom of the Antichrist. And as long as human history exists, the enemy will never abandon this plan.

The king did not retreat from the purity of God’s anointing, did not sell his divine birthright for the lentil stew of earthly power. The very rejection of the king occurred precisely because he appeared as a confessor of the truth, and this was nothing more than the rejection of Christ in the person of Christ’s anointed. The meaning of the abdication of the sovereign is the salvation of the idea of ​​​​Christian power, and therefore there is hope for the salvation of Russia, through the separation of those who are faithful to the God-given principles of life, from the infidels, through the purification that comes in subsequent events. The king’s feat of renunciation thus debunks all the false aspirations of the then and current organizers of the earthly kingdom, who reject the Kingdom of Heaven. The highest spiritual reality is affirmed, determining all spheres of life: the first must come first, and only then everything else will take its rightful place. In the first place is God and His truth, in the second place is everything else, including the Orthodox monarchy.

As before the revolution, so now main danger lies in external appearance. Many believe in God, in His Providence, strive to establish an Orthodox monarchy, but in their hearts they rely on earthly power - on “horses and chariots.” Let, they say, everything be like the most beautiful symbol - the cross, the tricolor banner, double headed eagle, - and we will arrange our own, earthly, according to our earthly concepts. But the martyr's blood of the king exposes the apostates, both then and now.

“However,” say the sovereign’s opponents, “if this was loyalty to the principles of a pure monarchy, then it cost the Russian people too much. Russia had to experience too many troubles after this.”

It’s amazing how they, then and now, want to turn everything upside down - because this was precisely the height of the holiness revealed by the sovereign in the feat of renunciation - in his ability to measure everything by a spiritual, eternal dimension.

It is unlikely that the king could have foreseen what terrible events would follow his abdication, because purely outwardly he abdicated the throne in order to avoid the senseless shedding of blood. However, by the depth of the terrible events that followed his renunciation, we can measure the depth of his suffering in his Gethsemane. The king was clearly aware that by his renunciation he was betraying himself, his family and his people, whom he dearly loved, into the hands of enemies. But the most important thing for him was fidelity to the grace of God, which he received in the sacrament of anointing for the sake of the salvation of the people entrusted to him.

For all the most terrible troubles that are possible on earth: hunger, disease, extinction of the people, from which, of course, one cannot help but shudder human heart, cannot be compared with the eternal “crying and gnashing of teeth” where there is no repentance. And, as the prophet of the decisive events of Russian history said, Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky, if only a man knew, Thu But there is eternal life, which God gives for faithfulness to Him, then I would agree to endure any torment for a thousand years (that is, until the end of history, together with all the suffering people). And about the sorrowful events that followed the abdication of the sovereign, the Monk Seraphim said that the angels would not have time to receive souls - and we can say that thanks to the abdication of the sovereign, millions of new martyrs received crowns in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You can do any kind of historical, philosophical, political analysis, but the spiritual in And Deeding is always more important. We know this in And vision in the prophecies of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, saints Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and other saints of God, who understood that no emergency, external government measures, no repression, the most skillful policy can change the course of events if there is no repentance from Russian people. It was given to the truly humble mind of Saint Tsar Nicholas to see that this repentance would come at a very high price. All other reasoning in this light disappears like smoke.

All punishments are medicines, and the worse the disease, the more painful the healing. “If you do not turn to the Lord, the sword will girdle you,” says the Lord. Does it matter which sword the Lord chooses for our salvation! Even if you crush some enemies, then new, more terrible ones will immediately appear in their place: “It is as if someone ran away from a lion, and a bear attacked him, and jumped into the house and leaned her hands on the wall, and a snake bit him (Amos 5, 19)”, or as another prophet says: “he who runs from fear will fall into the abyss, and the one who climbs out of the abyss will fall into the net. For the windows of heaven are opened and the foundations of the earth are shaking” (Isa. 24: 17-18).

The Savior warns that repeating sins will lead to even worse things: the expelled unclean spirit will bring seven others, more evil than itself. What we fear most today is the loss of Russian independence, and this is understandable. But one should not confuse the effect with the causes: all the most terrible, most devastating foreign invasions - be it Batu, Napoleon or Hitler - are nothing compared to the hordes of demons that fill everything among the people.

They say that there is a scenario for the final destruction of Russia, according to which a “Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless” will be provoked, and in order to “establish order”, NATO troops will be brought in, which will take everything in the country under their control. But here, V. G. Rasputin, a respectable, quite positive, respected woman, calmly watches pornographic videos with her daughter every day, talks about his once very close acquaintances. And it is clear to us that there is no need to bring in any troops - or vice versa, why not bring them in - everything is already occupied by Satan.

In the event of the abdication of the sovereign, thus, all the main events of sacred history are essentially refracted, the meaning of which is always the same mystery. What was the purpose of Egyptian slavery and Babylonian captivity among God's chosen people, if not so that all their hope was in one God? Finally, what did the Roman occupation of Israel mean during the Savior’s earthly life? Same as October Revolution 1917 with her temptation of earthly well-being without God.

The fact of the matter is that the desire to preserve the Orthodox monarchy at any cost is no different from the godlessness that was revealed in its violent destruction. This would be the same attempt to find a solid support besides God - this support always, according to the prophet’s word, turns out to be “a support of reeds” - “when they grabbed you with their hand, you split and pierced their whole shoulder, and when they leaned on you, you broke and wounded all their loins” (Ezek. 29:7).

After the abdication of the tsar, in which the people took part through their indifference, hitherto unprecedented persecution of the Church and mass apostasy from God could not but follow. The Lord showed very clearly what we lose when we lose God’s anointed, and what we gain. Russia immediately found satanic anointed ones. And at a new stage of Russian history, when the fate of the Tsar and the fate of Russia are being decided again, the so-called democracy and even the decorative constitutional monarchy, according to a strange pattern, again come to the surface, threatening us incomparably ó greater troubles.

The more we sin, the more we are punished, says Saint Theophan the Recluse, citing various examples from national history. The false understanding of the Messiah as the organizer of the world kingdom of Israel subjected Israel to a new gigantic kingdom, which to this day is a symbol of world dominion. How profoundly right it was that God sent them destruction by the Roman Caesar so soon after! They cried out to Caesar, and to Caesar they will go—God will give them many Caesars. Everything will end with the ruin of this people and this place, when, according to the prophecy of the Savior, Emperor Titus will destroy Jerusalem to the ground. God rewards us justly by placing us above Christ.

Comparing the fate of Russia with the fate of God's chosen people, we cannot help but recall Serbia. When the Serbian people again ascended to their Golgotha ​​before our eyes, it was impossible not to remember King Lazar, who went to the Kosovo field to fight the Turkish conquerors. According to legend, an angel appeared to him and said: “You can choose an earthly kingdom for yourself and it will be given to you. But then you will deprive yourself of the Kingdom of Heaven. You have to choose one or the other." Lazarus chose the Kingdom of Heaven. Together with his people, he went to battle, laid down his life for his native people, and in this battle the Turks won. However, this battle saved the Serbian people from final extinction in historical terms, because only faith and loyalty to God always saves. Since then, this people lived by the ideal of King Lazarus, who gave his life for the Kingdom of Heaven, for the Church of God.

It seems different, but it is the same in essence, and Russia is called upon to live by the ideals of the holy king. As Saint Nicholas (Velimirović) said in 1932, “the Russians today have repeated the Battle of Kosovo. If Tsar Nicholas had clung to the earthly kingdom, the kingdom of selfish motives and petty calculations, he, in all likelihood, would still be sitting on his throne in St. Petersburg today. But he clung to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the Kingdom of heavenly sacrifices and gospel morality, and because of this he lost his life, and his children, and millions of his brothers. Another Lazarus and another Kosovo!”

So, with his feat of confession, the tsar disgraced, firstly, democracy - “the great lie of our time,” in the words of K. P. Pobedonostsev, when everything is determined by the majority of votes, and, in the end, by those who shout louder: “Not His we want, but Barabbas” - not Christ, but the Antichrist. And, secondly, in the person of the zealots of the constitutional monarchy, he denounced any compromise with lies - no less great danger of our time.

We had outstanding Tsars: Peter I, Catherine the Great, Nicholas I, Alexander III, when Russia reached its peak with great victories and a prosperous reign. But the passion-bearer Tsar Nicholas is a witness of true Orthodox statehood, power built on Christian principles.

Let us remember the word of St. John Chrysostom that to honor a saint means to participate with one’s life in his feat - in personal daily standing for the commandment of God and in a clear spiritual vision of the meaning of the events taking place today.

Until the end of time, and especially in last times, The Church will be tempted by the devil, like Christ in Gethsemane and on Golgotha: “Come down, come down from the Cross.” Step back from those demands for the greatness of man that Your Gospel speaks of, become more accessible to everyone, and we will believe in You. There are circumstances when this needs to be done. Come down from the cross, and the Church will do better.

The main spiritual meaning of today's events is the result of the 20th century - the increasingly successful efforts of the enemy so that “the salt loses its strength”, so that the highest values ​​of humanity turn into empty, beautiful words. Why, from the very beginning, was there no proper opposition from the Church to the satanic corruption of the people? What is ecumenism and where are the “mystical boundaries of the Church”? Why, despite the Church’s recognition of the Tsar’s holiness, are there Orthodox Christians who still oppose his glorification?

If repentance of the people is possible (and not talk about repentance), then it is possible only thanks to the fidelity to Christ’s grace and truth that everyone has shown royal martyrs and all the new Russian martyrs and confessors.

The same light is present in the prophetic testament of the king, transmitted by his daughter, that the evil that is now in the world (that is, the revolution of 1917) will be even stronger (what is happening today), but it is not evil that will win, but love , and in prayer of the cross sister queen for the entire Russian people: “Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” Only thanks to this fidelity, this light, in the midst of the hopelessness of our days, there is hope that does not shame.