Representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches participate in nighttime service in Yekaterinburg on the day of Imperial Passion-bearers

Communications Service of the DECR, 20.07.2026. 

On the night of 17^th July 2026 a gathering of bishops in Yekaterinburg celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the square of the memorial Church on the Blood. Forty-four thousand faithful gathered fr om all round Russia gathered for the prayer, from both near and far abroad.

One hundred and eight years ago on the night of 16^th going into the 17^th July 1918 in this place wh ere the Ipatiev house once stood the emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, the empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children the tsarevich Alexis, grand duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasis died as martyrs. Their Kammerdienir Aloisius Trupp, maid Anna Demidova, the family doctor of the Romanovs Yevgeny Botkin and cook Ivan Kharitonov shared their fate.

The nighttime service with a multitude of clerics was celebrated by twenty bishops: permanent member of the Holy Synod, head of the Central Asian metropolitan district the metropolitan of Tashkent and Uzbekistan Vincent; the representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ the metropolitan of the Philippopolis Niphon; the metropolitan of Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut Paul; the metropolitan of Samara and Novokubyshevsk Theodosius; the metropolitan of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturie Eugene; the metropolitan of Voronezh and Liski Leontius; the representative of the Patriarch of Serbia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ the bishop of Remesiana Stefan; the bishop of Isilkul and Russkaya Polyana Theodosius; the bishop of Serov and Krasnoturinsk Theognostus; the bishop of Kamensk and Kamyshlov Methodius; the bishop of Shadrinsk and Dalmatovo Vladimir; the bishop of Berdyansk and the Primorie Peter; the bishop of Argentina and South America Leonid; the bishop of Noyabrsk Theodosius; the bishop of Neftekamsk and Belebei Mitrophanes; the bishop of Troitsk and South Urals Paul; the bishop of Nerchinsk and Krasnokamensk Macarius; the bishop of Alapaevsk and Irbit Sergius; and the bishop of Zlatoust and Satka Seraphim.

The metropolitan of Tashkent and Uzbekistan Vincent read aloud congratulations from His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill to the metropolitan of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturie Eugene on the occasion of his name’s day and also conveyed his blessing to all the participants of the festivities.

The representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as the representative of the Orthodox Church in America, also congratulated metropolitan Eugene on the occasion of his name’s day. The metropolitan of Philippopolis Niphon also read out greetings on behalf of his church. The bishop in particular noted the special veneration of the Imperial Passion-bearers in the East and in Serbia. “Dear bishop Eugene, we take pride in the fact that our Patriarch Gregory IV at the invitation of the Russian tsar Nicholas II participated in 1913 in Saint Petersburg in the celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov and personally met with tsar Nicholas II several times. We congratulate you on the occasion of the feast day of your heavenly protector. We continue to glorify the Holy Passion-bearers headed by tsar Nicholas II, testifying to the unity of our faith in the spirit of peace and love,” he stated.

The representatives of the Churches conveyed to metropolitan Eugene their greetings and the blessing of His Beatitude the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X, His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije and His Beatitude the Metropolitan of All America and Canada Tikhon, thanking metropolitan Eugene for his warm reception and fraternal hospitality.

At the night service prayers were offered in various languages.

There had gathered for the memorial service in the capital of the Urals faithful from various regions around Russia and the world. Praying at the Divine Liturgy were pilgrims from Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Australia, New Zealand and also from the countries of the near abroad.

Communion of the holy mysteries of Christ during the night was given from more than one hundred chalices as so many communicants had prepared for the reception of the Holy Gifts through prayer and fasting.

After the nighttime Divine Liturgy by the memorial Church on the Blood, the bishops, clergy and laity set off on a procession of the cross to the monastery of the Imperial Passion-bearers. The road stretched on for twenty-one kilometers for the pilgrims as they prayed continuously for four hours.

From the website of the metropolitanate of Yekaterinburg.