Tsarevich Alexis was born on the 30th of July,
1904, amid the vortex of the Russo-Japanese war and the dramatic political disturbances
of that time. Nevertheless, his birth brought great consolation
to the imperial couple, and at the news of this, the Russian people broke out into frenetic
celebration. Tsar Nicholas wrote in his diary: “30th
of July. Friday. An unforgettable great day for us, in which
the mercy of God visited us so clearly. … Alix gave birth to a son, whom with prayer
we called Alexis. … There are no words to be able to thank
God sufficiently for the consolation that has been given us during this time of great
difficulty!” Little Alexis was the first male child born
heir to the throne during the reign of his father from the seventeenth century onward. He was a comely blonde boy with deep blue
eyes. At his baptism almost all the members of his
huge family were present. Among them was his aged great-grandfather,
King Christian IX of Denmark, already eighty-seven years old. The Baptism was performed by Father John Yanishev,
the rector of the palace. The children’s English nanny, Mrs. Eagar,
relates that when the priest anointed Alexis with the Holy Chrism, the infant “raised
his hand and extended his fingers as though pronouncing a blessing!” Even from infancy, Alexis appeared to be an
especially happy child, full of liveliness and vigor. Nicholas and Alexandra had accepted that in
the years of their governance it was difficult to enjoy a politically balanced Russia. They exerted all their labors and efforts
to hand over to their son a better reality, a better Russia, a better tomorrow. Soon, however, they received the most powerful
blow in their life. The very day following his birth, they discovered
that for Alexis there might be no tomorrow. The little boy suffered from hemophilia, due
to which his body did not have the ability to stanch the flow of blood when even the
slightest injury occurred. The most terrible episodes for Alexis’ health
happened when he was injured in the joints, which caused unbearable pain. In those cases, the blood of the patient entered
into the narrow space of the joints, into the ankle, the knees, and the elbows pressed
upon the nerves of that region. As the internal bleeding continued, the pains
became inhuman. The severity of the pains did not allow the
patient to sleep. Thus, the only relief came when the patient,
succumbing to the intensity of the pain, finally fainted. Traumas of this kind fixed Alexis to his bed
for weeks. At last, after every similar episode, subjection
to long-term orthopedic therapy was necessary and afterwards baths in warm mud in order
to avoid the possibility of permanent disability. When Alexis was well, however, the whole life
of the palace was transformed. Everything seemed bathed in sweet light. The young heir was undoubtedly the epicenter
of the attention and love of the entire family. His sisters adored him. At first, his parents’ particularly indulgent
treatment because of his ailment turned him into a rather spoiled child. Alexis was an exceptionally lively child. In order to limit the opportunities for accidents,
his parents assigned two sailors of the Imperial Navy to serve Alexis by turns as his personal
assistants, seeing to it that they would protect him from dangerous activities. These sailors were practically the child’s
shadow. Nevertheless, that did not keep Alexis from
being a happy and a lively child. There are many charming stories about his
childish gaffes and games. One day, while the tsar was inspecting the
Asia crew, the Tsarevitch insisted upon doing as the sentinels did: standing at attention,
rifle in hand. They gave him a rifle, but it goes without
saying that the Tsarevitch could not lift it and contented himself by holding it beside
him, steadying it with his hand. Lively and playful as he was, Alexis was nevertheless
a very gentle and sensitive boy. Once, during a visit to the villa of an admiral
in Sevastopol, he was playing in an artificial pond, stocked with live fish. The Tsarevitch fished for shells and seaweed,
but when someone offered him a fishing net, he refused it, saying, “No, we mustn’t. We must let them live.” Alexis’ French teacher, Pierre Gilliard,
established close ties with him. The upbringing and education of the young
Tsarevich occupied him significantly, and making use of the trust the royal couple placed
in him, he attempted to influence them positively in this matter. Thus, recognizing that the sailor guardians’
close monitoring of Alexis did not help the child, he wished to bring this to his parents’
attention. His opinion was that with this arrangement
the child would not be able to cultivate self-control and the necessary self-confidence that he
would need when he grew up. This was even more important given Alexis’
calling as heir to the throne. Gilliard in fact persuaded his parents to
allow the child more independence. This proved very important because Alexis
then began to overcome many of the weaknesses in his character. As he grew, Alexis became more and more serious
and reflective. His repeated personal encounter with death
made him especially compassionate with the problems of other people. He tried in every way to relieve their hurts,
and with impressive tenderness he consoled even the least servants of the palace when
they passed through difficult times in their personal life. In 1915, during World War I, after his father’s
assumption of his new duties as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and continual long-time
absences from home, Alexis, now eleven years old, understood that he was now the man of
the house. So, just like his sisters, he himself, due
to the circumstances of his life, had to mature quickly. Thus, he undertook to care for his mother
as best he could. In church and in her every social obligation,
he was always found next to her—he took care to prepare the seat where she would sit,
and afterwards helped her to get up. Also, when she would pray kneeling, Alexis
would hold her and help her to bow down and then to rise up. Notably, in all this, his movements and conduct
were exactly like those of the emperor. His father’s example had already been deeply
impressed on him. Alexis received yet one more important experience
in his life. Tsar Nicholas never forgot the terrible difficulties
that he encountered when he became Tsar. He had endured the bitter experience of his
father’s neglect on this point, something that caused him to pass through fire and iron
until he adjusted to the demands of his position, so that he himself wished to avoid the same
mistake with Alexis. So, as soon as he took command of the army,
he decided to take Alexis with him to Stavka, in order to introduce him to the duties and
realities of his role as future emperor of Russia. So, on 14 October, 1915, Nicholas took Alexis
with him to Mogilev. Together they began a general inspection of
the vast Eastern Front. That was the first time the Tsar himself came
in immediate contact with the troops who had waged the great battles. The enthusiasm of the troops at the presence
of the tsar was indescribable. After the official receptions, Nicholas mingled
with the men, conversing with them on a personal level, asking them about their experiences
and their activities. Alexis constantly stood at his father’s
side trying not to lose even a single word of his conversations with the troops, who
had so many times personally confronted death. In their turn, the troops were impressed by
the presence of the Tsarevich who was unusually tall for his age, perfectly cultivated, and
especially friendly. However, what made the greatest impression
on them all without exception was that Alexis wore the uniform of a simple soldier without
decoration, something that did not set him above any member of the army. Nicholas’ humility and his manner that he
had cultivated in his children deeply moved all the members of the army. Following the February Revolution in 1917,
the Romanov family and many of their loyal servants had been imprisoned in the Alexander
Palace before being moved to Tobolsk, in Siberia. There, in Tobolsk, Alexis suffered his last
serious injury. His pains again became unbearable and the
child desperate with his terrible condition shouted, “I would like to die, Mama; I’m
not afraid of death, but I’m so afraid of what they may do to us here.” One might ask, perhaps the pure soul of the
child forebode the coming tragedy. In the Spring of 1918, the family was moved
to the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg, near the Ural Mountains, were they were murdered
on July 17, 1918. Alexis was killed together with his entire
family and four of their retainers. According to the accounts of the murderers,
Alexis was the last one to die. On July 25 of the same year, Ekaterinburg
fell to the anti-communist White Army. Among the scattered and destroyed things they
found in the Ipatiev house, there was a letter, the last one ever written by Alexis. It was addressed to his little friend Kolya,
son of his physician Dr Derevenko. Alexis wrote:
“Dear Kolya, all the sisters send greetings to you, your Mama, and Grandma. I feel well myself. My head was aching all day, but now the pain
is gone completely. I hug you warmly. Always yours, Alexis. The END”. The conclusion of the note with the words
“The END”, which was written after his signature, was something that Alexis noted
for the first time in a letter of his. Years later, already an old man, Alexis friend
Kolya said in an interview: “In later years, I thought just about him,
‘Why did they kill you? There was no little space in the USSR for
my Alexis? We’ll be forever friends, my dear tsarevich. I want to see you just one more time, and
I can die in peace.” I've been asked to speak about my love for
the royal martyrs and also my wife and my children's love for the royal martyrs. On one hand, it's extremely easy to speak
about this because we love them so dearly and it's a difficult thing to explain. And for those out there who either don't believe
in the communion of saints or haven't experienced this I'm sure it looks foolish and that's
OK but for us, we've experienced the grace of their presence in our lives. It's something that you can't really articulate
but years ago we began reading about them as we were learning about the history of Russia
and journeying into the Orthodox faith and as soon as we began reading about Tsar-Martyr
Nicholas and Alexandra and their children there was something so overwhelming that took
place in our hearts and we began to feel very tangibly that they were with us and as we
asked for their intercessions and read more about their lives the grace just increased
and deepened. One of the most profound things about Nicholas
and Alexandra is their love story. My wife and I began reading their letters
to each other which incredibly were written in English because that was the language that
they could write to each other most comfortably and understand each other. So they're not even translated into English. It's exactly as they were written and these
letters are so profoundly beautiful it puts us moderns to shame, to be honest, because
we don't really write letters like this anymore. I mean just to see the elevated language,
and the beauty, and the patience, and the reverence for each other, for life, for God
for the simple things. It's just overwhelming and we couldn't help
but be in tears reading these letters; it's very profound. And then the other thing is just their love,
the love they have for their children the immense suffering that they went through especially
with Tsarevich Alexis and his hemophilia. It's just absolutely heartbreaking. And that in and of itself was such a cross
to carry. And we continued to read about them and learn
about them and then it was a miracle that in 2018 we were invited to go to Russia and
- we didn't know this when we agreed to do the pilgrimage, but we happened to be in Ekaterinburg
on the 100-year commemoration of the martyrdom of the royal family. And it was just one of the most overwhelming
experiences of my entire life and I will never forget it. We were there with a hundred thousand people,
a hundred thousand, mostly Russians and it was a church that was built on the very spot
of their martyrdom, called the Church on the Blood, and we went down the night before to
a little chapel, which is the very room, the very place where they were killed and this
was the most overwhelming and profound moment of the entire pilgrimage for us. It was the tangible grace that was in this
small room and there was a mosaic of the royal martyrs there and everyone was weeping and
crying because of the grace and the presence and the tragedy of these very beautiful, pious,
humble, and loving people being so brutally murdered and executed for such a horrible,
horrible purpose. And the tragedy that was ushered in for the
next seventy-four years or so of communism was... It was amazing to see... in some sense it
felt like we were witnessing firsthand Russia rising from the ashes, so to speak. To think that 100 years ago Tsar Martyr, Tsar
Nicholas and his family were brutally executed like this. And one hundred years later there would be
this magnificent glorious church built on the very place where they were martyred and
one hundred thousand people would show up in tears. We would see signs, various signs saying "Royal
martyrs please forgive us." This was an incredible act of love and repentance
for what took place. So, we were just absolutely overwhelmed and
our love for them has only increased through these experiences and we've continued reading
incredible books, such as "Debt of Love", also "The Royal Martyrs" and I think that
every married couple should read the letters of Nicholas and Alexandra and I think it's
good for families to get to know the royal martyrs especially in our times. When we walk into a particular church and
we see an icon of the royal martyrs that it fills us with a lot of comfort and joy. I think it's important to see a husband and
wife and children as a family unit lifted up and highlighted in this way. So, I'm deeply honored to have been a part
of this video for Tsarevich Alexis because I feel as though I'm a little bit closer to
him now as well. Reading about his life and focusing more on
his passion as he was the future Tsar. And he suffered so much. So, I would just encourage anyone out there
who's interested. It's worth looking into them more and reading
their letters. And I hope that more and more people get to
know who they really were and who they really are. Because there's been a lot of slander about
them and everything that I've read especially that was written from their own hand, it's
just a testimony of the beauty, and humility, and love. Yes of course they were human beings with
faults like we all are, but they suffered, they suffered with forgiveness and with Christ's
Grace and we are very thankful for them and
