Tsar’s Days in Ekaterinburg – 16/17 July 2026

More than 44,000 pilgrims took part in this years’ Tsars Days in Ekaterinburg, marking the 108th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of Emperor Nicholas II, along with his family and their four faithful servants. The event culminated on the night of 16/17 July, with a nighttime Divine Liturgy at the Church on the Blood followed by a Cross Procession to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers at Ganina Yama.

Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by 20 archpastors, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, with bishops from throughout Russia, and the representatives of the Antiochian and Serbian Patriarchates in Moscow.

The hierarchs were assisted by local and visiting clergy, including representatives of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and the Orthodox Church in America.

Prayers were offered in multiple languages, including Slavonic, Georgian, English, Arabic, Greek, and Serbian, with pilgrims present from Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Australia, New Zealand, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Ukraine, among other countries.

The Holy Gifts were distributed from more than 100 chalices.

During the service, Metropolitan Vikentiy conveyed a congratulatory message from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ to Metropolitan Evgeniy on his name day. Metropolitan Niphon likewise conveyed greetings on behalf of the Antiochian, Serbian, and American Churches, recalling the historical ties between Emperor Nicholas II and the Church of Antioch.

Procession of the Cross

Following the Diving Liturgy, the Cross Procession began at about 2:30 am local time. The Procession was led by Metropolitan Vikenty and other hierarchs. To the penitential Jesus Prayer “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!”, thousands of believers – clergy and laity, walked on foot fromHoly the Church on the Blood to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers at Ganina Yama. The 21-km (13-mile) journey took four hours.

Mobastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers

The Cross Procession concluded with a service at shaft No. 7, built on the site where the bodies of the Royal Martyrs were initially discarded by the regicides. They were exhumbed the following day, and moved, and reburied in two sepearate graves, in what is to what is today known as Porosenkov Log.

Metropolitan Vikenty thanked participants for their spiritual effort and also offered congratulations to the local hierarch His Eminence Metropolitan Evgeny of Ekaterinburg on his name day, the commemoration of the physician-martyr Evgeny Botkin. In his remarks, Metropolitan Evgeny noted that portraits of the Tsar and his Family and St. Evgeny had been decorated with white and red flowers by the monastery brethren, symbolizing purity and the shedding of blood in preserving that purity.

A moleben [a liturgical service of supplication or thanksgiving] with the reading of the Akathist to the Holy Royal Martyrs was held throughout the day at the monastery’s large Orthodox memorial cross.

The commemorations marked the anniversary of the deaths of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and their children—Tsesarevich Alexei and Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia—along with loyal servants Aloisy Trupp, Anna Demidova, Evgeny Botkin, and Ivan Kharitonov, who were all brually murdered on the night of 16/17 July 1918, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, where the Church on the Blood now stands.

Tsar’s Days and Porosenkov Log

Recall that the first Cross Procession in memory of the Holy Royal Martyrs, headed by Metropolitan of Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye Kirill, took place in 2002, in which more than 2 thousand pilgrims and about 100 clerics participated. It has been held annually in the Ural capital ever since.

In 2018, the year marking the 100th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of the Imperial Family, more than 100, 000 people from across Russia and around the world attended the historic event, including the author of this article, who travelled from Canada to take part.

Once again, Porosenkov Log will not included in this year’s Cross Procession. Porosenkov Log is where the remains of the Imperial Family were exhumed in two separate graves in 1991 and 2007 respectively. Due to the fact that the Moscow Patriachate does not yet recognize the Ekaterinburg Remains as those of the Imperial Family. Their official recognition rests with the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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