On 17th July 2025, Archpriest Nikita Zverev, the dean of the palace churches, performed the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Saviour of the Image Not Made by Hands [aka the Great Church of the Winter Palace], situated in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The service marked the 107th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of Russia’s much slandered Tsar, his family, and their four faithful retainers, all of whom were brutally murdered in Ekaterinburg by members of the Ural Soviet in July 1918.

Archpriest Nikita was co-served by Rector Hieromonk Mark (Svyatogorov), Hieromonk Tikhon (Voronov), Archpriest Maxim Kvasov, Priest Artemy Naumov, and Hierodeacon Ilya (Vasiliev). They were joined by the combined choir of singers of the St. Petersburg diocese.

Among the worshippers were the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, and museum staff.

“Passing by the Winter Palace, it is a great happiness to see the dome of this church and to know that prayers are heard here again,” said Father Nikita. – “The history of Russia’s last Tsar and his family began with this church. Everyone who comes here sees on the right a picture depicting the wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna [see below]. The sacraments were performed in this very church, . . . and now, many years later, we can stand and pray where they once prayed. This temple is of great historic importance, one which is associated with the fate of the Fatherland. I thank the museum staff who have preserved all this to this day. If we do not know our history, remember the tragedy that happened, there can be no happy future for Russia. Let us appreciate what we have, both sorrows and joys, and remember that the Lord will never leave us.”

Recall that the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, and his family were shot on the night of 16/17 July 1918, in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. On 1st November 1981, they were canonized as new martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), and on 20th August 2000, as passion bearers by the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

And let us not forget the four faithful retainers, who remained with the Imperial family during their house arrest in Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg, and who followed them to their deaths in the Ipatiev House, on 17th July 1918: the valet Aloysius Trupp (1856-1918); the maid Anna Demidova (1878-1918); the cook Ivan Kharitonov (1872-1918); and Dr. Eugene Botkin (1865-1918), canonized in 2016.

PHOTO: Wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna
Painted in 1895 by the Danish artist Laurits Tuxen (1853-1927)
From the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The Great Church of the Winter Palace was consecrated on 25th July 1763 by Archbishop Gabriel in the name of the image of the Saviour (painted by Theodot Ukhtomsky, 1693), which was located in the prayer room at the altar. After the 1839 renovation, it was consecrated again by Metropolitan Philaret. The Maltese shrines presented to Emperor Paul I were kept here, and every year they were transferred to the Pavlovsk Cathedral [the Cathedral of the Holy Apostle Paul] in Gatchina for a month.

In October 1917, the church was damaged during the storming of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks and was closed in 1918. On 9th December 2014, the Great Church of the Winter Palace was opened to visitors after restoration, and on 25th December of the same year, the first Divine Liturgy in 96 years was served.

© Paul Gilbert. 28 July 2025