With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea, a new exhibited entitled “The Russian Orthodox Church and the House of Romanoff after the Revolution (1917-2017)” formally opened in the Central Museum of Taurida in Simferopol, Crimea on April 27, 2017.
The Exhibit was arranged with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea and the Central Museum of Taurida. Among the organizers of the Exhibit were the Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, the autonomous non-profit organization “Imperial Cultural Centre,” and the Crimean Branch of the “Union of Descendants of the Russian Nobility—the Russian Nobility Association of Crimea.”
Translation of the Exhibit Poster:
With the Blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea
The Central Museum of Taurida,
the Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia,
the non-profit organization “Imperial Cultural Centre,”
and the
Nobility Association of Crimea
present
the Exhibit
“The Russian Orthodox Church and the House of Romanoff after the Revolution (1917-2017)”
with the support of the
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea
and the consortium of companies “Albatross”
Opening Ceremony: April 27, 2017, 11:00AM
Central Museum of Taurida
14 Gogol Street, Simferopol
Republic of Crimea
Russian Federation
The opening ceremony began with a welcoming address delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea.
Welcoming address
of His Eminence Metropolitan Lazarus
of Simferopol and Crimea at the opening
of the exhibit “the Russian Orthodox church
and the House of Romanoff
after the Revolution (1917-2017)”
(April 27, 2017)
Vladislav Valerievich, Elena Alexandrovna, dear brothers and sisters,
“I welcome all of you, the organizers of this exhibit, and honoured guests, to the opening of the exhibit, ‘The Russian Orthodox Church and the House of Romanoff.’
The reign of the Romanoff dynasty was a time characterized by a strong and unbreakable union between our people and a line of righteous tsars and pious tsaritsas, zealous heroes and tireless workers for the good of our blessed homeland. It was through the efforts of the tsars of the House of Romanoff that the tiny Muscovite tsardom grew into the vast Russian Empire, and the tsars’ most important treasure through all these centuries were the Orthodox faith and their Orthodox people. They zealously advanced the expansion of Orthodoxy and well-being of the Holy Church, and also strove to preserve the spiritual traditions and national identity of all the peoples of the Russian Empire.
But the year 1917 was a turning point in the history of our country. As a result of the February Revolution, the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, was overthrown and later, together with his entire family, suffered a horrific martyr’s death, for which they were glorified among the saints as passion-bearers. However, the All-Merciful Lord preserved the House of Romanoff through all these tragic events.
Dear brothers and sisters! The Exhibition that opens here today faithfully tells the story of the sorrowful path of the Imperial House in emigration, its grace-filled revival in recent years, and its close relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Today I want to thank Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia and her son, Grand Duke George of Russia, and also you, Vladislav Valerievich, and all those who have made this Exhibition possible.
I believe that this Exhibition will become an important event in the cultural and social life of our blessed Crimean homeland.
I pray for God’s blessing upon you all and upon all your good and profitable works.”
The Director of the Central Museum of Taurida, Andrei Vitalievich Malgin, also gave a welcoming speech, and then turned the floor over to Vladislav Valerievich Pilkevich, the principal organizer of this event and the head of the Office for Relations with the Governmental, Religious, and Civil Organizations of Crimea and the City of Simferopol of the Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia.
Other honoured guests also spoke at the opening ceremony, including the Director of the organization “Russian Unity,” Elena Alexandrovan Aksenova; the Chief Administrator of the Office for Museum and Library Affairs of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea, Elena Grigorievna Emirova; the Chairman of the Nobility Association of Crimea, Andrei Konstantinovich Ushakov; and the Vice-President of the “Imperial Cultural Centre,” Igor Grigorievich Dubodelov, who presented on behalf of the “Imperial Cultural Centre” Certificates of Appreciation to Irina Kozlova and Alexander Prusakov, for their contributions to the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia.
Also among the guests at the ceremony was the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea to the President of the Russian Federation, Svetlana Valentinovna Koldezhnaya-Sheremetieva, as well as several prominent members of the public.
An honour guard carrying the Imperial Flag was composed of Cossacks of the local Cossack society, “The Black Sea Hundreds,” commanded by Ataman Vladimir Vladimirovich Gabelko.
In his speech, Vladislav Valerievich Pilkevich emphasized the basic position of the Imperial House of Russia on the events of 100 years ago, which shook to the very foundations our united homeland: “The 1917 Revolution was a single catastrophic process, and February and October were connected, integrated events,” he said. “Both sides in the Great Troubles of the 20th century had their own truth and their own falsehoods, their own lofty ideals and their own narrow self-interests, their own heroes and their own villains.” He continued: “For the sake of future generations, we must first and foremost find in the events of the past and in the conditions we see today in the present not that which separates us, but that which unites us.” “We must learn not only to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, but to forgive and to ask for forgiveness,” and to pray “for all the victims of all the internecine, fratricidal conflicts that took place in our country.”
In one of his recent addresses to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin noted that “Russia began not in 1917 and not in 1991, but more than a thousand years ago.” The president was clearly expressing the idea of the continuity of all Russian history and the need to draw upon the traditions that we have inherited from the past.
The main and unchanging purpose of the Russian Imperial House of Romanoff is now and always, regardless of its political or social circumstances, to preserve Russia’s historic state traditions and its spiritual foundations. After the Revolution of 1917, during the period of militant and merciless attacks against religious faith and all of Russia’s timeless ideals and values, the relationship between the Imperial House of Russia and the Orthodox Church became more important than ever.
The Exhibit “The Russian Orthodox Church and the House of Romanoff after the Revolution (1917-2017)” will attract and benefit those who seek to understand our nation’s past, but also want to understand the way forward for Russia. The centerpiece of the exposition are photographs and documents that bring to life the important events of the Imperial Family during the years of exile (1917-1991) and in the period since it began to return again regularly to their homeland (from 1991 to the present). The materials in the exhibit pertain mainly to the spiritual relationship between the Imperial Dynasty and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Exhibit presents materials on a range of historically significant moments in the history of the dynasty in this period: the tragedy of the executions of the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, his family and their loyal servants; the courageous position taken by Patriarch Tikhon the New Confessor, who spoke out against the perpetrators of the Civil War and who publicly condemned the murders of the Imperial Family; the conditions of the Imperial House of Russia in exile; the relationship between the Heads of the Dynasty and St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, with the First Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitans Antony, Anastasy, and Filaret, with Metropolitan Eulogius, the administrator of the Russian Western European exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, with other Russian hierarchs, other First Hierarchs of other local Orthodox Churches, and the monks of Mount Athos; pilgrimages of the Imperial Family to the Holy Land and its participation in various Church ceremonies in Europe and North and South America; various Church council decrees concerning the House of Romanoff and its legitimate Heads in exile; the return of the House of Romanoff to the social life of Russia today; communications with Patriarchs Aleksei II and Kirill, and with other Russian hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and abroad; the role of the Imperial House in the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate; the Church’s support for Grand Duchess Maria of Russia’s efforts to secure the legal rehabilitation of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers, other martyred members of the House of Romanoff, and their faithful servants; and the pilgrimages of members of the dynasty to the many holy sites of Russia.
The Exhibition also includes the correspondence of the Imperial House of Russia in exile with other monarchs and Heads of European Imperial and Royal Houses, documents relating to the relationship of the dynasty with prominent figures in the Russian Diaspora, including the great aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky, the writer Ivan Bunin, the philosopher Ivan Ilyin, the poet Sergei Bakhteev, and others. Also displayed are the insignia of Orders of Knighthood that belonged to members of the Imperial House of Russia, other medals and insignia of various organizations and institutions connected with the dynasty, postage stamps from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, and various books and periodicals from the personal libraries of the members of the Imperial House.
Among the items on display of more recent vintage are portraits of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, made of birch bark using an entirely unique technique. These portraits were given as a gift by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, V. M. Lebedev, to the Head of the Imperial House of Russia.
Artifacts appearing in the Exhibit were borrowed from the archives and collection of the Imperial Family and from the All-Ukrainian exhibit “The Imperial House of Romanoff: Past and Present,” which seeks to provide accurate information on the historical and legal foundations of the Imperial House of Romanoff today, which will then enable a more thorough study of the historical and cultural legacy of the Russian Imperial Dynasty.
The Exhibit forms part of the programme of the “Imperial Culture Centre” to create in Simferopol an “Imperial Museum of Historical Heritage and Culture.”
The Opening Ceremony for the Exhibit was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea and the consortium of companies “Albatross.” (For more information, see: http://albatros.expert.)