The last Russian tsar Michael Romanov is a biblical person. His life is mysterious and enigmatic; it is hidden from uninitiated one. God had kept him till the time. And he did not unseal his lips himself. And it is clear. Having spent for thirty nine years in torture chambers of Stalin’s GULAG he got used to keep silence. Michael Romanov had turned out to be the last emperor on the Russian throne – from the 2nd to the 3rd March, 1917 – and had been keeping his right to come to power. That was the main cause for his abduction and secret “murder” on the night on the 13th June, 1918 near Perm. Revolutionary events of 1917 had been developing headily. Abdication of Nicolas II for himself and for his under age successor Aleksey in favour of his brother Michael had come as a surprise to everybody. However Michael Romanov had appreciated the situation in the country in a sober way and delayed decision on choice of the form of government till the Constituent Assembly. He considered that he had done his duty in the way he understood it. In 1918 Red officials send Michael Romanov in Perm into exile. In summer of this year an order of his execution was given, and executive crew of five Red Army men has been appointed. To shoot. In numerous books and publications this subject has been chewed from different ideological standpoints. Archival documents as the whole history of that time are inconsistent and scanty to the limit. One speaks about arrest, exile and night shooting. Another speaks about Michael II’s escape. Really only God’s Providence had kept Michael safe from death. Another destiny was predetermined for him. Saved by a miracle, blood-stained, constantly praying Michael plodded several tens kilometers till knocked in cloistral doors of Belogorskiy monastery. The door was opened to him. There he was given a name and papers of one of shooted monks – Seraphim Pozdeev. He laid down the tsar’s crown to get an ascetic one, finding in it a perfect joy and vocation. The name had been changed, the kingdom had been changed and anointing also had been changed with it. Thirty nine years Michael II Romanov (Seraphim of Solovki) had spent in torture chambers of Stalin’s GULAG. Many people were so horror-stricken when just approaching to Solovki that they would die before getting to prison camp. It was one with God who could survive. After three years they were afraid of beating no longer. Fear passed. They were not afraid of anything at all. They looked death in the face fearlessly and openly. And the word of God was worth its weight in gold if anyone could teach about the God’s Kingdom waiting after death. Seraphim’s person inspired terror on prisoners and armed guards, exciting fear and trembling of those around him. Political prisoners curried favour with him, believers worshipped him. Others didn’t dare approach to Seraphim’s barrack. Whether is it possible to imagine higher display of royal greatness than that one? Our Lord and Blessed Virgin had been constantly presenting among Solovki martyrs. Saints and angels had come, taught, salved, and strengthened. Abundant supernatural gifts were given. He could be in twelve places at the same time: to walk on the water, to come down to seabed, to ascend on air, to lie on ice-covered plank bed in the terrible frost and don’t freeze warming with heart candle, to contemplate the God’s Image and be in need neither of cap with ear-flaps nor of quilted jacket full of holes. Inner candle warmed. Body had seemed ethereal. In GULAG Seraphim was called a Russian god because he had reached a step of immortality in his inhuman suffering and worked unheard-of wonders that the Savior Himself had worked in His earthly days. And what a love the Lord had given amongst drudgery, amongst prayers and everyday threat of death, amongst never-ending sorrows and tears! All crosses were covered with His love. Great number of books and biographies will be written about Seraphim. They will erect cathedrals and monasteries in his honor. They will create icons and litanies. And the most incurable and doomed ones will be healed in his name. |
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