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Church not finalizing position on probe into Tsar family’s remains — Patriarch Kirill

In the early 1990s, a group of researchers found some remains that could have presumably been the ones belonging the Russian royal family
Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna with their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei TASS
Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna with their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei
© TASS

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. The Russian Orthodox Church has not yet finalized its stance on the results of examining the remains of Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar, and his family, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said on Monday in his opening remarks at the conference titled "The Case the Royal Family Murder: New Examinations and Files. A Debate" in Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery.

"The Church has not yet shaped its stance on the results of the research. It will be formed, including, in the context of the work of the Bishop’s Council and the Holy Synod. Today, we must listen to experts’ reports and ask any questions. Nothing has been predetermined," he said. The next Council’s meeting will be held from November 29 to December 2.

The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church noted that he has some questions concerning the probe into the death of the last Russian Tsar and his family.

"I also have a number of difficult questions, which I would like to ask too," he noted.

The patriarch of Moscow and All Russia encouraged all participants in the conference to hold a calm and constructive discussion. "I would like to urge everyone to conduct a calm discussion to discard the emotional background, which is completely inappropriate during a serious scientific discussion on the problem we are facing today," he added.

Tsar Nicholas II and his family were shot in Yekaterinburg in 1918. White Army investigator Nikolay Sokolov who conducted the probe in 1919-1922, soon after the Russian royal family’s execution, concluded that all the bodies had been incinerated.

In the early 1990s, a group of researchers found some remains that could have presumably been the ones belonging the Russian royal family. In 1998, they were reburied in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, in the Romanov tomb. The Russian Orthodox Church posed a number of questions to the investigators and the state commission, which have remained unanswered. Therefore, it has adhered to the opinion that the probe had been insufficient and the remains found in Yekaterinburg could not have been those of the Romanov family.