02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
Botkin,Alexandra’s maid Anna Demidova and the family cook
Ivan Kharitonov. These servants had been killed with the
Romanov family by the Bolsheviks on 17 July 1918.A further
two individuals who had served the tsar and tsarina and who
were murdered later in 1918 were a tutor called Catherine
Adolphovna Schneider and Anastasia Hendrikova, a lady-inwaiting.
They were described as victims oppressed by the
Soviet State by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
Following the dramatic social and political changes within
the Soviet Union, the cultural climate had changed to the extent
that, in the year 2000, the Romanovs were officially
recognised and canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church as
passion bearers. A passion bearer within the Russian
Orthodox Church is a Christian individual who has died
righteously at the hands of others. Although the Romanov
family were declared to be passion bearers, their servants
were not accorded that status. On 17 July 1998, the remains
of the tsar and tsarina were laid to rest in St Petersburg at the
St Peter and Paul Cathedral. The bodies of three of the
Romanov daughters were also buried with their parents on
the same day.Another dramatic example of world events leading
to the creation of new saints is the persecution of priests
and Roman Catholic worshippers during the Spanish Civil
War between 1934 and 1939. It has been estimated that as
many as 6,832 Catholics were murdered during the course of
the war. A number of these victims were canonised by Pope
John Paul II in 1999 and the feast day of the Martyrs of the
Spanish CivilWar is held on 9 October.
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