Department for External Church Relations
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Patriarch Kirill takes part in the reburial of Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich the Younger and his wife
April 30, 2015 – His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia took part in the ceremony of reburial of Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich the Younger and his wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna. They died in exile and originally were buried in St. Michael’s church in Cannes. They were reburied at the Common Military Cemetery in Sokol, Moscow.
Among the participants in the solemn ceremony were S. Naryshkin, State Duma chairman, Moscow Mayor S. Sobyanin, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Archbishop Michael of Geneva and Western Europe (Russian Church Outside Russia), N. Pankov, deputy minister of defence, Prince Dmitry Romanovich Romanov, head of the Romanov Family Association. There were city officials and representatives of the scientific community.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Naryshkin said that the Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich and his wife came back to their Motherland and their names occupy a worthy place in the memory of the Russian society. ‘It is impossible to overestimate the services rendered by the Grand Duke both as a military commander and statesman, as the Supreme Commander of all the land and naval forces of the Russian Empire’, he said. The Grand Duke’s last will as preserved by the family was to find rest in his native land, next to his soldiers. ‘And today the will of the Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich is done’.
Addressing the participants in the ceremony, Patriarch Kirill said, ‘We are present at a symbolic action: once split by the evil will, our country and our people have found strength to get together and overcome historical differences and really unite. A sign of this is the restoration of the canonical unity within the Local Russian Orthodox Church. Realized today are the aspirations of the prominent sons and daughters of Russia who dreamt of being buried in their native land. Today we are present at the reburial of the Supreme Commander of the Russian troops in the beginning of World War I and his wife. It is significant that this is accomplished in the year marking the 70th anniversary of the Victory over the Fascist German; for what happened from 1941 to 1945 is linked in a certain way with events of the First World War. It is a one tragedy of the 20th century, unprecedented in human history, with its disintegrated states, divided nations, scores of millions of the dead. What we are performing today is a part of the symbolic act of overcoming the chaos, the division which the last century brought to our people’.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), assisted by Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR vice-chairman and Archpriest Vasily Baburin, rector of the church of All Saints, said the Prayer for the Repose of the Souls of the Grand Duke and Duchess.
The guards of honour fired three volleys in memory of the Russian military commander. Then the remains of the Grand Duke and Duchess were buried.
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