Greetings sent by the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, in Connection with the 150-th Anniversary of the Birth of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich

I send my heartfelt greetings to the participants in the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the birthday a prominent member of Our House, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich.

Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich was a brave and noble man, a true Christian, boundlessly patriotic, and a prominent statesman. A man of talents, he had a broad range of interests. As a soldier, he distinguished himself during the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877-1878, after which he commanded the Life-Guards of the Preobrazhenskii Regiment, and served as commander of the Moscow Military District. As a scholar and patron, he founded the Imperial Orthodox Society of Palestine, and was an honorary member, supporter, and trustee of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, of the Moscow Historical Museum, and of many other academic, educational, charitable, and cultural institutions and organizations, a complete list of which would require numerous pages. As the governor-general of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich attributed great significance to the development of the working class and strove to direct the labor movement in a legal and productive direction. According to his cousin, my grandfather, Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich, “ in that time of great Troubles, he, unlike many of the leaders of our government, did not lose his head, but continued to perform his duties with a constructive spirit and with energy.”

As in the case of his father, Emperor Alexander II Tsar-Liberator, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich fell victim to an act of terrorism. His wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fedorovna, took the monastic veil, and whole-heartedly devoted her entire life to acts of mercy, and, after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, also put on a martyr’s crown.

The destroyers of Russia were not satisfied with the physical death of Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich. And so, after his death revolutionaries circulated horrendous rumors about him, and in 1917, the godless Communistic regime authorized the destruction of the grave site of this, the first Royal Martyr of the twentieth century. Fortunately, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich’s remains were not destroyed, and in 1995 they were reburied at Novospasskii Monastery alongside the graves of the ancestors of Our Dynasty.

To my great sorrow, circumstances prevent Me from being present with you in Moscow, but I am with you nonetheless in spirit and in prayer. My August Mother, Dowager Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna and My Son and Heir, Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, send to you all our thanks and of best wishes.

May the Lord grand rest in the abode of the righteous to His servant, the Pious Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich, and grant to all of us His All-Powerful Help, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother, and through the intercessions of the Royal Passion-Bearers and all the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The original is signed by Her Imperial Highness in Her own hand:  

Maria
H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna

Issued in Madrid, 19 April 2007 

A.N. Zakatov
Director, H.I.H.’s Own Chancellery