[artenotreah]

I just heard on the news that the supreme court of Russia today "rehabilitated" the Czar. It seems like this is an acknowledgment that the Czar St. Nicholas and his family were wrongfully killed by the state...or if not that something close to it.

How close is this decision to an official repentance of regicide?

As I recall there are certain monastic prophecies concerning Russia that are tied to such a repentance, both official and of the heart. Someone more informed please correct me if I'm wrong.

And if this is not yet such a repentance is it the precursor to it...and all that may portend for Russia and for Orthodoxy?

[biannaruh]

The Russian Orthodox Church some years ago glorified the imperial family as martyrs and passion-bearers. This, to me, states quite clearly that their deaths were wrongfully committed and politically motivated, and if memory serves, statements by the hierarchy were made at the time expressing regret and repentance for the act of regicide. (correct me if I'm wrong, Andreas!)

The explosion in the last 15 years of Orthodox worship and renewal is ample testament to the repudiation of Soviet atheism. This Supreme Court ruling is but a mere formality.

[mazabotman]

The pronouncement of the Russian supreme court may be seen as the state's counterpart to the Church's glorification of the Tsar and his family. It is interesting also that the supreme court acknowledged that the murders were ordered centrally from Moscow and were not, as apologists for the Bolshevik regime tried to say, a unilateral act of the Urals soviet. It is symbolic but an important symbol since it reflects the reality that, whilst he had abdicated before the October revolution, the Tsar (unlike King Charles I) was nevertheless treated without any sort of due process and never put on trial but summarily murdered. Is it repentance? Can a state repent? I think Robert is right to say that it is an acknowledgement that the state wrongfully killed the Tsar and his family.

I would caution against thinking that the revival of the Church in Russia is a mass movement with most of the population thronging the churches and monasteries. The Church is certainly prominent and services are everywhere well attended. But regular churchgoers are still a very small percentage of the population. Nevertheless, it seems most people in Russia accept Orthodoxy as forming part of the national identity.