The coronation of the Holy Royal Passion Bearer Czar Nicholas II
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St. John of San Francisco
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5 comments:
Splendid pictures, Eric-John. Thank you so much for sharing.
I can well appreciate venerating Nicholas for the trials he and his family endured; but is he to be held unaccountable for his own actions that contributed to the catastrophe, specifically his call for conscription in 1914 (which was a domino that, had it not been tipped by him, would have stop others from tipping), as well as the abdication itself?
Stephen,
Saints are not usually canonized for their politics. In the case of St. Nicholas II he is venerated for the sanctity of his personal life and the Christian humility with which he bore the sufferings of his last days.
As for his politics, military conscription had been a fact of life in Russia for centuries. It was instituted by Czar Peter the (not so) Great. I do not believe there has ever been a time in modern Russian history where there was not military conscription.
His abdication was controversial, but given the times it might have been for the best except of course that the manner in which it was done was illegal. He attempted to bypass his son in the line of succession.
In ICXC
John
Sorry, I meant to say mobilization, not conscription. That he ordered the mobilization was one of a very few actions of which it could be said "if that wasn't done, there would have been no WWI at that time". He could have prevented Russia's involvement in the war, and saved his people and his land. Strange how he is held so unaccountable for this. He may have endured his suffering admirably, but to have brought such suffering on his wife, children and nation is less than saintly. And, while some saints are not canonzied for their politics, their canonization can certainly be political, and have huge political ramifications. Such as his, as you know, which obfuscates his guilt for the war, and the blood on his hands of his family and of All the Russias.
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