What is particularly significant about the manifestation of this particular ikon is that it was presented as a gift to a devout woman - Alla Dyakova - on October 30th, the anniversary of Brother Jose's murder.

As Anna Dyakova related to Elena Yugina, a correspondent for ITAR-TASS, the miracle occurred on November 7th, the annual anniversary of the bolshevik revolt, which brought a regime of fighters against God and of regicides to power over a Russia that had turned away from her Tsar'. The servant of God, Alla, recalled that now (and this, despite the collapse of the communist regime) there would be demonstrators carrying red flags along the streets of Moscow - flags from which streams the blood of millions of New Martyrs. This very bloodshed was itself a sign of Divine wrath on account of sin - of Divine wrath called forth by Russia's falling away from God's Anointed One, from God Himself, and from obedience to the Orthodox Church. On bended knee, and with a heart contrite, Alla offered up a tearful prayer unto the Lord, that He might forgive Russia the sin of regicide. And it was precisely then that the miracle took place - the ikon began to exude myrrh. And from that moment on - on a daily basis and contrary to all the laws of physics - sweetly fragrant, amber-colored myrrh has been flowing along the face of the ikon - not downwards, as would normally be expected, but from its four sides toward its center: toward that spot where the Tsar-Martyr is depicted upon it.

The myrrh-streaming ikon was transferred to the Moscow Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord, on Gorokhov's Field (Radio St., House 2), which belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate. It was in this cathedral that there was preserved, at one time, a venerable copy of the ikon of the Feodorovskaya Mother of God - the Protectress of the House of the Romanovs. The dean of the cathedral - Protopriest Vasilii Golovanov - immediately placed the miracle-working ikon on an analoi (analogion - an ikon stand) and provided access to it for hundreds of believing pilgrims from the entire country roundabout. According to the dean's testimony, the myrrh is exuded by the ikon on an almost daily basis, and the fragrance becomes particularly strong during periods of panikhidas (funeral memorial services) for the Tsar'-Martyr. (The faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate who venerate the Tsar'-Martyr serve panikhidas for him, as the MP has not canonized him.)

Protopriest Vasilii himself is of the opinion that the myrrh-streaming of the ikon speaks of the drawing near of the glorification of the Tsar'-Martyr in Russia, so looked forward to, and hoped for, by so many. (V~d-Inform: In fact, the holy and right-believing Tsar'-Martyr is already glorified; one can speak only of the recognition of the unconditional (for the Church) fact of his sanctity by the Moscow Patriarchate.) The moreso, as the inscription on the ikon states: "This holy Ikon hath been painted for the glorification of the Tsar'-Martyr in Russia."

"The commencement of the miracle-working on the fatal day of the October revolt," Protopriest Vasilii supposes, "is a sign of the fact that the Russian people have been forgiven for their apostasy from God." We are eye-witnesses to the coming to pass of the hopes and expectations of St. Ioann of Shanghai, who said: "If our hopes and prayers will be strong, the Lord will empower the prayer of the Tsar'-Martyr, of Tsarevich Aleksii, and of the Royal Women Martyrs; and they will shine forth as a radiant dawn over our Fatherland, then washed clean by tears of repentance and by the blood of martyrs."

The myrrh-streaming of the ikon of the Tsar'-Martyr has become a matter of world news. All of the largest information agencies - from ITAR-TASS to "Reuters" - have reported on the miracle in detail in their communiqués. This most certainly is a unique occurrence in the history of the world's mass-media over the past several decades. However, even this apparently fails to persuade those whose hearts have grown shamelessly callous in their opposition to God. Opposition to the canonization of the Royal Martyrs has become the traditional stance of the Moscow Patriarchate's ecclesiastical policy - a line that is adhered to with astonishing consistency and conviction despite the fact that as a result of such "hard-headedness" the higher clergy of the MP sustain not a few moral losses. And neither the great numbers of miracles on the part of the Royal Martyrs - the myrrh-streaming and fragrance of their icons, the healings, - nor their universal veneration throughout that very selfsame MP, nor yet the position of the government, which was expressed in the rendering of dubious honors to the last Emperor by interring the "Ekaterinburg remains" in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, has convinced the (Moscow) Patriarchate to take even somewhat decisive measures toward their canonization. This opposition in principle to the glorification of the Tsar' can only but evoke astonishment when it is viewed against the backdrop of that "flexibility" wherewith the MP has frequently exhibited its position otherwise.

The hierarchs of the MP have used the classical method of hushing-up and obscuring the significance of these events in order once again to drown the current wave of spiritual revival in a morass of bureaucracy and conformity. Patriarch Aleksii II, as unofficial sources report, has given the order not to take the ikon anywhere outside the cathedral, and to report in advance to him all coming activities connected with it. The very fact that the dean resolved to place the ikon upon an _analoi_ is already being interpreted by many parishioners as a "courageous action" on his part.

On January 30th, the superintendent of churches was present for a brief space of time in the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord, on Gorokhov's Field; and, at a general meeting, he issued an order in the presence of the parishioners that the ikon be removed to the altar (although it is true that he did permit it to be brought out occasionally for the veneration of the faithful). Having kept the ikon on its analoi for several days more, the dean finally submitted to management's directive and the ikon is now in the altar, being brought out only during the panikhidas served for the Tsar'-Martyr. The panikhidas take place daily, at 17:00 hours ( 5:00 p.m.), with the exception of those days on which there is an All-night Vigil.

What is the significance of this miracle for us? First of all, it bears witness yet one more time to the fact that the Lord has long-since glorified the Tsar'-Martyr in the Heavens. The faithful sons and daughters of the ROCOR have no need of proofs of the holiness of the Gosudar (Sovereign) and His Family, which was borne witness to by their ecclesiastical glorification in 1981. The then hierarchs of the ROCOR, headed by Metropolitan Philaret, were not dismayed by that wave of hatred and slander against the Royal Martyrs which surged up in the emigre - and, even the moreso, in the soviet - press. The "haste" displayed at that time (as is evident now), was nothing other than spiritual wisdom; and the universal veneration of the Royal Martyrs bears witness most convincingly of all to the correctness of the decision made at that time - a decision which nourishes and strengthens this veneration in many.

All the declarations of the (Moscow) Patriarchate about a need for some sort of investigations (investigations in the course of which such slanders as were timely refuted decades ago are examined, and re-examined, and then examined again); all its declarations about a need to turn the process of canonization into a public court procedure, in accordance with the mediaeval (Roman) Catholic model of the same (one in which each and every blasphemer of the _Gosudar's_ memory can let slip the applause of a certain part of society) - all must conceal one simple fact: that of the (Moscow) Patriarchate's obstinate desire simply not to join in with the voice of the Church of Russia, as this was expressed at the Sobor (Council) of Bishops of the ROCOR, and thus, de facto, to cut itself off from the one Body of the Russian Orthodox Church. The hierarchy of the MP has set itself up as judge over both the Russian Church and the Tsar'-Martyr, manifesting an almost sectarian willfulness and pride in this matter. One would expect that the higher clergy of the MP would yet again "adapt to the situation" - rejecting sergianism, glorifying the New Martyrs, and taking a firm, Orthodox position in church matters, thus not only preserving, but also multiplying their assets at the expense of those who suppose that the barrier between the MP and our Church is only one of discipline and practice, and not one of grace... However, it appears that the hierarchs of the MP are mightily bound by someone - or by something - so that their stubbornness sometimes displays itself, even despite its being to their "advantage" to do otherwise. And this bears witness yet once again to the fact that the question of belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate is not simply one of jurisdiction, but one of a definite and quite sufficiently clear complex of views in which there is not, nor can there be, any place found for the canonization of the New Martyrs... Hence, the sons and daughters of our Church should neither be dismayed by, nor come to false conclusions on the basis of, the fact that the miracle-working ikon of the Tsar'-Martyr happened to appear in the Moscow Patriarchate. The Lord imparts His wonders not just as a consolation to the faithful; but also as a dread sign to infidels, in order that the minds of those who oppose the Grace of God might be edified thereby.

To those who criticized and denounced the firm and strictly ecclesiastical spirit which, in our Church, was connected with the name of her First-Hierarch - Metropolitan Philaret; to those who called the years of his primacy "a time of stagnation," the proof of his undoubted sanctity has now been manifested. It was made apparent at that very same time when, among some of our pastors and members of our flock, there arose doubts as to the rightness of this course, and even the temptation to cast themselves into the deceptively open embrace of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Now, as if to try everyone's faith - that of the parishioners and hierarchs of the (Moscow) Patriarchate, first of all - there has appeared the myrrh-streaming ikon of the Tsar'-Martyr. And the fruits of this faith have been made immediately apparent by the persecution that was unleashed against this miracle-working ikon.

The Tsar'-Martyr has become, de facto, a sign of stumbling for our people. The refusal to glorify Him, the disputes that seethe impiously around His name, bear witness to the fact that the Sin of Regicide yet continues to weigh heavily upon our people. How mistaken are those who maintain that to speak of the necessity for national repentance is absurd, as no one should have to repent for the sins of one's fathers. Regicide is not the sin of our fathers. It is our sin. Its essence was remarkably expressed by St. Ioann of Shanghai (and of San Francisco), who stated in one of his sermons that "All those have sinned against Him (the Tsar'-Martyr) and against Russia who, in one way or another, either moved against Him; or who did not oppose this action; or who, even out of sympathy with it, thus took part (vicariously) in that event which occurred many years ago. This sin lies upon all such, until that time when it is washed away by genuine and sincere repentance." And how many there are yet in Russia of those who labor tirelessly to blacken the memory of the Tsar'-Martyr, sparing no efforts to prevent His universal glorification! How many there are in our midst of those who, on more than one occasion, have spoken sympathetically of this Regicide, repeating fables about "Bloody Nicholas" and unfounded gossip concerning Rasputin, exclaiming: "What kind of saint was the Czar'?!" Even amongst today's zealous defenders of the veneration of the Tsar'-Martyr there are not a few such as, for years, have had to scrub away their former blasphemously contemptible and narrow-minded prejudices. And who among us has not sinned through treacherous silence when we hearkened to the slander poured out against the Royal Martyrs and did nothing to shut lying lips with the word of truth. We must not be deceived: Regicide is a fearsome sin: one which, as before, continues to weigh heavily upon our people. And it is only through sincere and tearful repentance that we can shake its burden off ourselves. And if a penitential prayer for the forgiveness of her sins, offered up by one, single, devout woman, had as its consequence the manifestation of a myrrh-streaming ikon, then the repentance of each and every one of us is not something senseless, but something laden with great significance, and something that, through the prayers of holy Czar'-Martyr Nicholas, will not remain fruitless before God.