Ivan the Terrible - When They Prepared to Canonize Him as a Saint

Tsar Peter I said that Tsar Ivan IV was a role model for him. By order of Emperor Alexander III, the fresco icon in the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin was updated in 1882. On it we read the following inscription: “Blessed and Christ-loving, God-crowned Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Ioann Vasilievich, All Great Russia, Sovereign and Autocrat of many states.”

And the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II and the Tsarina-Martyr Alexandra Feodorovna were preparing for the Russian glorification (canonization) of Ivan the Terrible as a saint. Thus, the head of the Main Directorate for Police Affairs of the Provisional Government, S. G. Svatikov, in one of his articles, recalled the words of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna (1876†1940), which she said shortly after the February coup of 1917:

“The Empress [Alexandra Feodorovna] accepted with all her soul the canons... of Orthodoxy. She was deeply imbued with the principles of Autocracy and Nationality. She read a lot on the history of Russia of the 16th and 17th centuries, and Russia appeared to Her in the image of Muscovite Rus', with its endless devotion to the Tsar, with its faith in the Tsarist Autocracy, rising above all estates and classes and most of all devoting itself to serving the common people..."

It was she, the Empress, who took the initiative to see the canonization of the one who was, in her opinion, the Great Martyr Tsar and lover of the people, namely Ivan IV, whom the Empress did not like to call “The Terrible.” The Empress considered him “a lover of the people" and "a victim of boyar slander”.

It is worthy of note that among the admirers of Tsar Ivan the Terrible was a descendant of St. John of Tobolsk, St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Foreign Russian church historian N.D. Talberg testified:

“...Our understanding of Holy Rus', with its historical Autocracy, of enormous importance in the development and strengthening of the state of the House of Romanov was identical, differing only in the interpretation of the law on succession to the throne. Our veneration of the memory of the Tsar Martyrs Paul I and Nicholas II was common. We agreed on the mysterious end of the reign of Emperor Alexander I. In recent years, our common interest in Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible has emerged. I remember the last meeting with Vladyka in the synodal house in the summer of 1964. “Have you read my article about Tsar Ivan?” - “Of course, Vladyka.” “You know, when I wrote it, I was thinking about you.”
(Bishop Savva (Sarashevich). Chronicle of the veneration of Archbishop John (Maximovich). Miracles of God today. Russian branch of the Valaam Society of America. M. 1998. P. 165-166).

Russian people always flocked with hope in their hearts to the tomb of the blessed Tsar Ivan the Terrible, asking for help in their everyday needs. But most of all those who were offended by the unjust judgment came. And through prayers to Tsar Ivan, they received righteous and fair judgment. Miracles of this kind still occur today. This suggests that Ivan the Terrible is revered by the people as a defender of the offended and persecuted, as a righteous and impartial judge.

“At his tomb, according to the zeal of many pilgrims of the cathedral, memorial services are served with the commemoration of either the name of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich or with the addition of the names of his relatives,” writes Archpriest N. Izvekov in his book “Moscow Court Archangel Cathedral” in 1916. "Among the many Sovereigns and Grand Dukes revered by the people and reposing in the Archangel Cathedral, people flocked to him. And the Blessed, Christ-loving Sovereign, like a caring dove-Jonah, covers all his chicks with the wings of his intercession and intercession before the Lord, his sovereign service to God, the Church and the Russian Land.”

There is a known case when, as an ascetic of faith and piety, the former rector of the Archangel Cathedral, Archpriest Valentin Amfitheatrov, showed the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II a book kept in the Archangel Cathedral with records of miracles according to the prayers of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. After reading this book, the Tsar exclaimed: “Immediately add it to the list for canonization at the council along with Paul I.” There is material about this in the Manuscripts Department of the Public Library. The writer Alexander Nikolaevich Strizhev reported that when he worked in the manuscript department of GBL32 with documents from the funds of the Holy Synod of the tenth years of the twentieth century - before the Council of 1917-1918, he discovered there a list of devotees of piety for whose canonization the Synod was preparing. There were Blessed Xenia of Petersburg, Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Saint Theophan the Recluse, Saint Philaret of Moscow, Saint John of Kronstadt, and Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible.

It is not our business to judge the Providence of God, but an observant person cannot help but notice that those who dare to blaspheme God’s anointed experience significant sorrows.

Thus, the actor Yankovsky, who played Metropolitan Philip in the film “Tsar,” died 3 days after the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Repin, who painted a picture about the alleged murder of his son by the Tsar, lost his hand. The writer Garshin, who posed for this picture, threw himself from the 3rd floor and crashed. E. Evstegneev, who played the role of Ivan the Terrible from a negative perspective, suddenly died. The famous artist Alexander Mikhailov, during the play “The Death of Ivan the Terrible,” where he played the Tsar, had blood gushing down his throat on stage. He lost 2.5 liters of blood and almost died. There was also the priest and missionary who was killed in Moscow. Five days before his death, Fr. Daniel Sysoev slandered the holy Anointed of God, Ivan the Terrible, convincing all his flock — and he had a lot of them on the Internet — that Tsar Ivan was not the Anointed of God, that the Tsar executed innocent people, loved torture, a sea of ​​blood, and that Ivan the Terrible inherited not the Kingdom of Heaven, but the same fate of the traitor of Christ, Judas.

God does not blaspheme and does not allow His saints to be blasphemed, much less His Anointed Ones. “Touch not My anointed, and do not harm My prophets.” (Ps. 105:14-15).

Source: “Russian Monarchist”