Press release Concerning a Declaration Issued by the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, in Response to the Official Petition from Metropolitan Kornilii of Tallinn and All Estonia, President of the Synod of Bishops of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate

Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, on the basis of Article 37 of Volume IX of the Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, and by the determination of the Office of Heraldry of Her Imperial Highness’s Chancellery, on 12 June 2004 decreed: His Eminence Metropolitan Kornilii of Tallinn and All Estonia, President of the Synod of Bishops of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (known before taking Holy Orders as Viacheslav Vasilevich Iakobs, a descendant of the Iakobsov noble family of Saint Petersburg Province) and His daughters Elena Viacheslavovna (married name: Seliverstova) and Maria Viacheslavovna (married name Kirillova), are hereby entered into Part II of the All-Russian Nobility Genealogical Register.

On 12 October 2004, His Eminence Metropolitan Kornilii requested the Head of the Russian Imperial House permission for his grandsons, Peter Viacheslavovich Seliverstov and Nikolai Georgievich Kirillov to use the surname Iakobsov, and to have the hereditary right to use the coat of arms and other associated honors of the Iakobsov noble family (at the present time, besides the Metropolitan, there are no other male members of the family; and without the transfer of its name and honors through the female lines, these same would be extinguished). In His request, His Eminence assured the Grand Duchess that his grandchildren “would preserve the honor of the family name not only as a memorial to the service of their ancestors, but also as worthy bearers of the traditions of the Russian nobility.”

Having examined thoroughly the request made by the Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, bearing in mind the exemplary service that His Eminence has paid to the Russian Orthodox Church and to the Fatherland and His pious struggles during the period of persecution and His tireless labors in the defense of Holy Orthodoxy in Estonia, deemed it proper to grant His request, and in a letter to the Metropolitan on 12 October 2004 signed a resolution: “So be it. Maria. 18/XII-2004.”

Recognizing the significance of this decree, the Head of the Russian Imperial House deemed it necessary to publish the decree granting the request made by His Eminence Metropolitan Kornilii, and to render the decree fully legal and binding only after receiving a blessing from His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and All Russia. On instructions from the Grand Duchess, the director of H.I.H.’s Chancellery, A. N. Zakatov, during an audience with His Holiness on 12 January 2005, and in the presence of a delegation from the Russian Nobility Association, informed the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia about the matter. His Holiness blessed the granting of Metropolitan Kornilii’s request and noted that this Decree from the Head of the Russian Imperial House serves as proper tribute for Metropolitan Kornilii’s tireless labors for the Church.

By the Decree of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, issued in Madrid, the Office of Heraldry of H.I.H.’s Chancellery is instructed to number the grandchildren of His Eminence Metropolitan Kornilii as heirs of the hereditary noble family Iakobsov, and to enter them into Part II of the All-Russian Nobility Genealogical Register, and to issue to them patents of nobility as proof of their legal status. 

A. N. Zakatov
Personal Secretary of the Imperial Family
Director of H.I.H.’s Chancellery