May 23, 2020, marks the 10th anniversary of the repose of H.I.H. the Dowager Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna (1914-2010), the mother of the current Head of the Imperial House of Russia, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia. (See http://imperialhouse.ru/rus/allnews/news/2020/2020-05-14-23-maya-10-letie-so-dnya-konchiny-e-i-v-vdovstvuyushchej-gosudaryni-velikoj-knyagini-leonidy-georgievny.html.)
Because of the global pandemic and the measures introduced by the government for the public’s safety, the official religious services commemorating the Grand Duchess have been postponed to a later date.
Nonetheless, memorial services were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities on the actual date of the Grand Duchess’s repose: May 23, 2020.
In Moscow, the commemorative service, or panikhida, for Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna was officiated by Hieromonk Nikon (Levachev-Belavenets), the head of the Office for Historical and Commemorative Activities in Her Imperial Highness’s Chancellery, and by Deacon Andrei Yatskov, at the Church of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple.
Attending the service was Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna’s grandson, H.I.H. The Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke George of Russia. Members of the organization “For Faith and Fatherland,” including the Chairman of its Governing Board, Alexander Vladimirovich Kulemin, also were present.
In St. Petersburg, the panikhida was served by Archimandrite Alexander (Fedorov), the rector of the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral (where, in the New Mausoleum attached to it, the Grand Duchess is buried next to her husband, the previous Head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich). The service took place in the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine in the building of the Russian Academy of Arts.
All of the altar servers and worshippers carefully followed the prescribed rules for hygiene and social distancing so as to lower the risk of spreading the virus.
Grant, O Lord, peaceful and eternal repose to Thy servant, the pious Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, and may her memory be eternal!
#домромановых #великаякнягинялеонидагеоргиевна #великийкнязьгеоргиймихайлович #великаякнягинямариявладимировна #монархия #легитимизм #царскаясемья #историяроссии
#houseofromanov #grandduchessofrussia #granddukeofrussia #russianmonarchy #russianempire #romanov #romanoff #imperialfamily #historyofrussia