The Celebrations of the 60th Birthday of the Head of the House of Romanoff will begin on December 22, 2013, with a Divine Liturgy at the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in Moscow.

On December 23, 2013, on the Feast Day of St. Ioasaph of Belgorod, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, will turn 60 years old.

The celebrations will begin in Moscow on Sunday, December 22, 2013, with a Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Bogoliubsky Icon of the Mother of God at the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in Moscow. This cathedral is the burial place of one of the families from which the Grand Duchess descends—the Naryshkin boyars (the family of the mother of Emperor Peter I the Great, Natalia Kirillovna, the second wife of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich.)[1]

An intercessory prayer service, or Moleben, for the health of Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, and of the Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke George of Russia will immediately follow the Divine Liturgy. There will then be a requiem service, or Litya, for Patriarch Filaret, the ancestor of the Romanoff dynasty, and for all the rulers of the dynasty and their spouses, as well as for all the members of the Naryshkin family who are buried in the Cathedral of the Bogoliubsky Icon of the Mother of God.

After these Divine services in the cathedral, there will be held the first stage of the campaign “Gifts for the Grand Duchess—Charity,” which has been timed to correspond with the 400th anniversary of the ending of the Time of Troubles and the 60th birthday of the Head of the Russian Imperial House. In accordance with the wishes of H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, individuals can make a charitable donation for the restoration of the Cathedral of the Bogoliubsky Icon of the Mother of God at the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in Moscow and receive a commemorative certificate acknowledging their gift. Each such donation will be regarded as a personal birthday gift to the Head of the Russian Imperial House. Copies of the lists of donors and amounts given will be presented to Her Imperial Highness.

The Church services on Sunday, December 22, 2013, will begin at 10:00 AM.

The address of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery is: Moscow, Petrovka St., Bldg. 28/2. The monastery is located about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the “Gorkovskaia,” “Pushkinskaia,” and “Chekhovskaia” subway stations.

[1] The cathedral was built on the grounds of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in 1684 on the former site of the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God, where Tsaritsa Natalia Kirillovna’s brothers, Ivan and Afanasii Naryshkin, are buried. The brothers were viciously murdered during the Streltsy uprising of 1682. Later, the cathedral became the resting place of the Naryshkin family. Eighteen Naryshkin relatives of Emperor Peter I were buried here, including Tsaritsa Natalia Kirillovna’s parents—Kirill Poluektovich (1630-1691) and Anna Leont’evna (d. 1706), both of whom took monastic vows before their deaths.