The Romanovs Under House Arrest (Holy Trinity Publications)

When we in the United States of America think of Russia, we think of Putin, election tampering, the Cold War, Sputnik, socialism, communism, Lenin, Stalin, and many other negative things. However, unless you are versed in European/World History, you quickly forget that just 100 years ago, Russia was not a socialist nation, but instead was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II. With his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children, they made up the Russian Imperial Romanov family. In February 1917, mass protests occurred (now known as the February Revolution) with discontent in the monarchy. The Romanovs (and those loyal to them) were captured and imprisoned in the Alexander Palace. In July of 1918, the Romanovs were brutally executed and over the next three months, friends and relatives of them also were. There has always been some shroud of mystery and conspiracy surrounding the time from their imprisonment to execution. Recently, Holy Trinity Publications released a book entitled The Romanovs Under House Arrest, which is the diary of the palace priest, Afanasy I. Belyaev.

The book begins by giving us a historical setting for what occurred. It went all the way back to 1881 when Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, the short reign of Alexander III, and the eventual succession of Nicholas II in 1894, when he was just 26 years old. We saw the events of Bloody Sunday, the first Russian constitution, and the eventual abdication and imprisonment of Nicholas II. The diary entries begin on March 2, 1917. In the initial entry, Fr. Belyaev recounts being called to the palace to perform a prayer service for healing of the Romanov children's cases of measles. The entries continue until August 3, 1917 where Fr. Belyaev recounted that the family had been forced to leave the palace and be exiled to the north in Tobolsk. The book closes with an epilogue, brief biography of Fr. Belyaev, and a brief summary of persons of interest mentioned in the diary entries.

The entries in this diary offer a first person account of what happened the first five months of the Romanovs exile. Within these accounts, we learn of the daily lives of the family and their faithful friends and servants. We see their daily struggles and daily sorrows. However, what is at the center of all these entries is Jesus. There are many accounts of Divine Liturgy, daily prayers, and the celebration of Pascha. Tsar Nicholas and his family took their sufferings with extreme grace and it was evidenced in the diary that they instilled the love of Jesus in each of their children. They did their best to carry on about their daily lives like normal citizens. Deep in their hearts, they knew they were not normal citizens but prisoners, and would not escape their eventual fate. This was a sad book to read when looked at through an earthly lens, but when looked at through a heavenly lens, it is a story of faithful martyrs of Jesus who received the greatest reward in the end. Truly a beautiful book!