PHOTO: Anastasia Hendrikova (left) and Ekaterina Schneider (right)

On 30th May 2024, the head of the Publishing Department of the Perm Diocese Olga Troitskaya, announced that the remains of Anastasia Hendrikova and Ekaterina Schneider, had been found and identified in Perm, where they were shot by the Bolsheviks in September 1918.

In August 1917, the maid of honour to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Countess Anastasia Vasilievna Hendrikova (1888-1918), and a teacher and later confidant to the Empress, Ekaterina Adolfovna Schneider (1856-1918), voluntarily followed the Imperial family into exile to Tobolsk and later Ekaterinburg.

On 9th June 2024, a memorial litany will be performed by Bishop Methodius in the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, situated at the Old Yegoshikha Cemetery.

Following the litany, Metropolitan Methodius of Perm and Kungur will consecrate a memorial at the site of the actual burial of Anastasia Hendrikova and Ekaterina Schneider, in the New Yegoshikha Cemetery in Perm,

According to the Perm journalist and researcher Vyacheslav Degtyarnikov, forensic medical examinations were carried out last month and confirmed the identity of the remains of Hendrikova and Schneider.

PHOTO: poster advising parishioners of the memorial litany to be held on 9th June 2024, at the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, situated at the Old Yegoshikha Cemetery in Perm

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Recall that In May 1918 Anastasia Hendrikova and Ekaterina Schneider arrived in Ekaterinburg from Tobolsk, however, they were not admitted to the Ipatiev House, but were instead transferred to a Perm prison. They, prayed fervently and tried to remain cheerful, although both were exhausted by the illnesses and burdens of imprisonment.

On the night of 3rd/4th September 1918, Hendrikova and Schneider were awakened and taken with a group of other prisoners outside the city to the irrigation fields situated on the 5th verst of the Siberian Highway, where they were all shot. According to the Whites investigation at the time, they were both shot at point blank range followed by a strong blow to the back of the head.

On 19th May 1919, the bodies of Hendrikova and Schneider were recovered by the Whites, who buried their remains in the Yegoshikha Cemetery in Perm. However, their graves were later destroyed when the Bolsheviks regained control of the city.

PHOTO: view of the New Yegoshikha Cemetery in Perm

The graves were believed lost, however, they were discovered in the 2010s, the identity of the remains, however, were unknown until the recent forensic tests confirmed they belonged to Hendrikova and Schneider.

On 1st November 1981, both Hendrikova and Schneider were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) as New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Schneider was canonized in spite of the fact she was a Lutheran, however, she has not been canonized by the Moscow Patriarchate due to her faith.

On 16th October 2009, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation decided to rehabilitate 52 persons of the Imperial family and their retainers who had been subjected to repression, including Hendrikova and Scheider.

© Paul Gilbert. 30 May 2024