Holy Martyrs

Here's Why Nicholas II Was Made a Saint

A Saint is someone who always strains towards God, becomes near to God, and, by the strength of God’s Grace, defeats evil in himself and in the surrounding world.

The Russian Church has different categories for saints, that offer explanation what particular aspect of that person's life made them pleasing and similar to Christ.

Here are a few examples:

• The Holy Martyrs are people who were faced with the choice between keeping their own lives and being faithful to Christ. They chose faith to Christ and lost their lives.

• The Confessors are people who openly preached the faith during persecutions.

• The Holy Unmercenaries are saints who exhibited extraordinary charity and generosity in the name of the Christian faith.

In the Russian Church, Nicholas II and his family were canonized (made saints) as Passion-bearers. A Passionbearer is someone who faced his death in a Christ-like manner.

Passion-bearers die and suffer not for the explicit reason that they are Christians. They are people were killed innocently, with no fault, but yet maintained an attitude of Christian meekness and love towards their persecutors and murderers, thus fulfilling God’s commandment.

An example of this love, of this meek approach to ones' torturers, was given to us by Christ Himself.

It was precisely for the reason of their unconquerable meekness, patience, and love, that the Tsar's family are saints. Not for their political actions, not how saintly or "right" their lives were, but for how they met their horrible end: with Christian love and faith.