Empress Alexandra
"It is hard and difficult to live but there is Light and joy before us, peace and a reward for all the sufferings. Go straight on your way, don't look to the right or left and if you stumble and fall over a stone, don't despair and do not fall spiritually. Rise up
and go forward again. It hurts sometimes, the soul is heavy but misfortune cleanses us. Remember the life and suffering of the Savior, and your life will not seem as dark as you imagine. We have one aim, we all go towards it, so let us help each other to find the road to it. Christ is with you, do not be frightened."
Prayers given by the Empress to Charles Gibbes (one of the childrens'
tutors), Christmas, 1917:
"I pray that Christ the X-mas King may stoop to bless,
And guide you day by day to holiness,
Your Friend in joy, your Comfort in distress;
I pray That every cloud may lead you to the light,
And He may raise you up from height to height,
Himself the Day-Star of your darkest night;
I pray That Christ, before whose Crib you bend the knee,
May fill your longing soul abundantly,
With grace to follow Him more perfectly"
-- 1917, Tobolsk
"He will hear, finally, the prayers of the suffering, will forgive and save when it seems that an end has come to everything."
"We?ll have to suffer, and the more we suffer in this world, the better it will be in the next. After the rain comes sun; one must only bear it and believe. God is merciful; He won?t abandon His own."-- Empress Alexandra to Maria Syroboiarskaia, 17 October 1917
"Nothing- life is vanity, eternity is everything. We ready ourselves in our thoughts for
admission to the Kingdom of heaven. Then there is nothing terrible- everything can be
taken away from a person, but no one can take away the soul."-- Alexandra to Anya
Virubova 2(15) March 1918
Grand Duchess Olga
Grant us Thy patience, Lord,
In these our woeful days,
The mob's wrath to endure,
The torturers' ire;
Thy unction to forgive
Our neighbors' persecution,
And mild, like Thee, to bear
A bloodstained Cross.
And when the mob prevails,
And foes come to despoil us,
To suffer humbly shame,
O Savior aid us!
And when the hour comes
To pass the last dread gate,
Breathe strength in us to pray,
Father, forgive them!
Father asks you to tell all those who remain loyal to him, and those with whom they might have influence, not to take revenge for him, because he has forgiven everyone and prays for everyone, and to remember that the evil that is now in the world will be stronger yet, but that it is not evil which overcomes evil, but only love. --Spring, 1918.