In the 1990 picture, Sergey Simakov painted a meeting of the Nicholas II’s family with the great ascetic of the Russian Orthodox Church. It could not happen in real life: Saint Seraphim and the last Russian Emperor lived in different epochs. It was at the behest of Nicholas II that the former was canonized for his monastic endeavours.
The fingers of Seraphim’s right hand are arranged in such a way that they form the Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ — this special finger arrangement is used by priests and priestmonks for blessing. He stands on the threshold of a modest wooden cell — according to his hagiography, the ascetic built it five kilometres from the Holy Dormition Hermitage of Sarov. Here Seraphim indulged in austerities: he procured his own food, fed wild animals, wore the same clothes in winter and summer, and prayed continuously on a stone boulder for a thousand days and nights.
The fingers of Seraphim’s right hand are arranged in such a way that they form the Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ — this special finger arrangement is used by priests and priestmonks for blessing. He stands on the threshold of a modest wooden cell — according to his hagiography, the ascetic built it five kilometres from the Holy Dormition Hermitage of Sarov. Here Seraphim indulged in austerities: he procured his own food, fed wild animals, wore the same clothes in winter and summer, and prayed continuously on a stone boulder for a thousand days and nights.
To the left of the cell is the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, kneeling; behind him — Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Over the group of saints towers the figure of John of Kronstadt — a priest, benefactor and preacher, who at the end of the 19th century was very popular among the inhabitants of the Russian Empire. Next to him, the artist painted Venerable Ambrose of Optina and Pasha of Sarov. And in the left corner — St. John of Tobolsk: Tobolsk was the city where the family of Nicholas II stayed before the execution by firing squad in 1918.
