TSAR NICHOLAS II | Family Killing Centennial, Oxford Ties

The Englishman in the group is Sydney Gibbes, wearing suit and tie. The young man
is Tsar Nicholas II, a good man but not up to the challenges of his time.

January 28, 2018 – Tsar Nicholas II learned English from a tutor from Yorkshire, Charles Sydney Gibbes, an alumnus of St John's College, Cambridge. Gibbes became devoted to his pupil.

After Tsar Nicholas was killed on July 17, 1918 along with his wife Alexandra and their children in Yekaterinaburg, Gibbes converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and became a monk and a priest under the name of Father Nicholas.

In August 2000, Tsar Nicholas II was made a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church, along with the rest of the imperial family. Their  centennial will be celebrated during the summer of 2018.

Fr. Nicholas eventually settled in Oxford, and his home at 4 Marston Street became the site of the Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas and a museum that displays items by which to remember the Imperial Family. 

I have written earlier on this blog site about Oxford's connections with Russia and in particular with Fr Nicholas. Today I learned some more about Fr Nicholas. He adopted a young man named George when he took refuge in China, after the Bolshevik takeover of Russia. George came with Fr Nicholas to England to live.