Amidst the political turmoil of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II selflessly abdicated the throne for what he believed was the good of his country. Although he had abdicated willingly, the revolutionaries put him and his family under house arrest, then sent them under guard to Tobolsk and finally Ekaterinburg. A letter written from Tobolsk by Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest of the children, shows their nobility of soul. She writes:
My father asks that I convey to all those who have remained devoted to him... that they should not take vengeance on his account, because he has forgiven everyone and prays for them all. Nor should they avenge themselves. Rather, they should bear in mind that this evil which is now present in the world will become yet stronger, but that evil will not conquer evil, but only love shall do so.'
After enduring sixteen months of imprisonment, deprivation, and humiliation with a Christian patience which moved even their captors, they and those who were with them gained their crowns of martyrdom when they were shot and stabbed to death in the cellar of the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg in 1918.
Tsar Nicholas' feast is celebrated along with his family - Tsarina Alexandra, Crown-Prince Alexis and princesses Olga, Maria and Anastasia - on the day of their murder (4/17 July). Below is a link to a pdf file of an Akathist in honour of Royal-Martyr (or Passion-bearer) Nicholas:
