It was with a feeling of the most profound sadness of heart that I read the letter of 21 September/4 October of this year of Her Imperial Majesty, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, which the latter then made public, and in which Her Majesty states that she finds Our adoption of the title of Emperor of All the Russias that was proclaimed in My Manifesto of 31 August, to be premature.
Announcement of Emperor Kirill I concerning the Published Letters of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, Commenting on the Adoption by Kirill of the Title of Emperor, 12/25 October 1924
Still more deplorable are the remarks added to this letter in the name of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, who permitted Himself in these remarks even to condemn My decision.
However, the requirements of duty and of the law are higher than the personal opinions of family members, which, in this instance, represent the views of the two oldest Members of the Imperial House.
It is not given to Me to decide whether or not I will accept the burden I have inherited to represent Russia and to remove from her the snare of the evil-doers, just as no one has the right to condemn My acts, which are required in order to attain the well-being of the Motherland.
As soon as I became convinced of the deaths of the more senior Members of Our House, I was obliged to step into their place and to raise the flag, taken from their hands: such is the law, and such are the obligations I have accepted from My Royal Ancestors.
The fact that the future form of the government in Russia must be decided only in accordance with the will of the people cannot be something that controls my actions. In fulfilling the law of succession, I am not violating the genuine will of the people. I declared that I am legally the Emperor. When God enables the people one day to make known freely their desire, then may they, with the spontaneous energy of a spiritual renewal, know who their Legitimate Tsar is, and gather around Him for the defense of the Church and of the Fatherland.
I also announce that the Imperial House lives, strong in its adherence to the statutes promulgated by My Ancestors for the operation of the legitimate succession to the headship of the family.
Nor does the Church spurn the Law of Succession, a ceremonial copy of which was placed on the Altar of the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin by the true Preservers of Orthodoxy, the Russian Tsars.